In Childhood
In Childhood
by Sarah Chavez
In childhood Christy and I played in the dumpster across the street
from Pickett & Sons Construction. When we found bricks, it was best.
Bricks were most useful. We drug them to our empty backyard
and stacked them in the shape of a room. For months
we collected bricks, one on top another. When the walls
reached as high as my younger sister’s head, we laid down.
Hiding in the middle of our room, we watched the cycle
of the sun, gazed at the stars, clutched hands and felt at home.
There’s something so appealing about the nostalgia of childhood. People always seem to pair childhood with innocence but i’m inclined to think it’s something else…something we so very often lose or forget when we grow up. Excellent piece! I too played in dumpsters at the apt. complex i grew up at in South Houston. Rummaging was so fun but the landlady manager didn’t like it and started making rounds to stop me and others–up-tight old hag! lol.
I played in dumpsters well into my late 20’s. Rummaging for stuff in the Goodwill dumpsters mostly. As I child I played in ditches and Houston bayous. I love this poem.