Poet's Platform Column | 24 July 08 by Janet Nesler | The Scioto Voice | Wheelersburg, Ohio

“Don’t Tell” If you dream about the good ole days, Go ahead and dream. There’ll be no one to doubt you And things will be just as they seem. Take a walk down Gallia Street And have a nickel coke, But if you share your story, They’ll think it’s just a joke. So in your dream “The Columbia” Is just the place to go, But don’t reveal how much you spent... They’ll say it isn’t so. Ride the bus for a nickel, (No one had a car) The total cost of a date back then, Today wouldn’t buy a candy bar. So go ahead. . .enjoy your dream. It’s more satisfying than life. Lucky are those who can share it With a husband or a wife. Those of us who lived the life Of those wonderful post war years, Watch the news and shake our heads, Dream our dreams and hide our tears. Rita Maddy Balser Baltimore, Ohio (Former Portsmouth resident)   FLIES AND WHITE LINEN There’s an awakening in my thoughts Of cherished sounds made long ago. Of little things almost forgotten In this changing life I know. To hear again those joyous cries Of kids on porch swings swaying, See neighbors cringe in mock surprise If theirs were misbehaving. See old screen doors full of holes With one often sagging From little hands that pushed and shoved In spite of mothers nagging. I’d like to hear those sounds of old Of screen doors banging closed. See aprons filled with homemade love And lines of snow white clothes. Edna Keffer Portsmouth   My Day Oh me, oh my, its finally here. I can’t believe it’s been twenty years. Co-workers and friends come to share in my leaving. I rejoice in the fact a long rest I’m receiving. The time has come to bid farewell to a life-style shaped for me. Arise at five, punch the clock at six was my pace since age forty-three. I’ll carry on in my own way. Retired? No, I’ll never be. A future  with challenge, purpose and color, I’ll enter with great dignity. Mary Woodward Wooster, OH