Madison Street: Intermezzo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"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.