2nd Place

Those Good Old Days Poem Contest Entry, November 30, 2025

Write a poem about “the good old days” as you remember them. Any type, at least six lines.

We stayed out late till the streetlights glowed,

Sandlot baseball with wild pitches to throw.

Football in the street, no fear, just play,

Catching fireflies at dusk to end the day.

Cool water sipped from the garden hose,

Corded phones tangled, that’s just how it goes.

A quarter bought candy, sweet soda to share,

Fifty-cent movies with popcorn to spare.

Bicycle cards in spokes made their song,

Those good old days echo, forever strong.

Three channels on TV, you turned the dial slow,

Cartoons on Saturday, nightly news shows.

Drive-in theaters with blankets and cars,

Watching the screen beneath shimmering stars.

Roller rinks spinning with disco light beams,

Arcades alive with Pac-Man dreams.

Vinyl records and mixtapes we’d play,

Songs taped from radio brightened the day.

Ice cream trucks jingled down summer streets,

Slip ’N Slides cooling the midday heat.

Handwritten letters, folded with care,

Pen pals and love notes sent everywhere.

Family dinners, TV trays in tow,

Gathered together for the evening’s show.

Polaroid cameras with photos in hand,

Instant memories you could almost command.

Neighborhood kids rode bikes in a pack,

Trading ball cards in the backyard shack.

Simple joys stitched the fabric of time,

Memories eternal, in rhythm and rhyme.

Echoing laughter through the years gone by,

The good old days will never die.

© Copyright 2025 J.R. Geiger. All rights reserved.