Same questions, new answers…
Keeping one eye on the ducks…
An historical society docent of course doesn’t mind talking about the same stuff with every tour group, and the groups with kids reliably ask the old familiar questions.
The eager 3rd graders making the pilgrimage to the historic district along the Charles River in Natick, MA, prove the point. Sometimes it’s not easy to encourage a sensible understanding of the context of “375 years ago,” but the kids are all too ready to engage in such thinking in their own terms.
In a few years maybe they’ll be ready to expand that thinking just a bit:
Another 3rd grade tour
Well, yes, Anna, this is the same river
the Natick Indians knew in 1651,
it was here, they fished in it,
and, yes, they saw ducks like those
on the other bank over there,
and, no, it’s not too deep,
but, here’s another way to look at it:
the river is new today,
it’s filled with new rain,
it carries a different twig over the dam,
it swirls new bubbles
from the fish we didn’t quite see,
the river has forgotten the feel of a canoe,
forgotten how to turn the mill wheel,
it has learned to ignore
the ever louder sounds that crowd the air,
and it sniffs in surprise
each time new toes are dipped in its currents,
and those ducks on the other bank
are new this year, too.
June 17, 2017
My poem “Another 3rd grade tour” was published in my first collection of 59 poems, Writing Rainbows: Poems for Grown-Ups.
You can buy it on Amazon (paperback and Kindle),
or get it free in Kindle Unlimited, search for “Richard Carl Subber”
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: A Cold Welcome
The culprit was global cooling,
500 years ago…
by Sam White
click here
–
Empyrean: new poems with 57 free verse poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”
Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.
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