The old store in the photo is in Conneaut Ohio. It is hidden in a valley, on a side road, only 500 yards from downtown. The beauty is it greying age and her strentgh. She inspired this work.
Memories Of An Old Depression Era Store
You sit thereGrey and beaten from the years
Your door hangs from but a single hinge
Windows busted from little boys just being boys
A faded Coca Cola sign hangs by one nail
Above a rusted metal roof
It wasn't always like that
How many children rushed through that door
Pennies in hand
Looking for a piece of candy
Maybe an ice cream on a hot day
Old people used to gather with you
Playing checkers
Drinking a cold pop
Or just talking about woman down at the corner
You were always there for them
They needed you more than they knew
Now you sit
Alone and rotting
The children who rushed your door
Now they take their children to the mall
Impersonal and cold
The old people sit in nursing homes
They watch TV with blank eyes
And they wait
Wait for the next dose of their numbing medication
There are none of the laughs we shared
There are none of memories you gave
You were past by time
Maybe old before your time
Some will remember and they will drive by
Looking at you
Remembering that one bottle of pop
Thinking back to the story the old man told about the war
They will remember you
Your open door and your checker board
And a happier time.
Poetry by Rob Taylor
Read 1265 times
Written on 2007-10-04 at 15:57
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