Friday, November 19, 2010

Hole In My Story

Our toilet was a stinky outhouse
That listed to the left.
A tiny box , narrow and tall
with a hole cut in wood the
box inside. Sometimes we had
magazines but more often not.
I don’t remember having toilet paper,
that was what rich folk had.

I was always so scared to go
outside along the path to the outhouse
after dark. I was afraid of a snake
on the path or worse, so going to
relieve myself took more courage
than I’ve ever had to muster since.

My friends asked me once when I told
them my outhouse story, “why didn’t
you have a chamber pot in your bedroom?”
Hmmm,I didn’t know but I called mom right
away to find out. Mama said, “Now Judy,
where do you think we’d a got the money
for a pot?” I guess when I say we were bad off
people don’t really get it. We were so poor
we didn’t have a pot to piss in

6 comments:

Laurie Kolp said...

Judy- My grandparents used to have one of those porcelain potties b/c they had only one bathroom in their house. As a kid, I thought it was creepy... until the time I had to use it. Then I was grateful!

Willow said...

I can't imagine, Judy...I just can't imagine. I used outhouses in state parks, and once a camp in Maine. I got sick that night, temp 104, stomach sick and afraid of anything outside, stumbling through the trees, but the outhouse most of all scared me. I can't imagine what you lived. {{{{Judy}}}}

Diane T said...

Oh, I can imagine, Judy... We had times when we visited the prairies that were like that and a summer cabin, too! I remember catelogues in the prairies!

Anonymous said...

best wishes 4 u.
beautiful poem,
love your insights ...

Anonymous said...

keep it up.

I am your follower, welcome follow us back.

hope to see you at our week 11 potluck tonight.
we are open Sunday, American central time 8pm and remain open until Wednesday 8am.

any poems are welcome,
linking in early would be of most beneficial to have your work read and commented by fellow participants.

Anonymous said...

best wishes 4 u.
beautiful poem,
love your insights ...