Reunion

Can you blame us, my God!
that was a year.
She faces them, now
Exit, stage left
They've changed
have I ?
Quick, someone call out a name.

Seeing them, now
tuxedo stiffs and pictures of elegance.
Flickers of Haight-Astbury
mellow-yellow poise,
through beers and cheers
they reminisce,
breaking into song, now
cracking voices uncertain of those
Woodstock words.

Seeing them, then
when cars were cars and yeah, yeah, yeah.
When love was gratis
but paid a price to Charlie,
and Neil leapt for us all
on the Mare Tranquillitatus,
and flowers
were everywhere.

Did I ?
Remember when Abbie wrote the "F" word
on the english-lit wall,
protesting prose,
and girls wore hot pants hot
intertwined rainbow threads, and
groovy,
and Jane asked would anyone mind
if she turned on, and
brother Peter was ridin' easy.

Remember when some grades were high
and at school we chanted the place
to Be-In, wow !
and man-o-man, they wore the cheesecloth tight,
and to Tommy and Dickie,
we said goodnight.

Damn it, now!
who would have thought
we'd be standing together again,
older than what we thought old would be,
speaking eloquently.
No one could possibly understand us,
or our yesterdays
when souls easily touched,
freely.

and that's the way it was, this day.


SPECIAL NOTE: I wrote this poem for a woman I once worked with, who was attending a 20 year class reunion, having graduated high school in the year 1969. Which means, I penned this poem in 1989, long before internet web searches, easy access to knowledge. For some reason, 1969 was a fascination for me, with all that occurred in that year, a year to remember. My apologies for events left out, but equally as fascinating. Colleen.