Originally recorded as “Tain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness if I Do” was published in 1922 by Porter Grainger and Everett Robbins. Porter Grainger was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky October 22, 1891 − October 30, 1948. He died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Everett Robbins was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma. While this song is a blues standard and has… Read More Ain’t Nobody’s Business – A Blues Standard
From the time you could use it this has been your chair— At Grandma’s and Grandpa’s you always sat there. And not just at mealtime, but at other times too— You made use of this chair, it just suited you. You’d sit high at the counter when Grandma baked pies— And using a “thimble” you’d… Read More THE RABBIT’S CHAIR by Gaylia Kenslow – Stogsdill
The place that I call home is bound By acres broad and wide And many furred and feathered things Have hastened here to hide When bleak November sailed forth And hunter roamed the way It seemed these frightened friendly things Have found a place to stay Along a lilac bordered lane Where clumps of britches… Read More Trust by Katherine Carey-Place 1878-1934
I recently wrote a poem about the 1936 Sit-Down strike in Flint, Michigan and I began to wonder about the man who was president of General Motors at the time. Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr. (May 23, 1875 – February 17, 1966) became president of General Motors in 1923 and was elected Chairman of the board… Read More Alfred P Sloan – A Friend to No One
It isn’t the outer person that really counts for much – For they may be handsome and debonair – with a heart you cannot touch – It’s inside that’s important – how we feel toward one another – For whether we admit it or not – God made us to be brothers. We are all… Read More THE INSIDE OF MAN by Gaylia Kenslow – Stogsdill
This chair we present to both Harold and Mid, We hope it brings joy without fail, For each eve as we glance o’er the street to their home, Poor Dock is perched on the rail. All their friends and their family sit snug in a chair, And visit and smile as they rock, No one… Read More TO HAROLD AND MID ON THEIR SIXTETH ANNIVERSARY by Katherine Carey-Place 1878-1934
Before the Union Came to Town, You toiled in the heat and the cold, Trying to provide for your family. Keeping your head down, only looking at the ground. You ‘retired’ from the line in one of three ways, The Grim Reaper called out your name, Your age, the stress and back breaking work broke… Read More Before the Union Came to Town
There’s quite a lot to your choice of profession – It involves skill, knowledge and much compassion. For the ones who wear the cap and pin – Are entrusted with the wellbeing of their fellowmen. Those you nurse will look to you – For the very best you can possibly do. Their lives are placed… Read More THE CAP AND PIN by Gaylia Kenslow – Stogsdill
I write lines to one most dear, of hope and joy and love, To express my faith and happiness to our Father above, When the valley of the shadow of death was near to you, He answered all our prayers and tears, He led you safely thru. Now your convalescing, soon you’ll be home once… Read More To Elizabeth by Katherine Carey-Place 1878-1934
Until I was about five, a family of multiple children lived next door. Their house was a poor kept, two-bedroom bungalow with no basement. One of my earliest memories are of the children coming out of the house to play in the summer. They must have finished breakfast and their mother shooed them out the… Read More The Yellow House
Ramblings of an Old Coot 