At the edge of nowhere,
Colorado is a place most
Drive through, not
Ever stopping
For more than
Gas and fast food by the
Highway.
If they took time to explore, they'd find the
Jewel of the town: the
Listed as a National Historic Landmark, it's also listed in the
Memories of all who grew up here -- hot summer
Nights at the county fair, riding the carousel
On your favorite animal (hippocampus for me)
Perfection.
Quiet Main Street is 3 blocks away.
Remaining businesses do not thrive, but they
Survive. Farmers' pickup
Trucks cluster around Daylight Donuts at 6 a.m.
Under a
Vast sky and unbounded by
Wide horizons
Xpect to feel small here, even if
You are
Zipping by on I-70.
Miss Rumphius has a round up of abecedarian poems from her weekly poetry challenge.
Mary Lee,
ReplyDeleteThis is terrific. Such a perfect description of life in a small town. I love it! Hope all is well!
Carol
Oh, I love this -- even if I weren't already just a tad partial to abecedarians. It was lovely hearing about your hometown :).
ReplyDeleteMary Lee, I love the detail you worked into this poem. The hippopotamus, the donut store. Wonderful closing lines about how much we miss when we're "zipping" from point A to point B.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite carousel animal was/is the hippoCAMPUS, not hippopotamus! It's the mythological-looking animal in the picture. Maybe Mer-horse would have been a better name!
ReplyDeletenice work. i like the way that the abecedarian-ness (forgive me!) didn't get in the way.
ReplyDeleteand if you moved that small town several states along I-70 to the east, swapped the carousel for a Lincoln-era state house, change a couple names and you'd have the place where I grew up.
Oh, I'm so in love with that carousel! The hippocampus has an amazing tail, and it looks like it wants to leap right off the platform and into the sea.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is lovely. My favorite line is "expect to feel small here."
This is lovely. It reminds me of so many of the small towns I grew up around and visited through my early years during all those Sunday drives initiated by my Dad.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to be on that carousel surrounded by vast skies and wide horizons.
Thanks for playing!
Very fun! I, too, love the line "expect to feel small here." Perfect.
ReplyDeleteMary Lee, that is just lovely. I love the word "unbounded." And I've never even heard of a hippocampus before, but I think it would have been my favorite too.
ReplyDeleteOh, wonderful! I especially love:
ReplyDeleteit's also listed in the
Memories of all who grew up here
Thanks for sharing your town:>)
Mary Lee,
ReplyDeleteThis was a wonderful homage to your hometown. Well done!
Somehow I missed this last week. Great poem!!!
ReplyDeleteHope you're enjoying your last week in your old hometown, and that your mom is getting better.