Depression Era

A look at my possible future. Not all that far away.

Depression Era (Ref. Robert Herrick)

Scouting pottery
South, out of Zanesville
Shawnee, Corning
Down Route 13
What I do Saturday,
Sunday afternoons
Sneaking beer from the cooler
Hot stove league on the radio
Marty and it used to be Joe
I don’t collect myself
and don’t know much
But find what I can
and take it home to my Sweetie

No Weller or Roseville for me
It’s mud or china SPI
Chips oh so easy,
takes up too much room
Like me
And, like me, it mostly just sits there
Sometimes, putting a new piece up
I get shaky - knock another off the shelf
She doesn't mind
She knows I’m… past my prime
She says it's all a'hunting and a‘gathering
Just instinct --
And I'm thinking extinct
Why pottery? Pottery, for God’s sake.
I like beer and football

Any humor at all
that Herrick was born in Cheapside,
and like me, a fan of his betters?
My side is the junk stores
No fancy pants "Antique Mall"
My wallet needs a place where they may not know what they have
Some place where Old Time’s dying - not flying
Slinking 'round dusty bookcases
Sniffing out small pieces of the past
Nothing to make much of
But you can smile at it

Ah, there’s the old stuff
No virgins here, for sure
I see a possibility
A nicely painted salad plate,
pick it up and turn it over
and I’ve been fooled again
Made in not even Occupied Japan
I move on to the bud vase in the corner

© D. Dain, 2007.