Since It Happened
since it happened
all my dreams are underwater
like this one-
its New Year's Eve
and we're all sitting at the Cafe' Trieste
waist deep-
him loving her
her loving the other guy
me loving him, loving her,
wine stems just long enough
to keep the red red
the white white,
talking around edges-
he said that she said when they said
that we said and if then
what?
since it happened
I've been wanting to be home
touch all my frames and paintbrushes
flowers in a bowl
kiss my lucky roof.
since it happened
suicide's a dusty cringe
alienation
a glutton's brainy Disneyland.
Last night
I dreamt we were performing
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
As usual, I had a big part and
couldn't remember my lines.
The stage kept moving and the rain, the rain,
the constant rain, Caesar dying,
the audience in yellow slickers
with newspapers on their head.
since it happened
the war seems small.
@ Susan Birkeland
Susan Birkeland was a good listener and she understood the value of discretion. This made her most welcome to those she chose to befriend within the artistic community of San Francisco.
This poem was published in the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal (Vol.24 #1- 2005) |