Reading and Recess

          I miss the simplicity

          of it all.  Marbles and

          kickball, tree climbing

          and tag.  The strong fall

          breeze whipping over

          beach grass and dunes

          off Lake Michigan.

          The joy of filling out

          the entire back side of

          the checkout card for

          “The Boxcar Children,”

          I must have owned that

          book for three months!

          Or that at times,

          underneath the top

          of my desk was a

          world of organization,

          of books and papers

          and markers, that still

          shows up in my desk

          today.  Still, I long for

          jumping for distance

          off the swings, playing

          football in thigh-deep

          snow, the double I hit off

          my best friend, Ollie Krizan,

          the touchdowns he’d throw

          to me, the fastest kid

          in school.  Nothing was

          better, except maybe an

          extra half cherry in your

          fruit cup at lunch.

 

 

 

                                                       Steve Shilling