day ten: Friday

Friday comes
sometimes
with a deep
childhood memory

Hawthorne school
schoolday over
overcast friday
dark vibe
in the air
while walking home
older rough kid
to be avoided
yelled to me
across the sidewalk
from a distance
"did you hear
some nut
shot Kennedy!"

as i walked home
i wondered
was it true?
and why didn't
they tell us
at school?
we were
first graders
many hated
first graders
but we still
deserved to know

home at last
"did you hear?"
mother asked and
i said yes
the tv was on
i stayed
glued to it

i cried
saddest ever
in my seven years
hope dead
a child stillborn
a flag-covered coffin
real danger
closer, on tv
what did i do
to be punished
like this?
whatever it was
i was sorry

i feared for others
like him
young men
who cared
about kids
pastor kinney
principal davis
reminded me
of Kennedy
and i feared
they would be
shot dead
and me too

that friday passed
saturday mourning
sunday to church
on the way home
the radio spoke
and dad declared
from behind the wheel
"some nut shot
the guy
who shot Kennedy!"
my first thought
guns were
everywhere
and they did not
keep us safe
guns
were like
lies

i watched the funeral
and on my emenee chord organ
i played the same funeral march
in my tiny bedroom
and cried again

but time moved forward
and pushed me
far away
from that friday
replacing it
with others
happy
exciting
rewarding
and the healing
began

end of
someone else's week
let my own life
begin again
get in the car
drive forward
go to the gig
play loud
get to spend time
with the ones i love

so now
with the past
behind
friday
reminds me
of my own
healing