Memorial Day: Military Town

           by Leslie Clark

	Handfuls of folks
	gather among graves
	as greying commanders
	deliver tributes.
	Jets scream overhead,
	a gap in formation.
	Slender, short-haired boys
	awaiting their turn at martyrdom
	fire rounds
	into the balmy air.

	Knots of teens wander
	taunting trouble.
	Lawnmowers rumble,
	digesting their food.
	Rivers of soap
	cascading from sloped driveways
	cleanse the gutters.
	Bodies in ritual garb
	are offered to the fierce sun god.
	A crumpled banner
	drapes the foot of its pole
	like a Christmas tree skirt.
	A pastel fisher-boy perched
	on the scalloped edge of a birdbath
	has caught
	a flat, star-spangled fish.