"Alice's Restaurant"

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving,
Despite the turkey meal,
If I missed Arlo Guthrie’s song,
My husband at the wheel.

For every year, Thanksgiving Day,
As it approaches noon,
We find the FM station
That’s all set to play that tune.

It’s part of our tradition
As we take our turkey jaunt
To join with Arlo as he sings
About that restaurant.

The words are mostly spoken
And it’s twenty minutes long,
But it’s a way to join my past
And present, with a song.

“You can get anything you want”
Is how the lyric goes;
But what I’m really getting
Is not anything that shows.

For flashing to the 60’s
In the way that that song does,
Reminds me of those days gone by
And life the way it was.

If someone said one day I’d sing
With my kids ‘bout the draft,
It would have sounded crazy
And I’m sure I would have laughed.

And yet today, we did just that,
Our voices at full blast;
And I thank Arlo Guthrie
For that linkage to my past.