In Honor of National Poetry Month - Yesterday Yields, by Township Poet Laureate Scott Pleasants

As presented by Scott Pleasants, Teaneck Poet Laureate

on April 14, 2025

In Recognition of National Poetry Month

Yesterday Yields

we sit in a world that is changing fast

as yesterday yields to a place 

where street lights no longer stare 

at silence on empty roads

we hear subtle sounds 

the frequent rumble 

of maritime melodies 

played on railroad tracks 

brush strokes up close

a horizon once bare and barely there 

reveals peaks on rooftops 

that fill a canvas of painted progress 

oh let time rewind

when children kicked cans 

chalked filled sidewalks 

catch me if you can ringolevio and skully

back to neighborhoods we knew 

back with neighbors old and new

we talked to each other 

face to face

yesterday yes yesterday

when today’s news

was delivered in tomorrow’s headlines

leaving ink smudges on finger tips

and dear abby wrote in between 

the classifieds and the obits

open windows and evening fresh air

magnolias blossom in spring

sprinkle in the hum of hummingbirds

bumblebees and periodical cicadas

we place the mirror near

see a glare a reflection of inevitability 

it’s a familiar voice of choice

as we hear our parents past 

oh how this world is changing

it’s changing

we’re changing 

it’s changing fast

©2025  Scott Pleasants