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Open Poetry #13
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Sunshine
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since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart

0 posted 2001-03-29 02:58 PM


The Tomboy Tree

It was a great tree, that pepper tree…
well, not really a pepper tree,
but it had
these terrific little hard black berries
that hung from its branches…
sure looked like black
peppercorns.

And it had the best branches, excellent
for climbing and getting up high,
hiding,
safe and secure behind the drooping
limbs higher up, with long tendrils
of green leaves
tickling my ears.

I could be up in the tree before
Mom could see me behind the trunk
calling me to come to lunch, or
perhaps dinner,
and I would pretend I could not
hear her
even tho I knew
I was courting disciplined trouble
as she had this
not so great paddle
and was never hesitant to use it.
but to leave the tree?

No, tomboy me, I needed to
climb and climb
to reach the stars and the sunshine
in night or day
to get away
from the changes of womanhood encroaching
to remain a tomboy just one
more moment
longer.


8 May, 2000
©KRJ


© Copyright 2001 Karilea Rilling Jungel - All Rights Reserved
Sudhir Iyer
Member Ascendant
since 2000-04-26
Posts 6943
Mumbai, India : now in Belgium
1 posted 2001-03-29 03:00 PM


Ah, excellence in words...

Karilea, This is splendid...

Regards,
Sudhir

Martie
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since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
2 posted 2001-03-29 03:48 PM


Karilea--I am there with you, girlfriend..er I mean tom boy friend...twas there myself in the plum tree right next door.  Loved this look into your girlhood time.
PoeticKnight
Senior Member
since 2000-01-20
Posts 1144
New Orleans, LA
3 posted 2001-03-29 03:51 PM


Womanhood fits nicely on you now Sun. Liked the nostalgia of this, I had a tree in my backyard I always climbed. I'm flashing back now...
JLR
Senior Member
since 2001-02-04
Posts 1785

4 posted 2001-03-29 03:53 PM


Probably the thing I miss most about being a kid is climbing trees.  This really took me back...thanks!  Loved it so much.
Jellybean King
Member
since 2001-03-07
Posts 153
Jelly, Bean
5 posted 2001-03-29 03:58 PM


I love that title...this is so fresh and alive...written in the voice of a little tomboy...there is mischief and humor through the eyes of a tomboy...I liked the upbeat tempo and the sense of womanhood encroaching upon her young life.

Jellybean King

suthern
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Member Seraphic
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
6 posted 2001-03-29 04:56 PM


Mine was an oak... in the transition zone from swamp to pasture. *S* This is great, Sunshine... love the poem and the memories! *S*
coyote
Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 1077

7 posted 2001-03-29 10:04 PM


From a tree house one can be:

Knight, guardian of a King.
A Swiss Family Robinson person, (remember them?)
John Glenn, looking down on earth.
Or, like me, just a short kid who found a way to be tall! lol
Thanks.
I loved it.

"The poet is the priest of the invisible."
Wallace Stevens

Marge Tindal
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since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384
Florida's Foreverly Shores
8 posted 2001-03-29 11:55 PM


Karilea~
'Tom' me too !
Mine was (and still is) the Camphor tree -
Been known to scale an Oak or two and shinny all the way to the top -

LOL !
Climbed a 40 ft. Australian Pine once -
and had to be rescued by my brother to get down.

Oh, my gosh ... what a memory stir !
I'll have to write him and see if he remembers it as well as I do.

AND ... one never gets too 'grownified' to climb !

Thanks, gal !
~*Marge*~

~*The pen of the poet never runs out of ink, as long as we breathe.*~
noles1@totcon.com


Mysteria
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since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328
British Columbia, Canada
9 posted 2001-03-30 12:32 PM


Funny how words make us remember and sometimes they are not pleasant either...mine was an oak tree, and I hid there, as it was my refuge.  To this day, I love oak trees. Great poem.
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