Friday, May 7, 2010

L’Enfant Sauvage

Generation after generation, the hedges of T. S. Darling Park had grown large and hollowed out slowly by the children who played there. Our parents expected the Town of Mount Royal to provide a selection of well maintained playground equipment, but it was these grand bushes that truly excited our imagination. Over the years, they had become like little houses inside, with individual rooms, and dirt floors hard packed. In one there was even a bathroom where someone said I could go and I did, right in the middle of Montréal. I was five, and there was no taming me.

Image from the Calgary Cinematheque Society.
Posted by Roy Schulze at 5:31 PM
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10 comments:

  1. Roy SchulzeFebruary 12, 2013 at 11:25 AM

    Added to ABC Wednesday.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Leslie:February 12, 2013 at 11:31 AM

    L'enfant sauvage, bien sur! lol I recall that when I was a young girl, we lived in the midst of some fields. In the summertime, we would scavenge around in the tall grass and hay, flattening out some circular areas and making hallways, etc. to make a grass house. Then we'd get snacks from our Mom and take them out there to "play house." Great memories!

    ReplyDelete
  3. photowannabeFebruary 12, 2013 at 12:17 PM

    Fascinating glimpse of young life.
    I remember always wanting to play in the overgrown field behind our house.
    My Mother didn't like me playing there.
    It had become a home for several unsavory people.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Roger Owen GreenFebruary 12, 2013 at 1:35 PM

    wild child! i can relate
    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

    ReplyDelete
  5. JoyFebruary 12, 2013 at 5:25 PM

    Our park used to have bushes on a slope that could provide all sorts of adventures, they are no longer there because of (to use photowannabe's words) "unsavoury people", imagined by the local authority or perhaps real.
    Joy - ABC Team

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chubskulit RoseFebruary 14, 2013 at 1:31 PM

    Exciting I suppose.

    Catching up with ABC Wednesday entries on Valentine's day!

    I hope you'd come and check out my Eskimo

    Rose, ABC Wednesday Team

    ReplyDelete
  7. Roy SchulzeFebruary 17, 2013 at 10:14 PM

    Added to dVerse Poets Pub—Leonard Cohen and Place.

    ReplyDelete
  8. MaryFebruary 17, 2013 at 10:37 PM

    "I was five and there was no taming me." That is my favorite statement from your poem. I can picture this. Smiles. Thanks for participating at dVerse this week!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Brian MillerFebruary 17, 2013 at 11:19 PM

    smiles...we had a hedge maze...with plenty of places to crawl into and hide...ha...you brought back a memory

    ReplyDelete
  10. ClaudiaFebruary 18, 2013 at 12:52 AM

    nice...brought back some memories...we often abandoned the "real" toys as well and played in the woods and things became what our fantasy suggested them to be

    ReplyDelete

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