Formed in Fun

‘Formed in Fun’

Welcome this time true
to its own form,
foolish maybe but free,
heart pounding wildly
riding your red
paperboy’s bike
with no hands
down ‘Dead Man’s Hill’
daring yourself not
to use the brakes.

This was living on edges with ease,
the day dream of pure animal glee.

Now we’re talking love!
Climbing those forbidden
backyard fences and slippery
roofs of unknown neighbors
shocked during dinner
by you and your pal,
pre-adolescent partner in crime,
stomping big up there
on the tarry shingles
above their houses and heads
bowed, muttering grace
at the tables as we
cooked up a percussive surprise.

And when that thankyouGod
rare snow fell on our streets
glistening all white and slippery
so school was shut down
tight as a new Wilson mitt,
we celebrated by bombarding
the bus and cars dumb enough
to slide out on twenty-ninth street
with acres of snowball bombs
scoring frequent hits,
each white poof on metal or glass
a blizzard of joy,
a mastery of boyhood
delight.

I remember the adventures
in our city those secret
seasons of white and heat
with sleds and barefeet
as the times life opened
her rowdy sweet embrace
all the way,
completely,
all the way
home.