Penry’s Corner (Helmsburg, Indiana)

I remember Penry’s Corner
down the hill from school
We’d play the nickel pinball
generally act the fool

Slim would bring the burgers
Dale fixed the drinks
Ma served the french fries
and washed things in the sink

Buck had the local garage
he’d fix your car and more
Buckshot worked for his Dad
his Dad ran a store

There was Chitwood’s hardware
a Church just down the street
Train tracks ran behind the store
that was pretty neat

Paul sold gas and groceries
sandwiches and snacks
The Richards’ had a sawmill
on the hill out back

The post office was across the road
farms were all around
Helmsburg was a pretty nice place
a typical Hoosier town

Now the broom factory sells antiques
things that are old and odd
The Church is still in business
bringing people God

Chitwood’s is a storage barn
where you hide things you don’t need
No longer selling saddles
dryers and chickenfeed

The Masonic Lodge is a coffee shop
with Decaf dark and light
And there are still some farms around
somehow that seems right

A new sawmill fills Paul’s place
the old one grows in weeds
The Post Office deals in Lotteries
and snacks to fill your needs

Buck’s garage is leaning
It won’t last too long
There’s nothing going on now
somehow that seems wrong

Long’s grocery has fallen down
just a pile of wood
And there’s a house on the corner
Where Penry’s Diner stood.

Jim Campbell
Brown County, Indiana

(Jim was born on Smith Road in Brown County in 1940 and graduated from Helmsburg High in 1957, while Penry's Corner was still a functioning restaurant. He retired from the Nashville Post Office, where he was a Rural Letter Carrier. Now he mows grass at Salt Creek Golf Retreat in the Summer, "loafs" all Winter, and writes poems when an idea comes to him.)