the summer bobby kennedy died
the summer bobby kennedy died
barefoot hippies invaded city lake
to us they seemed as harmless
as the fishing we did there
with our pillsbury biscuit dough bait
i was seven
the summer bobby kennedy died
i almost drowned at the beach
my daddy moved out
it was the summer before the second grade
and i learned to swim
father’s day, first day of vacation
when daddy hauled me out
i was blue and he was damn near dead
aunt dot fetched the lifeguard
everybody thought i was dead too
til i bit his finger
i wasn’t allowed in the ocean again that year
and when we went home
it was to a new house
and my daddy didn’t live there
he saved my life
and later all he would talk about
was that sonofabitch standing near me
as the wave lifted me up
pointing and saying there she is
but not lifting another finger
to help
nobody saved bobby’s life
and when we asked mommy
when daddy would be home
for dinner
she said
he’s not coming home
she was lying on the couch crying
just a little pregnant
with the little sister
who would bring daddy back
by then
i was in a new school
bobby was dead
and buried with his brother
peace
and the democrats
we couldn’t afford the county fair that fall
had to buy a new refrigerator
we blamed it on johnson and high taxes
and we elected nixon
and my daddy got pneumonia
and fell headfirst into the bathtub
gave himself a concussion
one rainy groundhog sunday
after the inauguration
granny took us to see
The Horse In the Grey Flannel Suit
while my sister was being born
by then i was eight
and i could swim
and granny brought over our first phonograph
and 45s of Harper Valley PTA
and Last Train to Clarksville
and i dreamed i was gidget
or a boxcar child
or ben franklin
we moved to a bigger house
and lost a second cousin in Vietnam
and daddy’s daddy died
three years
after turning the firehoses on
civil rights marchers
he outlived bobby
and saw johnson fall
and voted for nixon
the first republican
he ever voted for
and the last
they made me kiss him in the casket
and we sang for the love of jesus
in his white baptist church
and we pledged allegiance
to our almost all white schools
liberty and justice for all like us
and the summer after the summer
bobby kennedy died
i swam in the whites only pool
and my daddy taught us to bodysurf the ocean
then moved out again
the summer after the summer bobby died
it was the summer before the third grade
and i was eight
and i could swim
(originally posted 5 Feb 07)
I wanted to be gidget. Did not vote for Nixon. Still sad about Bobby, John, and MLK.
Posted by: colleen | March 18, 2008 at 11:41 PM