Back to my roots

One of the reasons that I went into public relations was because of the writing part. I used to love sitting down with one of those black and white composition notebooks and spinning out a story. In high school, I entered my writing samples into all kinds of award competitions and independently published magazines. At one point, I was actually asked whether one of the stories I turned in had been plagiarized. (This was in the 7th grade, so I understood. And nope, it was all my own work.)

I was reminded of my passion for creative writing when I moved recently. I found a bunch of papers that I'd written for various high school writing classes. I'm going to use them as inspiration to sit down and write the types of things that I used to love, instead of just writing the things I have to write.

Here's one that I can remember enjoying writing, and that made me think of my childhood when reading it.

Grape Juice Symphony

Summer sun, beating down
Upon my brow, sweat trickles.
I'm melting from the heat.
I feel like a puddle has started to form
Under me, on the cement,
A little Lauren puddle.
guess that is what it is like now, at 17.
When the heat gets turned up
We go inside, eager to sit on the AC vent,
Feeling the cold air rush up to cool us off.
But what about summers past,
Diving into the pool
Which was always cold because of the oak trees.
We'd play "basketball" in the front yard.
There was no hoop, only the house trim,
Which was white, and scuffed from our ball.
We'd play house too.
The flower bed was our house, remember?
The neighbors' boat was our sink, where the trailer
Hitch came through our fence.
The pipes for the pool was our back stoop.
Daddy said not to play on them,
But we did anyway.
The heat didn't bother us.
It could be 98 degrees outside,
And we would still be playing in our fort
With the kids down the street.
Now it is 98 degrees outside,
And we sit inside.
We have a basketball hoop now,
But it only swings when the wind blows.
We never play house anymore,
Because it is too hot to play outside.