“Remembering Cooperstown” (Revised) copyright 2010 John J. Rigo,Upcoming poetry book, “Passion Amidst Apathy”
June 15, 2014 by John J. Rigo, Texas' Poet and Commentator
Four years ago it was a visit to the Carrol Clinic in Dallas.
My back and hip had been hurting me for some time.
The findings were not good.
A Class Four hip.
A crack in my spine bone.
Two disks in my spine fused together.
I knew when it happened.
A fall over ten years ago while attempting to trim a tree
in our front yard.
The fall at that time resulted in nine staples in my head
and eventual surgery on my knee.
The other injuries laid in wait.
My future in enjoying the rest of my life was in doubt
with the activities I enjoyed so much in my past.
My mind went back to Cooperstown in upstate New York.
I was sixteen and working the summer on a dairy farm.
It was part of the “Fresh Air Program” of New York City for young men.
I remembered the rolling hay wagon.
Throwing ninety pound bales of hay
eight tiers high on the wagon.
I remembered the muscles in my arms
my strong thin waist
with a tan equal to a black man.
We worked hard that Summer.
It was the “Haying Season.”
The work went fourteen hours a day
seven days a week for two and half months.
Looking back now
I now realize how really happy I was
each of those summer days in Cooperstown.
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Posted in Poetry, Remembering One's Youth, upcoming book "Passion Amidst Apathy" | Tagged Cooperstown, Cooperstown New York, Dallas, Metro Areas, New York, New York City, Texas, United States | Leave a Comment
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