NaPoWriMo 2023 Day 23

Today’s prompt is to write a poem of your own that has multiple numbered sections. Attempt to have each section be in dialogue with the others, like a song where a different person sings each verse, giving a different point of view. Set the poem in a specific place that you used to spend a lot of time in, but don’t spend time in anymore.

Parks and Recreation 
by ARHuelsenbeck 

1. 
We used to go to the park 
to swim in the river, 
my mother and I. 
I remember her pink towel 
and the scent of her lavender perfume. 

2. 
The slide must have been 
twenty feet tall. 
It had a big bump in the middle 
that could make you go airborn. 
Sometimes kids would bring 
sheets of waxed paper 
and polish the slide with it- 
which made it superfast! 
Sometimes you'd land 
so hard on your backside. 

3. 
Summertime 
there were activities for kids. 
My favorite was "molds." 
You'd pay your coin- nickel, dime, or quarter, 
depending on the size- 
and choose your mold. 
Mr. Olshan would fill it 
with plaster of paris. 
After an hour or two in the sun, 
it would be dry and hard. 
Mr. Olshan would turn that rubber mold 
inside out and present you 
with a statue or figurine or plaque 
all ready for you to paint. 
Good times. 

4. 
As I got older 
(junior high age) 
I was allowed to participate in 
the end-of-summer dance. 
A band of teenagers 
played guitars and drums 
and sang songs from the radio. 
I hoped and hoped 
a boy would ask me to dance 
but no one ever did.

About Andrea R Huelsenbeck

Andrea R Huelsenbeck is a wife, a mother of five and a former elementary general music teacher. A freelance writer in the 1990s, her nonfiction articles and book reviews appeared in Raising Arizona Kids, Christian Library Journal, and other publications. She is currently working on a young adult mystical fantasy novel and a mystery.

Originally published at http://arhtisticlicense.com on April 23, 2023.