I remember
When I was young
I used to play in the garden
And there were my friends
The insects, the dogs and the cat
We’d be lost out there for who knows how long
Climbing the trees
Climbing the fences
Nothing was too high
Watching the skies
As they say,
Time flies by

I’d spend all day
Out there
If I could
Feeling my feet
Conform to the wood
The same way
The snail
Holds the ground
And the boatman beetle
Swims upside down

Do you remember
That one time
Not so long ago
When your mother said
She locked you out sometimes
And forced you to stay outside
Pretending not to hear youre screaming
To come in
She sent away the neighbour
Through the window
That I could only come in
When my father
Got home.

And do you remember
Sometimes
That the only acceptable excuse
Was in desperate need
All the fun things
Always come back
And I can’t avoid the connotations
The sly suggestions
That all I knew
Has been tainted
In the tentacles
Stuck in that slime
That never washes off
The yellow stain
Of so many millipedes
I wanted to show
Everything I know
Has been
Enshrined
In neglect
Or abuse.