Tag Archives: childhood images

Skating Lessons

photo by Gloria Palazzo

Skating Lessons

Bazooka or Double Bubble
the biggest decision I had to make that June,
my mentor was the girl six years my senior
who lived two houses away.
Brown braids and freckles,
her calm made order out of mayhem,
her smile resolving daily skinned knees and bruises.
A skate key on a cord around her neck—
always dependable,
like some preteen utilitarian angel.

I skated through July,
hanging my last
in a long line
of replacement skate keys
securely around my neck
from my dad’s old compass cord,

knowing by some prescience
far beyond my years
that mentors, like meteors,
streak by quickly and are soon out of sight.

 

And…..remember this song very pertinent to the topic at hand?

Prompt words are mentor, compass, mayhem and bazooka.
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2019/05/01/rdp-wednesday-mentor/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2019/05/01/your-daily-word-prompt-mayhem-may-1-2019/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2019/05/01/bazooka/
https://fivedotoh.com/2019/05/01/fowc-with-fandango-compass/

Playing in the Air

Two children fell from the top of this slide in the playground across from the house where I grew up. One of them was my sister Patti, pictured nearest the top in this photo. The second child to fall tragically died, but the slide was not removed or altered until the old school building was replaced years after I had grown up and moved away. I am the third and lowest child in this photo, following along, as usual.        photo circa 1949/50 by my other sister, Betty Dykstra Wilcox

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/10/26/rdp-friday-slide/