Modern Ruins of a Museum

BEANERY ONLINE LITERARY MAGAZINE.

MODERN RUINS OF A MUSEUM

by Mark Sliwa

As a kid, I loved to blow stuff up. Gunpowder bombs to destroy my plastic model car collection or a Polish cannon that could shoot a hundred yards.  For those who may not remember, a Polish cannon was five or six Pepsi cans that had the ends cut out. Construction was possible as soda cans were made of metal with a reinforced steel ring at each end. All were duct-taped together to resemble a small bazooka.

The base can was left partially vented at the drinking end and had a pinhole punched in its bottom.  Ammunition was a tennis ball and propellant was lighter fluid.  To operate, we stuffed the ball down the tube with a stick, squirted fluid in the pinhole, lit a match to the hole, and boom! The kick felt like a 12 gauge shotgun as you watched the ball sail across the neighborhood.  I had the most powerful one in the neighborhood until my mother captured it and proceeded to crush it with dad’s workbench vise.

It is no surprise then that a place called Forbes Road Gun Museum held great interest for me as an early teen.  Located in Ligonier Township, Pennsylvania, at the top of Gravel Hill Road, it was a small brick two story Smithsonian of guns, some dating over 500 years. A field artillery cannon sat on the front lawn, commanding respect before one entered. The first floor served as a gunsmith shop and the second as the museum.  An elderly man named Russell Payne was the owner and seemed to know

What If

BEANERY ONLINE LITERARY MAGAZINE

WHAT IF     

Julia E. Torockio

What if……….There was a world without prejudices?

What if…………..No one stared, accosted, talked about, or made fun of anyone?

What if………….we all got along all of the time?

Or at least most of the time!

What if there was no hatred, confusion, disrespect, dislike, or contention in the world?

What would a world like that be like?

Would it be better? What do you think?

If this could only be true?

Then this may be a perfect world we live in!

Wouldn’t it? Or would it be?

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a perfect world or a perfect person!

As long as there is sin in this world, and the devil exists, we must deal with the flesh;

and this so-called ideal world ceases to exist, and will never happen!

There was and is, only one

Latrobe, Pennsylvania

BEANERY ONLINE LITERARY MAGAZINE

LATROBE, PENNSYLVANIA

Julia E. Torockio

     In 2010 Latrobe, Pennsylvania, will celebrate its 150^th anniversary. During this time, the community has developed many stories. Some are well-known and others less well known.

MR. FRED ROGERS

     Most local people know that Latrobe is the home of Mr. Rogers. Is it possible that Latrobe’s friendly nature is influenced by him when he sang “Won’t you be my neighbor?” In his commemoration, the Fred M. Rogers Center, at St Vincent College, was established. It is an ongoing tribute to his contribution.

An earlier tribute to Mr. Rogers is the

A Beanery Writers Group Homage to Bob Sanzi

BEANERY ONLINE LITERARY MAGAZINE

A BEANERY WRITERS GROUP HOMAGE TO BOB SANZI

Beanery Writers Group

I looked for your car when I arrived at the June 24, 2010, Beanery Writers Meeting.

            I hadn’t heard…You were gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Bob, you left too soon. Some of us needed to learn more from you. It’s hard to believe that you only joined us on June 12, 2010. At your last meeting, June 10, 2011, you were so excited about the new car Nancy bought and allowed you to drive to the meeting.

      We all heard your gruff, commanding, voice, and experienced your unique bombastic manner, at the first Beanery Writers Group meetings you attended. Some of us questioned whether we could tolerate you. You were opinionated, certain you were right, and felt you had to talk and talk and talk to push your point, even after everyone had “gotten it.” You were so certain you were right.

     Your identity was enmeshed in cars—you were quite animated and willing to share a multitude of car stories. After all, you were a car guy who even amused us by turning a prompt on the Kentucky Derby into a car piece. You didn’t seem to understand that

Annie By The Seaside

BEANERY ONLINE LITERARY MAGAZINE 

ANNIE BY THE SEASIDE

Walter Matusic

Down by the seaside where Annie goes

There in the stones a flower grows.

Annie looks out at the foaming sea

Then sits down by the flower and me.

For long is the time that I’ve waited,

On this island tormented and hated.

Where a prison embranded me

And on the island they stranded me.             

But though they tried they could not hide me

With pretty Annie now here beside me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

ADDITIONAL READING:

Strand of Old Glory

ONE ROOM LIVING

Lost in My Pasta

Shepherds of Buchenwald

BEANERY ONLINE LITERARY MAGAZINE

SHEPHERDS OF BUCHENWALD

Walter

~~~ 

It’s nearly night time now…

Even the crows have found their rest.

But there will be no rest for me

‘til I hear you

Where Were You When JFK was Assassinated?

BEANERY ONLINE LITERARY MAGAZINE

WHERE WERE YOU WHEN JFK WAS ASSASSINATED?

Beanery Writers Group Authors

The following are responses to a prompt from our last meeting. Readers are invited to submit their own experiences from Nov. 22, 1963, the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Type your response in the comment box at the end of this post.

  JAN

     It was one of those things, that when you first hear it — you can’t believe it.

     While attending nursing school, I also worked at a sewing factory. Of course, when it was announced by the manager — all work ceased for the day.

     Many people were crying, others were just in shock.

     I immediately thought about his young children. Afterward, I thought of the way he was cut down, about the unfairness of

A Stranger

BEANERY ONLINE LITERARY MAGAZINE

A STRANGER

Anonymous

     You bother me, in a strange way.

     Not damaging, but the tears seem to flow.

     And I recall all the tears

     that were shed for you,

     fell softly to the earth,

     and were soaked up by the dry sand.

River Song: Part 3

BEANERY ONLINE LITERARY MAGAZINE

RIVER SONG Part 3

Tim Landy

     Tim’s story is posted in three parts. To read Part 1, click on: River Song: Part 1 .  For Part 2, click on: River Song: Part 2

     Revisit the Beanery Online Literary Magazine to read the final post of  River Song. Or, for your convenience, subscribe to this site by typing your e-mail address in the SUBSCRIPTION box in the upper right hand column of this site. You will receive a return e-mail asking you to confirm the subscription. Your e-mail will not be publicized.

          The subject of this article is a fascinating woman who lives on the line between nature’s chaotic and man’s organized worlds.

      After graduating from high school, Joan matriculated at Pomona College, a small college in California established to educate westerners in the New England liberal arts tradition.  Here she majored in sociology and art.

            After completing her degree, she and several friends went to Europe.  Eventually she settled in Paris for two years, where she studied etching at a private studio.  Having finished her course of study, she decided to stay on for two more years, working as a secretary in the American Consulate.  When her job was upgraded to that of personnel assistant, she was able to take a position with the State Department in Germany.

            Finally returning to the United States, she soon met her future husband, Charles, a native of Western Pennsylvania.

            “After I married, my focus was on my family,” she says.  I wasn’t ready for a career in art.”

            These days, having reared two sons and two daughters, Joan has more time to

River Song: Part 2

BEANERY ONLINE LITERARY MAGAZINE

RIVER SONG Part 2

Tim Landy

     Tim’s story is posted in three parts. To read Part 1, click on: River Song: Part 1 . Revisit the Beanery Online Literary Magazine to read the final post of River Song.

     Or, for your convenience, subscribe to this site by typing your e-mail address in the SUBSCRIPTION box in the upper right hand column of this site. You will receive a return e-mail asking you to confirm the subscription. Your e-mail will not be publicized.

          The subject of this article is a fascinating woman who lives on the line between nature’s chaotic and man’s organized worlds.

            While most gardeners despise the ubiquitous weeds, Joan welcomes these unwanted guests with open gloves.  Smiling, she says, “Everything was a weed at first.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a garden of weeds!  When I go out in early spring, I see everything bare.  I start to plant seeds and I can feel the weed seeds saying, ‘We were here first!’”  

            Her present reading list includes Weeds of the Northeast.  But unlike the authors, who wrote the text to help readers identify and destroy unwanted plants, Joan uses the book as a field guide, locating one of her favorites, the Pennsylvania smart weed, which, to her delight, has taken over the pumpkin patch across the road from the farmhouse.

            “When you give a weed a name, it acquires