Boyhood Inventory

 

Photo of Old Cigar Boxes from Pinterest

 

cigar box secrets
possessions with
powers of privacy
curious objects of
preadolescence
talisman childhood
artifacts taken as
innocent prisoners
of quiet discovery
culled from adventures
and escapades
brimming with fantasy

compass and whistle
flint arrowheads
penknife and snake
rattle fossils and
seashells a dragon
tooth world war two
carbine shell feathers
and rocks with some
eye-catching features
a dinosaur knuckle
a rabbit’s foot coins
from a buccaneer’s lair

all tucked in their
art-paneled vaults
among sneakers
and baseball gear
guarded by underbed
mists of incipient
unformed tomorrows
every possible future
just waits to emerge
from shadow to shape
that will someday
put all of these prized
secret treasures aside

 

 

From my book Bohemian Scents

Manning Up

“Father and Son” by Amanda Olson

 

(I wrote this about 5 years ago, but recent trends in our culture would seem to make it, once again, apropos. Count me among those who proclaim “me too.”)

 

practicing respect
for the women in their life
brings boys their manhood

 

 

From my books Pentimento and Riverthink

Boyhood Inventory

Old Cigar Boxes Photo from pinterest.com

 

cigar box secrets
possessions with
powers of privacy
curious objects of
preadolescence
talisman childhood
artifacts taken as
innocent prisoners
of quiet discovery
culled from adventures
and escapades
brimming with fantasy

compass and whistle
flint arrowheads
penknife and snake
rattle fossils and
seashells a dragon
tooth world war two
carbine shell feathers
and rocks with some
eye-catching features
a dinosaur knuckle
a rabbit’s foot coins
from a buccaneer’s lair

all tucked in their
art-paneled vaults
among sneakers
and baseball gear
guarded by underbed
mists of incipient
unformed tomorrows
every possible future
just waits to emerge
from shadow to shape
that will someday
put all of these prized
secret treasures aside

Existential Convergence

“Old Man in Oils”
Artist Unknown
From pinterest.com

the man in the boy
pushes hard to escape
wants to chase down maturity

when he has it in hand
he is shocked and disturbed
by a noisy crescendo of

pounding and hollering
coming from somewhere
beneath his grown ribs

where is caged
for the rest of his lifetime
the boy in the man

Roadster

1928 Ford
Model A Roadster
From Wikipedia.com

storied hotrodder grail
built for linear speed
when simple mechanics
were self-teaching province
of boys with their dad’s
common handtools and
two or three ounces
of oil in their veins

before interstates
back country two-laners
opened their curves to
industrious lads with
fast appetites engines
testosterone fueled
roared with jury-rigged
gleanings of junkyards

an era when life could
race right on the edge of
adventure the dangers
mere added inducement
no seatbelts or speed
limits stifled the spirit
no nanny state thwarted
the free-hearted soul

Manning Up

Photo illustration from examiner.com

practicing respect
for the women in their life
brings boys their manhood