hide and seek is a fine
game when you are ten
and it is summer and hours
after lunch
and before dinner
if you are hiding
you have to decide if you’ll
be the ass who holes up
in a closet in the house
because it’s cooler inside
or go and get a snack
–screw those morons–
while everyone roasts
in backyards
crouching in flowerbeds
or lying under trucks avoiding
black oil stains
and smelling gas
until the world spins
but if you’re it
there is no slacking off
everyone knows if you’re not
doing your job when no one yells
free after four minutes
and those days
when you can’t find anyone
or you’re too slow or too fat
to tag them as they run for
safety
those are long, hot days
Words and Feathers 
maybe next time a game of marco polo in a swimming pool. 🙂
nice job catching the scope and mood of this (cruel) game. Especially like: “or go and get a snack / –screw those morons– / while everyone roasts”, been there done that. And the last stanza, the crushing futility of staying the “it”.
Everything can be an existential crisis, I guess. 😊
when we’re young they just call it growing pains
🙄
Ah yes, kick-the-can…many a summer day spent hiding in hot/cold/cramped/uncomfortable places. Those were the days…funny I only recall hiding, not being “it”. (K)
I was slow so I was frequently it. 😊
I was one of the older kids…we did torture the younger ones.