Rocky

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Friends we grow up with linger in our memory all our time here,
Rocky is one of my friends with which I had fun and drank beer.
This poem talks about some of those boy and young men things,
I recall well from those days from the memories that still ring.

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Rocky

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When I was a young Stark Street boy in the town of Phillips,
There was a bunch of young boys that ran together on fun trips.
One lived west of us on Hamiliton Drive by the basketball court.
He was an exceptional young man with the name Rocky Clark.

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Rocky and his dog sometime after being discharged from the Army.

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Rocky’s family always grew a large garden out in the back yard,
They canned lots of dill pickles every year working very hard.
Rocky would slip out lots of jars of pickles for the gang to eat.
The pickles were good and we ate them all as they were so neat.

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We had a hide out down at the end of Stark Street in the canyon,
Between two limestone rocks where water had cut them some.
We had a naked girly magazine hidden there under a big rock.
We occasionally had a neighborhood boy get together to talk.

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Rocky brought the pickles and I snuck out the wieners to roast.
We had a fine meal while we sat there in our place and did boast
Ronnie just brought his appetite as he dearly loved those pickles.
We talked about the future while playing odds and evens with nickels.

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Sometimes we slept out in the back yard with all of the guys.
Listening to KOMA on our transistor radios watching the skys.
After midnight Rocky knew of a watermelon patch far from home,
So we slipped off and stole a couple to eat while we did roam.

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Just behind Rocky’s backyard was a cool storm cellar of concrete.
On July 4th, we would tell kids to check inside for free sweets.
Then we would drop a cherry bomb down through the vent pipe,
To scare the them so bad their pants they often had to wipe.

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Sometimes Rocky and our gang would go on a scavenger hunt.
Telling the people we needed two raw eggs and cookie up front.
After a while, we had a couple of dozen raw eggs and a snack,
We ate the cookies and loaded the eggs in a brown paper sack.

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We headed for the Hallford’s house and egged their front door,
The old man came out with a shotgun and fired once or more.
I never knew Rocky could run that fast as he was gone in a flash.
This scared us so bad we quit doing the scavenger hunt bash.

 

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When we graduated high school, we all went our separate way,
I graduated college and went to work as an Engineer out to play.
I got an apartment with Bob and in a while Rocky moved in too.
We had a bachelor pad in Borger, Texas, with beer out the kazoo.

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There’s a pool just behind that fence. Our bachelor pad was on the second floor.

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Rocky and I both liked a chick across the street that was cute,
We had a rival thing going, but I had the edge in the dispute,
As I drove a new red Mercury Cyclone GT out there on the street.
Celia traded us both in on a new blue Pontiac GTO so sweet.

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Occasionally, we had a kegger at our apartment to reduce the gloom.
We would then go out on the town to the Rendezvous Room.
Bob was arrested as a drunken pedestrian and went to the jail.
He called me a 6 AM and I stumbled down there to pay his bail.

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One time Rocky and I were playing pool at Jeans Bar and Grill,
When we were challenged to a game by two guys for a thrill.
We beat them pretty bad and Rocky was rubbing it in real hard,
One of the guys sucker punched me in the lip off of my guard.

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Bleeding profusely I picked him up and threw him on the table,
I was beating him about the face and head and he was disabled.
His partner was behind me punching me in the kidneys hard,
Rocky pulled him off and knocked him to the floor so jarred.

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Someone yelled the police are on the way and we left the scene,
Leaving those two on the floor bleeding turning kind of green.
I went to the ER and got my lip sewed up looking kind of bad,
Getting ribbed all day at work the next day was just so sad.

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Not too long after that night, Rocky got drafted into the US Army.
In about six months, I was drafted into the Army so very charming.
I saw Rocky a couple more times after he and I settled on down.
Just recently I located him in Yakima fishing near that town.

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Well, I heard Bob got married and Rocky moved to Yakima. I guess I’ll just have to find a woman and settle down when I get discharged.

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So Rocky I know you are enjoying life so like you always did.
But just like me, you are certainly no longer a fresh young kid.
Keep yourself under control so you don’t strain that old body,
And may God Bless you with good health with limited hot toddy.

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By Bill

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Thanks for reading Rocky,
Bill.