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slayda · 02-24-2009, 12:15 PM

This probably won't be considered a poem by anyone who knows and is definitely not an Ode. (I don't pretend to be either a writer or a poet. Any writing I do is for my own enjoyment and most could never be published - in polite society- even if it were good writing.) It was written, tongue in cheek, for a local PBS writing contest where the exact phrase "all the signs were there" must be included. A friend told me about it and had said the phrase was "all of the signs were there". I had already written it with the second phrase and rather than rewording it, I added the last two lines. (Enjoy or throw rotten tomatoes)

Ode to Billy Bob

His job wasn’t important. He wasn’t either.
He was just the night watchman at the road construction site.
They even had a Doberman who got better treatment.

That was all right. He didn’t mind
He got paid and he could sleep while the dog stood guard.
Until one night in late August.

He awoke knowing something was wrong.
When he checked the compound, he found the gate wide open.
The dog was nowhere to be found.

All the tractors and trucks were gone.
The grader and caterpillar were gone too.
Even the power tools and hand tools were gone.

Everything was gone, including his job.
But wait. Wasn’t that something there,
All the way in the back of the compound?

Yes! It was the CAUTION sign and the STOP sign.
Here was the SLOW sign and there the MEN-AT-WORK sign.
In fact all of the signs were there.

Maybe he wouldn’t lose his job after all,
--- but all the signs were there.

Don Slaymaker
Summer 1997

02-24-2009, 12:15 PM	#18
slayda Retired & reading more! Posts: 2,764 Karma: 1884247 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: North Alabama, USA Device: Kindle 1, iPad Air 2, iPhone 6S+, Kobo Aura One	For what it's worth (a chuckle if anything at all) This probably won't be considered a poem by anyone who knows and is definitely not an Ode. (I don't pretend to be either a writer or a poet. Any writing I do is for my own enjoyment and most could never be published - in polite society- even if it were good writing.) It was written, tongue in cheek, for a local PBS writing contest where the exact phrase "all the signs were there" must be included. A friend told me about it and had said the phrase was "all of the signs were there". I had already written it with the second phrase and rather than rewording it, I added the last two lines. (Enjoy or throw rotten tomatoes) Ode to Billy Bob His job wasn’t important. He wasn’t either. He was just the night watchman at the road construction site. They even had a Doberman who got better treatment. That was all right. He didn’t mind He got paid and he could sleep while the dog stood guard. Until one night in late August. He awoke knowing something was wrong. When he checked the compound, he found the gate wide open. The dog was nowhere to be found. All the tractors and trucks were gone. The grader and caterpillar were gone too. Even the power tools and hand tools were gone. Everything was gone, including his job. But wait. Wasn’t that something there, All the way in the back of the compound? Yes! It was the CAUTION sign and the STOP sign. Here was the SLOW sign and there the MEN-AT-WORK sign. In fact all of the signs were there. Maybe he wouldn’t lose his job after all, --- but all the signs were there. Don Slaymaker Summer 1997 Last edited by slayda; 01-20-2019 at 11:33 PM.