The View
__________________
The view from up here—
Is quite telling, worth perhaps
A story or two maybe
Off to the south there’s—
Newman’s Hospital where
Dr. Eckdall delivered me
His son was a Dr. Eckdall—
His daughter Roberta is an
Artist and so is John Evans
Then to the west there’s—
Maplewood Cemetery where
My family is buried
Mother, grandparents—
The Union dead who died to
Make Kansas a Free State
Wood Bloxom is there—
Beneath a Reeble’s stone
The sun shining down there?
East of me is Emporia—
The Athens of the Midwest
Shall we drag Commercial?
Art deco civic auditorium—
Where’d they get the money
During that last Great Depression?
They’ve saved Lowther Jr High—
And Emporia Senior High too
As well as the old Granada
Commercial Street runs from—
Emporia State University thru
Town all the way to Olpe
The Cottonwood River slides—
Thru Peter Pan Park, past the
Monkey Island to Soden Grove
The town of my gone boyhood—
Mapped out still in my mind
Sixth and Commercial pivots
The Midwest Muse around me
And now here I am retired—
Living in Kenyon Heights with
A view of everything I was and
Wanted to be way back then
The other retirees and I are—
Nicely ensconced in moderate
Income housing, there’s the
Broadway Apartments too
I read the Emporia Gazette—
Mostly just the obituaries now
My 50th EHS Reunion is growing
Near but so is something else
__________________
The view from up here—
Is quite telling, worth perhaps
A story or two maybe
Off to the south there’s—
Newman’s Hospital where
Dr. Eckdall delivered me
His son was a Dr. Eckdall—
His daughter Roberta is an
Artist and so is John Evans
Then to the west there’s—
Maplewood Cemetery where
My family is buried
Mother, grandparents—
The Union dead who died to
Make Kansas a Free State
Wood Bloxom is there—
Beneath a Reeble’s stone
The sun shining down there?
East of me is Emporia—
The Athens of the Midwest
Shall we drag Commercial?
Art deco civic auditorium—
Where’d they get the money
During that last Great Depression?
They’ve saved Lowther Jr High—
And Emporia Senior High too
As well as the old Granada
Commercial Street runs from—
Emporia State University thru
Town all the way to Olpe
The Cottonwood River slides—
Thru Peter Pan Park, past the
Monkey Island to Soden Grove
The town of my gone boyhood—
Mapped out still in my mind
Sixth and Commercial pivots
The Midwest Muse around me
And now here I am retired—
Living in Kenyon Heights with
A view of everything I was and
Wanted to be way back then
The other retirees and I are—
Nicely ensconced in moderate
Income housing, there’s the
Broadway Apartments too
I read the Emporia Gazette—
Mostly just the obituaries now
My 50th EHS Reunion is growing
Near but so is something else
