For the summer I’m going back to the series of pieces mythologizing my growing up in Cape Breton.
Childhood’s Swirl
my childhood was such a swirl
of legends superstitions and secrets
I was never sure what was real
and what was allegory
like sifting through the red bible
to find out if there was a truth
or merely a moral
the village thrived on these stories
on things that would shift from fact to fancy
as if that sift was to teach
us children something valuable
mostly it taught us fear and anxiety
the leaping men of the Whistling Woods
the hiding places of the traitor robins
how the moose came from the moon
all these things would haunt us as children
then amuse us as adults
even what we experienced
would be called in to doubt so quickly
we couldn’t trust our senses
the Bishop would try to teach us
what he was taught
when he could remember it
the choir would sing without knowing the notes
it did teach me
that with the grace of the moose
one could experience doubt and survive
one could sing without knowing the notes
and become a multimillionaire pop star
just because some talk show host
saw your video on line
and thought your hair looked terrific
When you realized Santa Claus wasn’t real did you think: I’m growing up – or: what else have my parents been lying to me about? This the sort of swirl my hero is reflecting on as he reflects on his village past. The secret of Santa was that this legend oils the wheels of commerce. One of those secrets that some people never realize. It was also a way of manipulating children with guilt.
Fairy tales that were to entertain us as children were ways of teaching us that all old women were witches and not to trusted. That gallant men would always save us if, in the case of girls, they were pretty enough. Those tales showed boys that only through over coming the giant could we be victorious. Winning was proof of masculinity, being rescued was proof of being femininity.
“even what we experienced/would be called in to doubt.” I can’t imagine the uncertainty children grow up in today when a politician can blithely deny saying something that he said in an interview. People with ‘truth’ are accused of being unfair for insisting on that truth. Making someone accountable for their actions turns them into victims. To correct someone’s spelling is now elitist.
It ends with our hero being more than a little bitter about the nature of fame and how to acquire it. In a world were working hard is supposed to be the road to success it often is merely the road to working hard. In reality there are no multimillionaire pop star who can’t sing, who rely on their great hair to as the ladder to success. A sly nod to yet another myth – Rapunzel.
Hey! Now you can give me $$$ to defray blog fees & buy coffee in Washington at 2018’s capfireslam.org – sweet,eh? paypal.me/TOpoet