Exploring with a gun alone, oak trees
spoke to me—Red Tails swooped
to the wounded and buzzards trailed
at a safe distance when I was ten—
half-wild, I thought, circumambulating
the endless draws and canyons that called
for company and conversation—shooting
squirrels and hunting rattlesnakes in rock piles.
They would have jailed my folks today.
The first butterfly I saw batted by a bobcat
played better than Walt Disney, better than
the Space Race, Cold War or Sputnik.
drycrikjournal 
Happy New Year John! 🙂
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And to you, too. Thank you! 🙂
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What better childhood could a kid have had?
Happy New Year!
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None that I can think of, Angeline.
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I totally understand. A lot of kids these days will never learn of these things.
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Changing times.
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Amen! Do you remember how crows knew when you had a gun and stayed just out of range, mocking you? I think they were the first to lol.
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I didn’t take the wildlife long to know our limitations.
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What a great way to grow up!
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A rare opportunity, Totsie, even in 1958.
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