Misery or Missouri. I'm sure there's a bad pun there. As two local boys with long-established heritage in the state, we knew better than most how easily small town existenz can chew you up and spit you out.
Strum, strum, strum, strum, strum,
The strumming reverberated from the banjo upon my father's lap through the floorboards to my soul. ingratiating into me a sense of ... Nothingness.
Seems I hear those banjos playin' once again,
Hum, hum, hum, hum, hum,
That same old plaintive strain.
As boys we felt the growing strain of Arrow Rock living. Moonshine tainted blood passed from generations supped on from the Ozarks.
Hear that mournful melody,
It just haunts you the whole day long,
And you wander in dreams back to heaven, it seems,
When you hear that old time song.
Recounted and recalled as. Something like naustalgea.
Hush-a-bye ma baby, go to sleep on Mommy's knee,
Journey back to paradise in dreams again with me;
It seems like your Mommy is there once again,
Even after she disappeared in Marvel Cave or was it Taberville Prairie. Memories are so fickle, so lost on plaintive strain of existenz.
And the old folks were strummin' that same old refrain.
Binaurally as we waved hush-a-bye to our childhood Thomas looked like Mommy did. Then. Nothingness.
Too late. Too beyond. I was once. Aware. But awarenez dissolved.
Way down in Missouri where I learned this lullaby,
When the stars were blinkin' and the moon was climbin' high,
And I hear Mammy Cloe, as in days long ago,
Singin' hush-a-bye.
About the Creator
Paul Stewart
Award-Winning Writer, Poet, Scottish-Italian, Subversive.
The Accidental Poet - Poetry Collection out now!
Streams and Scratches in My Mind coming soon!
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Comments (10)
Have you ever had true moonshine? All I can say is WOW! 😱 Beautiful work, Paul, and congratulations on making the leadership board this week!👏👏👏
Congratulations Paul.
Ever been to Missouri? One of my best friends spent the last two miserable years of her first marriage there before coming back home. Ever since we've all referred to the state as Misery. I visited Missouri once when I was 12. I remember insanely huge cockroaches in our hotel room. I grew up being told stories of my Great Great Great Grandpa Wilkinson being driven from the state of Missouri on threat of extermination. I don't love the state of Misery. But I do love banjo music and small towns. Just not in Missouri.
Wooohooooo congratulations on your Leaderboard placement! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
Congratulations on making it to the Leaderboard!!! 🏆
When you wrote the banjoes strumming, I started thinking 'Deliverance'.
This truly brought a tear to my eye. I grew up outside of St. Louis and your picture was poignant and well-painted. Also Marvel Cave is probably one of the favorites I've ever been to. 👏👏👏
I got a Deliverance vibe from “I hear banjos” Love the Misery or Missouri opening, felt the creepiness but also felt the humor.
My grandmother grew up in a musical family and played guitar and sang old folk songs that are likely lost to time now. One of the ones I still sort of remember was titled ‘I never knew misery till I lived in Arkansas.’ This reminded me of my own experiences of the old south in my youth. It very tenderly evokes a time and place that is largest lost. Beautiful and tender prose, Paul.
Such a tender tone. Love the words describing the sound of the instruments playing. Beautiful lullaby