Like when my best friend
signed a 1049 (volunteering on a form) for Vietnam
rather than volunteering out loud
like he was giving in to the paper tigers
lifers
when mother and father both died,
when my wife scolded me when
we were going together for having
kinda like a girlfriend
at a summer job on Cape Cod
when James Brown died
when a black car here
at the Danville VA more or less
so seemed to me
to be accusing me of racism
at the beauty of patriotism
I've noticed periodically in my life.