Big Boy World

Remember
The old Mason jar
Its walls of prison quality glass
Its floor of arid yellow survival
Once fresh pinched grass so green
A conqueror's lair
A little boy's water boarding power of another kind

Remember
The hunt
Desolate expanses of milk weed
Abandoned vehicles
Sun baked tire treads
Cast aside wagons
Their glory red
Now rust tainted
Discarded fields of memory
All awaiting tomorrow's
Afternoon cloud burst
Or a carelessly thrown match
A mall developer's land mover
Or maybe...

Remember
The capture
The hands cupped
Brought together
Like a sudden bellows closing
A hollow cave imploding
On the ears of the ensnared
Laughable to the players
Deafening to the captor

Remember
The prideful imprisonment
The locust's rights dutifully stripped
Our superior principal of compassion
The moral conscience taught in Sunday School
Quickly manifest upon lids of jars
Carried out by hammer and nail
For without air holes
Suffering might succumb
Rendering life
Short lived

Remember
Grown ups always patting our heads
Encouraging we stay innocent
Not to grow up so fast
Reminding us how fleeting childhood was

Remember
How we learned
What's another locust
Pursued
Caught
Imprisoned
Tortured
Soon enough forgotten?

Remember
Warm oatmeal cookies and milk
Always awaited Mommy's little soldiers
So cared for
Loved
Adored
Primed perfectly
For expectant rewards
For misunderstanding pain

Remember