SITTIN’ ON TOP OF THE PARK

Much peace. Today’s poetry prompt is:

Try your hand today at writing your own poem about a remembered, cherished landscape. It could be your grandmother’s backyard, your schoolyard basketball court, or a tiny strip of woods near the railroad tracks. At some point in the poem, include language or phrasing that would be unusual in normal, spoken speech – like a rhyme, or syntax that feels old-fashioned or high-toned.

Here is my poem:

SITTIN’ ON TOP OF THE PARK

By Farah Lawal Harris, 2026

Sittin on top of the park,

our 4th floor balcony was as

God-sent as Noah’s Ark,

facing west

to watch the technicolor sunset—

a chance to forget, just for

women’s-clothing-pockets of minutes,

that COVID was running rampant.

Our little family of three

would meet on the balcony

for intentional happy hour:

whiskeys for hubby and me,

and juice in our child’s sippie.

After they would retreat inside,

I’d stare at the mature green park to left,

the abandoned construction site to the right,

and dream bright as the sun.

It was on that balcony

that I began my first garden—

a head of lettuce

and a growing collection of houseplants.

When it got dark,

I’d watch bats swoop down

and remark that compared to CNN,

these creatures were works of art.

Seven months later,

my dream materialized:

three moving men transported

our little sweet lives

to the first home we owned.

My garden expands

and expands

every single year,

and by the grace of God,

we are all still here.