"Where's the stick?" my sister asks her pup
in a high, squeaky voice,
and I am transported back in time
to when she was six years old,
with long, blonde ringlets,
and we watched Hollyhock
(of the high-pitched voice)
and Uncle Chichimus
on tv after school.
It was a gentler time.
There weren't many channels.
There were no remotes.
There were regulations
to make sure tv shows
didn't offend peoples' sensibilities,
or corrupt the children.
I picture my grandmother's horrified face
if she watched television now.
Now the nightly news offends,
and the leaders of the world
are corrupt and mad.
Zoey brings the stick
up from the river.
"Good girl," says Hollyhock.
We go home.
We don't turn on
the news.
For Sumana's Midweek Motif: televised.
I remember the family watching Father Knows Best on Sunday nights, followed by Ed Sullivan. Sigh. I wonder how today's children hang onto hope, with all they are bombarded with in the media. I hope they do. There is still so much beauty around. But Hollyhock and Uncle Chichimus wouldnt get the ratings any more.
"We don't turn on / the news" Seems the best way to maintain the happiness of the day. I remember watching sesame street and the polka dot door, shows that used television for education and now we have kid's shows that seem to glorify stupidity. It's disheartening.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember that show, but I remember the times. Thank you for this perfect poem that made me think of my youth and my grandmother!
ReplyDeleteLove the sweet past.
ReplyDelete"We go home.
We don't turn on
the news."...This is what I do too.
I don't turn on the news either. A sweet poem about simpler times. We didn't have this show in the southern US. But we had Kukla, Fran, and Ollie. I wish we could return to those simple times again.
ReplyDeleteMe, too!
DeleteI like this, Sherry, it brings memories. There wasn't TV in our home until after I left. On Saturday nights we would visit my grandparents, Grandpa would watch wrestling. My ex and I bought a TV, my first, when we were stationed (Army) in El Paso. BTW, I use writer's priveledge, my grandmother I don't think drove either. And all kids should think that they are their grandmother's or grandfather's favorite.
ReplyDelete..
I love this! We didn't have that particular show here, but I do remember that earlier era. (Well, let's face it, I not only remember a time with no remotes but also a time with no TV.)
ReplyDeleteAnd after that reminiscence, each of your last two verses is perfect!
I was nine when we got a tv....it was amazing. Before that, books and the radio sufficed. My book habit has lasted lifelong and has companioned me well.
ReplyDeleteIt brought back memories. We had our other selections here but with similar sane images. Youngsters grew up fast these days but unfairly bombarded with crude items. It made them just as crude and we wonder why and what did we do wrong! Great write Sherry!
ReplyDeleteHank
I like your memories and the fact that you don't turn on the TV. I hate to confess that I do and it's not solving anything, merely making me less hopeful.
ReplyDeleteMe too, Myrna. At my sister's we leave it off and chat. But i have such a need to know what's going on, horrible as it is, that i do watch often. I refuse, however, to listen to trump.
ReplyDeleteYou have got it in one! News is depressing. We should all try to shut it out and just enjoys our lives uncluttered with killings, pompous polititians and movie stars and climatic disasters. Life is beautiful so we should avoid the ugly.
ReplyDeletemy sons don't watch tv. but they do play video games, and read /reddit. so not sure about how they keep hope... but they are paying attention ~
ReplyDeleteUncle Chichimus sounds like local TV -- so many great childrens' shows were born and nurtured by small TV affilliates. In Chicago we had "Family Classics," a movie-of-the-week show which revered old Hollywood family lore in a time of terrible change. I watched a CNN special on the 70s recently, and there once was a Family Hour regulation enforced by the networks where nothing controversial could be shown. It was the producers of shows like "All In the Family" who sued the networks on First Amendment grounds -- and won -- that brought some great relevant shows into the 7-9 PM zone, but within a few years faded to the naughty and nonsensical. An achievement became and ugliness, and home media became a jungle. How I remember Frazier Thomas hosting "Family Classics" -- he also played Ringmaster Ned on the lunch hour kiddie classic "Bozo the Clown" ...
ReplyDeleteA well remembered past. Times have certainly changed (sadly perhaps)
ReplyDeleteThe past seems to have been a gentler time, but I think that’s because there was a time lapse between events and reporting on them, and we were spared most of the gruesome details – no satellite television and no Internet back then, and only a few channels. The lines that resonate with me are:
ReplyDelete‘I picture my grandmother's horrified face
if she watched television now.
Now the nightly news offends,
and the leaders of the world
are corrupt and mad.’
I love your trip back to the past Sherry.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that particular show, Sherry, but I do remember many like it. Wonderful poem!
ReplyDeleteI love this! It sure reminds of the before when the world was still decent. Nowadays, it's not even Tv we have to worry about; our kids have lost all their innocence via the internet!
ReplyDelete