Joseph Gardner
In the Shadow of the Bomb
We never had a chance...an entire generation raised
by grandparents; the state
and television taught us reading; writing; math; and morality
Sesame St; Electric Co., 321 Contact; Capt.Kangaroo and Mr. Green jeans
RomperRoom; please call my name! and God keep him well Mr. Rodgers.
Children in the shadow of the Bomb while our parents
like summer grasshoppers squandered our future away
pledge of Allegiance and bomb drills; "The Russians are coming!"
on a failing wave of Dominoe Theroy onrushing communism
and the berlin Wall still stood ugly and tall...
all hyped up after watching Red Dawn at the theatre with fathers and uncles
screaming WOLVERINES as we ran through the park
gathered around the television glow to watch the Day After
when we still wanted to be fire fighters and astronaughts...
we never had a chance watching the challenger explode 5th grade
with our house key around our necks to come to empty home
to watch more tv when sitcoms were funny...
Re-Run poplocking on Whats Happening; Happy Days
and an alien named Mork; MASH and Sanford and Son
and primetime was for adults...but if you were good and quiet
maybe youd get to watch some Hill St. Blues or catch a bit of Miami Vice if you were lucky.
Saturday mornings were cartoons and COMBAT and Kung Fu Theatre
and always moving on up were the Jeffersons and All in the Family...
do you remember when George and Archie met
remember how they showed us we really werent that diffrent?
Do you remember your house key around your neck?
Do you remember when we had a chance....
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