Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PICKENSVILLE, by DOUGLAS MALLOCH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PICKENSVILLE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I ain't so strong for fancy names
Last Line: Be good enough for pickensville.
Subject(s): Names; Towns


I ain't so strong for fancy names
For anything -- for men or critters.
Now, Jim's a better name than James --
It ain't the label, it's the bitters
That matters most of all to me
With rheumatism in the knee.

I recollect a fellah come
And settled over in the holler
And give this rural region some
New name he thought we ought t' foller.
But Pickensville it was, and is,
In spite of all this talk of his.

And "Springbrook Farm" I think was how
He called the place the Sanders sold him,
A place you couldn't raise a row,
As anybody could have told him.
It sounded sort of nice and sweet,
But that don't grow no corn or wheat.

He had it painted on a sign
Upon a prominent location,
The stump of what was once a pine,
And settled down to slow starvation;
Because he had (I mean no harm)
No spring, no brook, darn little farm.

Instid of helpin' advertise
This farm of his, this fancy boostin',
I think it made you realize
There wasn't any angels roostin'
Around the place, or patron saint --
Just made you see just what it ain't.

And Pickensville this town'll stay,
Because it fits the town precisely.
That's good enough for ev'ryday,
It suits us people very nicely.
It always was and always will
Be good enough for Pickensville.





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