Saturday, April 2, 2011

PHONE CALL TO PAST

dialing five numbers on the rotary phone
party lines for all to rubber
The Shadow and baseball on radio
with static
rabbit ears on black and white TV
clicking three channels with I Love Lucy
Underwood typewriter forgiving its mistakes
with carbon copy smudging the words
Saturday matinees with Roy and Gene
cruising Columbia Street in a 51 Ford
girls who made their dresses for the dance
zuit suits and duck tails for guys
crew cuts
when apple was a jam
blackberry a jelly
dreaming of martians with computers
the cold war
McCarthyism
a phone call to the past
science fiction

15 comments:

Laurie Kolp said...

Great images of the past... love the typewriter!

~laurie

annell4 said...

Nice visit to what was....where is it now?

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

so vivid imagery, well done.

Michelle said...

Just wanted to drop in and 'thank you' for visiting my blog! :) Great trip back in time in this poem! Wonderful imagery.

flaubert said...

Wayne, nice to see you got your "beat" rhythm going here. Love it!

Cheers,
Pamela

Julie Jordan Scott said...

My poem was written to this prompt without even knowing it was a prompt. LOL. Gotta love that!

And I also love all the vintage imagery. Lush and lovely.

My phone call to the past.

Anonymous said...

I love the idea of a phone call to the past.

brenda w said...

Wayne, This is great! I love the idea of calling the past, and your references to cultural icons delighted me. Fun piece, thank you.
~Brenda

Pheromone Girl said...

Wonderfully nostalgic! I can picture myself in front of the radio, painting a line up the back of my calf,not able to get stockings.

Anonymous said...

Eeek! No escape. I have a working rotary phone on my desk. It's a riot when I call some business & they tell me to "please press 1 for..."

Thanks for the other memories.

Anonymous said...

I was reading this and an old telephone number popped into my head. I even remember who it belonged to. Love all the images,

Elizabeth

Andy Sewina said...

Phone call to the past! Wonderous!!!

Mary said...

Wow, Wayne. You triggered a lot of memories here. I used to SOOOOO love "The Shadow." Well done!

vivinfrance said...

As a Brit, your icons of the past gave me a flashback to my childhood reading of Saturday Evening Posts under the table while the adults played cards. I really enjoyed the poemj.

kanchipuram silk saree manufacturer said...


kanchipuram silk sarees manufacturers

kanchipuram silk sarees

kanchipuram silk sarees

kanchipuram silk sarees

kanchipuram silk sarees manufacturers

kanchipuram silk sarees

kanchipuram silk sarees

kanchipuram silk sarees