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Waspwasted--Neighbors [a Hard Poem to Swallow]

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Waspwasted-Neighbors [For: Gary B.’s neighbors]

1 The Neighbors

Like stripped insects, Uncultivated
Like dirty-water from the drains
Such can be neighbors—and are
In the Anglo-Saxon neighborhoods
Waspwasted-neighbors of Roseville,
Minnesota, a city among cities!...

2 The City

But it is much the same elsewhere
In neighborhoods: in cities, here, there:
Narrow allies, main buildings
Unending gutters and blank and
Knob-less doors: like people
Oil and grease, hand prints everywhere
Even a faint and cavernous murmur
(people going, but going nowhere)
Fences and chicken-wire—
Waspwasted-neighbors made
Out of paper, made for the purpose
Of resting upon the shoulders of others

3 The Valley

The Valley, the Valley, where should I go
To the mountains in the Andes—
I think so…
Floorless arches
People with bronze, brown skin—
Balanced by free gravity
In the high mountains
Its gold and purple skies
A breeze from the lake nearby
Nature tries to make:
Earth, water and sky—
And the Mantaro Valley as one—
A labyrinth of grass
Passageways, creeks, all about
The rocker arms of the world!...
(that is what it’s about)

#874 9/27/05

The Commentary: by the Author: once upon a time there was what now is called the old breed, not many left, a few. This breed is seldom seen, or identified in the United States today. And if you’d’ go to a few South American countries, they’d know exactly what you are talking about. Not the young generation today sad to say. Yet there are some left, the old breed, even a few of the old breed in the new breed. What exactly is this breed?--: let me explain (if I can). In Peru, most of the folks would say: Americans don’t lie (and we know this is not true anymore, right?) And they would say: Americans always do the right thing (this again is not so true, Right?). And they’d say: don’t lie to an American because they will not trust you anymore (well, this is old and out of date, data: is what most young Americans would say. And even say: how naive can they be.). But that is how it used to be. It used to be, a man’s word was his oath, he’d die by it, it was his values. And an American had a hard time violating his values. This is what Peru, and many of the South American countries hold on to, until they come here, and get confused: only to find out, it was all bullshit.

See Dennis' web site: http://dennissiluk.tripod.com

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