1972

When I was younger I wrote poetry. I had studied poetry in all my Sliverville schools and in England. I drank too much, smoked dope like it grew on trees and read all I could find of the Beat Generation writers. I ate heaping tablespoons of dried mushrooms and read Patti Smith's poems as I listened to DOA real loud in Radio Shack headphones. I dug the Stooge's "L.A. Blues." I did not have a typewriter so I wrote my poems with a quill dipped in a jar of Tiger William's blood. When I was younger I wrote Canadian poetry.

There were tv sets set up in the gymnasium
Black and white
Where we all learned to square dance
Boys and girls
Canada was losing the final game in Russia
Bear chewing beaver
The teachers were preparing the suicidal kool-aid
Esposito to Henderson
The beaver mounted the bear
That was the end of the suicidal kool-aid scare

I put my Canadian poetry in a folder. When I am losing it in an old Beers' home waiting impatiently for the home's bar to open for the day's only happy hour I hope somebody reads one of my beaver poems to me for a laugh. Then maybe we could square dance to 2 + 2.