Monkey Island

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FFA BOYS

FFA BOYS

“Fairies don’t live long, 
but they are so little that 
a short time seems a 
good while to them” 
― J. M. Barrie, PETER PAN
_________

Pretty soon—
I wised up and let
my hormones alone

They had a life—
of their own and
what could I do?
__________________

Other than be—
somewhat rather
discrete & closeted

The FFA boys tho—
their pickup trucks
after school waiting  

YMCA

EMPORIA YMCA

“We ought to use the
 pluperfect and say 
wakened, but woke 
is better and was 
always used by Peter.” 
― J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan
____________

I woke up really fast—
thanks to Coach Bowie
and the YMCA pool

A student teacher—
fell in love with me
it was Lowther love
___________

“Oh, brother!!!”—
he said the first
time he saw me

From then on—
I realized that a
7th grader was god

Peter Pan Park

PETER PAN PARK

“There is a saying in the 
Neverland that every time 
you breathe, a grown-up dies.” 
― J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan
_______________

Down by Peter Pan Lake—
unknown to most straights
there was a certain spot

A kind of Arboretum—
covered with succulent
grape vines overhead
_____________

In the moonlight—
during Saturday nights
when I got bored

I did the young guys—
up from the abandoned
silent Monkey House

Vernon Sheffield

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The Cicada

THE CICADA
________________

Cicada Call
Cicada Kiss
Cicada Love
Cicada Life
Cicada Cantos
________________

CICADA CALL

Kansas—
mindless up
there above

Here I am—
lurking down
here below
_____________

Waiting to—
be reborn
once again

Are we—
Emporians like
cicadas too?

CICADA KISS

Every 17—
years I come
back again

A part of me—
never left
my home
___________

The poet—
stayed and
hibernated

Here I am—
again, the me
you see

CICADA LOVE

The sad—
lonely droning
of the past

There on—
Neosho Street
back then

I remember—
those evenings
so calm

Cicadas calling—
so taken for
granted then

CICADA LIFE

Above ground—
the way it would
have been

If I’d had—
the patience to
stay, stay
____________

Living there—
on Constitution
Street still

Between the
high school
and college

CICADA CANTOS

But I left—
they’re all gone
and dead now

The alternate—
life of being a
Cicada muse
________________

Emerging—
to drone and
sing away

A hush—
clinging to
the elm trees

DEATH OF A CHURCH

DEATH OF A CHURCH

“Rural depopulation has dropped the attendance to about 14 on any given Sunday. While this church once represented a large farming community, those family farms have diminished and the families themselves have disappeared. Kids, including me, went off to college and started lives elsewhere. Church elders have passed on.”

http://www.flyoverpeople.net/news/2013/06/04/death-of-a-church/comment-page-1/#comment-86088

How very, very heartbreaking. How Kansas is changing. Right before our eyes.

When a church is razed, what happens to our history? What happens to our lives?

The same with the First Baptist Church on Constitution Street in Emporia ruled by the great officials of the City of Emporia to be razed and turned into a Parking Lot.

Kenyon Hall was saved. Lowther and EHS was saved. The Granada was saved. Why is it a constant Battle to save the Past?

Why can’t historic renovation be an integral part of saving our disappearing Midwestern heritage and history?

Especially now, as Kansas and Emporia the great Athens of the Midwest shrinks as the New Depression looms over us?

What happens to God when a Church is razed?