Tent

I am nine playing
Build a tent with old
Quilts in the TV room
In our house on the hill
In southern Illinois using
The ironing board to hold
Up a quilt and clothes pens
To attach towels for rooms and
Sides playing with my younger
Sister as our two older sisters
Watch what they want on TV
As mom and dad have gone
Out for the evening leaving
The all five of us to have
Fun until they return
Home and quilts &
Clothespins are
Swept away as
We pretend to
Watch TV but
Our four year
Old little
Brother
Tells
All and
We are like
Captured soldiers
In WW2 movies
Marched off
To beddy
Bye too
Tired
To
Protest.
As I recall
My three sons
Did the same thing
Only they each put one
Hand on the shoulder of
The kid in front or else took
A magazine pretending it was
A plank of wood which they
Pretended to bang on their
Forehead in imitation
Of Monty Python as
They chanted,
“Throw out
Your dead.”
Then the
Tune to
The Volga
Boatmen rhythmically
Banging their magazine
Flat on their forehead
Laughing stumbling
Upstairs to bed
Unaware they
Would all get
To play tent
For real in
The Army.