The Good Life
People came from miles around
for market day on the courthouse lawn,
the town/farm picnic and kiddie fair,
dances in Bohemian Hall and the Yuletide Pageant.
Families clothed themselves at Benda’s Apparel,
bought bats and balls, gloves and guns at Wilke Sports,
gathered their groceries at Neal’s Food Mart
and fulfilled their hardware needs at True Value.
Doctor, dentist, hospital, mortuary—
we had it all, even the Gazette for news and views.
Then Montgomery Ward built just an hour away,
soon followed by Greenfield Mall
with Sears and Penneys as bookends.
Modern and sparkling, they sold everything,
sold it cheaper, in all sizes, colors and shapes,
recruited our kids to work their long hours
and hooked us with car-load, tent and rock-bottom
sales no one could pass up. And so it’s been:
Benda’s and Wilke’s have closed shop,
True Value is now Discount Liquor,
and Neal’s has fallen to a cemetery expansion.
We’re a pit stop now near the fast 4-lane,
though UPS and FedEx trucks still
lumber past our vacant storefronts,
leaving parcels bought from around the globe.
We’re no different from folks everywhere
doing what they think they must to live,
but worry has become our luxury: what if
our town is just the world writ small, there being
no way back once the good life’s gone?
Author: Darrell Petska
Photo: Melissa Askew on Unsplash
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