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Palmdale, California 1951
James Michael Taylor
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In 1951 I was eight years old but it’s all like yesterday. The tumbleweeds and the horny toads. Flying kites so far into the desert air that I couldn’t see them.
Palmdale, California, 1951
Pretty yellow chickens hating in the sun
Fertilizer spreader flings its fecal load
I climb up to watch in the trees along the road
Little chickens running, pecking…so aware
Tiny fluffy baby chickens hatching everywhere
Mojave Desert blows across the trees
Time to fly my kite, smiling cloudless breeze
I will let my string out ‘til it’s all unsound
Kite will fly to heaven, I stay on the ground
Dusty devil grabs my string and gives my kite a fit
Snap, it breaks my string and I go running after it
Quartz path markers sparkle, spread along the trail
Horny toads smack red ants …..their stubby tai;l
Tumble weeds are bouncing up against the tree
I climb down and bury naked legs up to my knees
…..stickers prick my ankles, grab my sox and shoes
I can’t stop the itching and I scratch myself a bruise
Army worms are marching, westward to the ditch,
Hold my breath and watch them falling
Miniature migration, dusty black and green
Answering a silent calling
And they wiggle, such a struggle, but it’s futile now
They can not escape the heat, no butterflies allowed
Cement chunk of rubble, origin unknown
I call it The Bear’s Head. I go there to be alone
Blast of afterburners, deadly silver birds
Echos of the .cannons, recently unheard
And I didn’t know the war was just the day before
And I didn’t know tomorrow there would be another war…
(C) 2007 Royal T Music
G-no
said
Small world indeed. In 1953 I was 1 and we lived on the base. In old pics the housing were those Quansot Huts. Hell, if you lived out there at 8 years no wonder you got that dreamy like recollection. It be like living on the Moon, had barren can it get, and the bright sun beating down cooking that desert, sonic booms rattleing windows. I know, I don't know when they stop doing it but I remember as far back as 1964 of our classrooms windows rattling and that 's in Palmdale. They test artilliary as well out at EAB. Fortunately I was only 1 year old back then and i was shielded from the sun by my moma's breast and taken out there before I could develope a memory.Funny thing in early '54 my folks moved just off the south end of 15th. I still live close to it. There is no hope for Peace on Earth as long as militaries stand armed and ready.
G-no
said
Another Palmdale resident. The horny toads you don't see to much anymore but he tumbleweeds and the wind are still here so kite flying is still around. Hey ,you forgot the rattlesnakes. I don't remember it being so dreamy though. Your song is different and somewhat interesting but I wouldn't vote for it to be the official Palmdale song. I arrived in Palmdale in 1953, maybe that's what it is.
Guest
said
Wistful though not wishful. The drum is very effective. Doubling the tempo for the spoken parts - excellent!
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