if only we’d reunite - 2010

[keithalanhamilton]

I grew up in a place with not many people
the state of Michigan knows it as Freeland
you only had one stop light to remember
the intersection of M-47 and Freeland Rd
where a few friends and I got caught streakin
close by was the river called Tittabawassee
and to the east across the railroad tracks
Tri City Airport now simply known as MBS
a green water tower at the fire department
marked the tallest thing way up in the sky
there was a foundry, a barber shop with Joe
the bar, Log Cabin to have a few with friends
we had gas stations and Pats, a grocery store
a bank, a drug store and some churches
also a coffee shop where dad and the locals
shot the shit and talked family and politics
but most of my memories, the really good ones

the ones about going to school with my classmates

Freeland in the late sixties and early seventies
had a high school and the elementary school
which included back then the North building
separate from the main building with a creepy
yes, icky basement and some other floors above
there I remember Mrs. Hammond singing with us
Six Little Ducks, and to that song we all did the
“Wibble, wobble, wibble, wobble, to and fro”
and it was there in the fourth grade, a kid
a boy named Rudy became to us boys our hero
on the playground he masterfully judo flipped
the school bully, later known as nicotine Dean
yet it was in the first grade in the main building
where I experienced my first profound memory
a day etched in infamy, a day I felt group pain
emotion filled hearts of unsuspecting children
only later to be more fully comprehended by us

president Kennedy was shot a very loud speaker said

It has taken many years to realize and appreciate
what going to school in Freeland was really like
unique in the since of going to school twelve years
experienced overtime with many of the same kids
kids I played little league with to varsity sports
children who grew to be teenagers, young adults
girls blossoming into ladies we boys wanted to date
some kids became a honors student and yes some
just struggled with the trials of everyday life
we had dances, homecoming with floats and prom
I even had a fight with one of my best friends
afterwards we laughed it off saying it was nothing
then before we realized it, we stood all together
with cap and tassel in front of teachers and family
proudly bringing our many years in school to an end
graduating us to go on to have other experiences
keeping us preoccupied and away from each other

so our dreams would be fulfilled with rich memories

At least that’s how I remember school back then
only in a blink of an eye days became many years
being in my fifties can be hard to accept at times
how age has changed my body since younger years
the six-pack abs have become lost in my waistline
gotten divorced but have three wonderful children
all grown up and independent doing things their way
me, I write and I’m self-published on my web site
even if busy, my mind in later years drifts back
more so than the past to think about schoolmates
wondering how they are and where they may be
especially who they’ve become or are they married
how about children and how many, I’d like to know
maybe because I’m older, is why I think of them
I have these thoughts of them do they about me
are their memories of our school days the same
or do they remember way back when another way

if only we’d reunite talking and reminiscing once more

-2010

[Doreen Peri]

This is a good story. Would be cool in short story format.

[keithalanhamilton]

Would be cool in short story format.

It would be but I thought I'd try my version of a memoir poem. I am in the process of writing a collection of short stories about growing up in Freeland. I'll try to share them here as they come about.

[Doreen Peri]

Cool! Looking forward to reading them!

[goldenmyst]

Keith your memory journey brought back memories for me. I don't ever plan on going to a school reunion. Yet I do often wonder where they are now, my former classmates. For some school was a happy time filled with good memories. I'm glad they were that way for you. I appreciate you bringing to life these recollections in such a wonderful poem.

John