Saturday, January 12, 2013

Jukebox (Boombox), Baby



Joan Jett on cassette
softball summers
of field-dirt-crusted scabs
on my knees
and thighs
sliding into second
my dad said I never did it quite right
because there should be more on my thighs
if I were

a cherry Tootsie Roll Pop
with a ‘tude
sneaking gin and Jack Daniels
and smokes
dreaming of VW Super Beetles with glitter in the paint
or a ‘64 convertible Mustang, cherry red too, of course—
and The Outsiders

fast-forward
in audible
relief, mom and dad,
glad
I didn’t turn out wielding
a six-string and blowing sugar pops
but still I do
Love Rock ‘n Roll


Copyright 2013 Jennifer Wagner

At dVerse Poets Pub master prompter and poet Stuart McPherson has us writing about 'Growing Up'

38 comments:

  1. ah i grew up again in your words...haha...we played a lot of field baseball and had scabbed knees....joan jett...ha, nice...the audible relief...yeah i think my parents had that as well...cool verse...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love your ending. You still have that tough side to you even though you grew up. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been told that before...a lot...recently...ha...thanks Gretchen. I really enjoyed your piece for the prompt as well.

      Delete
  3. Great journey through childhood... from sports to sneaking drinks... Joan Jett brings back lots of memories.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I wore that tape out...thanks for commenting Laurie :)

      Delete
  4. I love the recollections ~ I believe somehow we do find our own unique journey, and its not as bad as our parents feared its going to be ~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you're right in many respects...thanks much Grace.

      Delete
  5. Excellent memories put together in a way that had me recalling my own. Loved the retro feel to this with the Outsiders and Joan Jett. Really liked the way you fast forwarded the cassette in the last verse.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My 12 year old recently read The Outsiders and that fired up a lot of memories...a perfect prompt to at least make mention...thanks so much ND--always appreciate your words :)

      Delete
  6. I loved all of your reminscing here..love those softball summers...and I remember them too. Smiles.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Brilliant...just love it and rock n roll...sounds like a lot of fun!

    ReplyDelete
  8. such great and vividly painted nostalgia...i like to think that the closing lines mean that whilst we haven't ended up quite where we expected in life, we can still have dreams, in fact, it is VITAL that we do

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amen. Great prompt Stu, as always! Thanks so much.

      Delete
  9. Childhood and scabbed knees? It was a badge of office! Worn with pride.

    ReplyDelete
  10. smiles..so cool...i had a vw beetle as my first car..oh it spoke of freedom...smiles...wonderful memories..and yeah..i too love rock n roll still...smiles

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really wanted one with the glitter paint for awhile...ha...fun stuff :)

      Delete
  11. Very cool. You painted the picture so clearly with your words.

    ReplyDelete
  12. ..you must be my daughter's age..fun images..my first car was a 1965 beetle and I still love rock and roll..:)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Loved your "child to teen to adult" approach.Great job painting a picture of your youth. Glad to know you still love rock and roll (so do I)!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I SO LOVE THIS POEM! Sigh. Those were the days, my friend........

    ReplyDelete
  15. familiar imagery, great snapshots with grit and sparkle. rock on =)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Rock on!! Keep a bit of that rebel in you. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. This poem reminded me of when as a child I wanted to play a lot of baseball, but in Italy it is not easy to look beyond football.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would have missed being able to play it. Thanks for stopping by Matteo.

      Delete
  18. Joan Jett wasn't really big over here - except for that song! I loved it - my Dad didn't. Odd to think that only a few months later he didn't turn a hair when Iron Maiden were blasting out of my room!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. '...Hear the rime of the ancient mariner...' now you're taking me back again... :-)

      Delete
  19. Casettes! Do kids today even know what those are?!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your thoughts!