Down on Church St. in the little town where I grew up
at the south side of downtown where it blended into one of
the older neighborhoods there was a Hay and Feed Store.
It sat a half a block back from the highway that would take
you to Santa Fe, New Mexico or Cheyenne, Wyoming
depending which way you turned.
My mom would stop there and go in
the store to get silver dollars for the gas pump!
She would drop one or two in the slot on the pump
and red liquid would fill up the glass cylinder at the top.
When the gas reached the mark for the gallons she paid for,
gravity via the nozzle would drain it into the gas tank.
It was always an entertaining thing for a
car full of young boys no matter how
hot or cold the day was.
It’s all gone now.
They call it urban renewal.
The new edifices they put up are stark
compared to the colorful tree filled neighborhood it replaced.
It would have gentrified by now and renewed itself blending the
old memories with the new keeping it’s provenance
like a fine antique or work of art.
But they jumped on the pulpit of progress
thinking new is better! It worked on paper, money that is.
but it didn’t work for the town itself
because it gutted the sprit of the town.
Now it drowns in a sea of sameness




Deteriorating
May Scavenger Hunt.
https://forum.pbase.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=49004&start=0&sid=29951bad219c1ae0a3063c4312bdd131