—a poem by George Parks, Grade 5, 1957
Little Mongol idiot*
Locks herself in the bathroom again.
Mother, “no business having babies in her forties,”
Says our neighbor;
Unhinges the door.
Sixty-four crayolas litter the floor—
On the bathroom wall
Blue sky and green grass
With a swath of white between.
“That where we live,”
Says the little Peter Pan.
She will never grow up.
She-will-never-grow-up.
“A space between the earth and sky for us to live.”
—a thought ill-formed and unspoken by Eleanor Parks, Thursday, March 21, 1957.
*(the offensive and derogatory term often used in the 50s to describe children and adults with Down syndrome)
*(the offensive and derogatory term often used in the 50s to describe children and adults with Down syndrome)
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