Robert Winthrop Poems

When I was growing up, I had a lot of friends who were
Of opposite religions, and politics, for sure.
We'd often kid and tell bad jokes about the others' plan;
I favored FDR and Thomas Dewey was their man.
...

It could have been for any game or for a spelling bee,
Or maybe for flag football or Ollie Ollie Oxen Free.
I'm sure we all remember them, this girl and this boy,
They were the last ones chosen, we'll call them Tom and Joy.
...

On Broadway in 'Damn Yankees' there was a guy named Joe,
They said that he was 'shoeless' and he came from Hannibal, MO.
Now, this guy was fictitious but there's a tale of woe
About a man from Hannibal, a really 'Shoeless Joe.'
...

The old men looked at me, so young, and said,
'How wonderful if we could know again
The happy days and blissful hours when
Upon tomorrow's ev'ry hope we fed,
...

Early morning, Paris, France,
My guests are still in bed.
I rise and dress and out the door
I go with panther tread.
...

Like any other river town, our Hannibal had vice
Although it wasn't spoken of by those considered 'nice.'
But even boys of ten or twelve along the way had heard
That something strange was going on at One-Eleven Bird.
...

Ay! Tear the water tower down
That stands on Pleasant Street,
A landmark generations old,
A memory so sweet.
...

(Miss Bessie B. Brown, librarian and Latin and English teacher at Central School, is remembered fondly by hundred of her students.)

We called her Bessie “Beanpole” Brown, for children can be cruel
To give this appellation to such a precious jewel.
...

(Ilasco and Monkey Run were two small villages south of Hannibal where workers at the cement plant lived.)

My folks met in Ilasco or maybe Monkey Run.
I've heard so many stories that I'm not sure just which one.
...

When old reruns of 'Happy Days' come on my TV set,
My thoughts go back so many years, and then my eyes grow wet.
For then in this old river town we had our happy days:
Our days of cruising Broadway, our jokes, our high-school plays.
...