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Open Poetry #34
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Cpat Hair
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Patricius
since 2001-06-05
Posts 11793


0 posted 2004-11-02 09:03 AM


Mercer’s is still there
Though the charm it once had
Has been replaced with convenience
Of the kind found in any small town.

He road too has changed
And now lacks the curved hill carving
Roadway that grasped the side of slopes
With gravel fingers
And in its place is something straighter
Now plied by truck hauling stone
To someplace east
Where they will no doubt
Crush and spread for parking lots
Or houses too large for the means

You asked me why this place was special
As we rolled by ordinary fare of scene
Too raw in cut stone to be anything
But progress

So I began the story of Mercer’s
telling how I had found here along the way
whirlpools swirled around ideals
And that lonely had been temporarily replaced with flesh
As the dreams of understanding why
This blank place inside me would not be filled
With words or images were explored

Till nothing but the feel of this place
This trip

was real

Your smile told me all
And that while I might be half crazy
I was at least somewhat amusing

For now


© Copyright 2004 Cpat Hair - All Rights Reserved
babygirlwlove
Senior Member
since 2004-10-10
Posts 1180
New York City
1 posted 2004-11-02 09:04 AM


a stone's throw from heartbreak...there is so much in here I can feel...that hasn't been said...

**feeling this train of thought, chief**

**Intoxicant to the SouL**

Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
2 posted 2004-11-02 09:18 AM


...You asked me why this place was special

...So I began the story of Mercer’s
telling how I had found here along the way
whirlpools swirled around ideals
And that lonely had been temporarily replaced with flesh
As the dreams of understanding why
This blank place inside me would not be filled
With words or images were explored

...

...Your smile told me all
And that while I might be half crazy
I was at least somewhat amusing


...

Welcome to the club...

Enchantress
Member Empyrean
since 2001-08-14
Posts 35113
Canada eh.
3 posted 2004-11-02 09:38 AM


Ooh Captain I am SO excited...
You grab my hand and take me on your travels.
I'm all set for the next read....soon please?!
Excellent write Ron!

~Autumn..the year's last, loveliest smile.~

Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
4 posted 2004-11-02 10:42 AM


Ron

Sounds like the opening chapter of a poetic series..yes?  Hope so!  

Mysteria
Deputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Laureate
since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328
British Columbia, Canada
5 posted 2004-11-02 02:05 PM


You know if you are speaking of Mercer Island I am going to love this series.  Bob and I used to go there for the summer months and they are my fondest memories.  If not, I know I am going to love it anyway, as I am already absorbed into the "feel" of this Ron.  Brother, has Mercer Island ever changed too, as I just had to go see our old place one time, and "progress" has taken hold of her.
wranx
Member Elite
since 2002-06-07
Posts 3689
Moved from a shack to a barn
6 posted 2004-11-02 02:17 PM


When I was a child, my family would travel
Down to western Kentucky where my parents were born.
And there's a backwoods old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Adrie Hill,
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols,
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.

Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel,
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land.
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken,
And they wrote it all down as the progress of man.

When I die, let my ashes flow down the Green River,
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester Dam.
I'll be halfway to heaven with Paradise waiting,
Just five miles away from wherever I am.

And Daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County,
      Down by the Green River where paradise lay?
      Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in askin';
      Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away.

                           John Prine

Cpat Hair
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Patricius
since 2001-06-05
Posts 11793

7 posted 2004-11-02 02:29 PM


thanks to you all.. the nice words are undeserved, but appreciated..

and Ed.. you scare me bud... that song has been in my head for days...

"And Daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County,
      Down by the Green River where paradise lay?
      Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in askin';
      Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away."

Susan
Member Ascendant
since 2004-03-27
Posts 5104
walking the surreal
8 posted 2004-11-02 02:34 PM


Ron, enjoyed this - its feel and texture.  I think we all have places that though they change, in our hearts, will always be the same - the place of memories.

Susan

Happiness isn't something that happens to you, it's created from within you.  Joy is a state of mind.

Dark Angel
Member Patricius
since 1999-08-04
Posts 10095

9 posted 2004-11-02 03:20 PM


I echo Martie here.....

and you Sir are a total wrap.

Magnifico!

Mxx

Oh, you speak to me in riddles
and you speak to me in rhymes
My body aches to breathe your breath
Your words keep me alive
~Sarah McLachlan~

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