A Slo-Poke Sucker Memory

 

While facilitating a memoir class at the Dietert Senior Center this month I used a local poet's poem to initiate the writing process one session. The poem, "Alphabet Soup" by Anne Schneider inspired my memory of purchasing the longest lasting candy possible at the movie theater's matinee, Dysart, Iowa, in the early 1950's. 

a slo-poke sucker memory

i eat Holloway suckers

       caramel on a stick

not now but years ago

       when at the movies

on a Sunday afternoon

       while Doris and Gordon

        dance and smooch.

the caramel diminished slowly

the musical went too fast

        "Tea for Two"

        " By the Light of the Silvery Moon"

Day and McRae, my favorites, as i

couldn't lick slow enough to make

the sucker last.

all those songs, all those fantasies

i just knew would be mine ~

one ten-year-old dreamer

as the caramel evaporates.

joanconnor 03/27/2022