Back To School - From a Neighborhood Child

BACK TO SCHOOL In 1939 give or take a year or two Most neighborhood kids walk to elementary school The trip is a mile or less as a rule No back-pack Just the familiar brown lunch sack It’s a time of brown knee-patches Black glue-on rubber soles Girls in plain dresses patched-over holes Fingernail examination By teacher at her mothering station You walk along the high wire fence That first day back Walk slowly swing your brown lunch sack Dreading view the entry way Recalling summer fun those lost days It’s not so large not so high - The fence – but Emerson School reaches the sky Three stories tall Twelve rooms in all Though now in retrospect quite small In your pocket you’ve a nickel or a dime To spend at the school store before bell time A nickel buys a lot of candy in 39 But oh my gosh a dime! The bag’s still half-full at lunch time Dreading that step onto school grounds Boys lean against the high wire fence While girls some squeal seem to relish suspense Make joyful cries Much to the boy’s surprise At last The ring-a-ding alas at last And we all downcast With lowered heads we climb the steps Doors open wide and fast Then the blast! That OILY STIFLING AWFUL smell of school!