I Came From A Small Town Poem by Randy McClave

I came from a small town
Where I was never bored or down,
Each one of us knew each other
As though we were each other's sister or brother.
We chased lightning bugs at night
Then we told scary stories to give a fright,
We played sports and games in the park
We always came home at dark.
Mom was in the kitchen always cooking for us
During then our problems we'd discuss,
And if we wanted cold water to drink
It always came from the kitchen sink.
We rode our bikes without helmets or knee pads
As did our mom's and our dad's,
But, we still got our cuts and our bruises
Those were the badges of us who tried and looses.
In our houses we were seldom found
Unless we were sick or maybe homework bound,
Outside is where we wanted to play
In the grass and the leafs and in the snow we begged to stay.
Nearby was always a river or a creek
When for an adventure we went out to seek,
We captured frogs and crawdads in swimming holes
Then we went fishing with homemade or bamboo poles.
Our homes never had any A.C's
Instead we had fans and screen doors for a breeze,
And our TVs had only 3 channels
Our living room walls were decorated wooden panels.
We went to church every Sunday
We were taught respect as our deeds are who we portray,
Boys wore pants and the girls wore dresses
Who we were, were never guesses.
We didn't have or wanted more
There were no malls just a corner grocery store,
We had our one newspaper and only one high school
And in the summer there was the one public pool.
In school we always said our pledge to allegiance
With pride and honor and with no credence,
Then in school we always said a prayer
We knew that God was always there.
Children never had long distance or text plans
Our phones were always just two tin cans,
I now say this with a smile and without a frown
I came from a small town.

Randy L. McClave