New Poem by Suzanne Richardson Harvey

Eyewear is glad to publish a posthumous poem by the American academic and poet Suzanne Richardson Harvey (1934-2010).

Bankruptcy

As I carve a path through the jungle
Of creditors' threats and lay off notices
Resignations and legal briefs
I remember my tenth birthday
The party with undrunk lemonade
Left over toll house cookies
Unblown whistles and horns
Favors no one took home

I was fresh from a New England village
Where the fate of an elm on the Old Post Road
Was the Holy Grail in someone's Crusade
I was a toll house and lemonade guy
A whistle and horn kid

These days lemonade comes laced
With maraschinos and grenadine
Mrs. Fields caters the cookies
Whistles and horns arrive enshrined
In cellophane from Saks

These days kids sip guava punch
Nibble mandarin orange and anisette bars
Crave exotic flavors
And horns with the Hallmark label.

poem published with permission of the estate of Suzanne Richardson Harvey.

Comments

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