Friday, May 4, 2012

A Farm in the City

A garden grows in the front yard
Of the gray house down the street.

The front yard, the front yard
Oh, yes, the front yard!

Tomatoes, corn, beans, squash
Sectioned off with marsh cane
Bean poles and chicken wire

Chicken wire, chicken wire
Oh, yes, chick, chick, CHICK-
EN! wire

Two chairs, a rickety table
Where an ashtray sits.
Rumor has it the man
lost his high-paying job

lost his job, lost his job,
Oh, yes, he lo-st his job

needs money for a loan,
his wife and kids left him
last week; but I think he’s
lost his wet-brained mind

Lost his mind, lost his mind
Oh, yes, he’s lost his MInd

farming in the big city
like that, don’t you?

©laurie kolp

Prompt inspiration: IGWRT w/ Marian (Runaway Sentence)- A tribute to Leon Helm

15 comments:

Margaret said...

So clever. Definitely zings along ... (I can hear the drums :)

Marian said...

I. LOVE. THIS.
signed, Frequently Of Wet-Brain

Helen said...

Well now ... just hand me on over that old banjo of mine! I'll put this puppy to music .. Great poem.

Kerry O'Connor said...

Oh yes! I can definitely hear this one being sung.. and the chorus girls stepping in on cue too.
Behind the melody is the real commentary on hard times.

kaykuala said...

A great sing-along, Laurie! Complete with a chorus line, how nice!

Hank

Sherry Blue Sky said...

Your song is an anthem of the times....loved it.

Kay L. Davies said...

I think they call them back-up singers, but a chorus line sounds good, too. In the "very olden days" i.e. before I was born, they called them "girl singers" can you believe it?
Very well done, Laurie, very well done.
K

Hannah said...

Hahahahaha!!! I can hear you singing this, Laurie!! You're awesome!

Dave King said...

I thought this was going to be a paean to self-sufficiency. Perhaps it was. I enjoyed it very much and the enjoyment was spiced slightly by what I discerned as a little ambiguity re your views on the matter. Delightful.

Brian Miller said...

this is absolutely lovely laurie...i got a good chuckle reading this this morning...and i could def hear it as well...you should see my smile...

Unknown said...

The recession set to music. The poem definitely is musical!

hedgewitch said...

Everybody on my block has a garden, some have chickens, and two have horses--and we are in a subdivsion. But not the city, true--I love the silly sig-song choruses and tone to this--a fun poem, Laurie.

Elliot said...

The man you describe here sounds like the man I could have become had I stayed on the path I was on through much of my 20s. Lovely poem as always.

Susie Clevenger said...

Oh a song of being crazy from loss...I can hear its tune...Great job!

Mary Ann Potter said...

Yep. Rock on, farmer, rock on.