I found this poem in the "papers" left by my Great-Great Grandfather The Rev. Johnson: I did a quick google search and didn't find anyone else to credit this poem to. So governor Schwarzenegger pay attention..
The California farmer gets up at the alarm of a Connecticut clock; buttons his Chicago suspenders to Detroit overalls, washes his face with Cincinnati soap in a Pennsylvania basin, wipes on a Rhode Island towel, sits up to a Grand Rapids table, eats Kansas City meat and Minneapolis flour with Idaho potatoes cooked with Indiana lard on a St. Louis stove, burning Wyoming fuel.
He puts a New York bridle on a Colorado broncho fed on Iowa corn; plows five acres of land,(covered with Ohio mortage) with a Chatanooga plow. When bedtime comes, he reads a chapter from the Bible printed in Boston; says a prayer written in Jerusalem; crawls under a blanket made in New Jersey; only to be kept awake by fleas,-- the only product of his home state.
(Poem probably circa 1945 just a guess)
WHAT IS DIFFERENT TODAY: THE FLEAS CAN'T AFFORD TO LIVE IN CALIFORNIA, ALL MORTAGES ARE (TOXIC) ,AND EVERYTHING IS MADE IN CHINA.
JOE TODD
Interesting how much interstate commerce shows even in that time period. Mostly moved by rail, I would think. Kind of makes me think of doing something updated. Of course we are all now being urged to buy local!
ReplyDelete