There's a red Pinto in a gravel drive
And sittin' on the road is Daddy's stepside
Shined up all ready for a ride, a '64 turquoise green
Sold it to my uncle for a few hundred then
Today it'd be worth at least forty grand
That's still the prettiest truck I ever have seen
Grasshopper on the door I'm scared to come in
Go 'cross the street and play with my best friend
Marlon tells crazy stories about when he used to be grown
The two of us explore the neighborhood
Go a little past where Momma said I could
Somehow her love and Jesus always brought me safely home
It was nineteen seventy-seven
But now it feels like a quarter-acre of heaven
Was set down on earth at two-twelve Hillside Road
Mom and Dad were in their twenties
We never had much but we always had plenty
And I'm rooted there no matter where I go
Grandmother keeps me on Friday nights
Daddy goes and gets her 'cause she can't drive
Listen to the high school football game on the radio
The weather was cooler and the days were long
Life was still kind and Momma was still strong
Sometimes I swear I still catch a whiff of supper on the stove
Daddy has a friend who drives a motorbike
But I'm too little to go for a ride
Marlon says when he was big he had a motorcycle, too
Make a blanket fort in the living room
Alpha-Bits and Saturday morning cartoons
Back before you knew all the things you wish you never knew
It was nineteen seventy-seven
But now it feels like a perfect piece of heaven
Was set down on earth at two-twelve Hillside Road
Mom and Dad were in their twenties
We never had much but we always had plenty
I'll be anchored there no matter where I go
I like these poetic glimpses.
ReplyDeleteThanks, sir. It's therapy for me, I think.
DeleteGrowing up, I was anxious to learn how to drive in our red pinto. I would go out in the driveway and practice shifting through the pattern. But alas, the floor rusted out the year before I got my license and it was deemed unsafe to drive. Instead I learned to drive in a Toyota Starlet, not nearly as sexy or unsafe.
ReplyDeleteWow. I did not remember the Toyota Starlet. I inherited Monte Carlo, which included the after-market feature of being both difficult to crank and difficult to shut off.
DeleteWell. I'm now homesick.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's interesting to me how some people are always the age they were when you were a kid in your mind. My aunts? All in their 30s in my head - even though I'm in my 40s now, making that impossible. But to me, I always picture them the age they were when I was like 7. 🤷🏻♀️
I definitely do that some. Wonder if we all have this perfect day in our minds and however old everyone we loved was on that day is how we think of them?
DeleteI found that incredibly good to read. I can relate.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteI appreciate that, sir.
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