Do You Remember When?

The Saturday matinee at the local movie.
With a club card and a dime you could get
a bag of popcorn or a caramel all-day sucker.

Buck Jones, Hop-a-long Cassidy,
The Lone Ranger, King Kong,
The Mummies Tomb, Frankenstein,
and a fifteen minute serial.

On the radio…
Jack Armstrong the All-American Boy!
     (Eat your wheaties!)
Bing Crosby’s; "Swinging on a Star."

War rationing:
Chocolate, bubble gum, sugar, meat,
shoes, tires, gasoline, and about
everything else.

Saving stamps, war bonds, gold star mothers.
Black-outs, air raid drills, victory gardens
and V-mail.

If you remember these things,
Then you lived through World
War Two.

You will have to admit,
It was a different time
and place, that’s
why we shake our heads
at today's pace and grin.

J.R. Kays
Copyright...2003