Playing

Playing by Kurt Broz

As I child I built forts

Of tattered blankets

And wobbly coffee tables.

I hid behind walls,

Off-white pillows draped

In blue plaid shirts with

Missing buttons.

I took prisoners,

Torturing them in tiger cages

Of broomsticks and

Canes with broken rubber tips.

I made mock treaties

With one-man nations

Over the eating of cookies and

When to go to bed.

Guns of plastic, shooting caps

Leaning lackadaisically

Against brave and foolish legs.

I never saw, in ketchup blood on

Rainy green summer days,

Leading battalions of plastic men

No taller than a grass blade,

Bravery from worn blue jeans

Or heroics from a weekend.