Copyright © 2009 Ernest Bloom.
We rode our bicycles in the hot summer streets
when the leaves on the mulberry trees were still
bigger than your hand and green. The breeze
streamed in through lightly tossing curtains, and
all you could hear was the kids laughing half way
down the block. Mine had a long banana seat
and we'd go flying down the hilly roads to the
desert's edge where you might sail off into
undreamt of adventures in space ships or as
Pacific isle castaways. But they sold my bike
at a garage sale right before we moved out where
the skies at night were darker than the grave, but
the stars blazed like a rain of glitter in your hair
and dusting the upper curves of our cheeks.
A really enjoyable piece. The multitude of rhymes like streets, leaves, breeze etc., gave it a vibrant flow. The descriptions were a bit surreal, fantastic to be exact and the visions of childhood imaginations immediately sprang to mind. The banana seat sounds so wondrously inept and yet so joyful. The piece reminds me of Mark Twain's Mississippi writings, Tom Sawyer and such- so glorious and free. Then, after you've charmed this reader the bike is sold and the gloom of adulthood arises. We were all there, it's the inevitable end of every childish fantasy(well apart from Michael Jackson's perhaps, but that one was far from a blissful childhood). But there is a glimmer of hope on the sky, the stars glittering amiably, promising a new dawn? Joy among the dark and tumultuous rivers of adulthood perhaps.
ReplyDeleteWow this is beautiful. I love all the description, it was so vivid and beautiful. I immediately thought of some kind of innocent childhood, so innocent and free. And the selling of the bike symbolizes the end of this innocent period, this beautiful childhood. I like the bit about the stars at the end.
ReplyDeleteOverall, a beautiful write.
You captured a moment in time (or an age, rather) quite well here - it's like looking back on your youth with a smile - this was a beautiful piece, E.B. :)
ReplyDelete