Fevered Times.

Puny, sickly kids.
popular in the nineteen fifties.
We had the “in” diseases
and stayed home from school.
Rheumatic Fever and
Uncle Wiggley books were
passed from house to house.
I built walls of pillows
on the bed.
They were soft
and could be pushed down and
climbed on. Offered as
a resting place
when Howdy Doody
was over.
As we got older,
the walls got harder
and higher.
And popular illnesses
ravaged our souls.
Uncle Wiggley
and Howdy Doody
could not comfort us
or make us laugh.
But the walls are open
at the top.
And hope waits
in pillows of clouds.

Janet Brice Parker