The way the rhythm flows freely and joyously is like the childhood you describe - ah I remember it well. I just never wrote about it.lovely.XX

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Thanks for your comments on Solar Energy, Cate, much appreciated. This is good. I had lots of dens and good friends too. I'm not sure whether a Wii and a mobile phone substitute for the exploration you describe, but then I'm not a child today so I couldn't say. The poem runs into the last verse wonderfully. Best, Jane

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You must have had a really happy childhood and so free and bossy with it, loved this poem it just brings back so many memories xx

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Just reading through the series of childhood entries and saw this.
It so reminds me of my own childhood Cate with several siblings to love and to fight with.

Loved it.x

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Brilliant, Cate, you have really captured the wonder of childhood at play, and it is so well written. xx

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Liked all of it from the alluring 'In a stony cold house, many years ago now Lived a family as happy as fate would allow' right to the end - well done

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Terrific, Cate. Up there with 'Oor Olive's Pumps'. You really should write more.

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What a magical story of childhood inventiveness!
I enjoyed reading this, Cate.

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Really nice, Cate.
Especially enjoyed the last verse -I think the rhythm is at its strongest here.

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A truly wonderful poem, Cate. It has such a feel-good vibe and whether it was always that good or not, how precious are such times, such memories. I do feel with my own family that this kind of imaginative play is lost too early in their short childhoods, which makes me sad. You evoke that longing for past days so beautifully and the rhyming couplets work superbly well - somehow just perfect for describing childhood.

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As you know Cate, I have different memories of 'under the stairs' but I love your version. I think there is some selective memory going on here but it makes a wonderful change to hear something positive said about childhood. As children we really have no control over our lives so it is pretty much a lottery as to how well we come through it.
I love the way you have focussed on freedom. Those are my happiest memories of childhood - running free in the woods - running across the water pipes over the local reservoirs, even though I couldn't swim - how unthinkable would that be now? I remember us only coming home when it was dark or we were hungry. Small wonder there were not so many fat kids around then - we just burned all our food up. It was great for the imagination - which comes out vividly in your poem.
Lovely to see the art of rhyme still alive also. xx

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