Summer Memories

Last night, at Open Mic Night at Sulfur Books, I read my poem “Summer Pleasures.” That poem evokes various experiences of my childhood in New Orleans. Members of the audience had childhoods different from my own, of course, but I had hoped that my poem would inspire them to think of their own childhoods.

One woman told me that “Summer Pleasures” did indeed cause her to recall her own childhood memories. She raised the question of what sort of memories present-day children and teenagers will have to look back on when they become adults. Will they recall playing video games and texting friends on their cellphones? Or will they remember being driven by parents to organized activities like soccer practice and soccer games? Will their memories and, in fact, their childhoods be impoverished in comparison to those of their parents or grandparents? Or, perhaps the joys of a present-day childhood are merely different from those of a less technological age but somehow wonderful in their own right.