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
ARCHIVES.....FIRST DRAFTS.....
So clever. Definitely zings along ... (I can hear the drums :)
ReplyDeleteI. LOVE. THIS.
ReplyDeletesigned, Frequently Of Wet-Brain
Well now ... just hand me on over that old banjo of mine! I'll put this puppy to music .. Great poem.
ReplyDeleteOh yes! I can definitely hear this one being sung.. and the chorus girls stepping in on cue too.
ReplyDeleteBehind the melody is the real commentary on hard times.
A great sing-along, Laurie! Complete with a chorus line, how nice!
ReplyDeleteHank
Your song is an anthem of the times....loved it.
ReplyDeleteI 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?
ReplyDeleteVery well done, Laurie, very well done.
K
Hahahahaha!!! I can hear you singing this, Laurie!! You're awesome!
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeletethis 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...
ReplyDeleteThe recession set to music. The poem definitely is musical!
ReplyDeleteEverybody 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.
ReplyDeleteThe 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.
ReplyDeleteOh a song of being crazy from loss...I can hear its tune...Great job!
ReplyDeleteYep. Rock on, farmer, rock on.
ReplyDelete