Every Town, An Island

What if every town was an island?


All shopping done right here

No money being spent away

No corporate takeover fear.

We would have to eat at Donna’s

“Coffee, eggs and ham” for you?

No Starbuck latte’s sold in town

We’re fine with Donna’s brew.

You need a car? See Frank in town

At “Smiley’s Lot” on Main

I traded in my Jeep (still there)

It only leaks in rain.

The banks would have to go along

And lend us what we need.

We’d pay them back with wages

Earned at “Barney’s Grain & Feed”.

Barney’s wife works in the store

Where we shop for chicken thighs

From “Tilly’s Free Range Chicken Farm”

Not quite Tyson’s size.

The money stays on the island friends

There is no place else to spend it.

Besides it all comes back again

To those who spend and lend it.

We’d have to find the leaks for sure

Like buying stuff “on line”

Instead of at the local shops

Like “Mabel’s Five and Dime”.

I guess it will never happen

But we could make a start

By buying local first instead

And shopping with your heart.


F. Thomas Crowley, Jr.

6/10/10