Americana Ice Cream Sandwich

Transported

to a time where free love was in the air

and amber waves of grain stood tall

 

we remember

 

when cars were cars

when America was

America

and a politician

was a politician,

could speak from the heart

to a crowd

whether they be black

or whether they be white

 

perhaps even recite

a quote from a favorite

poet.

 

a janitor could become a CEO

a stock boy could make it out

become

A doctor

A senator

 

An ice cream man

could deliver

smiles and cries

that hadn't melted away

yet

 

in the haze

of perpetual

sunlight

 

we remember

 

teen angst, midnight summers

dripping

with the last drop

of bodily innocence

before the war

the front lines

and life

beating us down.

 

we remember

 

the sleek, slight, dark wet kisses

with undertones of

natures herb

lasting throughout the night

 

clouds of living

thrust out and back into

our bodies

with every breath,

our souls tasting good.

 

Hope, ambition,

Humanity,

Holding out

for something better

but not getting it

 

still sacrificing ourselves

for the greater good

of the nation

 

we swallowed it all

believed

we could do anything

be anyone

and make it

 

but it wasn't meant to be

for all the have nots, the plain janes, the johns

 

crawling

scraping

together

 

enough good change

to buy a new life

a new face

a bus ticket to go

 

an escape from mom and dads,

lies and lives

of monotony,

ripping

gum off your shoe at the bus stop,

suffering from repeated lashings

from a boss who fancied you,

and skinning your knees

on the way down.

 

we remember

 

having to work on a Saturday

a salute and a yes sir,

hoping for a promotion

and never seeing it

 

r

u

n

n

i

n

g

 

just long enough

to drop dead

from a heart attack

the day before your retirement.

 

A life well wasted.