Yakapin

Do you remember the first poem you ever memorized?

Decades ago, mine was Trees by Joyce Kilmer. I was in elementary school trying my best to work on my English subject. I was a kid growing up in the middle of Metro Manila, wasn’t that ironic? 😀 I was surrounded by concrete buildings, busy streets, and jeepney fumes. Only little portions of my barangay* had gardens and trees.

Nonetheless, I tried my best to remember the words, hoping I wouldn’t blank out in the middle of the presentation.

Now, it’s funny how something you learned as a child just stays with you forever. The lines still sound so familiar. They bring back memories and a sense of joy.

“I think that I shall never see Apoem lovely as a tree… Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.”

What was the first poem you ever memorized?

It makes me wonder, how are elementary English classes nowadays? What poems do children memorize now?

*barangay: think of this as the Filipino equivalent of a village, town or neighborhood. It is the smallest local government unit in the Philippines.