How About A Story With No Ogres

how about a story with no ogres,

witches, spells, lovely or otherwise.

a bread and butter story on a honey

coloured day oh yes with no summer camps

no canoeing lessons where you get towed across

the lake on exam day oh no

where orange soda from a machine can never

make up for the feeling of not being home.

how about a story where the simpleton stays

at home and lets the clever brothers go

up the street and around the next corner forever.

a story where we live counting the golden leaves

whenever they choose to fall

and do not wish for the impossible.

mary angela douglas 3 april 2015

Note on the poem:In case you may wonder about the towing across the lake this is a real incident that occured in my last week at summer camp, age 12, when we were tested on canoeing skills. After we "swamped" the boat my team mates were possibly horrified when I did not have enough upper arm strength to hoist myself back into the canoe. Stoically, smoothly, perfectly they rowed back to shore with me clinging to the side of the upright canoe the whole way with of course an audience of the entire camp watching shoreside with the grim faced counselors.