The Farthest Wave: Who Am I?

I'm A Big Boy Now

April 1975

I'm a big boy now, I'm nine.
I'm hunting squirrels with a big gun.
I let Dad shoot it sometimes, but it's mine.
When I shoot at a squirrel I get it
With shell number one.
But when Dad shoots, they just get up and run.

I'm a big boy now, and strong.
I shot nine squirrels (that's how old I am),
And Dad shot none, all day long.
When we got home we had eggs and ham
Dad didn't talk much. He just said "Please pass the jam."

Poems Table of Contents

Background:

During my freshman year of high school I had an English course with a substantial emphasis on poetry, the result of which was a short notebook that included a few original poems as well as many classic poems with representative pictures that I cut out of newspapers and magazines. Only a few years ago, after looking everywhere for this notebook, I gave it up for lost. But when visiting my mom in July of 2009 I decided to ask her about it. Excellent record keeper that she is, she pulled it out of her files in a matter of minutes. This was my most memorable poem from that notebook.