Amnesty-Town Horror

Speculation, imagination, a fabricated event

Conclusions reached, some however, remained unconvinced

Suburbia got its name from its false hopes builder

Mass produced, widely regarded, postwar for certain.

Amnesty-Town, a ‘planned’ community, built between ’47 & ‘51

Built on potato farms, known-as Island Trees

A development, booming start, 2,000+ to be rented

Eliminated basements, concrete slabs, homes built cheaper & faster.

Building codes were modified in certain areas where the need for housing was urgent

To keep costs down, used contractors that were non-union

Production-line technique met with heavy opposition

Communities had schools, etc., etc., hundreds of Vets kept applying.

GI homeowners settled-in, spawned families

Residents soon felt they lived in a congenial community

Initial leases prohibited non-whites, racial exclusivity

Boiled-down to being overly-sanitized, non-conformism, &

non-homogeneity.

No real amnesty for ex-soldiers, or city dwellers

Afternoon rumors, silence invaded, residents revolted

Suburbs suppose to represent what the American family wants

In the real world their terrifying, end result was death of the soul.

Incubators of apathy & delirium, suppressed idle details, just as one’s memory does

But today humans still dwell in the ‘burbs’

“Hey, with four closets, two shrubs, & one tree

Good for the children, but come on, not a place for grown-ups to be.”

Stamped-out, cookie-cutter homes become slums

No signs of life, no concrete proof

All suburbanites have a duty to act, gild the gloom

Good news though, new neighborhood awaits, time is on the side of the outcasts.

Copyright © 2007 Tinka Boukes & R. Lance Sheridan