The Cerebral Mum

The first assignment from the 30 Poems in 30 Days project.

“Write a poem about your childhood. Explore an actual event that had some emotional significance to you. Avoid using any description of how you felt about the event then or how you feel about it now. Instead, try to make the emotion of the event come through in your descriptions of what happened.”

Drought

every day is summer
violent, unrelenting
barefoot and I am running
black tar, the road is melting
dry heat, the air is shaking
burnt skin and I am flying
down the road, the tar is sticking

every day is summer

passed the pubs, the men are drinking
passed the shops, shopkeepers idling
passed the town, the road is widening
through dry fields, tobacco dying
along dirt tracks, the dust is moting
then the shade, the trees are standing
by the river, water calling
water cool and dark and greening

every day is summer

I slide in and I am smiling
and the days are never ending
until the rain comes, then the flooding

every day is summer

I thought I’d keep my commentary until after the poem. I never read the introduction first. I like to make up my own mind.

All I have to say, really, is that I found this extraordinarily hard. My childhood memories are nebulous so trying to find a subject which I could limit to pure description was a challenge. It’s been a long time and I’m sure this won’t win any prizes but I don’t feel as though I have to apologise for it.

I like it. I like the rhythm and I like that, to me at least, it conveys something about growing up in Australia.

So, that’s one down. 29 to go.