Gifts Of My Childhood

By skinner_jennifer

Mon, 07 Nov 2016
  • 1836 reads
8 comments
 

In deep recesses of my mind running

down nostalgic pavements scrawled

with forgotten squares and numbers

hopscotch played until we dropped,

 

with sticky fingers remembering red

and black tongues; racing home from

school passed tuneful ice cream vans

no money left for that smooth taste,

 

pennies – thruppeny bits and a

bright silver sixpence would be

spent in Auntie Jean's sweet shop

calling us kids with many delights,

 

fruit salads – blackjacks – aniseed balls,

sherbet fountains – packets of sweet hearts

telling of childhood love, then boasting of

who could eat strands of red licorice fastest,

 

even a lucky bag held surprises whilst

skipping passed middle-class homes,

like the drawings I created nice and square

with pretty floral curtains hung in windows.

 

Doctor's surgery a homely feel, memories of

lolly pops for being a good girl, or the dentist

where loosing a tooth wasn't that bad, it meant

receiving a beautiful traditional foreign doll.

 

Running down those recollections I hope never disappear,

layer upon layer of reminders, a melange just waiting to be

written – a carousel of delights all tangled, interweaving,

messy – grubby like muddy clothes with dirty grazed knees,

 

A promise of adventure down back lanes

furnishing stories with what we could find.

At the end of the day outside our cottage

we sat, minuscule transistors held to our ears,

 

Radio Caroline – Luxembourg too, no longer putting

up with Mum and Dad's huge wireless that stood on a cabinet

so high. Thinking of the Tornadoes Tel-star, or even Shadows

Apache gives me that tingling warm childhood feeling inside.

 

 

 

Certificate U
Poem
Poems
Autobiography

Comments

Submitted by Ray Schaufeld on

Hey I remember pavement hopscotch and blackjacks and fruit salads and my pocket money going up from sixpence to a shilling! We had a dentist with a sweetie jar and if we were good she would give us a sweet before we left the surgery. Enjoyed your poem a lot Jennysmiley

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hi Elsie,

many thanks for reading. It's good to know you could relate to this piece. Hop Scotch was definitely a favourite of mine, though it was so dam hard to pick up that stone when standing on one foot...ha ha! smiley

Mum was constantly finding sweet wrappers in my pockets, I must have been trained well not to throw them on the ground.

Glad you enjoyed and thank you for letting me know.

Jenny. 

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Interesting medley of varied memories, as you say interwoven by now, but it sounds a happy childhood. Merging into teenage years by the end of the poem? I've learnt a new word - 'melange'. A 'traditional foreign doll' seems rather a big thing for a dentist to deliver, now it's stickers, isn't it? Rhiannon

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hi Rhiannon,

glad you enjoyed reading this bit of fun to write. The traditional dolls I recieved were from my Mum, she would buy me one from our local shop, I had quite a collection but never did discover what happened to them.

I was about eight when we would sit on the wall outside my cottage with our tiny transistor radios, listening as the sun went down. You are so right, I did have a very happy childhood which was all down to my wonderful Mum who I remember with fondness.

By the way I love that word melange, it just rolls off the tongue so perfectly.

Many thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts, always appreciated.

Jenny. smiley

 

Submitted by jeand on

Hi Jenny

This is fun to read, and brought back memorises to me too, but my favourite candies were different.

Jean

Jean Day

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hi Jean, glad to see you're back and many thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts.

I suppose many of us would remember those sweets, but each one of us had different tastes. My Aunty worked in the local sweet shop and would often give me freebies which probably accounted for my many visits to the dentist, I'm happy I saw the error of my ways when I grew up.

Anyway, glad I could share my memories and bring some of yours back.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Penny4athought on

I loved the flavors in this - I could feel summer and childhood days like rays of sunshine in your descriptive imagery. I too remember hopscotch, and jump rope and trips to the corner candy store and all the sweets my teeth would hurt for. You made me smile, a wide grin of happiness. Thanks for letting those memories resurface. smiley

Penny4athought

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hi Penny,

sorry I'm a bit late to reply to your comment. It was great to know I could conjure up your own childhood memories with this piece. Many thanks for letting me know.

Jenny.