I want to remember my childhood

There were good things

The smiles that my mom provided

~

Dancing a jig that I’d made up

Listening to the Beatles holding my hand

Playing the piano and sight reading

~

Until years later I couldn’t do that anymore

Something got in the way

My fingertips in place, eyes graced the keyboard

A certain energy took my breath away

So I ran out the door

And part of my heart chose to never return

Always a dream-like reality

Some disconnection

~

Walking silent amongst my siblings

Always hoping to feel as strong

Wishing my world would be similar

~

Protesting Vietnam while Simon & Garfunkel

Spoke of bridges and metaphors

Remembering how the theatre was dying

And poetry was terrible in her eyes

I watched my family tear apart

The fabric that for me would comfort

My fears on a summer’s day

My anxiety in the winter’s darkness

~

There were fleeting moments

When she described me as a ‘now’

Person whose life could explode

~

Inside the inspiration of a realization

Then Lennon died and for a time

I understood Kennedy, X, and MLK

Why Bobby couldn’t outlive his brother

When Walter Cronkite cried before us all

I remember suddenly becoming, older

When no longer could my voice simply be heard

Reflections would later trace my feelings in word