Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
Feb 2012
Granite plaque in a tulip bed, end to the Oregon Trail.
Teminus for ordeal by ox and prairie schooner,
where slight survivors began rejuvenation,
the wretched fortunate refusing a backward glance,
children with ancient faces set atop skeletal frames
tried desperately to remember what it meant to play.
Manifest Destiny's broken terra incognitae rested.

Swamp Mama Johnson's concert in the park,
a blues-to-the-wall celebration of life and love,
was a saxaphoned shibboleth for offbeat orphans.
Homeless youth played hacky-sack in time;
a baglady danced with the little girl with Downs;
a camera rocked on the shoulders of the PBS man
--- Olympia gave hommage to ghosts in the gazebo.
Few know that the Oregon trail ends in the city of Olympia in Washington state. Sylvester Park is laid out on the very spot where the trail is said to have ended. In 1997 I attended the 150th anniversary celebration of the historic trail.
Brian Oarr
Written by
Brian Oarr  Las Vegas
(Las Vegas)   
3.9k
     Brian Oarr and ---
Please log in to view and add comments on poems