(A timely one by my friend David Belmont)
our parents lifted themselves out of poverty
through a combination of
communism & higher education
we chose to
diverge from
the path
we became conservative professors
who wrote humanizing biographies
of karl marx late in our careers
we got religion from reverend gary davis
became devotees of hindustani classical music
& lived the ascetic life in nepal for many decades
we joined mel lyman’s american avatar community
after dropping out of high school
& went west to revitalize beat poetry
we grooved at a lot of jazz loft gigs
learned obscure computer languages
& sat on boards to keep avant music alive
we eschewed anthropology
for grassroots organizing
& helped build performance activism
we got married raised children traveled the world
became doctors lawyers potheads accountants athletes junkies
had heart attacks injuries seizures went insane died young
played a
whole lot
of music
poems for friends 
Hi Harry, …read the poem a couple of times. but gotta say who is he talking about?? surely not the kids i grew up with. my folks had no higher ed, other than Troy Secretarial College, for my mom and a high school GED for my dad when i hit college. music in lofts – we listened to r&b tunes on street corners. and communism?? man, never knew any commies in Troy…don’t think they went much to the smaller cities. nah, not many of my classmates from grade or high school began professors – many went to the military early on, the only way out. judging from my high school class webiste most, did grunt work no professors (me, not a professor – never had an uni job long enough to have been considered, no just a lecturer). and no doctors or lawyers among those i grew up with, other than my one brother. anyway, not sure who is he talking too, other than his image in the mirror. plus, the dudes he mentions – mean nothing to me. who are they. yeah, inner city life was different, a whole lot different. bet the guy even had his own room while growing up, now that would have been a luxury. anyway, when are you off the river and available for a call?? yeah, the river beckons and that is sure hard to compete with. things going well here. we were both at our memorial site today, bumped into a couple of colleagues and again were warmly greeted. and some good chats. sure nice to feel genuinely welcome. OK. hope you and Cathy and ALL (that includes the ducks AND bernie) are doing well, take good care and get out and scare some trout!
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Beautiful. Thank you David and Harry!
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Doodled a lot too.
🙂
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