"Intermezzo" is the midpoint of the "Madison Street" series. It's a moment to pause and to reflect on the previous poems, as well as a preview of the remainder of the poems.
The song referred to in lines 1 and 2 is from "Bookends" by Simon and Garfunkel.
It really was a time of innocence, those childhood days . . .
Intermezzo
Preserve your memories, a song suggests,
they’re all that’s left you. Whether foul or fair,
they point to who we were, who we’ve become.
We’ve entertained a few November guests;
our bangled, tangled, raggy, shaggy hair
has turned the whitest shade of pale, and some
of our best friends have died or moved away.
In looking back on our naïveté,
I can’t recall, in this meandering,
if Chet and David mentioned Emmett Till
or Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King;
for troubles at our patch town flour mill
and breakers overshadowed everything
from Philly all the way to Jacksonville.
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