Tell me you haven't seen this at a toddler's birthday party: The room is full of toys — toys that do amazing things. Over there, with the discarded paper, is a large, empty box.
And inside that box is the toddler. Exploring. Hiding. Having fun. Ignoring the gifts.
Indeed, young minds find their own playgrounds.
Playgrounds today are elaborate. I remember swings, small merry-go-rounds, teeter-totters, and those wonderful "monkey bars."
Now there's a lot of plastic with twists and turns.The see-saw is much more than a hunk of wood with a grip.
Still, curiosity is what takes us places, and the world is full of big, empty boxes.
Sarah Chavez from California knows about this important part of life, and tells it well with this poem called "In Childhood":
In childhood Christy and I played in the dumpster across the street from Pickett & Sons Construction. When we found bricks, it was best. Bricks were most useful. We drug them to our empty backyard and stacked them in the shape of a room. For months we collected bricks, one on top another. When the walls reached as high as my younger sister's head, we laid down. Hiding in the middle of our room, we watched the cycle of the sun, gazed at the stars, clutched hands and felt at home.
I do not think we ever stop looking for big, empty cardboard boxes. Because they are not really empty, are they?
Once you crawl inside, the box is full of wondrous things.
And most important, it's filled with you.
- The poem "In Childhood" was broadcast and reprinted with permission from Sarah A. Chavez from "American Life in Poetry" (sarahachavez.com).
