The flagpole is gone

There was a WW1 veteran across the street
He put up a flagpole
Now someone has taken it down
Maybe it was too much work for them
I would walk by his apartment
He would come out and walk beside me
He asked “where you going”?
I said “downtown here”
He said “I guess I am too then” and would pinch the fatback of my arm
Hard
We would walk that way, I didn’t have much choice really
He would say “I am blind you know…I was in WW1”
I forget how old he was then but damn old anyway
He always wanted me to come in and sit
He was shot in the leg one week after the war was over
It took a little while for the word to get out to everyone
I suppose
Hey it is over now, we are all friends now, and some day, some day we will even
Use the same money
He was lonely and blind and everything he fought for had been forgotten
Now the flagpole is gone too
I had forgotten about him myself
I just remembered him through its absence

Warm Hearts

We have screwed the Earth
And that is for sure
There are few things in life we know to be true
But this is one

We examine our fingernails
Seeking a bit of dirt
A fraction of earth
A clue

We think of the news we see
Everyday lavender loveliness
Videos and pictures and serious talking
Our eyes eat

We contemplate of Pacific Ocean Islands
Of floating plastic
It must be the cheating Chinese or others (not us)
Polar bears singing sad songs of swimming sorrow

There is only one more spoon of ice cream left in the very bottom
We dream muscle car dreams
Proceeding down the promenade perfumed
A clear drop of ethyl behind each ear