My Poems

The Front Porch

We are talking about a time, a time long ago,                                                                      Happy places, happy faces, things went slow.                                                                  Folks strolling along down the sidewalk,                                                                        Always stopping with their neighbors to talk. 

Listen to the children’s laughter in the air,                                                                      Up and down each street, they were everywhere.                                                            The sound of a ball hitting hard off the bat,                                                                    The thump of roller skates over each crack. 

The enjoyment of a front yard is a thing of the past,                                                                     Back then you’d hear father’s yelling, get off the grass!                                           Lemonade stands and croquet sets ready to go,                                                          Now the front yard is just something you mow. 

The very best thing was the front porch time we spent,                                        After work, after school, after dinner, their we went.                                              Parents sitting on porch swings and in the wicker chairs                                                    Children hanging on the rails and sitting on the stairs. 

Young and old gathered on the porch summer nights,                                            Drinking ice tea while chatting about the days news.                                                  Lingering on until aglow became all the street lights,                                               Walking back home feeling no better life could they choose.
 
The best thing I remember about our front porch I'd say,                                            On rainy days when we couldn’t go out in the yard to play,                                     Mother would make oatmeal cookies and call all our friends,                              Checkers and marbles would be games played till the days end. 

Author Eileen Clark~ 2012                                                                                

Image: People sitting on the front porch in the 1950’s

reddit.com

My Poems

Yesterday

Good news was more often across the air waves,                                                                                     Men and women were honest, strong and brave.                                                                                          Happy children with grubby little faces,                                                                                                              Family grocery shops in so many places.

 Pickles and relishes in the pantry canned,                                                                                                                           Life at that time seemed ever so grand.                                                                                                                         Pies and breads on the windowsills cool,                                                                                                                      love and kindness was the golden rule.

Aprons on dresses to keep them clean,                                                                                                 Every back door open with a wooden screen.                                                                                      Young folks today will never experience,                                                                                                             That life’s pureness, calmness, and innocents.

Some of the older ones know just what I mean,                                                                                   Only by walking along in our memories dream.                                                                                                Not again will we live in this quaint little world,                                                                                                                                                             Waking up, back to reality we are quickly hurled.

Author   Eileen Clark

Authors note:
Every generation had it’s own horrors so we try to look at the good things about it. When I look back I remember kids being obedient and respectful to parents, relatives, and teachers, it was not a matter of choice.

Image: http://indulgy.com/post/KnuCzPvZl1/cooling-bread

Photo by Scott Ray Found on Pinterest and flickr.com

My Poems

The Last Painting

It was really hard to set her paint brush down                     
She never thought about that day coming round         
Water colors is the medium she chose to try                     
Using paints in little tin boxes that the kids buy 

Just the eight basic colors was all she would need         
Knowing how to mix them was useful to succeed           
Six cheap brushes from large to one tiny and frail             
And a big pad  of watercolor paper that was on sale

Landscapes showed her talent, most folks would agree   
All her friends have paintings, all were given free         
She loved to paint the sky with white billowy clouds   
For a piece to be finished, she would have to feel proud

A brush filled with black paint dropped from her shaky hand                                           On her perfect finished clouds is where that brush did land
 It was to be her last, though sad, at least she could say     
Across New England, in many homes my paintings stay

Author Eileen Clark 2023

I was cleaning out a basket near my  computer and found a couple of old watercolor brushes. I placed them in a plastic bag where I kept others. I was looking at them for a bit and to my surprise, tears welled up in my eyes. I haven't done a painting in years because of my shaky arthritic hands, hence this poem.

 

Poetry

September

The golden-rod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.


The gentian’s bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusty pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.


The sedges flaunt their harvest,
In every meadow nook;
And asters by the brook-side
Make asters in the brook.


From dewy lanes at morning
the grapes’ sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.


By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather,
And autumn’s best of cheer.


But none of all this beauty
Which floods the earth and air
Is unto me the secret
Which makes September fair.


‘T is a thing which I remember;
To name it thrills me yet:
One day of one September
I never can forget.

Author ~ Helen Hunt Jackson { Oct. 1830 – Aug. 1885 }

https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/helen-hunt-jackson

Fall Image Found on Pinterest

My Poems

My Fall Loving Cat

In the fall my cat is so much fun,                                                                                                          I bring her out for her daily run.                                                                                                       She mostly likes the big Maple trees,                                                                                            With their many red and orange leaves.

One red leaf dropped on her head,                                                                                                   Her blue eyes saw the bright red                                                                                                               It slowly slipped down her nose.                                                                                                         She brushed it away with her paw-toes.

I rake the leaves up into one big pile,                                                                                             And so it begins, she showing her cool style.                                                                               Jumping in and out, in and out my delightful cat,                                                                        Until there’s nothing left leaving the pile flat.

She stands at my feet looking up at me,                                                                                        She's asking for more, I know that plea.                                                                                            I'll make this next pile three times the size,                                                                               And when I jump in, that'll be quite a surprise.

Author Eileen Clark                                                                                                 

Image;lovethispic.com