A POEM PUBLISHED IN AUGUST, 1971

This poem refers to a street in the neighborhood listed as Japantown at the site, Tacoma Then and Now. It was published in a small magazine called Odysseus in August, 1971.


THE OLD PART OF TOWN

There are fighting cocks
with feathers red as blood
in another country.

In fall the poppies bloom
by the wire fences, whispering
"Death, death," into the countryside.

They kill another dragon.
His bones burn out like bridges,
fierce and tall and unamazed.

The men drive rats into the streets;
their death slips out like sweat
from hours of shooting.

Then the rain comes thick as cloth
falling through the blood
as an answering river.

Streets end in every city.
Cars drive past the empty houses,
carrying the old and the infirm.