Sunday, November 10, 2013

Skipping Past Time

     Image by Mike Worrall

Next year,
when we were children
we loved
skipping time:

double Dutch forward,
peppers back,
criss-cross applesauce 
back and forth again.

Who could keep track
of when we are?
Not the jumper,
or swingers,
or those in line
waiting their turn.


This is for Grace in the Imaginary Garden.  She asked us to write about one of the many, delightful paintingsof Mike Worrall.  And it's also for Mary's prompt involving childhood toys or games over at dVerse Poets Pub.  Click on each of the links for more responses.  

21 comments:

  1. ha. def like the rhymes we used to do skipping rope...interesting twist bringing time into this...i reread the first two lines a few times...ha...slow on the uptake you know...smiles.

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  2. Skip away at your bay, could make up a rhyme on a dime

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  3. This was one of my favorite game as well ~ They can all wait while we skip and skip with time ~

    Thanks for linking up to Real Toads Sunday Challenge ~ Happy week ~

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  4. Oh the days we wanted to skip time and now we find ourselves clutching on to moments...Love your poem!!

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  5. the jump rope as a time machine...eh, why not. very nice

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  6. How wonderful—perfect for both prompts! I was never good at skipping. My sense of balance and has never been good, and I tripped all over my feet, so I would volunteer to hold the rope.
    I love the time warp in this poem, though, and can picture the school yard, and the long ropes, and all the girls.
    K

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  7. you made me feel like a little girl!


    ALOHA from Honolulu
    Comfort Spiral
    =^..^= <3
    > < } } ( ° >
    > < 3 3 3 ( ' >

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  8. Who could keep track
    of when we are?.... ha...i like...always somewhere but didn't matter when or what exactly... sometimes i would love to have a bit of this back..

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  9. How playful is your poem! I see these kids with jumping rope reading your poem while jumping...

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  10. beautifully appropriate words to bring out the spirit of Worrall's painting......

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  11. Oh, you reminded me of those wonderful jump rope rhymes and my own happy childhood experiences. Lovely nostalgia.

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  12. Hard to believe I used to jump rope. Now it would give me such a headache! Yes, waiting in line, eager to get into the rope. Now watching from the sidelines, envious.

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  13. I admire the way you manipulated time with the tenses in this piece - that was a brilliant idea and kept my swinging back and forth through a time paradigm.

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  14. love this! love it. the time shift, the today vs. who we were when we were young, and oh how i think about my own kids not jumping rope! i gotta do something about that. hopscotch, too.

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  15. Lovely lovely! Jump at all speeds, in all rhymes, forwards and backwards in time.

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  16. You remind me of hours of skipping rope in the schoolyard. Different country so different rhymes but the game and excitement were the same!

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  17. This was really quite fun... love the surreal you brought forth in the first line... next year we were children... sweet. why should time be linear?

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  18. The title and then your flirting with time references are surreal : "Next year,
    when we were children" and the beginning of the third stanza. I can hear the rhyming words, repeated… quite erie, actually.

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  19. I enjoyed your poem and have sweet memories of jumping! I love your take on the challenge~

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  20. well spun, Mary :) ~

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