Waspwasted--Neighbors [a Hard Poem to Swallow]

I really like this poem, how true it is, and I'm Peruvian, and I found out the hard way, the old breed are few and in between the natives of Minnesota, seem to have that quality, but not the ones coming into Minnesota from many of the other states I hate to say, but it is true. Rosa

Waspwasted-Neighbors [For: Gary B.’s neighbors]

1 The Neighbors

Like stripped insects, Uncultivated
Like dirty-water from the drains
Such can be neighbors—and are
In the Anglo-Saxon neighborhoods
Waspwasted-neighbors of Roseville,
Minnesota, a city among cities!...

2 The City

But it is much the same elsewhere
In neighborhoods: in cities, here, there:
Narrow allies, main buildings
Unending gutters and blank and
Knob-less doors: like people
Oil and grease, hand prints everywhere
Even a faint and cavernous murmur
(people going, but going nowhere)
Fences and chicken-wire—
Waspwasted-neighbors made
Out of paper, made for the purpose
Of resting upon the shoulders of others

3 The Valley

The Valley, the Valley, where should I go
To the mountains in the Andes—
I think so…
Floorless arches
People with bronze, brown skin—
Balanced by free gravity
In the high mountains
Its gold and purple skies
A breeze from the lake nearby
Nature tries to make:
Earth, water and sky—
And the Mantaro Valley as one—
A labyrinth of grass
Passageways, creeks, all about
The rocker arms of the world!...
(that is what it’s about)

#874 9/27/05

The Commentary: by the Author: once upon a time there was what now is called the old breed, not many left, a few. This breed is seldom seen, or identified in the United States today. And if you’d’ go to a few South American countries, they’d know exactly what you are talking about. Not the young generation today sad to say. Yet there are some left, the old breed, even a few of the old breed in the new breed. What exactly is this breed?--: let me explain (if I can). In Peru, most of the folks would say: Americans don’t lie (and we know this is not true anymore, right?) And they would say: Americans always do the right thing (this again is not so true, Right?). And they’d say: don’t lie to an American because they will not trust you anymore (well, this is old and out of date, data: is what most young Americans would say. And even say: how naive can they be.). But that is how it used to be. It used to be, a man’s word was his oath, he’d die by it, it was his values. And an American had a hard time violating his values. This is what Peru, and many of the South American countries hold on to, until they come here, and get confused: only to find out, it was all bullshit.

See Dennis' web site: http://dennissiluk.tripod.com

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