Another Poem from the European Trip

On My Birthday

on my birthday in 1945

the philadelphia record reported

that a dozen peach growers in new jersey

filed suit; blaming

the atom bomb for ruining

their crops/ that was the big headline;

the nuremberg nazi war criminal trial

began that day with less fanfare/

both events were far away

and not my fault/

on my birthday in 1968

circus circus opened in las vegas/

i was not there but i heard

things were getting better/

led zeppelin said their setlist

was still sketchy,

as was mine/ rumors

of a bombing halt in north

vietnam set the stock market soaring

and I had a double/

on my birthday in 1985

nearly one million people lived on the sidewalks

of india's two biggest cities

according to the la times,

adding that toilets were an issue/

i was in north hollywood

shirking/ pee wee’s big

adventure was the number 11

grossing movie of the week;

it was good to know/

on my birthday in 1998

tori amos performed famous blue raincoat

in raleigh and i wish i’d written it

or been there/ rainfall in south

east texas exceeded twenty inches,

and there was one less place to run/

it was the twenty-ninth Sunday

in ordinary time and the second reading

from saint timothy said

“for I am already on the point of being sacrificed;

 the time of my departure has come.”/

fidelity to tasks, amen/

it’s close to my birthday in 2010

and events from other years,

like cerebral dust balls on a cosmic attic floor

in the late afternoon,

hang around in corners

waiting for their friend to join them/

i’m happy enough to sweep a few

into metered lines and measured smudges,

passing time in simple entertainment

until it’s dark/