My Childhood Is Still

Another found poem - this from "Celebrating Childhood" by Adonis (translated, from the Arabic, by Khaled Mattawa)

My Childhood is Still

My childhood is still
someone else's story

I see her in a photograph
the pigeon-toed girl
with worn-down heels,
brown skin and pedal pushers

her strong body
made for swimming
and climbing trees

standing between the two;
her half-crooked smile
looks familiar

but only because
I've heard the stories
so many times

I can't find me in her
between the two
I don't even recognize

01/2007