Love and war poems

Symptoms of love 
Almost the Fourth of July

a two part piece with symptoms overflowing into fourth of july
copyright mike marcellino 2009

Part I: Symptoms of love
by mike marcellino

Symptoms of love
You remember Robin
your first girl
Tomboy.
Eating hot peppers
on a dare
from three cute
California girls
giving kisses.
symptoms of love
symptoms of love.

You remember rolling in sand
dunes
with an Armenian girl
you called Margaret
saying goodbye
in a New York City
hotel room,
a picture of a four poster bed.
It it still possible?
symptoms of love
symptoms of love.

You think there may not be an end. Like the Blue Hole in western Ohio
You rediscover discover,
happy. again,
over little things. nothing
special.
You feel, slowly.
symptoms of love
symptoms of love.

You clean out the ice box.
Find Carolina ham
dated your son’s birthday.
How long does it this last, you wonder?
You want to call California
Have the Ohio apple left. Miss her.
Your appetite’s back. It left.
You remember roller coasters.
symptoms of love
symptoms of love.

Love songs on every station.
Eat like a bird.
Upside down. Spin.
Catch constellations.
Drink Costa Rican,
Shiner bock
across Texas again.

You think, “It’s possible.”
Head for cover,
bleached out
Transatlantic.
Sheets of clouds,
blue, white
pink sun glasses.
symptoms of love
symptoms of love.

You bought a back dress. Put it
carefully on a hanger.
Think about phone sex.
symptoms of love
symptoms of love
symptoms of love.You keep losing things.The things you haven't lost, you can't find.You watch a light
searching night clouds.

Part II: almost the fourth of july
by mike marcellino

almost the fourth of july
find yourself
shaken to the core, this day
that day
fill up from the tank of your soul.
symptoms of love
symptoms of love
symptoms of love.

You made it.
Run to the other side,
wonder how to survive
in a world going mad.
No check today,
bills arrive.
On point,
alone out there
nothing but a forty-five.
Fighting your way
ever so carefully
guarded,
go your way
through these fields of fire
terrible storms
hit any time.
almost the fourth of july
almost the fourth of july.

Outside, the battle rages.
You skirt by The Monument
to soldiers of America’s civil
war, the union side, but you’re
from below the mason dixon
riots in Baltimore
You're on both sides.
Find yourself at 36-9 palms
still alive,
hell to pay, hell to pay.
Shaken to the core.
symptoms of love
symptoms of love
symptoms of love.

Every soldier’s afraid
deep inside
determined to survive.

In thy light shall we see the light
Thirty six nine
A few clicks away
wars rage.
You’re not dead, alive,
only wounded,
a bit broken.
shaken to the core
almost the fourth of july
almost the fourth of july.
Roll a gambler cigarette,
brothers cover you.

“Make the call. You could win ten thousand,”
the cashier tells you.

“Fuck that,” you say,
think about yourself,
then Buddy,
listen to Bruce Springsteen
land of rock and roll,
capital
center of what makes the world go round.
Listen to the music,
the music,
the music.
Bitter disappointments
rush at you, tearing at you inside.
Pack it up right,
live
to fight another day.
Change the station.
almost the fourth of july
almost the fourth of july
almost the fourth of july.

Get back on the trail
to Van Gogh,
Morrison,
Gandhi
instrumental classic.
“Who is John Galt”
You wrote on the steel pot
you never wore.
Take the pain
Keep faith.
It’s not to lose or gain.
Peddle power, peddle power,
peddle power.
A boy of six aims the cannon
to sea.
Keep ahead of the storms
that surround you. They keep coming. They keep coming.
Take the glider
from the lakefront strip, watch napalm cascades.
Stop in sight
of shelter. This time
Cleveland public power,
whales paint the water, not killers.
almost the fourth of july
almost the fourth of july
almost the fourth of july,

Follow Zapata,
Tom Johnson, King
Bobby,
his brother’s soldier.
Manry did,
Lindberg, Amelia.
Head for the northern coast.

Drop into the Ashau Valley
rounds fly
zing, skip
zing. Sing; never hear the round that kills you.
Rockets burst,
mortars
thump,
thump,
thump
around you.
You’re still alive, lucky fucker
no flack jacket,
no steel
pot.
Returned the borrowed 45,
Rusty.
You’re close,
almost there. Almost home.
“Do you want to go there?”
she asks, sincerely.
Symptoms of love symptoms of love symptoms of love
Try to make 15 clicks an hour.
Peddle power, peddle power,
peddle power.
You’re there,
hell to pay, hell to pay.
“Indestructible?”
Ok, pretend, anyway.
“How did you get out
in or near Cambodia?”
Night across the border.
Do you really want to go there?
Words and thoughts the same.
Chose life.
Live to fight
another day.
almost the fourth of july
almost the fourth of july
almost the fourth of july.

Ahimsa -
Stop, the sign read.
Lock and load, tap your clip
slip it on full automatic.
Spell check, man
Ahimsa
You’re in the X age.
Hell to pay, hell to pay.
Drink water,
keep trained
minefield roads,
trails of tears.
Dance with wolves, English patient
Chose life,
chose life,
music of Bob Marley,
Dylan, Arlo, or Woody Guthrie, Cash & The Clash.
“You’ve got a message.”
Head above waters
of the Johnston Flood,
Katrina,
San Francisco earthquake.
almost the fourth of july.
You’re not dead,
only wounded.

symptoms of love and almost the fourth of july copyright mike marcellino 2009