Dead Man’s Float
milwaukee, wisconsin. sometime
near the beginning of the war.
a 4th of july parade, amid news
paper reports of bodies found
dismembered, dumped in trashcans
along the lake michigan beaches.
we decorate our tricycles
with fireproof red white & blue
streamers. we pump along the route,
waving our flags, grinning
at patriot parents. later
that summer i fell in a lake
& survived. my too-old-for-the-war
uncle began to teach me to swim.
arms out. legs out. face
in the water, holding my breath:
learning to live, practicing death.
--an oldie, from Transparencies & Projections, 1969
4th of July
Things change: for the
better or for the worse,
but they change. Even
the things which do not
change cannot remain the
same.
You stop at small towns
on the highway, even at
Murdo, South Dakota. You
take a picture of it, and
then it goes away.
--an oldie, from Eclipse, 1974
Hal
". . . the old is too old and the new is too old."
--Gertrude Stein
Halvard Johnson
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