For Marvin Camper
Today a childhood friend died
And I couldn't believe I had forgotten
How touchable we are
How takable
Forgot how finite our breath is
And he is not his body
And he is not dead
None of us die
We change
We change
But change is not comfort to his family
His friends
We played West Side Long Beach
Games together
We freeze tag
We hide go seek
We all red rover red rovered together
We all went in at street lights together
We stood on bus stops
We all talked about each others mamas
Our playground was perfect rectangle
Called Cameron St. up Delta Ave. past John Muir back down Gale
We were kids
Playing in streets
Relay races
Kickball
The Campers had that dog
That ran
That chased
That gate could not hold
J&J Market
Better get yo candy Tuesday cause they was closed on Wednesdays
We sat on Tara's porch together
Legs crossed
Tight jeans
Collar shirts with alligator tags
Taper St. was better than the club
We ran cross my grand daddy's perfect grass
Nepa turned back flips
We were pop Warner baby Vidars
Shaking our baby booties in green and gold skirts
We were unstoppable
Everybody know you can't stop
The Green Machine
We were undieable
And then Jerome left us too soon
We were the meaning of neighborhood
Ceddy and the boys chase us home from school
DeAngelo
Merle
Eugene
Melvin
Springdale crew
Silverado Park
Lolo's dad and my dad were best friends
Sonya
Monique
Keisha
The Coleys
Sean
Everybody better speak to Ms. Jones before she tell
Bridgette
Val
Ms. Williams
Poly High
Millikan
Wilson
John Muir
Webster
Bancroft
Hughes
Stevens
Hoover
We were our own reality show
Kissing contests in the park
Holding hands
First press and curls and weaved in ponytails
Shout out to my mother who took the neighborhood girls
To drive in movies on so many Friday nights
We play tetherball in my backyard
Carrie had that lemon tree we shook
Ms. Green had them pink roses we took
This
Is how
You
Grow
Up
Awww, those were the days!! Growing up on the west side.........priceless!!
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