Going Back in White and Black
Somewhere over the rainbow judy garland sang
in black and white and shades of gray with static
flakes across her face. The picture rolls, as if the film
has slipped its sprocket.
With tuning pegs, in the little white house on Hamilton
I can adjust the roll, the horizontal and vertical distortions,
kneeling by the TV on the wool rug,
making subtle gray changes.
how’s that? I will ask Sky King and Peter Pan, too,
in their black, white, and gray places: ships and planes.
I’ll ask everyone I see, comedians, boxers, cowboys,
Buster Brown who-lives-in-a-shoe. is it all right, now?
The rug was scratchy;
I believe it had flowers, but don’t
remember any colors.
Advertisement
Like this:
One blogger likes this post.
Childhood delineated by TV is a strange concept for this 70 yr old!
It is odd. And it’s odd that so few years make such a difference. I only vaguely remember radio as a story-telling medium, and there are plenty of people who who don’t know a world without the internet.
I love this Barb, as I think we knew the same things! I remember LOVING Sky King. You probably remember Captain Video, Howdy Doody and Clarabelle, the original Mickey Mouse Club with Annette F. and Spin and Marty, Lassie with Tommy Rettig (I had such a crush), and I could go on and on! I do remember a few things on radio, but very few. I do remember The Shadow! I enjoyed your write for Poetry Jam VERY much
I can remember when films slipped their sprocket, that brought back memories of my school days sitting in the gym watching Bambi, and film began to shred.
Funny you remember all the details of the TV but not the rug.
That is a splendid ending stanza you’ve got… the grown-ups used to joke that photos before a certain time (the 60s, I guess) were black and white because the world was. And there you have it.
Buster Brown! How delightful … Sky King and his pretty niece Penny, Mickey Mouse Club … I miss those days. We were lucky.
I totally remember adjusting the rabbit ears to get a better signal. Well, in fact, my husband & I were still doing that in 2001 trying to get the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode (Once More with Feeling) to come in – ha!
The Buffy musical episode was better than the Xena’s, but still wierd
Judy Garland … and wool carpeting as you knelt to watch her. I like that a lot. It is hard for me to believe her show was cancelled! I’ve seen clips of it and it was all class.
Your poem grows stronger with each line, and both the penultimate and the ending stanzas just hit absolutely the bulls-eye. I’m late getting around but not at all sorry I got here at last; in fact, I’m jazzed. Good work.
profound imagery.
make a contribution to us if you could, bless you.
Happy Writing.