The Innisfree Poetry Journal
www.innisfreepoetry.org

by John McKernan



Winter 1964, Fremont, Nebraska

 

Years ago

Our family came here

One 4th of July

 

A small boy drowned that day

His parents both drunk

My father stayed the day but never came again

 

Today the gravel quarry lake is frozen white

Except for one ring of blue

With a solitary duck that seems asleep

 

The bird's feathers   

Red & blue & green

A species of some rainbow

 

The ice is thick only along the shore

Covered with snow

A full moon still up there in the blue sky

 

What am I doing here I say out loud

I scare myself a lot of times now

Looking at this frozen lake

 

If I would walk out

Onto cracking ice

Towards that bird

 

I would definitely sink

Remembering the firework show

Those calm umbrella explosions

 

Of red & white & blue

That chocolate cake with ice cream

My father's smile    My mother's laugh





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