AROUND THE PLAYGROUND, OUT OF THE BOX

AROUND THE PLAYGROUND,

OUT OF THE BOX

Behold, a playground box

Designed for those whose job it is

To play outside the box

 

Follow my grandchildren if you will

Kids who excel 
At play

Are your feet bare?

Shoes and socks, a bother

Things for adults to gather 

While the pros attend to what matters

I envisioned 
Begin-here-go-that-way-end-there

But to my Zeus 1 and Zeus 2

The fun was to play god with rules

Fashion a universe

(In a matter of hours, by the way,

Not six days)

Approach the climber from the back

Circle the perimeter

Feet between the rails
And, dangling your toes 

Make up your challenges as you go

On the slide make sure 

Your adult is around

Then go up, not down

And demonstrate 
Why feet are best kept bare

At the swings

It's not swing versus pump

To these chimps

It's shinny up the poles

Skootch across the top

Then down the other side

Repeat

Wherever poles and bars can be found

At the monkey bars swing arm to arm

Knees up, hang upside down

Grab a pole and flip feet down, right side up

Then up the climbing wall in the boring way

Walk the top and jump

To the next object of play.

You get the picture – or a picture of sorts –

From an adult viewing younger sports

While keeping track of shoes, jackets and socks

That is to say, from inside the box

DRK

12/21/14