The Forwardian Arts Society is honored to share the poetic works of Peter Serra with you. Please feel free to send us your literary works to be considered for publication on our Blog. We welcome any topic or style. We also welcome your comments on this and anything we post. We look forward to reading your work and we’ll keep a good thought for you until then.
Roasting Mickey And Other Lost Arts
by Peter Serra copyright 2007
Flipping baseball cards was different from today's road rage bird.
Shooting marbles and bottle caps filled with wax
Was different from drive-bye's ending in bang.
Girls loved Buster Brown's with socks neatly folded
Guys learned to bop and flaunt it
Poodle skirts jumped double-dutch
At the hop was a dance
Crashing parties caused trouble and frowns
To crash today is a long way down.
Guys roasted mickey over fire with sticks,
Little hobo's, little cares,
Wrapped it in tinfoil if we could get it.
Marshmallows saw quick transformation, the spud took longer to cook.
Keep the fire going with twigs, branches and popsicle sticks,
There was no hurry, we were kids.
Kings was played with a high bouncer and killers were delivered in boxes,
Two for a quarter it ruled in the street
The pinky had measles and a blue ball was cheap.
Sidewalks were squares of Pennsylvania slate.
Some streets had cobblestones that glistened after a rain.
The space between slates could break the devil's dishes
If kids jumped on a crack one could break the devil's back.
A kid jumps on crack today, and he gets hurt.
Electrified buses and trolly cars
The trolly had rails and the buses had cables
With long pole-connectors that looked like bug antenna searching,
Reaching up to the wires on the street they called Bergen.
The trolly had steel wheels, museum pieces in our lifetime.
Hitchhiking at the rear of the electrified bus was easier than others.
If the driver failed to stop where we wished to get off,
Pulling the overhead cable meant immediate halt,
And away we ran from the invalid bus as the driver
Repositioned the cables and cussed.
The grocer totaled the bill on a brown bag in pencil.
Top shelf items were captured by the grabber, a mechanical hand used to retrieve,
As we waited patiently chewing a slice of American cheese.
The butcher's floor was sawdust over black and white octagon tiles. Cutlets were flattened to thickness by order, mama knew how to supervise.
A yoyo was a kid's toy, not a greeting.
Schools actually taught
Subway seats had bamboo weave
And old folks had worth.
Hammer and nails box and board
Two halves of a skate and off we roared.
Scooter.
Skates had a key and clamp
One size fit all like light from a lamp.
Riding hood was hit with lies
Big nose big teeth big eyes,
Now the hoods are in SUV's
Big wheels big deals big rides.
Lost in time it seems are the old ways.
Aptitude tests were the mountain guru's of the time.
Back then they let a kid live.
Thank God we survived
.Brooklyn, 1950's.
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