Saturday, October 19, 2013

Playtime



image borrowed from bing


Playtime

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your
bare feet and the wind longs to play with your hair.”
--Kahlil Gibran


Somewhere far away
but perhaps not too far,
lies the magic

land of Mobbsia,
where the children completely rule.
It is a

marvelous dominion where
all the pussycats can fly
and their magnificant

purring fills the
night with sweet feline lullabies.
Everybodything flies there;

horses, bicycles, milkcows,
red wagons, piglets, puppies, frogs,
turtles, jackrabbits too,

but no thing
needs to actually sprout wings,
they/it just leaps

into the honied 
sky & experiences free-flight,
soon soaring over

cottages, gardens, forests,
hills, ponds, & each other.
Sometimes the sky

becomes as busy
as a freeway, as children
zip around on

high, arms out,
scarves fluttering, their joyous screams
& laughter trailing

after. Gosh, there
are two suns, one the
color of strawberries,

the other of
orange juice, and three moons
that all chase

each other across
rainbow-kissed horizons, their backsides
bare, but on

their opposite sides
you will find faces there--
sometimes dogs, sometimes

cats, even pigs 
make guest star appearances. In
Mobbsia it is

always Playtime; monkey-
bar gymnastics, dodge ball, skateboarding,
ping pong, scootering, 

& gang-tag--
always playing very hard, serious
stuff, because each

child understood that
play was essential preparation for
their inevitable departure,

after maturation and
graduation into mysterious adolescence and
other large mysteries. 


Glenn Buttkus

October 2013

Posted over on dVerse Poets Poetics

Would you like to listen to the author read this children's poem to you?

16 comments:

Victoria said...

Oh, I want to go there, although I suppose flying pussycats could be a little scary should they drop "things" on you. I love the Gibran quote you chose as an intro.

Anonymous said...

Glenn, sounds like you want to be a child once more. Strong write I'm sure the kids would love it. Maybe we should collect all the poems and pick the best 10 have some one from dVerse illustrate each one, bind it and send it around to children's hospitals. I'd pitch some dollars that way. >KB

Anonymous said...

I would love to go to such a place. Brimmed with the wonderful images, it is such a fun read. :-)

-HA

ruth said...

what an inviting world you have created here, Glenn - i can't imagine the citizens of earth would be any worse off for letting children run the show now and then :)

love that Gibran quote too

Laurie Kolp said...

You do well with children's verse, Glenn. This sounds like an imaginary haven... love the two moons.

Maggie Grace said...

I declare "everybodything" to be a new word. Love your child's world of play!

Susan said...

Colors and wingless flight and play ...perfect!

brudberg said...

I got all dizzy from all wonderful images here.. what a delightfully wonderful place you have created... still closed for everybody else.. reminds me of Pippi Longstocking and eating pills that made them never grew up... ha..(my childhood came back to me)

Claudia said...

a land with three moons...? now how cool is that... i wanna live there... i would love to be able to fly as well...without my usual broom, you know...smiles

Brian Miller said...

ha. you threw a bit of everything in there...we used to play some crazy games of tag and all its variations...the importance of play...yes we forget that...i have been playing today...thus i am running late...

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed the imagery, Glenn...especially the flavorful suns and the three moons with bare backsides (ha!) and faces on the other side :)

Anonymous said...

so much to absorb in this. The imagery was great and the inner child has come forth.

Anonymous said...

Like KB's idea to. Happy to illustrate.

Mystic_Mom said...

I am catching the next train there! This is wonderful Glenn!

Grace said...

How imaginative Glenn ~ I would love to go there & fly around with those children ~

I faced a blank wall with this prompt ~

Chris Lawrence said...

Vibrant and playful brilliant Brian