Hopscotch
I don’t know why that comes to mind except
That it is a game that can be won
And folk all around
Can take it fine
It’s
Satisfying quantities of asphalt, chalk, and
Small stones
Congenial lines and arches
A game for friends
A game in which core competition
Is with the self
To jump and stay on balance
Dusty chalk
I miss it, maybe you do too
And games whose consequences tend toward
Civility
The garrulous courtesy of children (worth
the risk)
Unlike the fractured day in
A quarreling, gimbaled world
To which I’ve awakened
C L Couch
clcouch123 
September 26, 2017 at 4:18 am
i loved playing hopscotch. We had to walk two or three blocks, when we were kids, to find a sidewalk, but someone always had chalk. 😀 Marking up the school’s sidewalks was frowned upon. Games were what brought us grade-schoolers together when we were young. I do miss that part of it.
September 26, 2017 at 7:33 pm
Thanks for sharing your memories. Sometimes it seems drawing the game anywhere was frowned upon. But playing the game was energetic and fair. Heck, sometimes I just miss the chalk.
September 26, 2017 at 5:48 am
Christopher, a very thoughtful piece. I do remember playing Hopscotch at school in elementary recess. Also there were a few other games and you are right those games weren’t competative or threatening! Your words “fractured day” stick with me as does awaking to a quaralling and gimbeled world.
I don’t know if this is for you personally or just the state of the world and politics right now that are really messed up, you are right there.
But I hope you are well and I’m so happy to see you writing more regularly again.
September 26, 2017 at 7:36 pm
Thanks, Amanda, for your heartfelt encouragement. I will try to write and post. You’re right, there are other games not-threatening as well. Maybe it’s the way children play when the play means more than winning. I was thinking of the world when writing about the splintered way things are. I appreciate your affirming what I have to say about that.