Detroit 1968, And

Detroit 1968, And 

 

 

visions of incidents

and incidental contact

scars of wars on the streets

a Vietnam of buildings with broken windows

and exploding hope branded into

foraging eyes

a country filled with broken promises

and dead sons and daughters

and unmarked graves

Arlington poster children for an aborted effort

in a country some of us knew only as the 6 o'clock news

 

bulletins of bombs

and heavy liberty imploding

earthquakes rocking phone booths

as we call home and find there is none

and the abrasions left on our skin

imprint our hearts with carbon copy signs

asking why the infection was not treated

 

before the festering opened the sore so wide and deep

no medicine could ever bring back

the lost dreams

of a generation still trying to connect

to itself.

erin-cilberto

Reviews

[KCthelastboyscout]

Reading this reminds me of being a teenager watching the L.A. riots in '92 on tv.so much chaos and violence .the detail of how your story was written, were you watching on tv too?

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes when all this was going on, i was a freshman at SIU...keeping close track on all that was happening...we had quite a bit of tension at SIU as well...and then in spring of 70's we had our riots because of Kent State.
a crazy time indeed...

[Lydia Shutter]

The Detroit riots. I lived in NJ when they happened, but we felt them too. We felt the pain, the prejudice, the out of control melees. We watched the evening news seeing a war on our own soil...and then the war where our friends and family were fighting in Vietnam. We thought we were changing things, but did we really? I wonder at times. The imagery in this one brought it all back to me. Wonderful. Lydi**

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, i wonder too, Lydi...but at least we tried...
thank you for sharing.
j.

[duff]

"Heavy liberty imploding". Beautiful line. Stunning work.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, duff.
j.

[duff]

You got it.

[Jimmy Yetts]

Based on now known lies, the Deep State lured our country into a war they never intended to allow us to win.
Profiteering gasbags betrayed us; worst of all, they cynically and cruelly, betrayed our soldiers.
A magnificent poem, Jacob--one with staggering implications!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind review, Jimmy.
j.

[Chris Shaw]

This really packed a punch Jacob. I can remember seeing much of what was going on during that period on tv, from across the pond. I was still at school and my Dad keen to move to USA (part of the brain drain from UK). The only thing that stopped us, my brother was at an age where he could get drafted into the Vietnam fiasco, so we didn't make it. Also the assassination of Martin Luther King and the riots which followed. You've brought all that back to me with one powerful poem.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, there were good things and bad things about that time...much movement and togetherness...but that draft ugh! I was in the first lottery...and was number 28...wound up 1A for a period but got lucky...many of my friends did not...thank you for your kind review, and sharing your memories.
j.

[Chris Shaw]

We have shared some common ground and I'm pleased you got lucky, sad for some of your friends and so thankful that my Dad did not make that move. As it turned out my brother died 4 years ago from cancer, but at least he was not subjected to warfare in his lifetime. His fight was with cancer not the people in Vietnam.

Chris

[Ted Kniffen]

Excellent j. This evoked an era that spawned massive change...not all for the good...the violent protests, the assassinations, the anger that succeeded the 'Summer of Love' overshadowed the innocents of the age if that was really what we were. Now, 50 years on and we look back at who we were as though they are different people and in a way they were.
When we watch the events of the day unfolding we think its chaos. A half century ago, the word discovered its true meaning. At the time of the Detroit riots I was living close enough to go to the river
and watch the smoke rise from the fires and hear the gunshots as war was waged in the streets.
This was a damn fine write. Well done.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for sharing your insights and your kind words, Ted,
j.