Friday, August 10, 2012

BACKYARD MERMAIDS: A Memoir Poem



Backyard Mermaids is a memoir poem. It relates a memory of one of the summer experiences I had with two of my first cousins at the home of my maternal grandparents. My cousins lived on one side of my grandparents’ house. We spent lots of vacation days together—running through the lawn sprinkler, picking vegetables in my grandfather’s garden, playing dress-up in the basement, meeting in our clubhouse under my grandparents’ front porch. 

 

BACKYARD MERMAIDS

An August afternoon,
the air hangs over us like a moist veil.
A cicada stings the silence.
Dzidzi turns on the sprinkler.
Thin ribbons of silver beads
stream upward, glisten in the sun.
We run back and forth through the tiny waterfall,
our bare feet squishing through wet grass,
liquid diamonds cooling our sunburned skin,
seaweed hair clinging to our heads and necks.
We are mermaids of the deep
and the sun, a giant topaz,
floats above us in a sea of sapphire blue.

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Violet Nesdoly has the Poetry FridayRoundup this week.

7 comments:

Violet N. said...

This is wonderful, Elaine. I am so there! Gorgeous gem images of diamond water drops and the topaz sun set in a sapphire sky.

By the way, I took the liberty of adding your post to the link catcher. I hope you don't mind.

Mary Lee said...

Oh...a clubhouse under the porch! Something I read about in books and wanted so badly to have (also a summer camp where I could go canoeing)!!

Linda B said...

I am so glad to read of your 'clubhouse' because I rarely find anyone who did 'clubs' when they were young. We did it endlessly, & I think most of its allure was the planning of the rules. Thanks for this memory of playing in the yard, Elaine. I love "bare feet squishing through wet grass". I can feel it now, know just what you mean.

jama said...

What a beautiful poem -- a memory cloaked in crystals and gems, resplendent with childlike joy.

Ruth said...

What a lovely memory of an afternoon under a topaz sun!

Doraine said...

I can feel that grass squishing under my feet! Lovely memories.

Joy said...

Elaine,
I'm a dunce and can't figure out how to line for the Poetry Friday Round Up this week, so I thought I'd just drop by and invite you to stop by my blog and read about the new Poetry Friday Anthology and Rebecca Kai Dotlich has a poem to share, Mrs. Betty. You'll be welcome at www.poetryforkidsjoy.blogspot.com

JOY