A retreat back to the late ’50’s where life was simple and safe.

original post 4/20/07

1959

1.

Good Humor

The Stuyvesant Town* trees are heavy with green,
and Fernando, the Good Humor man
with the grey-white hair and mustache,
claims his post on the corner of
14^th Street and Avenue B. He holds court on a blue milk-crate throne,
next to his little white cart,
with the scratched metal top
that I’d tap on with my coins.
I give him 15 cents for an Orange Humorette
and he says, “Here, Tottalina.” He opens the thick door with the heavy latch,
and digs down, with his red hands,
intothe smokey, cold, icy, depths,
and retrieves my white, paper-wrapped prize.
He gives it to me,
along with the 3 cents change
he has clicked out of the
coin sorter on his belt.

The first lick is frigid, and tasteless,
too cold to sense,
it sticks to my tongue, teasing me,
then warms,
becoming the familiar exotic orange.
But once the orange yields
to the vanilla therein,
I know both pleasure and pain:
It’s like I have gotten to the top of the mountain
and now it is time for the descent;
Soon I will be at the bottom,
and I will be licking
the stick
to splinters.

2.

****
Potsy

Pre-puberty,
scraped knees,
Barbie doll.
Life’s boundaries are defined by chalk lines
on the pavement near the playground.
A light breeze blows through my hair.
There is comfort in ritual,
and joy in being.
At the potsy court, drawn in pink, tenuous lines,
I am throwing my skate-key,
or a pebble, or the ice cream stick,into the boxes, and then I
dance the solo, hopscotch waltz
from box to box,
hopping, skipping, jumping,
dipping to retrieve the key,
spinning and reversing,
back I come,
my hair flying.

3.

****
Planes

Then, I stop:
an airplane!
My mind sings the song I copied with large hand
into my composition book, and memorized:

Oh the aer-o-plane, oh the aer-o-plane,
Can go faster than the fastest train,
Faster than the ships at sea, ‘cause it flies right through the air you see,
Up so high, up so high!
How we love to watch it fly.

I stand shielding my eyes from the sun
in a salute;
I have become a face,
turned upward,
my sticky mouth ajar,
in wonder of how
the sky could be that blue,
and how a plane could be that huge,
and silver,
and low-flying, and
loud,
with its droning
four propellers;
not like the sound of future jets,
with their deep, low roar that vibrates in your gut.
No, this was a lulling signal, from another place. My planes hung in the sky,
gleaming behemoths above my head,
and as they passed,
in slow motion,
I secretly prayed
and played the game:
Will it, can it, stay up?!

Why, of course it can!

Pan American, or TWA,
going far, far away
maybe even to Florida!

4.

****
Propellers

So many times and years later
when I have been unable to surrender to rest,
I yielded to the silence, and quieted my heart
to listen for the drone of my propeller planes.
They come from deep within the clouds,
taking those lucky people to Florida,
who look down at me
and see the speck
of my upturned, now adult face, in the moonlight.
As they eat their peanuts
and watch Doris Day,
they smile, dreaming of palm trees and oranges,
while ensconced, aloft
in their silver shell.
Finally, I can hear the lullaby
of the four engines;
I peel open my Orange Humorette, toss my skate-key into the pink, chalk box,
and safe, at last,
in 1959,
I fall asleep.

*Stuyvesant Town was the name of the housing project I grew up in; owned by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, it provided middle class housing to the WWII vets who were lucky enough to get in.

See blog:http://sanssouciblogs.multiply.com/journal/item/306/193._Poetry_Wednesday_Introduction_Part_1

From the parallel blogging universe of Yahoo.

• Astra…
• Offline

(Amazed; he sits for a moment…)
I am a hack.  Straight-up.
Thank you for this.
I was five in 1959…

Friday April 20, 2007 – 04:27pm (PDT) Remove Comment

• Sans …
• Offline

Ahhh, the 50’s…so safe, so much fun, so innocent…so glad you connected to this!

Friday April 20, 2007 – 07:32pm (EDT) Remove Comment

• MM
• Offline

Ever seen a frog Slowwwww-Dance???
This is a great take me back music collection.  thankx for the journey

Saturday April 21, 2007 – 10:31am (PDT) Remove Comment

• Frida…
• Offline

OMG! Can’t be. Innocent is the way I describe and personally “feel” the music of the 50s, which I love despite I was born in 1960. And… another surprise: Shaboom was “my parent’s” song! Ahhh… what does that mean? You scare me, Dear Sue! 🙂

Saturday April 21, 2007 – 02:00pm (CDT) Remove Comment

• Kwika
• Offline IM

Perfect nostalgia but my day would have been the 60’s except, the boogy-man and his minions played on the corner near our house and they sounded like a dozen motor bikes so I couldn’t sleep until they left:) but I can still taste the icecream and the smell.

Wednesday July 11, 2007 – 03:29pm (NZST) Remove Comment

• Laurita
• Offline IM

I almost did a blog about Good Humor Ice Cream the other day! I even remember that guy, Fernando. There was even a Good Humor place on 14th and 1st, which had more flavors that Fernando didn’t have, and a Barracini candy store down the street that had lollipops with candy faces on them…Love, Lil Sis, Laurita

Thursday July 12, 2007 – 10:13am (EDT) Remove Comment

• Rosie S
• Offline

Sue, you are a genius! and I just love you. You brought me back to my childhood years when I was 8 yrs. of age on Mulberry St. See ya Wed. I miss you. Rosie

reply kitcarson wrote on Oct 20, ’07 You can write about the 50s all you want…I was only one at this time. I love the clarity of your memory. This is well written and enjoyable…thank you.

reply gilesy01 wrote on Jan 27, ’08 They still use those here at beaches, fairs, amusement parks etc.

reply aladybug wrote on Jan 27, ’08 Hmm…. New York may be so refined, sohpisticated and advanced, but those still exist here.  I don’t see them often, but they still exist! The poem is great though…. 🙂

reply vghozlan wrote on Jan 27, ’08 I was one years old in 1959…living in Panama…

reply shoppingfreedom wrote on Jan 29, ’08 I have no idea about how to enjoy a poem, since I never good in interpreting it in my mind. Your poems up there are so clear about your childhood life. I don’t remember my childhood that vivid, I think. Lucky you for being able to turn them into lovely poems. Enjoy your week there (^_^)v

reply sanssouciblogs wrote on Jan 29, ’08, edited on Jan 29, ’08 shoppingfreedom said I have no idea about how to enjoy a poem, since I never good in interpreting it in my mind. Your poems up there are so clear about your childhood life. I don’t remember my childhood that vivid, I think. Lucky you for being able to turn them into lovely poems. Enjoy your week there (^_^)v Let the poem speak to you; everyone will see it differently and find their own meaning, and Livy,  if it touches you, then you have enjoyed it!

reply sweetpotatoqueen wrote on Mar 29, ’08 Sue: I have to tell you that I am glad I saw the visual of Stuyvesant Town before I read these memories of yours…I am there with you in the city,buying ice cream for 13 cents and comtemplating with wonder the planes in the sky. Your words once again amaze me in their abilty to get across times that are long gone except in the vaults of memories. I peel open my Orange Humorette, toss my skate-key into the pink, chalk box, and safe, at last, in 1959, I fall asleep. Such simple times! So glad you pointed me this way!

reply billatplay wrote on Aug 19, ’08, edited on Aug 19, ’08 Your prose show emotions flavoured with reality. Your yearning for something is obvious, but perhaps you have travelled but not stopped? Do we ever reach contentment, or are we just left with the thought of it? I think poetry is the vehicle of hope and girl, ‘you peddle well’. I leave you with a sigh. http://billatplay.multiply.com/journal/item/12/Sigh?replies_read=1

reply starfishred wrote on Aug 19, ’08 very well done it brings memories back sigh

reply zafreud wrote on Aug 19, ’08 Nostalgic as an old classic movie!…My childhood is placed at the 70’s. Despite the differences – other songs, other places to remember, even other fashion trends! – I find the same “floating in the air” feeling whenever I look back… You’ve managed to draw a picturesque scenery around your childhood memories and take us with you to dance a waltz with the memories of innocence – in spite of the imminence of the implied future images (the semantic levels of the word “plane” are pointing to nowadays to, isn’t it?). Thank you!!! 🙂

reply jadedruid wrote on Aug 19, ’08 Wonderful collection. The age of innocence, so sad kids today will never be able to have memories like these. Thank you

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Aug 19, ’08 Hey ! I remember Fernando ! You took the words right out of my mouth (only better, hee, hee!) Those were the days ! What great memories. AND GREAT POETRY OF YOURS !!!

reply sanssouciblogs wrote on Aug 19, ’08 lauritasita said Hey ! I remember Fernando ! You took the words right out of my mouth (only better, hee, hee!) Those were the days ! What great memories. AND GREAT POETRY OF YOURS !!! I know you (and Sweetie) have read this before, but somehow it seemed fitting with my NY feelings–we took a little ride through Stuyvesant Town when in Manhattan on Sunday and I was awed by what they’ve done there. Childhood has been replaced. The chains around the grass are gone, the plantings are colorful and lush, there is a community center, I her that there are evening concerts at the “Oval” fountains. I was so confused and overwhelmed I was overcome by emotion. We couldn’t live there if we wanted, the rents are so high! In addition, I am down to my  very last postable poem and feeling extremely insecure. I know I have to sit down and get finished with the manuscript but I feel overwhelmed and can’t face it yet. it’s too huge.  But these nostalgia poems are definitely going to carry the project.  i just feel like the bank is empty and I am overdraen on poems–they are almost all done and I haven’t written. Oy, angst!!!!

reply sweetpotatoqueen wrote on Aug 20, ’08 And..it’s still great the second time around!!! I do mean it…MWAH!

reply bostonsdandd wrote on Aug 20, ’08 I really like your poetry and I’m learning so much from reading it. The reason I’m getting more descriptive is because of YOU. The little details a lot of people overlook when writing. But you capture it beautiful. What a WONDERFUL teacher you are to all of us!

reply sanssouciblogs wrote on Aug 20, ’08 bostonsdandd said I really like your poetry and I’m learning so much from reading it. The reason I’m getting more descriptive is because of YOU. The little details a lot of people overlook when writing. But you capture it beautiful. What a WONDERFUL teacher you are to all of us! Thank you, Lori! very many hugs!!

reply dianahopeless wrote on Aug 20, ’08 Same time, different places, similar memories. And while I rarely think that far back, your poetry brought it all back in a flood. They were beautiful innocent years, and wonderful memories. TY for sharing.

reply millimusings wrote on Aug 20, ’08 Well versed memories here Sue and I will return to read more tomorrow. Poetry Wednesday:Saturday Morning Local Organic Produce Market.

reply kwika wrote on Aug 20, ’08 Incredible post Sue as usual. As Diana says same memories, different places.

reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Aug 20, ’08 Different place but same time, my memories are in some ways similar and in some ways so different………odd the difference our area or origin makes to who we are. thanks for the insight into your past.

reply fluffyj wrote on Aug 20, ’08 Love them all!   Only 15 cents for an orange Dream bar…. wow, and you got change!   Simpler days indeed!  I’ve been in the same frame of mind, childhood memories.  Thanks for sharing yours! -janeen

reply philsgal7759 wrote on Aug 22, ’08 I love your memory writing makes me feel as if i am watching it play out in front of me

reply skeezicks1957 wrote on Aug 23, ’08 I was born in 1957 and lived in the midwest but still your poems in this post bring back  a feeling of life when it used to be a great deal less complicated than it got as time went on.   I had not felt that feeling for a while.  Thank you!

reply 7jewel wrote on Apr 18, ’09 Reminds me of my older sisters…nice…thanks