Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Familiar Back Roads


an old song on the radio

takes me down familiar back roads

to where you once lived


but your house has been torn down 

the mailbox is gone / the driveway, overgrown

only the gate remains


across the road 

on the far side of the pond

two swans, drift




6 comments:

  1. Which hurts more, a past no longer there or one still there no longer yours?

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    1. Each carries unique feelings. In this case, I was sad, as the house and this piece of land represented so much of his life.

      Thank you for taking the time to read and comment.

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  2. Dear Teresa, your poem is especially poignant. California's capital is a city formed by numerous settlements around Sutter's Fort. As they merged, cooperatively, they became a city. My life began in a census-designated area called Garcia Bend --mainly Japanese, Portuguese, Jewish owners of small --5 to 20 acres-- farms. Then came annexation and developers. We moved 15 miles east to Vineyard. Time happened, education, war, jobs, marriage, children, grandchildren --Norma and I bought an acre of Vineyard 37 years ago. Within months, developers were flapping their leathery wings overhead. Couple childhood friends also returned and we stayed in touch until D.W. Kennedy died next door (covid) but I still see Floyd (yes, Floyd. We are hicks) who lives down the lane. Sometimes we look at once dear country places that are now housing tracts and commercial centers and wonder. As Keats said in his poem (A Song About Myself), "He stood in his shoes and he wondered".

    Forgive me for garrulating, Teresa, but you got me thinking. Excellent poem.

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    1. It's so good to see you again and thank you for sharing this bit of history and what time and developers have wrought. Your description of them as "flapping their leathery wings overhead" is excellent. I'm sorry you lost a friend to covid. It seems we are all doing a lot of standing in our shoes and wondering ...

      Thank you, again, Geo. It's always good to hear from you.

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  3. The passage of time painted on the land. :)

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    Replies
    1. That's a beautiful and very apt phrase. I hope that things are going well for you and all your news is good ... xx

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