C is for CHILDHOOD #Poetry Month and #AtoZChallenge

April #AtoZChallenge and #PoetryMonth

 

Three goals I had in mind while writing my collection of linked poetry:

1. To celebrate my appreciation of life

2. To experience the process of writing linked poetry, a form of Japanese renshi

3. To give thanks for and better appreciate a life well-lived.

 

The flowers are a colorful bonus for the #AtoZChallenge

 

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C is for Childhood and Camilla

 

Childhood

A Magical Adventure

 

Gramma Anna shuffles the deck

for another round of five-card Rummy.

I am four years old.

The crystal candy dish visible

in the glass-front dining room hutch

holds round white mints with xxx on top.

My mouth waters at the thought of

those sugary xxx marks on my tongue,

melting. 

Deep purple plums, tangy

in their under-ripe bitterness.

At age six, a secret treasure mined

From Gramma Julia’s garden.

Kitchen fragrance,

dough rising beneath a clean

flour-sack towel.

Fillings of poppyseed, raspberry, and prune

crowned with sweet whipped cream.

Childhood

in retrospect

outshines the brightest star.

 

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Visits with my grandmothers, Anna on my mother’s side, Julia on my dad’s side, are recalled in the context of food. Both baked excellent pies, cakes, breads, and biscuits. Their candy dishes were always full.

Why do you suppose this poem might offer either a feeling of contentment or wash over someone like a wave of sorrow?