20160304 (make)

We made and flew--for the most part without electronics

Making has become a thing

Nowadays. Perhaps it arises from

The first generation of LEGO

Builders getting jobs as editors

And writers. Talking like the 

Old guy people think I have 

Become, I observe that: In

My day we made things. Used

Hammers, nails, pliers, saws

And wood we scrounged from

Our fathers’ garages. We built

Soap box racers with wheels

Copped from old baby buggies

Or roller skates, whatever, and

We’d race them down elevated

Driveways and hope they didn’t

Roll over with us when we turned

Onto the street. We built forts,

Dog houses, club headquarters

In our backyards. Then later those

With older brothers or enough

Money built crystal set radios

And some of those built real

High-fi radios from Heathkits.

Soldered our capacitors, tube

Sockets, resisters, rheostats

With our imprecise soldering

Irons and a lot of splashed

Solder. But when the damned

Thing was finished, the tubes

Glowed and the light behind

The dial cast a warm glow in

The basement. We’d hook 

Them to old radio speakers and

For the first time we listened

To FM radio’s clear signal—

No AM static. We’d listen to 

Classical stations, polkas, ethnic

Broadcasts in God-knows-what

European tongue, just because

It was better than AM. My cousins

Got heavy into all sorts of model

Airplanes. Simple self-assembled

Rubber band profile types you 

Could buy in cellophane wrap at

A corner store. Then they moved

On to cutting sheets of stock

Balsa wood and glued stringers

To patterns for fuselages, wings,

Carved their own propellers, and

Bought special rubber from exotic

Foreign countries to provide 

Longer lasting power. Eventually

They used tiny gas engines that

Could lift airplanes designed for 

“Free flight.” You’d stand and 

Just let them go skyward until they

Ran out of fuel and glided for 

Minutes to return to earth. Some 

Were so good at staying aloft we

Had to chase them in cars and

Retrieve them from another’s 

Farm. I should mention my 

Cousins lived in the sticks (now

Fully built-up Seven Hills). Last

They bought special radios and

Controls to bring their planes

Back. By then I had to leave.

The equipment was costly and

We didn’t have that kind of

Money. Somehow in those

Years we became young adults

With other things to do and

The word make took on

Another meaning altogether.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016