Day: December 11, 2019

The only town I knew when I was young

Was the one I still love now that I am old

There were no streets paved with gold

Or a history with stories left untold

We were a neighborhood

Part of a bigger city

A collection of characters true

Docile or stern, grim or witty

Curfews and standards

Things we just wouldn’t do

Credit at the bakery

Joe, who repaired the shoes

Paint store and flower shop

They were all places you knew

Always wondering what you would do

To put a claim on fame

Cecil the butcher would help you

Decide on the very good cuts

Hammer & Cortenof, the hardware

Carried only the very best stuff

Harry Shook at City Service Station

Was part of the big family

You didn’t want to get out of line

He would take you over his knee

Kick the can and marbles

Basketball until all hours of the night

Kids of different backgrounds and color

Seldom was there ever a fight

Drugstores on every corner

Sometimes it was hard to choose

You could not pick a bad one

Really nothing there to lose

Lawn jobs, raking and mowing

Shoveling snow all winter long

Character developed unwittingly

Harmony and love, like a song

Gone now are the dear old neighbors

Mr. Warwick won’t be seen again

Dr. Slemons, old man Clark and Mr. Johnston

Nobody left it seems

It was a great, fine brotherhood

Room for every quirk and scheme

No one blowing taps for the other guy

Too much on your own plate it seemed

When you left you really didn’t leave

You moved, but you still held the dream

Home means different things for sure

Logan Street will always be home to me

By Steve Haarman

Revised by Stanski

December 11, 2019 ^

 The owl and the cowboy 
 Now that could be a story
 One that I might want to tell
 The owl was heard around the cowboy camp
 It kept some up but it wasn’t too bad
 To some it wasn’t the owl
 It was just that they were very sad
 Damn this town, but we can’t leave now.
 Least ways not ‘til I get my lovin’ back
 You see, I love that girl, but she had to leave
 And took the train to Birmingham
 Now, that’s all the way under the Mason-Dixon Line 
 She said she would be just fine and
 Told me to listen to the owl at night and
 Keep my eyes on the stars
  
 I don’t wanna leave you now she said
 But I just have to go
 I’m Detroit made and I never stayed
 Chicago couldn’t keep me either
 I said adios to California and I traveled east
 That was all before I met you
 I made it big there too
 But I was missing something and that my friend was you
 When I left that was when New York had her heart broke
  
 So hold on for your love, give me a little grace
 I had to trust her and had to smile
 Had to talk it over with that hooting owl
 I checked the moon and watched the stars
 Stayed away from the cowboy bars
 I sent her a note
 I’ll be here waiting for you 
 And waiting for you to get back
 When you do you’ll find me
 Down around my place
 My lovely shack
  
 With a tip of the hat to John Hiatt
  
 Stanski
 December 11, 2019 ^
   

 My Flamingos are shivering today
 They are made of metal and
 Have been fairly steady and reliable 
 Through all of the seasons up to now
 But when the temperature is cold
 That would be minus four or five
 And the wind blowing at twenty mph
 Even the sturdiest of us begin to buckle
  
 A few weeks ago in Florida
 The birds moved just enough
 To avoid the alligators
 They seemed content in the 
 Warm/hot weather
 They adjust as nature has provided
 Never a harsh word or complaint
 Tomorrow is always a new day
  
 We barely get ourselves shoveled out
 Of twenty-four inches of snow,
 Exhausting the snow-blower in the process
 Now wait for a delivery of something newer,
 More powerful and dependable
 Snow is in the forecast so the race is on
 Do we get the machine in time or 
 Spend our moments feeding the birds
  
 Five or six inches of light snow is not much
 But without equipment and over ice, will
 Most certainly manifest a major problem
 Prayer seems futile in times as these
 The facing up is what is important
 Attack before the avalanche 
 I look out at my birds
 They seem to nod in agreement
  
 Stanski
 December 11, 2019 ^