The 50s

A decade
Lauded by many
Held up as example – a template to return to
With a simple president
Who didn’t take politics as seriously as his golf game
And smiled through it all

There was evil then
McCarthy let us know - not just over there
But poisoning the midst of us
Especially among those artsy eggheads
Stirring their own filth with modernism
And African rhythms

But at our house
We held Harry and Adlai
Almost up with Paul and Silas
With Roy Rogers religion
Spewed from our mouths
And Aunt Alta played Marion Anderson

The main stream
Was not where we floated
Daddy working three or four jobs at a time
But we did have the motorboat
Idyllic nights on the river
And days on the bay fishing

The farm fell
To futility under the furious inferno
In between flourishes of crops
With enough to get the financial motors running again
Along with the garden’s bounty
And the gas wells

Five to fifteen – a span of wonder
What a time to see pass by with
H-bombs and Sputnik and right-wing cousins with fallout shelters
But a decade of other cousins watching the stars
Listening to the coyotes along with the oil patch motors
And finding out a little about girls

Some glory - good grades
Some shame with the government drought relief
Then pulling out of it
Getting back to farm work and making muscles
The girls and the coaches liked
And trips out west

Relative affluence rose
Around us, with a hole in the middle
Was rain a right?
Should our share be slated?
No wonder so many farmers fueled the cities
And drove Detroit

Jesus showed Himself to me
Not the Jesus who would
Fight wars and make you rich if you did what the preacher said
But the Jesus who would love me like I was
Giving grace where fear and dread might be
And offering hope