My Universe Changed

The 1960s framed my teenage years, adding cultural chaos to that of my adolescence. We've all been there to some extent. This is my story. Share yours in the comments if you want.

Photo by Alina Fedorchenko on Unsplash

Tomboy

Wind whips hair in my eyes

My bicycle rattles and wobbles

Between my dungareed legs

I fly over mounds of dirt left

By bulldozers clearing the field

Of weeds all shapes and colors

For a parking lot for a Mormon

Ward house that stands on the hill

Its steeple higher than my school.

I carve a trail over these bumps

Knowing my marks will disappear

Once the tarry pavement dries

Lines are drawn with precision

To place each car in a perfect row.

My muscles strain as I pump

The pedals, racing faster

Than the boys behind me

Shouting for me to slow down

Which I will never do for any of them.

Tree House

My legs wrap around

immense limbs

hug the sap-filled rings

that record the ages.

Bedded in the grass below

lovers wallow in verdant herbs

pungent earth mixes

with sweet blossoms

bees harbor honeycombs

beneath fallen wood.

I straddle boards nailed in place

on the eve of my maidenhood.

My legs swing open to grasp

raw bark between them.

One full summer nurtured

tomboy dreams.

The next promised dances

with callow boys

who once followed my bicycle

over hillside trails

or swung across streams

on rope swings.

Someday they will lead me

to lay in grass and wildflowers

under the tree house.

My universe changed …

When I reached thirteen

I learned that boys did not grow up

to be knights in shining armor.

Their manhood urgent,

faces blurred by a hint of hair,

their eyes pierced through the armor

of my fairytale childhood.

A blade of fear sliced through me.

These were no longer my buddies

Who climbed trees and raced bikes

As my hair flew in the wind.

Other women dictated

Goals I must attain.

Their moral codes explained

through tightened lips

that warned me of the evils

of desire.

In time I realized the truth

Rules were meant to be broken.

It would have to be that way

If I were ever to live and breathe

And walk with the wisdom of Eve

And the spark of Lilith.

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