Poetry minute

I was listening to Stereolab as I did the dishes this evening and it got me thinking about the 70s. The 70s were a grim time for the most part, and I spent my formative years in it wearing shirts with huge collars and watching bad TV while sitting on olive green and orange polyester furniture. One of my hippy teachers during this time read a poem in class one day that really stuck with me, but which I'd never been able to find again. But now, with the miracle of Google, I have unearthed it and brought it to the surface, disoriented and blinking in the harsh light of the 21st century. It hasn't aged very well, but that's what makes it so interesting:

Little Boxes
by Malvina Reynolds

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All go to the university,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
And there's doctors and there's lawyers
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf-course,
And drink their Martini dry,
And they all have pretty children,
And the children go to school.
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
And they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same.

And the boys go into business,
And marry, and raise a family,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

Huh. Not quite as good as I remembered it. Just a little bit too snobbish for my taste. And a bit simplistic. I think after she read it my teacher said, "Doesn't that just make you... THINK? Y'know? I mean... WOW..."

Posted by Bruce Gottfred at August 7, 2004 09:47 PM | TrackBack