that strange skyline on Rural Route # 2
where the cornfields faced the house
and up the road the train tracks led back180 degrees
behind the house
beyond the fields
across the crick
to the refinery
stoic and grey in the daylight
alive with lights and flares in the night
it seemed as much a natural feature of the landscape
as the valley and woods standing before it
our world
etched forever in my memories
how strange you still live there
just across the road in the cornfields transformed into bungalows
the refinery dismantled and shipped off to Pakistan
all the rest "morphed" into urban sprawl
and you still there
like a stone too big to be pushed away by the diggers
When all the kids were diggin' the Kinks
and the Turtles
and the Dave Clark Five
you stood by Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison
"Puff the Magic Dragon" was the only song you could sing all the words to
"The dragon lives forever
but not so little boys..."
strange that you knew those words so well
for in some corner of your heart
you seem to defy them
Author notes
For my younger brother Scott
and Mary Travers, who's music touched his young heart.
In a list
A contest entry
- Tribute to Mary Travers, R.I.P. by ecrivain01.
1050 points, ended October 12, 10 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Gold And Silver Trophy Poems! by MJ Forgives.
700 points, ended November 14, 205 entries
• next poem in this contest, • Add to finalists list, or remove from contest
Comments
1 - 24 of 24
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HEY I really liked this... the scene you painted was so vivid and real... and the way you characterized this man merely by describing that which changed around him while he remained static was remarkable. Truly enjoyed this bit of artistry.
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Oh my...you drew me in right away with the landscape..Living on a farm for fifteen years, and knowing the rural urban lifestyle of the prairies, you certainly talked my language here...There are some things that never change, but even like our large farm house it was dismantled and made into a cabin somewhere else.. So well written...the emotion comes with this write, and yes, even Mary Travers who I head with Paul and Peter here in Vancouver...Our hearts will forever value her, and the life we once knew....Fantastic penning!
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Thanks kindly !
Peter, Paul and Mary in Vancouver! They were such big stars in the sixties.Time has a way of blurring our memories: but, with all the fuss in the news with Mary's passing it makes me remember how they were one of the few groups at the time (when music was a big part of the chasm between generations) that could create unanimity- and songs like "500 miles" and "Jet plane" are still easy to listen to today!
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I love this and all those groups you mentioned. They were the days when music was music and always had something to say. Brilliantly put together piece and a wonderful tribute to your brother and Mary Travers. My JJ use to try and play Puff the magic dragon on the ketboard. He had the sheet music along with others sitting there on the piano and he would practice it while our little Budgie sat on the side listening and whistling here and there. I guess she didn't think much of his playing as during the day she managed to pick off every bit of puff music on the page. Didn't touch any other piece of music! Go figure. Anyway, I thought this piece was absolutely brilliant and I am sure she would have loved it as well as your brother would. Congratualtions on the gold trophy which is so well deserved.
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Thanks for your kind remarks, Condor, and for sharing your memories of Puff!
Funny your bird had such a reaction, it is a wistful song,isn't it!?
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Poignant poetry dear Poet, made me warm to the boy who knew all the words to Puff the Magic Dragon.
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Thank 'ee, M' am!
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Gary, this is superb... such a good narrative and a fitting entry to the contest
i love how you included some of the groups of the time, plus im old enough to remember them too.. lololololol
loved it
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Thank you, Gillian. I'm sure it was the same for you and your friends as it was with mine; everyone had their favourite band or singer and we had lively debates about who was REALLY the best! A good friend of ours, who my brother still sees today, was a PARTISAN for the Dave Clark Five and the Turtles...they just seemed to fit in well here!
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I know all the words to that song too...
This is really good. Loved the descriptions, and where you went with it. Well done.
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Everybody loves Puff!
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puff the magic dragon lives by the sea...
yeah, I love Puff, Gillian too. winks.
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Seeing your photo with your kitty reminds me we has a cat back then named Puff-
He wasn't named for the dragon,he was just a soft little puff!
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What a wonderful and vivid description and tribute here, it was so real as you read it. I am sure your brother would be very moved C
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He's not really into poetry much (he's a surveyor- he prefers Sudoku) but I wrote a poem for him for his 50th birthday last year: I think he appriciated it...
http://allpoetry.com/poem/4143791
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Magnifique ...
and I am certain that Mary would have loved it, as well as he of whom you speak. I hope he's still around to read this, even though she is not.
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Thanks for the "gold", "01", for my poem.
Thanks for having this contest, too!
It gave me time to think on some happy memories!
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Thank you "ecrivain",he's still wirh us; but he's been through a very rough year...
I'm sure you could empathize with each other!
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LOVE it! So representative of the American landscape today, the flow is good too, reminds me a little of Jazz, does that make sense?
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"reminds me a little of Jazz..."
Funny you would say that about a poem that uses 60's folk and pop music as its points of reference, but when I look back on that landscape with its collage of rural Ontario and industrial America I agree it lends itself very well to Mingus or MonK!
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This is lovely, a journey through the heartscape of brothers. Fitting tribute to Mary Travers, and to love.
Best of luck in the contest.
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Thank you, Mercedes.
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