First Day Back At Camp
Is it the bug juice or the
Hookup on the shore
The watermelon rush
A fly buzzing in the brain
Like tinnitus the conch shell
Sounds of camp echo
In the places you revisit
And which visit you
Under your bunk you
Wrote your names and
We Will Never Die
But you will die
Not on the misguided
Catamaran ride or
The drunken drive to
The County Fairgrounds
Or from the tainted
Beef the owner bought
On bulk discount
And failed to freeze
But some other time
When camp is a postcard
Taped to the bottom
Of your mind where
Summer is etched
Keepsakes kept tears
Wept years unleaving
Archery Weaving Swim
The camper is
Father of the man
The girl is the mother
Of the Bear Clan bunk
–Ticky Kennedy
Reclusive Poet in Residence
SchoolNewsToday.com
NOTE
According to a study by Nathan Danielson, a specific part of the brain seems to be responsible for learning and remembering the precise locations of places that are special to us, research in mice has shown for the first time. “Memories of favorite locations have a special place in the brain,” New Scientist.
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