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DIGGING TO CHINA
If you like this poem...
A revised version of it appears in my ebook book, 
I remember one day
when I was a boy
digging a hole
in my best friends' back yard.
We'd heard--
being boys and all
and believing such things--
that if we dug down
deep enough
we would find China.
So we dug.
With
our
dirty
grimy
little
five
year
old
hands.
and by noon
we'd created
a hole
of about
six inches
into
the
hard
earth.
But--
being boys and all
we got bored--
and after lunch
we found a new obsession
and we no longer cared
if we ever found China.
all rights reserved. Copyright Justin W. Price, June 2011
PDXKaraokeGuy, also known as Justin W. Price, is an author with Sweatshoppe Publications, which will soon re-release his poetry collection, Digging to China. Additionally, the managing editor at eFiction horror and The New Bridge online newspaper.. Husband to Andrea, father to two dogs. writer.poet.baseball fan. tattooed. He is am amateur theologian with a rabid sweet tooth. He resides in a suburb of Portland, Oregon.He has a poetry book available for Amazon Kindle, and also maintains a blog, FirstBlog. His work has been featured in the Crisis Chronicles, efiction Magazine, The Hellroaring Review, the Bellwether Review, eFiction Humor, and the Rusty Nail. Please visit his profile page for more information. Thanks!
More Poems by Me
- Baby Cow
when I was a child I had an experience. I just don't know if it was real or a dream - Last Train to Bellingham
A HUb about a ride on the train from Portland to Bellingham - A Whisper by PDXKaraokeGuy
a song I wrote about trying to make sense of suffering - Billy and his Chevrolet
a ballad poem - Driving at Night
the destination is not half as fun as the journey
All the content that is published on this site under my profile PDXKaraokeGuy is my property and is protected by all applicable Copyright Laws. No part of my work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from me, the publisher/author. For citations, please credit Justin W. Price.
Comments
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btr, I'm reasonably sure we don't have the same parents, but I'm just as sure that all parents are similar in encouraging physical activity and imagination :-)
Oh my goodness, do we have the same parents?! Everytime we'd dig in the yard my mother would say, keep going and you'll reach China! So, of course, we kept goingThank you for this fun memory!
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Thanks so much, micellanea. I appreciate the feedback!
This is more a story :) and I love it, I love the idea behind it and everything , thx for sharing!
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Thanks so much, Summer. I'm glad you enjoyed this!
Voted up and everything across the board! Such a great hub!!
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Thanks again, Chris, for reading!
Good one desipient child! (:
What a fun way to remember your naivete' but by jotting it down this way. I enjoyed this one!
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DIMIR, I enjoy your take on this poem. There is always something inherently sad associated with nostalgia though when I wrote this poem, I only had fond memories. I;m glad you enjoyed this. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Kelly, as kitchen knife seems more reasonable then bare hands.
Rebecca, putting the final touches on it now. it's actually going to be called "Digging to China". I'll keep you posted!
Kidsnchocolate, I'm glad you liked this!
Loved this!!!
Oh,how sweet is this. You just are such an awesome Poet PDX.I hope you publish a poetry collection if you have not already?
Cute PDX- I tried to dig a hole to China once too with a kitchen spoon:) lol.
It is a nice look at childhood and how simple it is, but this poem also felt sad. Like you'd left something behind, and even though you know now you would never have dug through to China, something feels unfinished. I'm also one of those writers that over thinks things, but I love the piece anyway!
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Sunnie, I'm glad you enjoyed this. i was pretty adorable ;-)
This is adorable! Typical little boys! Loved this!
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Thank you, Racin. I had fun with the form of this poem, certainly!
what a great way to reminisce childhood memories...and you presented it in a unique way Justin...
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Melovy, that's a great story. I'm actually thinking of titling my poetry collection "Digging to China." I liked the imagery in your comment!
Till, thanks for sharing your story as well. Thanks for the comment and the read!
How funny memories that are shared across generations. I am older than you (much) and remember trying to dig to China. I always wondered if we got there would the people be upside down? There isn't a small boy alive who can keep his concentration long enough to truly finish a project that he soon loses interest in. You packed all of that into this sweet poem. Voted up.
What a lovely poem, and like most people who have commented here, it brought back memories for me. Sometimes we used to dig to Australia, other times to America. I remember quite clearly planning to dig a tunnel under the Atlantic, and wondering how long it would take. My first ever published story was called ‘Looking for America.’
Thanks for sharing this poem.
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Veronica, that's very funny. Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!
Haha This reminds me of 3 little boys that I seem to follow around, picking up their mess, as they skip from one project to the next. =]
Definitely can relate, both from past experience and present. It's a bit different now, being the one to say "If you keep digging, you may make it to China"! ;)
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Nell, I think I'd rather go to Oz then China :-)
Janga, I'm so glad you enjoyed this and that you could relate to this piece. Thanks for commenting!
Very nice. I remember doing this as a child as well. I remember always being told “if you dig a hole straight down through the Earth, you’ll end up in China. Interesting. Voting up! And funny also. Thanks for sharing this piece. I can definitely relate to what you wrote.
Hi, I remember trying to dig to Australia! ha ha! I thought if I went down far enough I could just slide through and pop out on bondi beach!
about the link, I think Mickey must have taken it down, as I went through all his hubs! lol! but if you look up any Illuminati hub it should mention it, okay?
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lol, Debby. That's a funny image. What's interesting is, I don't like being dirty. I really don't. If I was to dig to china now, I would probly use a shovel. Thanks for stopping by!
Justin. I agree with everyone here. Not only boys tried to dig to China, but us girls also had a pail and shovel. This must have been a communal memory with the images of little children standing on the world picture and different cultural costumes on each child. On the opposite end - US on the north at the top - while the Chinese children were standing upside down at the bottom. We wondered how they didn't fall off due to gravity! Hugs, Debby
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ha, thanks Carlon. I like being adorable!
Audrey-- sweet. I look forward to following your tweets!
I am following you now on twitter @AudreyHowitt or @divalounger
OMG - You are adorable as a child and a grown up married man. I love your stories and poems and well this one made my heart smile. SMILE!
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audrey, thank you for tweeting. are u following me on twitter? pdxjprice
chris, indeed, kids have short attention spans.
Thanks for reading and commenting
Awesome! Voted FUNNY! I remember being a kid and having all kinds of passions but just like kids we move on when the boredom kicks in.
This is really wonderful work--I always vote your work up--but am tweeting it out there as well!!
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Fennel, I don't remember being despondent, but I do remember being tired and having very dirty hands :-) Thanks for reading and commenting!
Boomer, thank you. I'm so glad you were able to get that image. That's what i was going for. I certainly miss childhood innocence!
I loved this! I could so picture two little boys excited about digging their way to China and then moving on to a totally different adventure after lunch. You've totally captured the essence of childhood play in this poem. Voted up across the board.
Oh yes, we did things like this, so full of enthusiasm with big pictures in our minds till the realisation that it just wasn't going to happen then feeling despondant until the next big scheme was hatched. Thanks PDX, great memories, great poem, my votes to you.
Oh yes, we did things like this, so full of enthusiasm with big pictures in our minds till the realisation that it just wasn't going to happen then feeling despondant until the next big scheme was hatched. Thanks PDX, great memories, great poem, my votes to you.
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alicia, thanks for stopping by. It is amazing the dreams we have as children that go away. Luckily the memories don't!
Your poem is a lovely reminder of childhood, PDXKaraokeGuy. I remember having similar goals at the beach when I was a child, but I was always disappointed that the hole filled in with water.
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yues. and what would happen if we actually got to china? We never seemed to think that far out :-)
I did this tons of times and everytime i got to the clay part, i really thought i was almost there. Ah, the memories of being a kid when life was a simple time.
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Thanks Rai for stopping by!I think we all have memories like this. It's funny the things that stick in our minds. You should also check out a poem I wrote called Baby Cow, also about a strange memory :-)
Great take on your childhood. I can relate to this.
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chs, i don't know. that's a good question :-)
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thanks for reading
This brings back memories , we did the same thing ! and i can tell you that im waaay older than you too! amazing how little things are passed on to little bitty children , i voted this one as high as it would go , thanks for the memory :)
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Thanks Kiru. I can't say much has changed about my attention span :-)
A cool hub. I laughed because it reminded me of my son who gets bored very easily.
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God bless your determination, my friend
I am the boy who never stopped digging - it took over 50 years but I made it. Now I am here in China and about to marry the Chinese princess that I drew at about the same time that I started digging, very late but better late than never.
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well, i know I didn't :-)
I wonder what happened to the hole - did someone fill it in?
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