Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Blowout (04/28/11)
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TITLE: Gettin' Down and Groovy One More Time | Previous Challenge Entry
By LINDA GERMAIN
05/05/11 -
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ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Which seemed to be an inspiration
To recreate our Senior Prom for the long-awaited milestone
Of the class of …well, whatever year it might have been
“We’ll use the same motif
The palm trees and the band, if they’re still around,
And serve the icky punch
And wouldn’t it be fun to wear exactly what we wore then?”
I had kept that poufy dress,
As a memento from my past, in a trunk up in the attic
Maybe it would fit or I could make it do
With some clever new addition
When I opened up the lid to exhume
Remains of long ago, though it seemed like yesterday,
There it lay in sweet repose
And waiting to become a new rendition
Tenderly I took it out to see
If there was enough to go around but laughed so hard
I cried and finally settled down to wander through my yearbook
Where inside was pressed one flat and brownish rose
It occurred to me
I had no clue from whence it came there was no name
So I thumbed on through looking for the guy it might have been
Calling from across the standard pose
Jimmy had great hair
His curls glistened with a creamy kind of brilliant shine
Like a movie star’s or that guy named Elvis
And he wore a white sports coat and looked too cool
Jerry had the moves
He danced as well as Fred Astaire
Energy oozed as he beeped and bopped
With a girl named Lula...she was from another school
Ricky was the shy one
And a little clumsy as he stepped on his date and made her wince
But it was fun to talk to them at little lunchroom tables
All swathed to look like a sidewalk cafe in Paris
He married a southern girl
Who said “y’all” and drank sweet tea and they had eight kids--four sets of twins
He called her something double like Cindy-Jo or Lovey-Doe
Doesn’t matter, since most girls names would go with his last, which was Harris
Blinded by the past
I agreed to join Stella's group and plan a huge to-do
To give us all a jolt, a facsimile of the first time
That’s how I found myself on the Second Senior PROM committee.
We worked like crazy
And the weather man had promised balmy breezes
For our theme of France and some made up island group
We were so giddy, Oh the pity
The band we hired
Was not the real McCoy, I think they all had passed
However, these were good at Retro-Reproduction,
But nearly wore us out; especially ones with gout
Stella was ecstatic and surprised
That so many of us were still alive and could move without a walker
She had stayed in shape though MOST had let things slip
But tired to pretend it was the same as way back when, or just about
Jimmy’s famous curly hair
Didn’t look the same; mainly it was white and there wasn’t very much
And Jerry, bless his heart, tired to jump and jive and fell down on the floor, not the
Dancing King he was and they had to call for some assistance
The chain reaction couldn’t stop
As one by one we crashed and burned and screamed and whined
And broke our bones and dropped our teeth and lost those hearing aids
As we took the only path of least resistance
Sweet, Shy Rick hadn’t changed
And we found out his wife’s name was MARRIS
Which Stella and I, who lead the ambulance-caravan from the dance to the hospital
Silly and punch-drunk, chanted all the way, between our tears
We had partied hardy, sure
And our bodies fell apart, but our minds
Were fairly good…well, some of us…but the ER staff chuckled loud and long
At the mess that we had made of what was left of us after pushing 80 years
Jimmy blew his pacemaker
and Jerry blew his knee, and Rick the Brick sprained his elbow dipping Marris who had
Gained a little weight and even though I added to my poufy dress of blue
Something didn’t fit and it couldn’t stand the strain
Stella lost her shoes
Though why she took them off I do not know; they’re orthopedic and should stay put
Now on to Senior Prom--the Third, I hope she considers one important thing:
If we play too much again, at any age, the price is more than pain
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Romans 13:13 (NKJV)
Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
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