Compulsively Aimless

DOUBLE CORNER LOT They’re demolishing the brick colonial The one on the double corner lot That stood for 75 years For two generations of one family. They’re cutting down that 150 year-old maple The one that stands in corner of the double corner lot One tree, 150 rings Shade from spring to fall. The tree goes first It took them all day To chop off its limbs Cut down its trunk And grind up its stump. A perfectly good tree Offering up another generation of green in May To the brick house in the corner of the double corner lot 150 years gone in a day. The house goes second It took them two days To smash its brick and mortar The second floor first The first floor last. A perfectly good brick home Ready to offer shelter to another family On the corner lot 75 years gone in two days.  For more poems see http://www.verse-virtual.com/john-kropf.html

  A Boy's Lost Instructions There was a final time when you said, “I’m going out to play.” But you never realized it was final...  1.  Parachute Man My Grandfather fell to earth in a WWI parachute fifty years later he taught me how to make a parachute man with a handkerchief, string and a lead sinker You folded the handkerchief in squares and tossed your parachute man into the air Nowadays most men don't carry handkerchiefs. 2.  Talking to Kites My father showed me how to send messages up to kites He used old memo pads with his company logo on them and we'd write notes How are things up there? tear and tape the sheets around the kite string He'd give it a slide up the line and off it would go spinning around till the message was delivered. Today stunt kite flyers would not sit still to send a message. 3.  Burning Buildings In the fall we would burn piles of leaves. Sometimes my father would clean old boxes from th...