James Lineberger

WHEN WE MOVED BACK HERE

it was the end
of wwii and we had no more
than got settled in when
i was listening to the radio through
the living room
window and daddy said what jesus
what he said
what’s an a-bomb
and later on that day we got invited
to my uncle atlee’s house to eat
catfish that were raised in the little pond
he had below the pasture
and when us boys went down there
after supper we found
one of the cats floating belly-up on the water
and richard said if it was a real river
instead of this stupid hole in the ground
they wouldn’t die like that
because in a river there is room enough for everybody
to breathe and if he ever thought we would
be moving to a shitty goddamn mill town like
this he woulda went out in the water like those japs
and got drowned
before he was turned into dust like all the rest of them
and just blowed away

Location:	Hell's Half Acre, North Carolina
Email:	jdline@vnet.net
Publications:	Stirring, etc.

- May 2002 - Memory Selection Little Mother Lust for Light Lines when we moved back here Valentine (Funny how we assumed) Leaving Left The Equation The Revenge Julia Letter to my Sister A Voice Touching In Miniature Smog - Erin Elizabeth's Favorite Six - For Gala-Salvador Dali For our dead cat . . . A Poem to My Left Breast Sadie and jamie wouldn't eat her dinner. Scratching A Sound From My Throat, Waiting For The Room To Clear