escapril '20

hometown //4-8-20//

do you remember
how we used to make sandcastles,
way too late in the evening?
[when the sun was low
and you could smell dinner
from all the way outside]
or how we'd always fight
about who got to wash their hands first
[because then we would get to eat first].
do you remember how
we used to ride our scooters
down the big hill
leading up to our driveway?
[do you remember the time
i was trying to get you in trouble
and ended up getting myself ran over
by my own scooter that you'd stolen?]
do you remember
what it was like to be a kid?
carefree and not a though of the world?
because i don't think i remember
[maybe i won't ever].
people always recall their childhood
like it was a book that they'd written
right in their head years ago.
like at any given moment
they could turn to 10 years old
and remember a funny story
or cute anecdote [maybe even a sad one] .
but i can't even remember
what it felt like
to play basketball in our driveway
[i just remember you telling me the rules of a game called pig].
or what it felt like
to make smoothies out of grass
from the weeds in our flower beds
[i just remember it smelling funny
and not tasting too bad].
all i really wish
is that this hometown
that i've created in my head
could maybe be real again
[that i could just feel happy
playing till dark and scrubbing the dirt
from underneath my fingernails].