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When Neighbor's Came Around

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["When Neighbors Came Around" was included in my first poetry chapbook, The Lady in the Pink Hat," Candor Press, 1969.]

Remember those days, long ago, When friends would come to call? October was a good time, hazy (Indian summer) anyway, in the fall After the harvest was in. The kids would organize a game Of hide-and-seek; the porch post Served as base, And neighbors solved their differences And arguments face to face, Mostly religion and politics Or they talked about the war And sometimes how to do something Like prune a tree or plumb a door. Ladies clustered together Men in a huddle on the ground That's what it used to be When neighbors came around.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2021




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Date: 4/20/2021 8:31:00 PM
So incredibly wise was the world back in the "day" . "And neighbors solved their differences And arguments face to face," Wow!
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L Milton Hankins
Date: 4/21/2021 8:17:00 AM
Yep, I saw this happen many times when neighbors would gather on our front porch back in the hills of West Virginia. Today we hardly know our neighbors.
Date: 4/20/2021 4:41:00 AM
Excellent poem and recounting of times that are no more Te best compliment I can you you, Milton, is that I wish I had written it. I have an unpublished manuscript on mt boy days on my grandparents farm – A New England Boy. A title that mimicks A. E. Housman's "A Shropshire Lad." I keep editing it and either adding a new poem or deleting an old one. / Maurice
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L Milton Hankins
Date: 4/20/2021 8:49:00 AM
Thanks so much, Maurice. I appreciate so much your kind and thoughtful comment. I have a few poems I think will never get beyond editing!
Date: 4/19/2021 1:35:00 PM
I enjoyed this poem thoroughly Milton, I like to reminisce on childhood memories, neighbors where indeed a social circle back in the day, I think modern technology has a lot to do with the neighborly decline, evolution hey, cheers David
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L Milton Hankins
Date: 4/19/2021 1:46:00 PM
Thanks, David. I think you are soooo right! Those days are gone forever I fear. Thanks for your read and your insightful comment.
Date: 4/19/2021 11:31:00 AM
wish things could be like it was...now we are so leery of talking, visiting, enjoying our neighbors...so sad.
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L Milton Hankins
Date: 4/19/2021 12:48:00 PM
Yep, that is so true, Virginia. I hardly know my next door neighbors. Wish we could go back to some of these things we enjoyed most long ago. Thanks for your kind thoughts.
Date: 4/19/2021 3:05:00 AM
This image is just too perfect, still encapsulated in time, older resources seem to be better than the new one:) a superb poem Milton
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L Milton Hankins
Date: 4/19/2021 9:18:00 AM
Thanks so much for your kind comment, Lasaad. This is a picture indelibly framed in my subconscious from when I was a child.

Book: Shattered Sighs