Monday, July 25, 2011

Crossing the swings


Business friends had found
some old industrial pipe,
discarded in an old downtown
office for some reason,
an industrial-strength
swing set was welded: large,
sturdy virtually indestructible
even for neighborhood boys.
Simple but fit for use: glider,
two swings and a slide.
Its main appeal was the height
of the cross-bar, nearly ten feet
from the ground. Crossing
the swings became the game,
hand over hand crossing the bar,
to reach the other side without
the collie dragging you down
by the cuff of your blue jeans.
The dog rarely lost; you’d have
to try again, the rust stains
becoming more embedded
in your hands.

This poem is submitted as part of the One Word Blog Carnival hosted by Peter Pollock, with the one word prompt being “swings.” To see more posts submitted, please visit Peter's site. The links will be live at 10 p.m. Central time Monday.

Photograph: Abandoned Playtime by Kim Newbery via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

discarded pipe
dangling legs move in
blue jeans with knee patches
when old things were
given new life

Maureen said...

I like how the dog wins.

Cute poem.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the big smile, Glynn. Loved this.

Peter P said...

Yet another reason why I'll never have a dog!

;-)

Anonymous said...

my collie always won at our games,too, but he evened things out by allowing us to dress him up as the dog-clown when we played circus. So it was a wash. I enjoyed the visual of crossing the bar...a game for the young.

Lisa notes... said...

I love the details you use, Glynn. Makes it fun to visualize.

Louise Gallagher said...

Nice visualization. Nice visuals.

Nice verse!

You're on a roll -- A poem a day -- and all three poems are fabulous.

katdish said...

I felt like I was sitting in the park watching this all play out. Way to paint a word picture, Glynn.

Helen said...

I like the image of old discarded pipe being used to make something of value to a boy and his dog.

Anonymous said...

I am typically not a poem girl, but I really liked this one! I didn't get lost in it -- which I usually do get lost in poems -- rather, I was drawn into it! Great post. :)

a joyful noise said...

I got so lost in your story that I did not realize it was a poem!
Leave it to kids to find another method to use their toys instead of what they are actually for!