HIDE-OUT

Boys in the neighborhood
always had a place
where they could go to
to just be boys
a place in the vacant lot
or down by the creek
where they could build
a shelter
of limbs and branches and duct tape
a hide out
from parents
from neighbors
keep out
For Boys Only
a hidden place
for Pirates and Indians and Outlaws
for plots of imagination
for being Tom Sawyer
and Huckleberry Finn
for just being off by themselves
seeking adventure
pretending to be big.

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