Drowned in Nineteen Over Thirty

"Visualize World Peace"
on a rusted VW van
bumperstuck in 1968
and memory attacks of Blind Faith
psychedelving into meditation
singing I can't find my way home
its guitar waking a familiar aching
for how it was gonna be
all so beautiful
and everyone in love

And now it's just a stroll
to the combination deli-gas-station
to buy a paper
and comb the classifieds
a decade older
and somebody said it'd be wiser man
but haven't overcome the gloat
and that ain't the way it feels
cuz it's awake again
and sad to see the way things be
while a microbus just sits and rusts

And I shove back down
a feeling of shining future dismantled
of dandelion pot
purple berry wine
peacerock and lovesign
and it's all bumperstuck now
and drowned

Hugh Findlay’s writing and photography have been published worldwide. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2020 for poetry, he is in the third trimester of life and hopes y’all like his stuff. Instagram: @hughmanfindlay