THE ALLEYS OF FORTY-TWO

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"WHERE DID ALL THE ALLEYS GO...
            LONG TIME PASSING?"
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Alleys....
Alleys were conceived
And made for
Little boys---
I'm sure of it!

In the forties,
Alleys were places
To mosey up and down
And around...checking
Our private milieus.

They were secret paths
To places...
Out of the sight of
Big roaming bullies...
They were our
Escape and evasion routes.

Alleys were rough and rustic---
Simple "roads..."
Two sandy ruts, blown out a bit,
And a weedy, raised section
In the middle, grown up with
Weeds of all kinds!

There was cool stuff
To be found in alleys;
Thrown-away stuff
To be sure---
But very useful to
Little boys.

Alleys were just
Unfriendly enough
To make them risky,
Daring, and daunting
For us living-on-the edge
Kids!

They were full of old
Nails, screws, broken glass---
And vicious "goat heads"
That spread into
The sandy ruts.

Every alley, too, had its---
Shall we say---older ladies...
Neighbors....
Who worried about any noise
Or activity in their alley!

We were a nuisance to them---
And they were a
Pain-in-the-neck....to us!
(In life, nothing is ever perfect.)

Alleys were our
Sound stages for
Imaginary stuff!
We were notorious
Actors, often
Plagiarizing movies
We had just seen
At the Lyceum.

Want to know
Who hung out in
Our Clovis alleys---

I'll tell you who:
Big-time actors, that's who!
Gene Autry, Roy Rogers,
Wild Bill Hickock, Superman,
Hopalong Cassidy, Green Hornet,
Smiley Burnett, Charlie Chan,

And TARZAN!!!

Yes! We played Tarzan...if
Some mother would allow
A skimpy Tarzan suit,
On her little boy---
And a dangerous Tarzan
KNIFE!
(But our Tarzans
Were sissies and wouldn't
Go barefooted in our alleys!)

Also, with Tarzan, you needed
Trees to swing in---
(Alas, we had no vines.)
Ah, but the neighbors had
Trees, along their back fences!

Ah--oo--ah--aye--ya--ee-ah...
Could we help it...if Tarzan's
Yell bothered them? We had
To call the elephants, didn't we?

We desperately needed a "JANE,"
To help us play Tarzan,
But all the girls were hiding out
At home, and
No one wanted to play "BOY."

The reasons boys loved alleys
As sound stages---
You could hide behind
Trash barrels,
Climb over, a fence,
And disappear
Into some neighbor's backyard,
And maybe spy on the enemy
From a tree!

John Wayne came
And helped us fight
WWII in our alleys;
I can safely say:
There was not a single
Enemy soldier to be found
Anywhere, when we got done!

We were great script
And dialogue kids...
You could say: Our scripts
Were never finished.
We improvised as we
Went ---along:
"See, Joe, you shoot Ed,
Then jump over the fence..."

Nowadays, boys
Don't need alleys.
They get an overdose
Of violence from
Video games,
Blasting everyone who
Shows up...on screen
With lasers.

They grow up without
Forties boys'
Acting skills.

Come to think of it
There are no alleys
In our neighborhood
Today.....either.

Yes, alleys were made
For little boys...
I'm sure of it!

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BY MIL
09/04/13