The Children of Ildren Street(Ben Garrison) There’s a place called Ildren Street ,
With people cleanly, people neat,
People having meals to eat,
Who lend to strangers on the street

People warm and soft of heart,
With minds that wind from modern art,
Friends that won’t be torn apart,
Never stopping once they start

People from which kindness swells…
Their children, though…are ne’er do wells!

*****

Ildren’s children, after school,
Shout at people, shout at rules,
Shout from sofas, shout from stools;
Shout at bedtimes, shout at fools…

Shout at autumn, shout at spring,
Shout at sun the summer brings;
Shout at every living thing,
Ildren’s children, rotten things!

Now to name them, one by one,
And speak of all the things they’ve done,
Wars they’ve lost and fights they’ve won,
Made their mothers come undone

Stories chilling, stories grand,
Ill conceived and in demand,
Grow and flow from poets’ hands,
With underscores and ampersands

Here they are and here we go,
Look out above, look out below!

*****

Friendly Freddy, Prince of Pale,
Sits and sips on ginger ales,
Bides his time and bites his nails,
Mining rhymes and tiger tails

Solemn Sally, teary eyed,
Falls apart and always cries,
Falls in love and falls for lies;
Fails in all she never tries

Milford Monday, mostly there,
Doesn’t worry, doesn’t care,
Doesn’t have what isn’t there,
Doesn’t wash his underwear

Lowdown Larry, rakes the leaves,
Takes the cake and takes his leave,
Speaks of weeks in make believes,
States his claim and scrapes his knees

*****

Friendly Freddy, all alone,
Gazed down from his lofty throne,
Looked out at the sun that shone
And heaved a sigh and freed a moan

Watched the flies that buzzed and hummed,
Brushed his sleeves to rid the crumbs,
Wondered where there lurked some fun,
Wondered what things could be done…

Then he hatched a splendid scheme,
From that space behind his dreams,
Sure to cause such splendid screams,
Oh, and countless dreadful things!

‘Twas a secret far too grand,
For his folks to understand,
For their minds were far too bland,
He snuck outside to spy the land...

As he made off down the street,
He made a list of friends he’d need,
On finger one through finger three,
Milford, Larry…let me see…

Yes! The thing to have on hand,
To add unto his merry band,
A crying ninny would be grand,
Off to Sally’s, she’s the man!

*****

Sally threw her jumping jacks,
And cried for those lost in the cracks,
Sighed that nighttime would come back,
And boogey men would soon attack

Through the sunshine, suddenly,
A running figure did she see,
Bobbing crown at breakneck speeds,
Why, Friendly Freddy, it must be!

Friendly Freddy, slowing down,
Tipped his glowing, golden crown,
Said he had a plan profound,
A plan so sure to stir the town…

Freddy told her that he would
Need her tears to make it good,
And distract the neighborhood,
Oh! From seeing things they should…

Sally frowned, “Now let me see,
“All the burden falls on me,
“I’m the one that’s gonna be,
In the public eye to see…”

“And what makes the matter worse,
“I have no time to plan, rehearse;
“And I know the other jerks,
“They’ll leave me just when bad gets worse…”

“All alone to take the blame,
Then they’ll ship me off to Spain ,
To work the plains out in the rain,
Oh, I just can’t bear the shame!”

But before the tears could come,
Freddy paused to suck his thumb,
And told her that when all was done,
He’d pay her well in bubble gum…

*****

Milford stared off into space,
And filled his mind with utter waste,
Rid his mouth of all the paste,
He’d swallowed with a glutton’s haste

As he looked into the sky,
He saw a drifting butterfly,
‘No, it couldn’t be’, he sighed,
For butterflies don’t wear knee-highs

He wondered just what it could be,
When it called out with such glee,
“ Milford , Milford come and see,
You’ll have such fun, we guarantee!”

‘Well, this is quite odd’, he thought,
For butterflies don’t speak a lot,
If they did, they’d sure get caught,
And sold to zoos or auction lots

Freddy paused to wonder why,
Milford called him “butterfly”,
But then again, it was no lie,
That Milford was the oddest guy

“As your prince, I bid your time,
To join me in these plans of mine,
Will you come and tow the line?”
Said Freddy to the idle mind…

Milford rested there, unmoved,
“Poor butterfly, off to the zoo…”
Milford wondered what to do,
To save his winged friend from doom

Freddy tried it once again,
“I am a butterfly…ahem!
Join my band of merry men,
I have a job for you, my friend…”

*****

Freddy, Milford , Sally, three,
Sought the weasel they would need,
If their plan were to succeed,
They searched with strength and searched with speed…

There he was with rake in hand,
Poorly dressed but neatly planned,
With schemes so vile and underhand,
That nickel stealing young conman!

Five cents to have the raking done,
It’s quite a deal for anyone,
Till they find the leaves have gone,
Right onto their neighbor’s lawn!

Where, of course, it starts again,
He rings the bell, they let him in
They see the state the lawn is in,
Five cents to move those leaves again...

Freddy pulled that crook aside,
And said he had a better ride,
A plan he would like to confide,
A plan so grand and open wide

Larry thought, ‘what could it be?’
‘Why should I even stop to see?’
‘I’ve nickels one and two and three,
‘And plenty more ahead of me…’

But, alas, he had been hooked,
And Freddy read him like a book,
‘I’ll use his pride, that evil crook’,
He threw the bait and Larry took…

“We need tales to fool the crowd,
Voices bright and voices proud,
Stories grand and stories loud,
Glories high above the clouds…”

Larry said that he was in,
With that Freddy loosed a grin,
‘Now the show, it would begin,
No time to lose; only to win...’

*****

On Ildren farm, the cowboys lazed,
Talking of their younger days,
Spinning tales in wondrous ways,
And eating flapjacks in the shade

When suddenly a boy appeared!
Some cowboys laughed and others sneered,
A sight so odd and strange and weird,
A boy with spurs and hat and beard!

‘Said he had come from afar,
Had worked the ranches and the farms,
He’d lost his boots in Zanzibar ,
Where cattle roamed beneath the stars…

Said that he could do the job,
He’d milk the chickens, pluck the hogs,
Build a barn from Lincoln logs,
And fill the nights with prairie songs

They just had to smile and say,
“The boy’s alright”, “The kid’s okay”,
They didn’t notice near the hay,
Three kids slipping gently away…

Freddy and his comrades snuck,
Around the back and through the muck,
And found a gate so tightly shut,
The one they planned to open up…

Freddy planned to set them free,
To cause a true cattle stampede,
“We’ll ride their backs at reckless speeds,
We’ll ride them right down Ildren Street !”

Sally said that she was scared,
Milford drooled and stood and stared,
Freddy did what no one dared,
He turned the lock, so unprepared…

For what would look him in the eye,
Giant birds that couldn’t fly!
Terrified, poor Sally cried,
Milford called out, “Butterfly!”

‘Just what are these crazy things?’
Freddy started wondering,
Just then little Sally screamed,
“An ostrich farm…and, oh, they’re mean!”

The birds sure didn’t seem too keen,
On hearing little Sally scream,
They turned their eyes toward Ildren Street ,
And then proceeded to stampede!

The frightened children turned to run,
The cowboys saw what they’d done,
Now the trouble had begun,
This really wasn’t so much fun!

*****

The people down on Ildren Street ,
Felt a hum beneath their feet,
They rubbed their eyes in disbelief,
An ostrich stampede on their street!

And something…Look there, just ahead!
Little kids with screaming heads!
Lost their shoes, barefoot they tread,
Their pride so hurt it skinned and bled

Freddy tripped and ebbed and flowed,
Sally stumbled, pigeon toed,
Milford? Why, he had to hold,
The ostrich back on which he rode!

The cowboys then came bounding in!
They chased the birds to round them in,
Ran them home, confounding them,
And forced them from the town again…

*****

The cowboys, they had saved the day,
From all that mischief gone astray,
From children left alone to play,
And giant birds that got away
As for the children, let’s just say…

*****

Friendly Freddy, Prince of Pale,
Stares out, glares out, through the rails,
Of his mother’s makeshift jail,
And dreams of new crimes to unveil

Solemn Sally howls and cries,
At her mother’s lullabies,
“Leave me be, just let me die!
But first, bring me some apple pie.”

Milford Monday has such fun,
With his ostrich, Evelyn,
How they dance, and skip and run,
With butterflies and butter rums

Lowdown Larry, there you are!
Walking near and walking far,
Stealing hearts and stealing cars…
“…Yep! I’m off to Zanzibar ”

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