When I was only 10
by Elouise
1953
When I was only 10
My world was just a little space
My news was measured
by events mundane
yet looming large
Upon the canvas of my life
Not yet in focus
First bra
First period
Third sister born
Dishes to wash
Clothes to iron
Floors to vacuum
Free of charge
The world crept in
A constant threat
Somewhat removed
Yet never dead
Beware lip paint!
Hide those boobs!
Watch out for men!
It never ends
At home as well as overseas
The world to come
arrived in headlines
One by one
Score one for Jonas Salk polio vaccine!
Score one for I like Ike and Mamie
and Queen Elizabeth II!
Score one for 200 North Korean POWs
freed from Koje Island!
Score none for stern McCarthyism
or truth or trust or justice
Goodbye Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
Goodbye Stalin; Hello Khrushchev
Goodbye US monopoly
On the hydrogen bomb
But all is not yet lost!
Score one for urban flight
trickling first from NYC
Best booming business opportunity
They’ll all need houses,
cars, garages and don’t forget TVs!
Score one for schools and ad campaigns
For stars of stage and movie screens
Competing for our $Loyalty
You pay
We take
And you will see
how much more joyful
Life can be!
Trust me!
Would I lie?
We’re going to be great again!
No, make that the greatest!
All hail the mighty dollar!
All seen, alas, in retrospect….
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 25 January 2017
Response to WordPress Daily Prompt: Ten
Telling the Truth 
I absolutely loved this! Excellent post!
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Thank you, Regina! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. It was kinda fun to write, too! 🙂
Elouise
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Amazing to think of all the time that has passed, and how precipitous events produced monumental changes we now consider “normal”, isn’t it? I’ve been feeling so overwhelmed and almost hopeless…yet….nothing is impossible with God…and friends like you who pray and vent through poetry. Love to you and David.
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Yes, it is amazing. An eye-opener, actually, to step back and take a long view. The best things happened unexpectedly, and the awful things will always keep happening given human greed. Which gives me hope that good things will yet come in the midst of the awful awful. I pray each of us will be part of the good from time to time. 🙂
Elouise
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Oh my God….you started from one point….and covered the entire world….great…!
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Thanks for your comment. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Elouise
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Lovely. 🙂 Well considered.
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Thank you, Fran. 🙂
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an amazing trip through the years in just a few very heavy sentences….I just saw that Mary Tyler Moore is on deaths door, all I keep thinking of is her gorgeous smile and how just just looked so light and carefree, more losses, sigh, but tis the life we lead, and I couldn’t wear makeup either (till I walked to school and put it on out of view of the house-see I can be a rebel ❤ ) Nicely done E, nicely done ❤
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You, a rebel???? I never would have thought it possible…:) I loved watching the Mary Tyler Moore show. Smart, sassy, in charge if somewhat goofy. Never to be underestimated. Yes, it seems we’re living through a very concentrated period of high-profile deaths right now. Glad you enjoyed the trip.
Elouise
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Great post Elouise, I like the optimism, and hope that is not betrayed; although I sense you feel about to be.
Greatness when once lost is lost forever, (to paraphrase Jane Austen’s Mr Darcy).and cannot be reclaimed!
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Thank you kindly. You’re correct about betrayal. We don’t do a very good job remembering our past. The patterns now in motion both social and governmental aren’t promising. I’m not giving up hope, and yes, there comes a time when greatness moves elsewhere and can’t be reclaimed, no matter how much we hope for it or talk as though we still had it.
Elouise
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