Hold The Cinnamon
The Joys of Poverty
I grew up poor, but I didn’t know it,
lived in a shack and later a trailer,
Mama was tired but she didn’t show it,
living on tips that paid for our dinner.
Summertime sunshine, trailer park yard
Empty dishsoap bottle water-squirting joy,
Nothing about it made life seem hard,
Plenty of friends and their own makeshift toys.
Winter icy cold, whistling through walls,
wrapped up in grandmas tattered quilts.
Tea kettle steaming, I can hear it down the hall,
Here comes the toaster, and the tea with milk!
The cupboards near bare but bread heels aplenty,
farm fresh butter in a shiny yellow mound,
toast popping up so high, Mama thinks it’s funny,
slathering that butter on, then sugar oh so shiny.
Sinking my little teeth in to crunchy warm sustenance,
what a delightful treat this is, we must be rich!
Other kids eat plain oatmeal, what a penance!
Sweet tea, sweet milk, sweet toast, I’m the luckiest kid!
Cinnamon. Something grandma puts in apple pie.
A thing too expensive to waste on just anything.
My matriarchs guarded it until the days they died.
Old bread, fresh butter, plain sugar; a joyful thing.
About the Creator
Tammy Castleman
I have been an avid writer and photographer for most of my life. In terms of true passions, those are mine. What I lack for in memory, I make up for in recorded detail. We are what we leave behind.
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Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
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More stories from Tammy Castleman and writers in Poets and other communities.
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Comments (23)
Touching. Congrats on Top Story!
Tammy, this is lovely!
This is very sweet and very nostalgic!
You really grasped the best of family regardless of circumstance; congratulations on Top Story!
More knowledge and understanding to do more
Such a great one
Simple and sweet words, thankyou for sharing xx
Congratulations on the Top Story! :D
Congrats on Top Story!🥳🥳🥳
simple but heart-touching. Reminds me of my childhood days ....
woooow you nailed it
Amazing read ..truely enjoyed it..wishing U well and continue writing more amazing stories
A lovely and sweet piece.
This is lovely. I had no idea the food we were often eating as kids was considered impoverished. Outlook and context do a lot.
Very enjoyable read! Even your attitude now is displayed as appreciative and without animosity. You must be blessed😍
I really love how perfectly simple things can shine so bright in your very lovely piece 👏💕🥰
" ld bread, fresh butter, plain sugar; a joyful thing." Those were the simple days, when we could see bounty in the smallest things. I also remember bread with sugar as the ultimate treat, my cousin could always get such, and we would eat it on the low roof, in the shade of the old cherry tree. Thanks for bringing back this memory!
This is so warm and heartfelt. 💖
Thank you for sharing this celebration of your childhood blessings! Beautiful to see the joy as more powerful than the poverty.
Great memories. The matriarchs made do with what they had, and made it special.
Brilliantly written and such a reflective piece.
Yum! I always loved the little piece of pie crust baked with cinnamon and sugar. Your story expresses the simplicity of life and its goodness without expensive things and loved even more because it came from the heart.
Warms my heart.