Poetry of Kansas

Our Scenery Spoilers

We took a trip to see the sights
      In good old U. S. A.
We traveled full ten thousand miles
      By auto all the way.
We wished to see the cataracts,
      The rivers and the bays,
The mountain scenery, the lakes,
      And how our country lays.
 
We sought the Alleghanies first,
      Where signboards told us that
The Strawboard line of breakfast food
      Would make lean persons fat.
And Hinkum's Pills would cure a cold,
      Directions in the top;
And Rinkey-Dinkey's Hotel near
      Was just the place to stop.
 
We visited the battlegrounds
      Of old Colonial Days;
And found, that Smearem's creamy paste,
      For skin, beats violet rays.
And suds from Dashes Bubble Soap
      Rubbed on would give us vigor;
And we must eat Husk's Peanut Shells
      If we would grow no bigger.
 
They haven't screened the prairies yet
      From those who view the plains,
In places, one can see between
      The "ads" for Piles and Pains. .
And as we thread the highway to
      Pike's Peak and Mount Rainier,
The scenic spots are just beyond
      "Drink Swiggem's Never Beer."
 
There's thousands more of signs that help
      To make the tourist sad,
When he is spending hard earned dough
      And, some of them get mad.
And some of them speak naughty words,
      And speak them, too, out loud.
The chaps that mar our scenery
      Will lose out with our crowd!

__Ed Blair

 

Random Rhymes
Ed Blair
(Spring Hill, Kansas: New Era Publishing Co. 1939)
Page 92

 
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May 29, 2005 / John & Susan Howell / Wichita, Kansas / howell@kotn.org

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