Childhood
Writing Prompts are back for the month of October.
Today’s writing prompt is Childhood.
@writtentospeak
out the back door of our childhood home grew a growing camphor tree.
the sunshine crawled through the cracks in the bright green leaves,
space created by the Southern breeze.
below it’s wide canopy fell little black berries,
but we were told to keep them out of our mouths
like naughty words and dessert before dinner.
to my young eyes the branches swayed like the fingers of giants pointing east and west
and i did my best to climb their arms with my little limbs
pulling myself higher and higher before i was told to
come on down
and no matter how many times i close these eyes
i can’t get back to the way it used to be
when i was 8 and you were 9.
and i’m still trying to close my eyes
to get back to the way it used to be,
when i’d walk out the back door
and find myself beneath the canopy of the camphor tree.
now that i’m back inside
i’ve come to realize
i was never prepared to say goodbye to my childhood
or that camphor tree.
and i’m still trying to bring myself alive,
to climb high,
to hear my mom call me back inside
and hear those three words:
come on down.
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WTS
Tanner Olson is a writer, speaker, poet, spoken-word artist, & creator of Written to Speak.
He created Written to Speak to spread hope & announce love.