Blackboard

Black asphalt

in playgrounds,

driveways,

sidewalks,

and children’s hands

caked in chalk.

They scribble

and create

worlds upon the rough,

jagged concrete.

These are their blackboards

minus school room bars

of math equations, grammar lessons

and repeated lines of misbehaving.

Children grind the chalk

into the pavement

in box shapes

so they can hop through day

into last period bell

heading into summer.

They color over the black

with pastel pinks, yellows, and blues

to make a bridge 

between them, their friends

and imaginary creations.

Children doodle out their childhood

in messy symbols, and formulate a history

with pastel stained fingertips.