Some of Us

As children of the 40s

   we'd forgotten

      to avert our eyes

Later, we'd say

   'I've seen everything.'

But we hadn't,

   some of us---

Some of us

   had not gone off

                          to war,

   had not gone down

                           South

   to march for integration

          and pea soup,

Some of us

   had stayed on the 3rd floor

       of buildings

   that were rotten

         like our skins,

stayed in the comfort

   of our minds

gone off to college,

  barely shed

      our slums

      and racisms

      and petty gender

                        tricks,

Some of us,

       gathered puddles

              of self-assurance,

      took the train West,

cultivated an accent

   so farm boys

      could learn

   to add beans

   and rainfall

to their wealth.

Nicely done, Peter.


Les

Thanks, Les. Some lessons are hard learned, hardly learn.

amo et avanti,

Peter

We are mostly products of our environment, Peter. I've learned not to be too hard on myself for a past filled with self-centered ignorance of what was really happening to the world around me. We can't go back, so I think it best to act now in such a way that we won't have to write future poems regretting our behavior today.

Forward!

Joe

Brilliant!

Thanks, Bruce.

Joe,

I don't do much regretting. Although I am almost totally with what you say here. I mainly let my past feed into my work now without trying to make myself look good [too much].
As I usually say,

amo et avanti,

Peter