Things I Remember

Escapril prompt: nostalgia

As kids what we did didn’t have to have a purpose.
We could just put on a Scream mask and negotiate the rules
To some dumb game we’ll never play again:
Pile cushions and blankets in the middle of the floor
And jump from the big comfy couch on the count of ten,
Scatter Mega Bloks, action figures and Tinker Toys on the floor
And run as fast as you could without poking your feet,
Use your two inches of toolbar-free screen space
To go on Cheat Code Central to look up cheats,
To the games we’d play in our blanket forts,
Like Spyro or Donkey Kong 64: “Weeeelll Doooone!”
Games blindly rented from Blockbuster
When we could only choose one,
Or cheap cereal-box disks like Fischer-Price: Wild Western Town,
“Gold! Leave some for the deputies, will ya?”
Building wanted posters of outlaws to hang on the fridge,
Below half-built Lego houses you worked on ‘till ya
Had to ride fake grey plastic leather seats to school
And swig chocolate milk at lunch with the other fanatics,
And get excited to play Number Muncher,
Which somehow was more fun than boring old mathematics.
You’d bring home a Scholastic catalog
And try to convince your parents you need a giant eraser
Since your mistakes are giant too,
Watching TV while waiting for supper,
Sitting close to see the red, green, and blue,
And absorb the static with your nose,
Learning to love when it’s mail time,
“Don’t you put it in your mouth, ‘cause you might get sick!”,
Or playing games like Gex: “It’s Tail Time!”,
Adding rocks to my collection that was 95% gravel
When Mom kicked me out for playing too much Pokemon –
Her fault for reading Professor Oak’s words to me
When I couldn’t read yet, teaching me the pantheon.
As kids we just wanted to have senseless fun,
Whether at the McDonalds Plague Place or just putting worms in a bucket,

Writing poems like this brings me back to those times, Because there isn’t a point and I love it.