Hi Gary,
My thought on this - consistent right through - was that I'd like to read it
in present tense. Only minor changes implied, and only to words conveying
tense, but I think it would make it more immediate and add something to the
narrative.
Just my thoughts.
Cheers,
Frank
March in Selma, 1965
After the debris was cleared,
the celebrities departed,
dignitaries bedded,
last brick thrown,
horse combed and brushed,
Colonel Lingo's tackle oiled and stored,
bats returned to equipment bags,
guns to the hall closet,
a grandson buried,
gut shot protecting his grandfather.
After the hospital emptied,
last window shattered,
blood washed from the dirty streets,
congratulations offered
for bustin' that nigra's head
and breakin' the fag's camera,
the last jar drained
congratulations offered
for bright and shining speeches
How long?
How long?
How long?
Before the sharecroppers rose
to work the boss's fields,
diner opened for breakfast,
courthouse steps swept,
Sheriff Clark polished his baton,
Governor Wallace's first cup of coffee was poured
by his loyal retainer.
Before the sun rose on Harlem,
the South Side,
Watts,
Viola Gregg Liuzzo,
thirty-nine,
Detroit housewife,
white,
volunteer,
lay in the wet Alabama dust
shot besides Highway 80,
Lowndes County,
before their sheets hung on the line to dry,
LBJ's pens aligned,
the fires.
(The march from Selma to Montgomery, actually the fourth march from or in
Selma in early 1965 started March 21, 1965 and ended the 26th with Martin
Luther King's speech, "How long will it take?" Acquitted of murder, Viola's
assassins were convicted of civil rights violations and sentenced to ten
years. The Voting Right's Act was signed in August and the Watt's riots
started a few days later.)
(John Lewis, leader of the first march, said in his autobiography, Wakling
with the Wind, "It had been Selma that held us together as long as we did.
After that we just came apart.)
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