This poem is unique in many ways because it suggests that
children participate in a world of “secret smiles” (line 20). It is filled with details
that in life might give fits to a harried parent, but in the poem’s context the memory
of children overshadows the chaos they usually create with the detritus of their
play.
“Where Children Live” introduces a number of images
of
“pleasant
rumpledness, ” such as lost shoes, chipped trucks, “bottle rockets, and
whistles, Anything whizzing and spectacular, brilliantly short-lived” (lines
11-13).
This poem is about
children as children themselves go about creating their own identities. Adults may try
to impose their visions, and give children
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“swings, leafy plants, slow-motion back and
forth” (line 10),
but
children do their own things and make their own messes, so that they imprint their
characteristics on the locations where they have been
playing.
The poem is unique in creating sentiment, without
being sentimental, about a subject that very easily might go over the
edge.
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