Tuesday, October 14, 2014


 

I wrote “Thirty-Five and Holding” (Daydreams, 2004) when I was thirty-five (surprise!). I had just been named President of a new subsidiary of Avco Corporation and was traveling constantly while we set up a support group in the Middle East. I had two young children and we had just moved to Houston, Texas.

I was at a point with a Fortune 500 company where I could make an enormous career jump if I executed this new assignment correctly. The pressure was substantial and the atmosphere unforgiving.

While on a trip to Saudi Arabia, I sat down one night and wrote this poem. I used rhyme because it helped to portray the feelings of one riding a merry-go-round without an off switch. And I subtitled it (A Country Song) because  we were living in Texas and it seemed like it would make a great subject for lots of people going through a variety of different struggles with jobs and young families.

As I look back, I still feel that it captured the emotions of those years pretty well.

Glenn K. Currie

                                                Thirty Five and Holding
                                                     (A Country Song)
                                               

                                                Got a house owned by bankers,

                                                And a job without no friends,

                                                But the pay is really something,

                                                My future’s without end.

 

                                                Yeah, I’m thirty-five and holding,

                                                And I’m livin’ on the run,

                                                But I’m thinkin’ of the glory,

                                                The good times still to come.

 

                                                My family doesn’t know me,

                                                I’m a stranger at the door,

                                                Just empty out the suitcase,

                                                And fill it up with more.

 

                                                Cause I’m thirty-five and holding,

                                                There’s lots of time for fixin’ that,

                                                Just bring the kids a present,

Read ‘em “The Cat in the Hat”.

 

The windows are never open,

No matter where I go,

And the scenes of life are hidden,

By the TV’s steady glow.

 

Still I’m thirty-five and holding,

And my grip is really strong,

I can’t let the empty feeling,

Make it all go wrong.

 

Have some coffee in the mornin’,

And clear the evening haze,

Opportunities before me,

To fill the busy days.

 

When you’re thirty-five and holding,

You are fighting for the ring,

You can’t ever lose the focus,

Success, the only thing.

 

 

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