As I thought back on my life, I realized I had witnessed a myriad of events, some fun, some amazing, some tragic and many life changing. I decided to write this poem beginning with WWII before I was born and ending with one of the most terrible events that has occurred in the United States and my memories of the in-between.
The Last 60 Years
1941 to 2001
World War II, H bomb
Korean conflict. Vietnam
Audie Murphy back from hell
38th parallel
FDR laid to rest
Dewey lost, Truman best
Cold War, Dr Spock
Churchill’s Iron Curtain talk
Israel became a nation
Queen Elizabeth’s coronation
Yeager fastest, DNA
Charlie Brown, Cassius Clay
Seat belts, Rock n Roll
World of Disney, Velcro
Cousteau invented Scuba
Castro took over Cuba
Howdy Doody, Ed and Steve
Fairies live if you Believe
Roy, Gene and Hopalong
Microwaves and Teflon
TV’s now come in color
We “like Ike” but not the other
Jack and Jackie’s Camelot
Ended with a rifle shot
Psycho, South Pacific
I Love Lucy, Tom Terrific
Cheyenne, Hoss and Little Joe
Marilyn and DiMaggio
Goodnight David, Goodnight Chet
Maverick brothers, Bart and Brett
Star Trek, James Dean
Elvis Presley was the king
Sit-ins, marches, boycotts
LBJ, Little Rock
Peace Corp, Berlin Wall
Dream speech, Warhol
Alaska and Hawaii states
Nixon lied, Watergate
President Ford; Roe v Wade
Jonestown; Kool Aid
Rolling Stones and the Beatles
Unisphere; Space Needle
Jeopardy, To Tell the Truth
Aaron hit one more than Ruth
Sky Lab; Hubble telescope
John Paul II elected Pope
Baby boomers turned a page
Entered the computer age
Elvis died, VCRs
Walkman, Star Wars
Helter Skelter, Woodstock
Armstrong’s moonwalk
Ice makers in your fridge
Teddy ran off a bridge
Bert and Ernie, Sesame Street
Hall of Fame won’t claim Pete
ET called home
Internet, cell phone
The 39th was a peanut farmer
McVay, the Oklahoma bomber
Reagan said “take down this wall”
And we watched and saw it fall
Sheep cloned; princess dies
Shuttles explode in the skies
Impeached president 42
Done in by a dress of blue
Michael Jackson was a Thriller
OJ searched for the killer
George Bush 41
Then elected George the son
Terrorists attacked our land
Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan
From 9-11 back to WWII
There’s a lot that we’ve lived through
Sue Ikerd
June 3, 2015
Copyright 2015 ©