The following poems, submitted because April is National Poetry Month, are from Mount Vernon resident John J. Finerty.
ABBA
From the land of smorgasbord
Where they give the peace award
ABBA by the world adored
Lifted once a joyous chord
If you’re of a certain age
Let your memory engage
Close your eyes and see a stage
Super Trooper all the rage
Flaring trousers, platform shoes
Scarves in blue and yellow hues,
Sold-out concert, rave reviews
Hits keep coming, never lose
Chiquitita, Waterloo,
Knowing Me, Knowing You,
I have a Dream, Voulez-Vous
Dancing Queen, Fernando, too
What’s the cost of such success
Money can’t buy happiness
Did we hear the SOS?
Harmony succumbs to stress
ABBA, we’d still love to see ‘ya
Head the cast of Mamma Mia
Do a promo for Ikea
(OK, that’s a bad idea)
— John J. Finerty, Jr.
Anna-Frida Lyngsgad, Bjorn Ulhaeus, Benny Andersson, and Agneth Faltskog: ABBA, was by far the most successful popular music act to come from Scandinavia, having sold over 300 million records. The hit Broad-way play Mamma Mia is based on music composed by Andersson and Ulhaeus.
Black Bart
Where trails are all wooded, the highwayman hooded
Hotfoots it away with the cargo
Undaunted by lawmen so vaunted who’ve sought him
And jauntily taunting Well Fargo
Black Bart, it is he, with such artistry
Discretion and daring combining
So none do suspect that gent circumspect
Who hints he has interests in mining
But out on the road from the old mother lode
Where curvature slows the approaches
A sack for a mask (de rigueur for the task)
He patiently waits for the coaches
Our vigilant picket now slips from the thicket
His ticket a gift for the stealthy
To upend at the bend the endeavors of men
And the treasures that render them wealthy
His mode operandi, a shotgun held handy
But always the gentleman bandit
His word to the driver, "Just be a survivor
You're holding the gold, now unhand it"
That old oaken box with the unbroken locks
He’ll claim with his aim uncontested
And then without fail, he’ll hightail from the trail
While leaving the mail unmolested
He never engages in violent rages
Or actions ungracious or curses
The battle he wages with lumbering stages
But never with passengers' purses
It’s twenty eight times this gentleman’s crimes
Enliven the highjacking season
In rhymes that he signs and they find left behind
He opines that revenge is the reason
Two hardy detectives, relentless effectives
Meticulous, not to say artless
Ensnare through a hankie that Illinois Yankee
And render the highways Blackbartless
Upon his release did he flee to the East
The chronicles cease soon thereafter
Yet echoes the phrase that conveyed his malaise
"It's only Wells Fargo I'm after"
— John J. Finerty, Jr
"Black Bart" was the nom de guerre of one Charles Boles or Bolton, an infamous stage coach robber who preyed exclusively on Wells Fargo shipments in the gold fields of northern California from 1875 to 1883. Known for his gentlemanly bearing, he would occasionally leave poetic messages at the scene of the crime. When two Wells Fargo detectives traced a handkerchief he had dropped during one of his robberies back to his San Francisco laundry, the elusive “road agent” was finally apprehended, and served five years in prison.
Horsefly, B.C
I once found a town in an atlas at Crown
Marked down, which I did then, of course, buy
The village was blessed with the name of a pest
Perhaps you have guessed, it was Horsefly.
It's up in B.C., where mooses run free
Far from the sea where the Norse lie
Still every good Viking would find to his liking
The hiking and biking in Horsefly
So here’s your maneuver, go first to Vancouver
And if you’ve resources, of course, fly
Then grab your valise, and rent a Caprice
Go north by northeast, up to Horsefly
There’ve lots of resorts, and there’s all sort of sports
And some nice tennis courts, you’ll of course try
The fishing will lure you, but let me assure you
Of night life they'll cure you, in Horsefly
Some spouses I know, say life is too slow
And they would of boredom, of course, die
If they had to spend, more than a weekend
And beavers befriend, up in Horsefly
Knowing my wife, who likes the night life
And rather than be a divorced guy
‘Though I’m now retired, I have not aspired
An address to acquire in Horsefly
— John Finerty Jr.
The village of Horsefly, in the Cariboo Region of British Columbia, is a small community appealing to tourists with a variety of outdoor pursuits. A “Welcome to Horsefly” road sign at the entrance to the village features a stylized depiction of the town’s namesake.