Day 160

Today's words:

Sunburn
Bank
Gym
Screen
Seesaw
Basket

When I was a kid I got a sunburn
Every summer. The bank
Closed at 3 and my school didn't have a gym.
Sunscreen
Hadn't been invented. We played on a metal seesaw
And got Easter grass in a basket

Made, no doubt, of harmful substances. Today's mom would be a basket
Case if she saw any of that. But not then. I'd peel off skin after the sunburn
While riding the seesaw.
At the bank
There wasn't a screen
Between us and the teller, and gym

Was a period in school, not a place to go. Adults didn't go to the gym.
And, not to put all my eggs in one basket,
No-one wore sunscreen
Either. A sunburn
Wasn't something to be afraid of. We rolled down the hill on the bank
Of the river after playing on the seesaw.

Today the only seesaw
Is my emotions as I guilt myself into going to the gym.
Thankfully the bank
Is open late now, and I put my groceries in a basket,
So I don't use a plastic bag. I'll never get a sunburn
Because I don't leave the house without my SPF 30 sunscreen.

I remember when in church they did away with the screen
Between you and the priest at confession, and when they took the seesaw
Away from the playground. They told us to avoid sunburn
And everyone had to work out at the gym.
The only basket
I'll buy has to be locally-made and artisinal. You can take that to the bank.

I got home from the bank
And opened the window screen,
Letting the breeze in to knock the basket
Off the table. It fell like it had been on a seesaw
And the other person stood up suddenly. Time to go to the gym,
Sticking to the shade to avoid sunburn.

Rolling down the bank after playing on the seesaw,
We didn't need sunscreen and didn't go to the gym.
We picked up rocks with a basket and peeled our sunburn.