Departure
\nfrom heart and home.
\nGoing to a southern city
\nwith southern gold,
\nshining on its roofs,
\nFort Smith, Arkansas.
\nIn my own country
\na foreign land to me,
\nthat looked like America.
\nGoing to an Army post
\nto continue basic training
\nin my country\u2019s army.<\/p>\n
The city and fort,
\nconjoined twins,
\ncarryover from the frontier.
\nAmerica, a jigsaw
\nof civilization.
\nAncestors that left
\nhearts and home
\nand swallowed their losses
\nto face wilderness.
\nPeople immune to fear,
\nbut no more than the people
\nthey replaced.
\nShould I have been afraid?
\nShould I have believed
\nwhat could happen here?<\/p>\n
That night I almost died
\nfrom sun stroke
\nunder the prairie\u2019s sun.
\nNo one knew except a brother
\nhow close the closing of the future
\ncame, and
\nall the poems that followed from my living
\nthrough time,
\nwould have found
\nno first word for my children,
\nor children\u2019s children,
\nor their lives, from me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Departure from heart and home. Going to a southern city with southern gold, shining on its roofs, Fort Smith, Arkansas. In my own country a…<\/p>\n