Sweet Betsy

 Sweet Betsy

Happened in a grocery store, 
I was fondling a can labeled 
Betsy’s Sweet Peas, reminded of 

    Oh do you remember 
    Sweet Betsy from Pike
    Who crossed the wide prairie 
    with her lover Ike

which made me realize 
Ike and Betsy were, like, 
making whoopee out of wedlock
all over the wide prairie 
before finally they marry 
at the end of the song, 
a song they taught us in 
grade school for Pete’s sake 
when a stranger with infant swaddled 
to her chest blocks the Safeway aisle 
and sings soprano:

    With two yoke of oxen, 
    a big yellow dog, 
    A tall Shanghai rooster 
    and one spotted hog.

“Excuse me?” I say. “Was I singing? Out loud?”
“Better,” she says, “than the crap they’re playing.” 
Harmony, you know, is intimacy. Instantly.
We, strangers pushing carts.
“My name’s Elizabeth” she says with a wink.
The baby wide-eyed, silent. 
A minute later from the next aisle 
I hear Elizabeth’s soprano: 

    One evening quite early 
    they camped on the Platte.
    'Twas near by the road 
    on a green shady flat.

But she falters. Over the shelves I offer:

    Where Betsy, sore-footed, 
    lay down to repose
    With wonder Ike gazed 
    on that Pike County rose.

Ah, love, and the day is plenty. 
The infant wails. 

…..

First published in Storyteller Poetry Review
Thank you editor Sharon Waller Knutson
Painting by James Lewicki from Life magazine, 1960.

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