This is a poem which I wrote during FOURALL Magazine’s fall internship program. I wanted to explore ideas of childhood and very specific elements of it, while acknowledging that these concrete details aren’t universal. I hope you enjoy reading A Childhood!
A Childhood
Your favourite swing creaked. You loved
every golden leaf you found, even when
they were brown. You chased cats until
Mrs. Smith told you off, the wrinkled
neighbour who smelled like sepia.
Cigarettes stank and alcohol wrinkled
your little nose—*never*, you said, *never*
would you drink coffee, not that bitter
concoction. Your shirts were grass-stained,
shoes scuffed, hair tousled by the wind.
Or maybe not. But someone ran through
overgrown school fields, singing with the
crickets. Someone stared out of a classroom
window and waited for the sun to move,
that sun they could never look at but
somehow, always see.
Oskar Leonard 