{"product_id":"9781477172780","title":"A Little Lite Verse","description":"21 September 2001\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA little bit about A LITTLE LITE VERSE by Darnell Fulgham:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBorn in a sharecropper’s shack in ’32, I thought we were well off, still do. To Memphis in the War, with picture shows, free books, and indoor plumbing. Went home again, played football, drafted for Korean Conflict, sent to Panama instead. Studied art at Southern MS and architecture at Oregon. Met a middle child like me from Kansas. Tired of the rat race, herded chickens for a while, built a throwaway back in the woods and added on as three boys came, put in a drafting board upstairs, stayed 20 years, moved up the hill and built a better solar shack. It’s where we are today. I planned to do a few good buildings but got into a rut, became a hired gun, and couldn’t do it any more. Ten years or so ago I took to writing verse. I’ve filled 12 notebooks full so far. It was fun to do. I hope it’s fun for you. Here’s a random sample:\u003cp\u003eFOSSILS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA razor scrapes the face of canyon walls.\u003cbr\u003eInto the chasm at their feet it falls.\u003cbr\u003eThrough time it cuts the fossils free to find\u003cbr\u003eTheir way into collections kept behind\u003cbr\u003eClosed doors, in crates on which curators have\u003cbr\u003eCemented labels: Bones too short to save.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTHREESCORE AND TEN MORE OR LESS TO GO\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt sixty you know you can’t be a Greek god again,\u003cbr\u003eBut does this mean you’ve lost all that you had?\u003cbr\u003eGrowing older, is it all that bad?\u003cbr\u003eIs what you’ve got in some ways better than,\u003cbr\u003eOr has life really lost its zingaling?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe ways of love won’t launch a thousand ships\u003cbr\u003eAnd lust no longer leads you by the nose.\u003cbr\u003eThe flood more slowly swells, more gently flows.\u003cbr\u003eIts siren song’s not quite so sweet, but drips\u003cbr\u003eIts honey still, and still can sting.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLOCAL COLOR\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe went through the alley past the Methodist Church\u003cbr\u003eAnd forced the lock on the bank’s back door.\u003cbr\u003eHe carried a chrome plated .22 and wore\u003cbr\u003eA flour sack with eyeholes over his face.\u003cbr\u003eExcept for Mr Finger, the clerk, the place\u003cbr\u003eWas empty. He asked for the cash he had on hand,\u003cbr\u003eTook the moneybag and went the way he came.\u003cbr\u003e(When he learned who it was he said, “I don’t understand.\u003cbr\u003eIf he’d asked, I’da loaned it to’im on his name.”)\u003cbr\u003eThe sheriff and Chief Miller asked around\u003cbr\u003eBut figured he was long gone and never would be found.\u003cbr\u003eThen the FBI came trooping in and took over the search.\u003cbr\u003eFolks didn’t take to their snooping, said, “There´s nothing to find.\"\u003cbr\u003eWhen they spied on a suspect from inside the school\u003cbr\u003eThe principal had a fit, said, “He’s a friend of mine!”\u003cbr\u003eThey rolled up their pants, joined hands, and waded through the pool\u003cbr\u003eIn Red Draper’s pasture and found the alleg-ed money sack.\u003cbr\u003eThen, hoping for a witness, they doubled back\u003cbr\u003eTo the end of the alley across from the church and made a stop\u003cbr\u003eAt Polly Burney’s home and Beauty Shoppe.\u003cbr\u003eThey asked again if she had seen anything.\u003cbr\u003e“Didn’t see a soul,” she said, “’cept ol’ Duel King.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTHE SOUND A STEAM TRAIN MAKES\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe lives down on the tracks, around the curve or\u003cbr\u003eRather under Blanton’s Gap. With fervor\u003cbr\u003eHe works on the section gang for them.\u003cbr\u003eIn trade the company takes good care of him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA whistle drifting down from Williams Hill\u003cbr\u003eAnd coal smoke blowing in the wind, the squeal\u003cbr\u003eOf brakes when stopping in its tracks.\u003cbr\u003eIt cannot turn around, when coming backs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTHE SEIGE OF BANKSTON\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn order to achieve\u003cbr\u003eSurprise they came on Christmas Eve,\u003cbr\u003eWith matches in their saddlebags.\u003cbr\u003eThey had the town alight\u003cbr\u003eBefore defenders woke to find\u003cbr\u003eThey’d lost the fight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe mayor in his gown appeared, aghast.\u003cbr\u003eWhy are you burning up our town? he asked.\u003cbr\u003eThe troopers had retorts prepared:\u003cbr\u003eIt’s only orders, said their head.\u003cbr\u003eAnd good for warming hands,\u003cbr\u003eAnother said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eToo bad ´bout the old man\u003cbr\u003eWe had to shoot because he ran.\u003cbr\u003eNext day they had to execute\u003cbr\u003eEight hundred head a hog\u003cbr\u003eCaught hauling ham to Gen’l Hood\u003cbr\u003eAs epilogue.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd a few more names: Secrets, Syphilis, A Chink in Shining Armor, Maya, Inca, Anasazi, Armadillo, Doris Day, Youth and Asia, Bend the Twig and Spoil the Rod, The Haves and the Nots, Sons, Sacred Bison, Smush an Ant, Population Bum, A Hug or Honest Doubt, Feat of Clay, Mary Jane, Ruby, Shakespeare’s Sister, Po’white Trash, An Unmarked Grave.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Xlibris Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47158139879664,"sku":"9781477172780","price":3.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781477172780_p0.jpg?v=1763612249","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781477172780","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}