My First
By Kenneth Pobo
January 15, 2023
January 15, 2023
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In 1966 “Hanky Panky”
hit number one. At eleven, I knew nothing about sex. An innocent kid, I took joy in climbing our back yard tree as high as I could go. I got a view of neighboring houses. Often I hid among leaves, one more robin or sparrow. Our sugar peas grew in a tangled row. I fell in love with many songs that year-- sixth grade, a sentence to a dank prison. Our bleak teacher held an advanced degree in wounding children by ramping up fear. I wrote my first poem based on a vision of a Chinese Elm offering safety. |
Kenneth Pobo (he/him) is the author of twenty-one chapbooks and nine full-length collections. Recent books include Bend of Quiet (Blue Light Press), Loplop in a Red City (Circling Rivers), and Lilac And Sawdust (Meadowlark Press) and Gold Bracelet in a Cave: Aunt Stokesia (Ethel Press). In addition to Heimat Review, his work has appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, Asheville Literary Review, Nimrod, Mudfish, Hawaii Review, and elsewhere.