New Orleans’ 1962 ostentatious hotel lobby
extravagant crystal fluted chandeliers
highly polished walnut counter tops
opulent Italian marble floors
plush scarlet velvet cushioned couches
swankly brass and glass décor
luxury never seen after nineteen sixty-two
best Halloween was in 1962
I was a fairy with silver tinseled wings
felt angelic in virginal white shiny gown
aluminum foil wand looked fancy
I felt pretty maybe for the first time
be a lady my mother said
but two boys tried to take my candy basket
I clunked them both over the head with it
mothers called my mother
I dreaded hearing the phone ring
thought I was in trouble
proud you stood up for yourself Mom said
too-da-loo Christmas
two kids in tow Buffalo
grandpa won’t be there
left the gifts in Poughkeepsie
where faerie lights will not glow
12/1/2021
listening to the water in the water mill
brings the Iowa State Fair into my mind
We had a water mill ride
In the sixties it was something
We would wait all day for a chance
to get sprinkled with water
funnel cakes were not invented yet
back in the day
but we had lizards on a stick
live ones.
you had the option to pin them on your blouse
until they expired in the heat
the midway was a riot
you could hear the screams all over the park
we were dragged to the ladies auxiliary building
to look at quilts for hours
when I got older I sneaked off to the 4-h barn
that’s where the cute boys were
an innocent time
when children could run around freely
and no one worried about being sex trafficked or kidnapped
I think of these days fondly when I see a wood mill
So I thank you for this memory
Pete and I were gob smacked by these saviors in October of sixty-two.
Women in our apartment swiftly efficiently measured our heads too.
We both wanted to know why, but back in the sixties, kids did not ask.
The women were gluing and shaping with vigor, an arduous task
Kids were sent to our kitchen to get their heads measured and noted.
Any idea? We whispered. All of us were afraid to be quoted.
This was back in the day when adults were the only ones in charge.
To ask them anything was daunting, not done, considered a barge.
When women were finished, we each had a helmet on our little head.
Pete and his argyle sweater made me grin, a bow-tied alien instead.
What is happening? He frowned at me and shook his head ‘no’.
During my childhood, kids did not dare ask, argue, or blow.
Spied this photograph in Grandma Kay's album and I had to laugh.
Helmets was supposed to save us from nuclear fallout and the riff raff.
These women engineers were intense, and eager to save us though.
Endearing memory to this day. Their love for us a nostalgic glow.
Nineteen sixty two sky trains,
You bring Seattle’s world’s fair to her senses
I stare in fascination at your fresh clean streamlined windows
Shining down at me with a smile, enhancing your gleaming aluminum runners.
I could never ride in one, says my sister.
I am thinking girls need to be engineers, because now I have a new goal.
I want to be part of the team that builds these beauties.
Sky trains are the best part of the fair, if you ask me.
The streamlined rails make me smile; I feel it’s a magical future now.
When my twin sister and I were ten, we built snow forts.
It took us most of the day, and we were excited about it.
We came in for a break and ate grilled cheese and tomato soup.
Our cheeks were all pink, and we were laughing.
Our mother suggested we should stay inside the rest of the day.
No way! We were on a roll! And our forts were not finished.
After our hearty warm meal, we put our wet clothes back on.
Headed out there and worked until supper time.
By the time Daddy got home, our yard was covered with snow again.
This was “snowball snow” which means it was wet enough to ball up.
We made a cache of snowballs to throw at each other, and began our fight.
My sister’s fort was low and long; big mistake. Mine was tall, but tidy.
She was yelling uncle as I clobbered her with snowball after snowball.
We had freezing rain that night, which was a blessing.
School was cancelled for a week, and our forts were frost-fortified.
The best wintery mix we could have asked for. I continued to win.
School was out for annual Christmas break
Ice and snow hung around many a week
A friend and I did what one should not do
Went onto a frozen canal to skate
Some lads we knew were giving us some cheek
Boohoo
One lad pinched my friends hat from off her head
Chased him I did, what came next haunts me so
Iced cracked and yes I was in for the swim
The boys were brilliant, I could've been dead
Bravo!
The Speaker Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Sara Kendrick
A twelve year old boy
stands covered in ‘mud’
What the plasterers call
cement
His Grandfather came
and offered a job
For each hour,
he’d pay fifty cents
The buckets were heavy,
the scaffolding high
As he kept those mortar boards
full
And at the end of that summer,
more man than a boy
With new confidence
—his future to cull
(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)
Like love ones come to view a parting ship
Before the anchor lifts
And its iron lips prow the salty waves
We journeyed from our busy day and penny pay
And the indifferent utterances to our cause
We came tattlering and joking and tired
Of the conditions simulating the bitter colonial
We wiped the bread crumbs from our mouth
Stood erect with eyes upon a pole
And watch the tricolored form slithered down
Head drooping in the gusty night
And all the while Dura drums rolling softly
Could not budge my steel convictions with fire
I felt alone in the long uproar of crowd
For I think I saw it winked an opulent eye
Before the pole flagless stood silent in naked night.
MIDNIGHT DATE AT HARRY'S -- June 1962
I know you're laughing.
Sittin there on that strait back chair
laughing laughing laughing.
Hey! Psssstttt....Maria....
you wanta see some dirty postcards?
Maria Mia when did you move to Italy?
What's it gonna be, he or me?
I seen you down to the market square
lookin like a five hundred lire lady shopping for
sweet potato(e)s.
Merci!
No, I mean Grazie!
I remember when we did Florence
Your mama was so hot they almost shut down Harrys.
Remember that big Madamoiselle
with herself spread all over the table?
Remember, huh? Remember?
She said she was French
but you sure pulled her cord quick didn't you?
She didn't even finish her gambretti cocktail!
And then that night
that night
it was the Pensione Piave
I know it was
dear me where does the time go.
your loving and devoted servant
Luigi.
ps:
are you still laughing? Ciao.
Penny Candy Paradise, 1962
My little fingers
tightly clench
six saved pennies,
as I hurry to the drugstore
aisle filled with
penny candy treasures,
….as far as my
eyes can see.
07/21/10
11:03pm
Quincy, Illinois: 1962
long before Barack Obama
Those days my father toiled in Quincy,
two weeks, no more,
he said he saw no blacks, except for
two young ladies busing dishes.
Daisy badges on their uniforms
announced their names,
their years of service.
He still remembers how
through all his meals
he wanted to stand
and shout:
Where do you live?
What do you do
for recreation?
Donal Mahoney