From leg to leg slowly rocking
Pokey Bear, Pokey Bear
Children a mocking
There he was and wasn't with us
In his own world of side to side motion
What was with all of the fuss
Shoes lost in the dirt
Pokey Bear and I with tears
Till dark did we search
Pokey Bear where can they be?
Leg to leg rocking, it's the elf he said
There deep in the old tree
You could trust Pokey Bear feelings
They were true and selfless
His tears had great meaning
Words to songs clung to his mind
He would immerse himself
To remember the rhymes
A pillow so soft to keep
A small head rolling side to side
Pokey Bear Pokey Bear now asleep
MY BROTHER LAIRD
He was probably the quietest of all of the boys. A thinker, a good boy, not aggressive and had a passion for music and motion. It was not so easy being Chris' brother and Daphne's shadow was long enough to extend over several of us. He was also Daphne's little brother.
He probably doesn't like to remember but he did manage to poop his pants and had to rock back and forth from leg to leg because because it was ichy. He probably pooped his pants because he was with me almost all of the time when we lived in the black house on St. Helena st. Milwaukie. We spent inordinate amounts of time out of the house, usually at the neighbors, usually at the Maroods. They were another family of many children, Timmy, Tommy, Jimmy, Johny, Vicky, Barbara, Caren, Lisa...I think that is it.
Laird had a much different face than the rest of us. He was more Dad and less Mom. He was very good at blending in where ever he went. While my presence usually created fights and hostilities - I seemed to have that face other boys my age didn't like. Laird on the other hand was cuddly and easily likable. HE WAS A TEDDY BEAR.
He also had a sharp sence of instinct for learning words to songs. He rocked his head back and forth on the pillow at night. He wasn't so much concerned that we made fun of him about this. He was full of conviction - if he liked it - to hell with everybody else. It was no problem for him to rock back and forth from leg to leg or rock his head on a pillow. Who ever was there...so what! He had a stable courage that didn't blend and change against everybody elses whims. He was POKEY BEAR.
He was a better reader than I, in fact he was a better student. If there was one boy who could compare to Daphne at an early age it was Laird. He didn't get near the attention I got...although the attention I got was not a result of any willingness on the part of my parents. You can't really call getting chased with a spoon or lectures on how to be good as the attention any kid would want. Since he stayed pretty much out of trouble he was out of mind for the most part for corrective action.
Laird had the benefit of seeing how good Daphne was and how mischivous I was. He found a place somewhere in between. He was not exactly a Teddy Bear Saint. He has a good number of his own stories.
When Mom and Dad, who were immutable city folks, tried to be country folk, Laird, Forrest, Setffan and Sean ended up living in the boon docks, Colton. This was a far cry from our urban life in comfy places like Helena St. or Ceder Creast. I never really had the country experience. I was living in a highly condenced world in the Navy that made city life look like living in the Alaska tundra.
Up until I went into the Navy, I did see my brothers from time to another, usually during summers, in Oregon City where I was working for Danielson's Thriftway. I managed to have a small apartment and they stayed with me some times. These were very challending years.
Since I left, Laird became the defacto leader. I can't say I was really a leader. I know my borthers looked up to me, mainly because I was older, but also because I had that sort of fierce independance and would get involved in things that were sort of leading edge mischeivousness. They would either follow me or I would let them tag along or actually want them to be with me. In any rate this did have some impact on them as they would at times get involved in the dumb things I used to do.
When I finally went into the Navy, I learned years later that, they felt somewhat betrayed. It was something along the idea that I always managed to be running off doing something interesting while the rest of the boys were having completely different experiences than I had.
Upon my dissapearing from the scene, Laird became the leader of the pack, but he too shortly was to go on his way as he found his first love and struggled to work his way into the world of adulthood.
Starting as he did the hard way, he worked his way from manual assembly work, being a machine operator in a backwoods shop, inventing cost saving methods to finally becoming by rights of time passage and hard work as a production "Engineer". He doesn't have a formal education in engineering, but most engineers in his field would find it impossible to usurp his broad base of knowledge in almost every area that involves production.
When Laird was in the 3rd grade he, being smart enough to have good grades in Spanish, was able to spend a school year in Costa Rica. There he learned Spanish and appreciation for other cultures. I think this, combined with his country side experience, made him a very strong person when it came to dealing with the various backgrounds of people who were to work in the production field.
It was the greatest pleasure and most memorable trip in my life, to have spend almost a month staying and traveling with Laird in Qatar, UAE, Oman, India and Russia. We were able to share a great deal and sort out some of our feelings. In a way I think this trip (of which will form another series of pages in the near future) was a bridge which connected us from the day I went into the Navy.
Today Laird is in China...WHERE....China. Setting up a company that will transfer clean room technology in a Joint Venture Agreement. Who would think that Pokey Bear would meet Panda Bear.
Without the formal education that Daphne and I had, Laird jumped from a simple machine operator to the head of R&D and VP of Manufacturing and now the head of an overseas development, Laird has really made extraordinary achievements.
This poem reflects some of the ideas and feelings I have for my brother Laird.
