Memory Lane

Battles waged at Marco’s pizza parlor

Space Invaders fueled by Mellow Yellow and quarter dollars

A stop at Franklin’s for Chocolate malts and baseball cards

Then a detour home through neighborhood yards

Milk money saved for a pack of Topp’s

Hacking the phone booth to make it ring non-stop

A tube-topped hitchhiker looking for a ride

Another car crash where Bobby died

Bundles of The Blade waiting in stacks

Break them out— roll em up— and fill up the sacks

On my fire-orange Huffy with the banana seat

Visiting the zookeeper on Shasta Street

Sledding down the Cradle at Highland Park

Playing kick-the-can after dark

Falling through the ice near the sea-green bridge

A bottle of red pop from the slide-opened fridge

A cone at Nettie’s on a warm summer night

Eclairs and jellyballs were a weekend delight

Dinging the service station riding our bikes

As we stop into Cromley’s for some Mike & Ikes

Garbagemen bash trash cans and whistle away

The beer trucks come through as we’re trying to play

Neighbors dressed up on Sunday morning

As St. Charles chimes it’s warning

Train whistles carry from seventeen tracks

As cicada resonate while mosquitos attack

Fireflies travel from other dimensions

The ice cream truck jingle steals our attention

In the Red Catalina on the way to “Chicago”

Anticipation and excitement our only cargo

To grandma’s, the quarry, or Daytona Beach?

We’d never know until our destination was reached

We drive by McQueen’s orchard, a familiar landmark

To a sign that says Salisbury Quarry Recreation Park

Through Batman’s secret driveway to where a Griss girl waves

We park as the sun burns up the haze

The corduroy beach leads down to blue glass

As we approach the familiar cast

Charlie and company in our usual spot

Where we run from towel to towel when the sand gets too hot

The rocker and bobber and rafts dot the scene

With a backdrop of clifftops topped off with green

Blue sky competes with water so clear

While the jukebox asks what song we want to hear

Freebird plays to bikini clad gangs

Volleyball victories and horseshoe clangs

We swim to the bobber and start to climb

When The lifeguard pipes “one at a time!”

Lunch at the car in some much needed shade

As we eat pee-bee jays and drink grape Kool-Aid

Slow Ride plays as we eat our snack

Then tetherball smacks as we make our way back

We walk over the sand, all skinny and tanned

Cool air from the window of the concession stand

Down to the water for another cool dip

Then to the dive tower for a jump or a flip

Bluegill, Minnows, and perch dart about ya

“Aren’t you, barracuda?”

Oil skinned bodies on rafts span your view

“Do you, you, feel like I do? Yes ya do.”

As the sun arcs downward we make our way home

With a pit stop at Penguin for an ice cream cone

Or a cheeseburger and a pop at the Albon Inn

Goodbye, and goodnight until we meet here again

JArtB

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2019 AT 05:59