Short 1962 Poems

for the cement works tower, built 1962, to be destroyed 18/09/2016

as old as myself
you have smoked most of  your life 
I've not. I live on....

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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...

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Left just one chance
  to gild the night

One kiss,
… before you leave

        8th Grade Poetry Contest
St Thomas Of Villanova Grade School
                May, 1962...

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Left just one chance
  to gild the night

One kiss
  —before you leave

        8th Grade Poetry Contest
St Thomas Of Villanova Grade School
                May, 1962...

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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...

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Chapbooks
by design-
arty posters
with illustrations so
sublimeWiliam H Bradley (1868-1962) of US Art Nouveau fame

http://www.willbradley.com

http://www.willbradley.comhttp://www.nga.gov/feature/nouveau/thanks_a.htm...

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Listen to poem:

Finding a cassette tape from 1962,
  Gave me the idea of rerecording it for you.
    Hearing our melodic childhood voices soar,
       I wept as magical memories came to the fore.
          Just sharing with you makes me love him more....

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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...

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Christian Church Chariton Iowa Thanksgiving Sunday 1962
I saw Jesus step out of a stained glass window
He put his finger to his lips when He recognized I saw Him.
I watched Him float from the window to the top of the church
I waited for the congregation to gasp
No one did
I have never forgotten it...

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An inebriated vixen promoted duress
as she and George played "Get the Guests."
A fractured malevolence mirroring Macbeth
resulted in her first-born's death.
Atop his imagined coffin, a snapdragon rests.



Author's Note:

Vignette inspiration:
Play - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962)
Playwright - Edward Albee...

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This is hard to believe, but true.
It happened back in 1962.
A basketball player scored a hundred points in a game.
It was an accomplishment worthy of much fame.
The late Wilt Chamberlain was the man's name.
His Warriors were from Philadelphia back then.
Many doubt that will ever happen again.
...

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We can’t make
all the bad things
 good
Just knowing
all that didn’t 
should

We can’t wish
what stays real
away
Or lie
to keep the truth
at bay

Yesterday
today
tomorrow yield
The leavened
‘Word’
forever sealed

Ad infinitum
minus
one
Salvation’s 
path
— is zero sum

(Sister Marcella: 8th Grade Religion Class, 1962) 
...

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Bond James Bond,
He first spoke those words in 1962,
With a sexy voice and his good looks,
From that day he was an international star,
Constantly busy he seemed invincible,
The one that would never die,
Women loved him, men wanted to be him,
His legacy will live on for ever,
If ever there was a legend Sean Connery was the one.
R.I.P  Bond James Bond...

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Everyone helped clean up after dinner.
Dad, Mom, brother and me.
Mom created the casserole.
Daddy baked the pumpkin pie.

I set the table.
Brother washed the floor.
We all worked together.
In 1962 we each took up a chore.

We felt needed and loved.
Working together, we would sometimes sing
In 1962 the entire family worked together
To make clean up an easier thing....

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We all wanted feline female cat glasses in 1952.
We could get them with silvery rhinestones too.
I wanted them for sure, when I saw them later.
For in 1952 I was still cooking in an incubator.

These cat glasses were worn by each movie star.
We loved them so, they were glitzy from afar.
By 1962 they were no longer the thing to wear.
By then I was ten. Fashion at this age gave me not a care....

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Mom
Your body left us here 
On earth,
Finally able to break that 
Evil curse
Now, your soul is more alive 
Than ever
Reminding me daily I’m just like you
Mother
Hidden behind that disease 
Was the woman
 I desire to be
The women deserved to have
 Been seen
I’m proud to have you as 
My guide
From this point on
 I shall only rise
You gave me a life time prize.
 Thank you mom
 
Rest in peace
9/1962-2/2012...

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As acts go, you were considered very good.
A recording group that came from a Philly neighborhood.
Your big selling hit song became a dream come true.
It rose quickly up the Billboard charts in 1962.
“Let Me In” was a song everybody got to know.
We heard it played so many times on AM radio.
There’s just one category we have to file you under.
You have joined the ranks of the “One Hit Wonder”.
...

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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)...

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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...

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Indiscretions
1962
T.W.

The young man's heart was as a lion,
but his stature somewhat slight.
At times, settlement unknowingly came,
by God's supreme might.
Oft times a conflict necessitated,
his donning of a brass knuckle.
He deemed God's punishment worse,
than any rodeo cowboy's buckle.



“It isn’t the size of the Dog in the fight,
But the size of the fight in the dog.”
Mark Twain
...

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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...

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The war
The war in Ukraine is getting serious
but could easily be avoided.
Russia cannot tolerate a NATO close to its border
the USA, understand this
When the Russians had missiles in Cuba (1962)
the USA thought it was too close and demanded 
their removal.
As it is we are witnessing is Ukraine at war
egged on by Europe who is such dunderheads 
risking a bigger nuclear war.
We are sacrificing the Ukrainian people 
for our hubris...

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Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
In buttonhole set daily a red rose new
His charisma couldn’t beguile the neighbor
The dragon disgorged fire in ‘62’s war.

January 24, 2019

(Note : Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) was the first Prime Minister
 of independent India. His charismatic leadership initiated the offer
of peaceful coexistence, goodwill and brotherhood to China, but
as a result of Sino-Indian border dispute China attacked India in 1962.)...

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Reveille
FT. Leonardwood Mo. 1962
Miracle Man
October 25, 2023

At three-thirty we arose, to trumphet chatter,
It was hard to determine It’s subject matter.

None of this, to us, was making any sense,
now sleep is gone and so is the suspense. 

 We’ve trouble dealing with situation at hand,
Army life isn’t close to what we had planned.

As “Cruits” search for solutions we endure pain,
and do our best at hiding our disdain.
...

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a decuain 

I walked the fairgrounds 1962,
a penny for my thoughts at age thirteen.
I loved to gather up loose coins with Hugh
the grandstands cleared out, we would start to “clean”
I walked the fairgrounds 2015,
just looking for cover, in case it rains.
Too old for bending, Hugh and I both lean
on walkers, and compare our aches and pains.
The sixties found my lack of funds, a bane;
but now it’s health concerns that cause my strain.


written 19 February 2016...

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