When I was born


1968


Born the year of fire
tear gas and Nam
Sirhan Sirhan

King, smog
My Lai and
windshield glare

Old to young
by the river
trade waters

Squinting to take
in what is thin
to define

Gawk jaw
at the sun’s
decline

Eyes unfolding
incapable of how
the seas

Host distant fires
that are quenched
in the throat

Expunging
the odes, the marches
like chess pieces

Transfixed
to study form
of the future

Hair growing
and falling away
against the knowns

Minds at attention
soldiered into place
without wish

How the horizon
kneels, surrenders
its bow strings

Bowing to pray
before dying
bent and spent

We have figured
worse, but then
would that we

Struggle til
vanishing
in the dark

How we gather
to gawk
at the fires

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