retro republic

first time: everything ever
thrown away came back
unrecognized then familiar
washed up on shore burying
the beach and stilling waves
it piled so high the curve
of earth's horizon was lost
and i was pressed backward
by the enormity of everything
that had meaning or something
or had crossed my path

the next time it was me
adrift in the river—nose
and an eye above water—
seeing bodies all around mine
—some dead some alive—
and more falling or being pushed
by fighting—saber horse and gun
—back downriver one way
or hopelessly another with no
one looking for survivors except
ourselves if we made shore

third was the din the noise
of a gone-for-how-long-now
come-of-age and killed in garage
brought back by persistent request
no garlic paprika or horseshoes
dried flower wreaths by the door
everywhere zombies drop their heads
translucent slow life motion
mud and straw bricks crumble dust
over another half a millennium town
changing not so fast a sudden death

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T-shirt: Alaska
loc: Adjanska
temp: 10 C
sound: