before kennedy was killed
mothers hung out the white sheets and underwear
on backyard lines.
dressed in their worn out oxfords
and shirtwaist dresses,
they talked across the yards,
keeping one eye on us,
and yelling to stay out of the street..
so we wouldnt' get hit by the mailman's big old Plymouth
like little Nancy Scherer had.
mothers exchanged hamburger recipes,
and hand-me-down clothes.
few of them had cars.
some didn't know how to drive.
and the men finished painting our house
after my father cracked his body up on the roadway.
in the July blaze, they sipped beer
and ate hot dogs that the mothers brought outside.
our house turned out in five shades of red.
and they dipped my father in the pool headfirst
to wash off the sweat without soaking his casts.
that was the summer
before kennedy was killed.
america suicide...
long ago.. royal blue.
now, tattered and grayed.
grease stained hem on the ill-fitted gown.
withered frame,
a black lunged skeleton shrouded in blue.
time was when they rode her hair into the night.
boundless discovery and conquest
............ she held.
"give us your tired and hungry...."
torn away now those red ribbons.
bunches of hair lie clumped in the dirt.
traffic stopped on the George Washington Bridge.
with pity, she hears them behind her.
"JUMP, JUMP!"
but they push her and get back into their cars
&waiting for the signal to change.......
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hhmmm, having been put in the position of "trying" to be clever with the content of this bio, i find myself at a loss. i'm better at the impromptu i believe. anyway, i write "poetry" which my family and friends patronizingly say is fine. however, the professor at our local college, (Bucks County, Pa. Poet Laureate for several years) seemed to have quite a different and less complimentary opinion. (smile).. i write for therapy which is more than any person should expect. it seems to be safer than medication and a lot less expensive.
i'm not an artist, a photographer, a musician, or a math teacher. i do APPRECIATE art, film, music and i like math. (smile).. i travel the highway and i have 13 earrings in my left ear. that's all i can think of that's "clever". |
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