A Forgotten Tale

I remember Being a Kid.

I remember always having a cheery smile plastered on my face.

I remember feeling the snow stuck to my numb, cherry red hands.

I remember the ache our arms felt after the monkey bars.

I remember the smell of Sunday morning brunches.

I remember coloring outside the lines just for the fun of it.

I remember when school meant seeing your friends.

I remember when the worst punishment was not being able to play outside.

I remember when spelling bees were our "scary" presentations.

I remember the most we could get into trouble for was making messes.

I remember the only currency I could go broke in was monopoly money.

I remember the most pain we felt was from the occasional paper cut.

I remember wanting to grow up.

I remember not trying hard to remember my childhood memories.

I remember the memories slowly fading.

I remember not being able to completely remember.

Now, I've completely forgotten.

A poem recollecting the times of childhood and the times of wanting to grow up. We were all so eager to enter the unknown and fearlessly we did. As time went on we forgot how it was like to be kids, and how to live simply.

Ekphrastic Poetry:

I am

filled with rage and anger,

not entirely my own.

Bright red

burning,

as if on fire.

Everyone I have ever met

gave me a piece of themselves.

They have affected me in ways

I can't even fathom.

But,

this anger,

this anger isn't mine.

I don't want it.

Take it back.

My life,

So rigid.

So incomplete.

Trapped as a person,

everyone thinks I am.

The way they see me,

the way they helped make me,

It Isn't me.

This poem is an ekphrastic poem, meaning it is based on a piece of art. The art I got inspiration from to write this poem is sitting in the Gregg Museum on campus. It is an image of a young girl, red and bright, created by used toothpicks of random strangers (holding their DNA) dipped in red paint. I wrote this poem as if I was the girl in the image.