1. Wilder Kids & 2. Quieter Kids, a poem by Adam Common, poet

1. You’d lift your skirt to your knees

To make the climbing easier.

Your hands were rough,

And your face all smudged up;

Grass in your stupid hair,

And in my stupid hair.

We were wilder kids, dumb ‘n dopey,

Smarter than the smart, because

Just because. And we could run,

And fight, fly, and fail, and fall.

And man, didn’t you show me

How to fall the hardest.

***

2. The crash and wallop turned ache,

The longer kind of unhappy days.

Your skin was cool

And your face all washed out.

Tired, you slept days away,

I waited days away

And we were quieter kids, sad and sorry,

Drifting ignorant, because

Just because. What did we know?

What hope could hope provide?

And man didn’t you show me

How hopeless I could be?