When I was a boy, I spent many hours running through the woods behind our house. My friend Henry and I watched episodes of The Lone Ranger, and then head for the woods to pretend we were the real thing. It was great fun, but sometimes we got off the beaten paths and into the green leaves of poison ivy beside the trails. By the next morning I would be scratching my ankles and between my toes. If the oil from the leaves got on our face it could swell our face and might require a doctors visit. Most of the time we simply rubbed on pink calamine lotion and kept on playing.
The song above by the Coasters came out in the fifties. With its catchy lines it became a song you could not get out of your head once you heard it. I have always enjoyed hearing the famous hook, “Poison I—vy, Poison I—-vy… Late at night while you’re sleeping Poison Ivy comes creeping around.? I am not sure exactly what the real meaning of the song is since it could be interpreted in a couple of different ways. Be sure to listen to the clip above, for a taste of fifties music, and see what you think?
Poison Ivy
Barefoot boys running on rabbit trails
Chasing imaginary figures into the woods
Cowboys and Indians running wild
So much fun to run and hide
Pearl handled six-shooters and homemade rifles
All played a part in our virtual reality games
We were Daniel Boone and Davy Crocket
Crouching in the leaves behind a fallen tree.
That green three clustered foliage didn’t worry us
By morning night dreams turned to itchy nightmares.
“Late at night while we’re sleeping
Poison Ivy came a creepin’ around…”
Blisters and red bumps covered our toes
Even had a few bumps on our nose
Mom brought the bottle of Pepto-pink liquid
Calamine lotion spread over it all like jam
Didn’t seem to help too much at the time
It still had to run its itchy course
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Poison Ivy song: Youtube clip from the Coasters
Our prompt from Bjorn today was to write a poem including a poisonous plant in our poem. Come join us at d’Verse~Poetry Pub and see what everyone is doing.
Haha, the song’s, “You can look but you cannot touch” makes me think of my dear husband who is convinced he will be inflicted by the dreaded urushiol oil if he simply lays an eye on the unassuming three-leaved plant.
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It seems that way for those who are extremely allergic. My episodes were not quite that bad. Thanks. I love the song as well.
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So interesting, I know the stories but not the plant. Those that go itchy are really terrible, we have an invasive species were the same happens, Giant Hogweed, but you don’t end up with that one accidentally
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Thank you Bjorn. I am glad you enjoyed my story. There are some people, believe it or not, who don’t seem to be allergic to poison Ivy. Don’t know about Hogweed, but it does not sound to pleasant!
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Nice one, Dwght! I am lucky to have never come across poison ivy, but a very small purple weed in my grandfather’s garden once had a similar effect! I know the song from childhood and wondered then what it must look like. I love the picture you paint of:
‘Barefoot boys running on rabbit trails’
Chasing imaginary figures into the woods
Cowboys and Indians running wild’.
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Thank you Kym. You are lucky indeed! Poison Ivy stays with you for about a week at a time. Thank you for you kind affirmation.
Dwight
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Great song! I like how, given enough distance, even poison ivy can bring back nostalgic feelings.
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Who would have thought!!?? Thanks!
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I love the last four lines, and this: “By morning night dreams turned to itchy nightmares.”
This reminds me of one of my favorite movies … Poison Ivy (2).
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Ha Ha… Poison Ivy always come back to haunt you!! thanks for reading…
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Great story and fabulous poetry as well. When I was a girl, I got into a patch of poison ivy and I was too afraid to tell my mom until I was covered in the rash. She tried an old wive’s tale- rubbing the rash with a fresh cut tomato. I don’t recall if it worked, but I sure remember the agony of the rash. 🙂
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OOOH that would hurt. The acid would be like rubbing alcohol. We sometimes used homemade lye soap to dry it up. Thank you for your kind words.
Dwight
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It was an enjoyable read!
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And I recall it did sting a lot, which if nothing else took my mind off the itching. 🙂
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I grew up in a rural area of Los Angeles (when there was such a thing) and poison ivy abounded though for some reason it didn’t bother me. My mom used to tell the story of the Thanksgiving as a girl that she used it to decorate the table. That didn’t go over so well. And thanks for the song from my youth!
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Ha, never before saw the metaphoric qualities of that song!
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Perhaps that is because you have a better mind than mine which is always wondering and speculating!!
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Thanks for sharing entertaining story, poem, and song!
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You are welcome. It was a real hoot!
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My son is very sensitive to poison ivy, and he’s always cautious about the leaves of three! I loved your story!
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Thank you so much. This was a most interesting subject for poetry!
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Great poem!
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Oh I remember the song! Could be the plant, could be a woman…all perspective. I had poison ivy many times growing up. Hate that stuff! Love your memories. Lone ranger and Davey Crocket! Miss them and all the westerns! Our virtual reality was so much better back then in so many ways. Great poem!
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It will be interesting to see if the next generation has the creative minds that ours did. Thanks for reading.
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Nice memories. Loved the Lone Ranger. Now the grandkids are playing Star Wars. There’s something about cap guns, forests and imagination. So… I went out and bought a cap (western style) gun a few months ago. All the grands are fighting over it.
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Outside or inside that is the question!? We spent hours outside playing and our parents did not even check on us. Sounds like the cap gun is a real novelty. I forgot all about the caps! I used to hit a whole roll at a time with the hammer. I sounded like a shotgun going off! Thanks for your comments.
Dwight
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I have been shown poison ivy on a walking trail and was sternly warned not to touch it. it seemed so lush and pretty. I enjoyed the song and imagining young boys carefree and not letting a little itch get in the way of play. special days where we created our own games and outdoor time was the best. lovely nostalgic poem.
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Thank you for you comments. Poison ivy is to be avoided. It grows freely here in NC and will create a vine that will climb up trees if left unchecked. Creative play is so much fun!
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