Childhood Closet

My closet of childhood’s past

was a pretty pale pink.

And my mother had sewn

a fabric curtain.  There were

several curtains. 

I can’t remember what color

the first one was

but the later one was a dark

teal blue.

And once in childhood

the closet was my favorite

place to hang out in.

My sister and I used to play

in there.  The wooden floor

was dark and we would sit in there

and play with our dolls.

Our red metal trunks

were filled with the doll clothing.

And I would often look up at all

the clothing that hung in there

and the old wooden cat

that hung to the inside of the closet.

It had two pegs on it to hang

little things.

My sister and I used to

also play cards in there.

War was the favorite game

to play.

Or slap jack.

And finally sometimes

a fight would get us kicked out.

But some days I would sit in there

and play with the dolls

and dream of becoming a mommy.

Yet, back then

I probably didn’t know

what being a mom meant.

Yet, the pink closet

was sometimes a mystery.

A dark place

to linger in. 

Darkness was often fun,

we loved to make fabric forts

all over our room. 

We would shut the fabric roofs

inside our drawer bureaus

and then we would crawl through

the darkness.

Cousins would play in there with us too.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 29, 2012