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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Why is it.....?

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This post has absolutely nothing to do with motorcycles and is not moto related in any way. Figured I'd better warn people right off.

Having said that, I wanted to share something that has been going through my mind lately. I have been wondering why we remember certain things from our formative/school years over others. Why do some things stand out so vividly while others we'll never remember?

I know that sometimes a song will trigger memories - certain ones always bring back memories of high school dances or just certain times in our lives.

Sometimes a smell can trigger a memory. Every once in a while cafeteria or restaurant food will bring back vivid memories of my great grandmother's nursing home I last visited as a small child in the 70's. But that smell I'd know anywhere.

I am bringing this up because I have been thinking of a poem I penned back in 9th grade English class. Freshman year for those of you that don't go by the number of the grade like we did in Canada. This would have been in 1985 or 1986.

When I hear someone say "there I sat" it brings up the poem in my mind. "There I sat" is not a popular phrase but we seem to hear it often from clients in the law office.

To this day I can remember every word of that poem. Funny because English and Creative Writing were always my least favorite subjects and yet here I am writing a blog. I thought I'd share it for a chuckle.... here goes:



ODE
TO
THE
DEPRESSION




There I sat, sad and alone,
My only possession a pork chop bone.

And as the dog ran humbly past,
I ran after him, and I ran fast.

I caught him on the corner of Fifth and Vine,
And there I sat, to eat and dine.

The dog was old and kind of tough,
But in these times, life was rough.

A sad example of poetry, I know. However, it does give you insight into my warped sense of humor formed at an early age. And how odd is it that the one poem this vegetarian remembers is about a pork chop bone and eating a dog. Go figure.

-Au Revoir

"What we remember from childhood we remember forever - permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen." ~ Cynthia Ozick

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7 comments:

  1. I remember my youth a little, as far as my teens and twentys, that is just a blur.......

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  2. LOL. Too cute. I had to read it twice to make sure it really did mention eating the dog! :)

    -Lori

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  3. Trobairitz:

    until you said it I didn't realize what you wrote. I draw the line at "Hot Dogs". Music triggers more memories than anything else. That's why I like to hear songs of my youth. I have Satellite radio in my commuter car and when you enter its cabin I can bring you back a few decades . . . and I like to sing along

    bob
    bobskoot: wet coast scootin

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  4. LOL - Love the poem!

    So right about memories from our youth, and especially how music can't transport you instantly to a time or place. That can be either good or bad.

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  5. Absolutely with respect to music and smells. "In the year 2525" by Zager and Evans, when I first met my wife. "The Boxer" by Simon and Garfunkel when I was at the Isle of Man TT and so on.....

    I'm sure there's a scientific reason.

    Thanks for the memories!

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  6. Funny how these things work. The other day I had a memory from long ago pop up while driving home from work and I thought "I'd forgotten all about that." Then I thought "Why did that pop up" and I came to the conclusion that those memories are being purged from our brains to make room for something else. What that was I've forgotten. lol

    Great poem though, really.

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    1. I like that idea of purging our brains. Maybe that is what we do when remembering obscure things. I have no idea why I remember that poem from so long ago, but I remember laughing like hell when writing it.

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