Hi everyone,
Here’s my BOSK poem. It’s a good word and fun to explore.
Down by the Tracks
By David L. Harrison
The endless train rumbles by.
I, too bored to count cars,
feel the earth tremble
as it trembled when I was ten.
When friends slept over,
we rode bikes, played catch,
looked for bugs and odd rocks,
but our favorite place
was down by the tracks.
Blackberry bushes that drew blood
and trees wearing vines like snakes
admitted kids only, no parents allowed.
Well once we found a hobo camp –
empty bottles, cans, blankets –
but mostly it was just us
and twice a day rumbling,
earth trembling trains.
We didn’t know the word bosk.
We called it down by the tracks,
our secret place where we,
with slender shirtless bodies
astride high limbs,
could speculate on what boys
wondered about.
The last car groans and creaks
into the future.
Someone behind me honks.
The earth has stopped trembling.
I move on.
REMINDER: For anyone in the area, this weekend it’s Wordfest in and around the public square. Here’s the link. http://wordfestsgf.wordpress.com/events. I hope you can come and tell others.
On Saturday morning at 11:30, in Park Central Branch Library, Resident Artist Ensemble presents “David Harrison and Friends,” dramatic readings of my selected work ranging from my first book for children (THE BOY WITH A DRUM) and Christopher Award winner BOOK OF GIANT STORIES to more recent books and poems, including PIRATES, SOMEBODY CATCH MY HOMEWORK, COWBOYS, SOUNDS OF RAIN, THE MOUSE WAS OUT AT RECESS, BUGS, and several others.
The readers are all equity actors with yards of credits and tons of talents. To hear them read my work just blows me away. I’m flattered that they include me as one of the readers.
“David Harrison and Friends” was performed last winter as the second in a series of Missouri authors being honored by the Resident Artist Ensemble group. Previously they’d read from Daniel Woodrell (WINTER’S BONE). The weather was awful for my reading so I’m delighted to have another chance to see my work presented.
David
