-part one / the beginning-

2/ 15/ '43

It’s a bright, sudden light. a harsh light.

a light like to burn my eyes. maybe it's heaven’s light––

could be the 24 hour snack emporium's light of florescence, the buzzing

light that never sleeps, not for Christmas, not for holy days of obligation

not even for when J.F.K. gets popped, for chrissakes!

and me, a standard issue male, 7 pounds plus an ounce an abstract creature–– 

twice removed descendant of Lucca, northern province where

our cousins are blonde-headed just south of Switzerland

my mother would come to say wrapped-up in a warped geography,––

and me, born in time to make early reservations to Mussolini’s inversion,––

and me, a slimy pink bauble wailing to be pushed back to the inside as a sterilized

maniac slaps me senseless into the dry, cruel new word.

February 15, 1943: Truesdale Hospital, Fall River, Massachusetts,––

and me, slithering my way between common anesthesia and thalidomide

the miracle drug to help her relax a little, take it easy, kick back, it's a boy,––

this, long before zip codes long before area codes––

a time when telephones were heavier than volume 18: "M to Mexico"

inconvenient, but–– you got to where you otherwise wouldn’t want to be;

a place at the end of the line, a time when the Moon was considered

a deep sky object and neighborhood kids were doomed by the physical force

of domestic politics to Saturday morning confessionals before being strapped-

in for the afternoon accordion lessons.

my father, a non-recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor

had just stepped out of World War 2 Minneapolis, Minnesota, 

bringing home his souvenir MP armband and his bully club

a highly lacquered two-footer with attached rawhide loop at the base

used for clubbing stability and swinging accuracy.

my mother had her work cut out for her,–– and me, acting

the part of a stencil. she’d done this once before, and after me

she’d do it again for the last time, but this time, taking time off

to finish me off, with no gratuity as "maternity leave with pay"

at the sweltering Sagamore textile mill in the early days of 1943...

end of part one