Parks

a poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

The boys in yesterdays park
wore red skullcaps made of a shiny material;
the boys only spoke amongst themselves
now that their teacher had told them
that they were the leaders of tomorrow.
I wore a skullcap too
only it was blue and knitted by threads of memories preceding me.

Tall trees in today’s park shed lilac flowers
and look like black basketball players
dressed up as cheerleaders petrified in the act of
throwing a ball into a net
while leaves of lesser trees are forever applauding.
This type of tree is Brazilian
it likes to show off and be convivial.