Good-Bye to Billy Joe The obituary in the Times-News stated the wake would be held at eight on Sunday evening. I went to the funeral parlor early to say good-bye to Billy Joe. I wanted to slip in and out before his wife and other family members arrived. I didn't sign the register because his family wouldn't have known me from a coal shovel.
Billy Joe, at sixty-nine and dead, was still as handsome as I remembered him from sixth grade. I sat for a bit on the edge of an expensive, wine colored overstuffed leather chair as the harpist plucked softly. I closed my eyes and was back at the Old Gem Movie House. I felt Billy Joe's hand on my knee. Billy Joe and I weren't on a date or anything, we just happened to be in the same crowd and ended up sitting next to each other. I took his hand off my knee and held it in mine until it got all sweaty. He said he was going to get popcorn. He came back and sat down across the aisle.
The next day at school he told some friends that I had bony knees and was stuck up. Billy Joe and I ignored each other the rest of sixth grade. He and his family moved to another county in the summer and we went to different schools after that.
People started coming in. I reached for my walker, pulled myself up and hobbled to my car. That left knee just won't let me forget.
Rosemary's Nonsense Rhymes While on a camping trip with my family in West Tennessee a few years ago I met a young man from Alabama who was very upset because he was about to have an operation and had recently learned that his surgeon was left-handed. He was very serious about it, also very comical in the manner in which he expressed his fears.
The Left Handed Surgeon
Did you ever hear the tale about the spat
twixt the gingham dog and calico cat
or watched football fans shed big tears
when the Crimson Tide beat the Volunteers?I tell a tale that will blow your brain-
The left-handed surgeon versus Billy Wayne.
Now Billy needed an operation.
He spent all last week in preparation.When in the hospital a nurse came in
said,"Billy Wayne put on your gown."
So sorry, Miss, I'm going to split.
I've decided not to take this trip!"Lefty enters all scrubbed and white.
Billy Wayne yelled and put up a fight.
Lefty said, "Don't gimme no lip."
The nurse then shot him in the hip.First on his head and then upright,
Lefty sliced, sawed and sewed all night.
'Twas about daylight we heard a shout,
"We've found what needed taking out.""Praise the Lord, I'm still alive!
Ole Lefty Saw-bones I did survive.
But something here just ain't right
A left-handed surgeon and a carving knife.
Nightmare On The GreenbeltWordsworth wandered as a cloud.
Grandpa wandered in his sleep.
I wondered as a muskrat,
on the banks of Reedy Creek.Wandering down the creek last night
there appeared to my wandering eyes
a dozen metal shopping carts
as they slowly began to rise.I saw them surface one by one
with a clickity-clack and a clank,
rusty wheels all covered with silt
rolled upon the littered bank.They rolled upon the walk-way
aligned in a single row.
In the moonlight on the Greenbelt
to and fro they rocked and rolled.Then just before the darkness
became diluted with daylight
they rolled back down into the creek
and sank eeriely out of sight.
Mama's Old Red HoundIn an old country church
we went to Sunday meetin'
th sisters werze a shoutin'
an th preacher wuz a preachin'.It is time fur silent prayer
an it's quieter'en a mouse
Mama's ole red hound came
a-trotten' through the house.a-trotten' through the meetin' house
a-trottin' through the meetin' house.
Mama's ole red hound came
a-trottin' through the meetin' house.
Mind, I've Got A Load On YouMy friend and my companion,
you made me feel secure
'til you started to play games,
and change lanes,
and oft times disappear.Saturday we were out shopping.
You got tired and went home
and left me in the parking lot
to find my car alone.I fear someday you will leave
and I won't even know you're gone.