Slides

Have you come to play with me today? Terrific! No matter my age I hope to always live by the rules of the playground: share, take turns, use my imagination, run, jump, dance, sing, get a little dirty, challenge my limits by learning new songs and games, participate, climb high, hide away alone if I want to, laugh and express myself loud and clear. Sounds a little hokey, maybe, but I really think these rules work, when I consider that if I applied even a few today more would be accomplished on all planes.
I hope you carry a playground in your heart, and that you will come and play with me again!
The above image is the cover of an old playground equipment catalogue. The painting on the right is by Edward Del Rosario. There is the most wonderful blog called Playscapes about everything playground here: http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com


Flat slides, wide and shiny during daytime

cool down in the evening.

Noises of the nearby road

die down. At once

She hears wind scraping

chains against the crossbar

(Suggesting child phantoms

in the autumn dusk);

The undulating swingset

provides distraction from her upset.

Now that work is over

she's faced with such futility.

It was just a part-time job -

but her responsibility.

Why is life a cycle

wielding many oppositions?

She once came here to play,

now she comes to worry.

Cutting the streetlamp's beam

a long shadow appears.

followed by a boy,

who has been her friend for years.

Life now seems to balance

as she greets him happily;

Yes, the time has turned,

but not so differently.

Is the playground no more

a reflection on her changes,

than the same place it will always be

where friendship meets the ages?