Seed Post #1: Cartwheel

The grass in my backyard was soft with broad blades, warm on my bare feet and skinned knees.  It smelled like summer and the good dark dirt beneath.

We held each other's hands and spun in circles until I let go, and whatever position you fell in, you had to stay that way as long as you could.  When there were just two of us we timed each other to see who won.  I always won.  You were too fidgety to stand still for long.

"Giggle" sounds like what it is, and we sounded that way every hour, every day, chasing frogs and climbing trees, pretending to be My Little Ponies and Rainbow Brite, me brewing magical potions from bits of weeds with mystical names like Crow Poison; you running, always running, arms thrown wide and hair tangled by the late afternoon wind.  I made up stories to tell you about princesses fighting dragons.  You knew how to tell a cardinal, a bull-bat, a blue jay, a kildeer, all by sound.

We were melted candy bars and jump-rope rhymes, the burn of an elbow hitting the sidewalk, the delighted scream after my brother set off a string of firecrackers in the street.  We were a jar full of fireflies, we were cheese sandwiches on square Tupperware plates.  We were a brand-new Slip-n-Slide and we were a tummy pooch in a ruffled swimsuit whose top would be flat for a few more blessed years. 

Your hair was soft as dandelion fluff and your hand was warm in mine, pulling me down the street to the dewberry patch, where we were scratched up with thorns and sick on berries.  Your lips were stained with juice, and they were soft and tasted like cobbler.

"Kiss" sounds like what it is, too.

We were pinky swears and the song of cicadas.  We were homemade ice cream and Dr Pepper burps and mustang grapes and the smell of rain. 

We were the tumult of a cartwheel falling long-legged and laughing into soft broad-bladed grass.

Comments

[Jay Schryer]

This is really beautiful. Sweet and touching...

[Danmara]

Wow Dianne...you've surprised me again, LOL. I don't know how you manage it.

I haven't written like that in a long time. I need to start writing again.

[Kristina]

That was sensational! Wow! It was so emotional and so physical all at the same time, I felt like I was a kid again in the sticky sweltering heat that I loved as a kid. I was just thinking about that today, how I loved it so much then, and yet I can't stand to run from my house to the car and wait impatiently for the a/c to kick in. Breathtakingly beautiful poem!

[Maebius]

My word this is one of the most beautiful and awesome bits of poetry I've read in quite a long while. Thank you for this.

[Ari]

Wow...amazing. Transported me right back to my childhood on a hot Florida day. Truly beautiful.

[Jaka Merriman]

Wonderful stuff. Made me think about my childhood best friend (who doesn't speak to me anymore). Lovely; thank you.

[amber]

Awww. :) Really lovely.