Doggerel 4

There being no earth shaking news to inspire a new post, I've reached back into the archives and dusted off one my vintage doggerels.  This one, like the previously published Manure, is about the 'good' old days back on the Minnesota farm.

GOOD STUFF

 

When my siblings and I hear those words, it brings a smile because it has a unique meaning to us.  It definitely doesn’t mean ‘pot’ or high quality goods.

 

Dad just loved those auction sales.

Bought ‘good stuff’ in boxes and pails.

Rusted nuts and bolts and tools,

Old lopsided milking stools,

Ugly lamps, pictures, clothes;

Dented doorknobs and leaky hose.

 

Anything for sale was nifty,

If bought for less than a buck-fifty.

Of junk he never got enough,

Useless?  Worn out?  No!  Good stuff!

Good stuff we could not discard.

Garages full of it; cars in the yard.

 

Farm life wasn’t all that fun.

No time for hobbies except this one.

My packrat dad: gene or obsession?

Inspired perhaps by the Great Depression?

 

The good stuff finally went away.

All sold at auction in just one day.

It lives on still, in box and trunk.

One man’s treasure; another man’s junk.

 

Acorn falls not far from tree.

And yes, that can be said of me.

I’m driven to save at every till,

But my good stuff’s gone to Goodwill!

 

Mike Delaney

9-7-05

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