Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Poem: Bennies

The summer season has begun in New Jersey and ...

Bennies


If you bring to the beach more than you ever could hold
If you wear socks and cut-offs and large necklace, gold
If you say it’s “New Yawk” or you’ve radio booming
If you’ve all of these traits then I’m clearly assuming ...

You’re a Bennie.

If the Parkway’s a standstill of out of town cars
If you ransack our hot spots and clog up our bars
If you leave behind refuse to mark of your stay
If we beg and we plead will you please stay away

Damn Bennies!

If you’re part of the exodus that kicks up our sand
In your “Jersey Shore” t-shirts like locusts you land
If you say “Long Beach Island” we retort “LBI”
If you’re loud and you’re drunk then your actions imply ...

You’re a Bennie ... or maybe a Shoobie.

Copyright SGW 2008

4 comments:

paisley said...

love it!!! makes me remember the years i lived in florida feeling the same way about the snowbirds..... what a hoot!!!

Scott G said...

I thought Bennies were a drug

STP said...

Bennies are also what Jersey shore folk call people from northern NJ and NY, especially those who look and act out of place at the beach. On the trains in the old days porters who mark bags for people from Bergen County, Essex County, Newark, and NY as BENNY. Therefore, the term. Shoobies are people from from western NJ and Philly. Rumor has it they used to wear their shoes on the beach.

See, you learned a lot today!

Anonymous said...

I started to ask, what the heck is a bennie; but I see the answer in the comments. I liked this one; it made me smile. Thank!