Smidgens
Those childhood memories from the playground
skipping
looking for conkers
Kiss chase
hide and seek
milk in small bottles
big heating pipes
painted green
Poplar trees at the end
of the playground
still there
60 years later
behind the bike sheds
Reading and writing
arithmetic
no fun at 5
Peggy and mother
5 plus 6
Swords were strange
learning silent letters
pens in inkwells
pencils sometimes
rubbers to erase
Strange hair
and clothes
that was how
we dressed
every day
We walked to school
few cars back then
the 1950s were like
lockdown April 2020
empty streets
Was it better
who knows
it was ours
and our
Smidgens
-Pauline Smith
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