That Point In Time When We Were Part Of The Milky Way And Knew It Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

you will write on highway wide and pale blue lines

and learn to love the Thorndike-Barnhardt dictionary

its earnest illustrations;

its faded turkey red colour

having been used by another previously

in the Arkansas School system

as it was back then.

learn the Mexican Hat Dance for assembly

and how to play a child sized popsicle coloured xylophone

thinking of notes as red and green, with orange thrown in;

wear dresses picked out by your Grandmother

sash tied at the back

in gingham plaids, and glorious pastels

and float on the playground as if you were a cloud

hovering near the honeysuckle bushes

swing on the swings

and ride the buses with the older children

carrying their flutophones

in serious cases.

and jump rope every way you can think of

till the dust flies up

in the early Spring bordering on summers, home:

to be helped with homework, flash cards, the Bard

and on to the evening meal, so many chicken pies

and school nights

under eternal starlight,

in Little Rock.

mary angela douglas july 15 2019