Summer Camp Souvenirs
When I got home from camp today,
My parents almost died.
They asked me how I got this way,
And here's what I replied:
After discharge from the army, I became a high school business teacher and coached several sports in a small town in Southern Pennsylvania. Years later I switched to teaching in the middle school and discovered that almost all of the poems in the reading textbooks were free verse. As a boy, I'd been fascinated by the rhymes and rhythmic cadences of Poe, Kipling, Whittier, etc., so I began to write my own rhymed, metered poems for my classes.
Years later after retirement, I discovered several poetry-sharing web sites and began to write poems for adults. All of my poems are rhymed and metered--usually iambic or anapest, my favorite.
When I got home from camp today,
My parents almost died.
They asked me how I got this way,
And here's what I replied:
It is really a beautiful poem which blends childhood imagination, narration, and joyful experiences.
"It is some terrific summer camp,
The coolest one around."
Of all the burdens I must bear,
My brother's number one.
Our parents really messed up there.
They've raised an awful son.
A beautiful poem with childhood memories, both positive and negative. The experience of many younger brothers, I guess.
At night the sun lies down for sleep
And crickets sing a tune.
The bullfrogs croak and creatures creep
Beneath the watching moon.
The poem clearly depicts a child's thoughts at night. Regular rhythm and rhyme reflect the rhythm of sounds of nature as well as the other rhythmical sounds coming from the surrounding.