STEP INTO THE FUTURE
Gerald Zipper
Times were hard back then choices scarce like peacock feathers in the desert
he was called Pinky because he was small
saw his way as a lawyer
the Great Depression savaged hopes
left skeletons scattered on the shore
we called Eugene Hoppy
it was the way he walked on his toes
explained how he. could make it as a dentist
everybody’s teeth had to be fixed
George saw himself master of a fancy restaurant
blondes and music like a Hollywood movie
we called him Studs
he served us tales of lush women
saw himself in a suave black tuxedo
snow white carnation in his lapel
so sure of himself
but the war came
Then another war and another
tipping the earth this way
and then that way my father said working for the government was safe
never saw how things could change
some of us became soldiers willing and unwilling
we came back to a new world and new ways
ready to be stockbrokers and advertising stars
congressmen and statesmen
money managers and big-time entrepeneurs
pushing new ways and better gimmicks
sometimes recalling the old dreams
the narrow pathways
wanting to be lawyers and dentists and elegant hosts
clasping the one-time restless and the long-ago ambitions
barely noticing those filtering through the shadows
the new restless and ambitious
those seeming and sounding different
still eager and desperate to get their foot into the future.
