Firstborn son to Doris, Vic
Menominee, Michigan
Thick of the Great Depression
Off to Washington Grade School
Littlest kid in the class
Number two at spelling
Though next to last at marbles
Age nine, we moved out of town
Our pine house on the river
My two brothers, my sister
Not one other kid nearby
Irish setters, Mike, Micky
Swimming with the bloodsuckers
Basketball versus Steven
Soon Menominee High School
Good at English, math, and art
Wood shop, probably the worst
Clerked at Grandfather’s drugstore
Cruised with chums around the loop
Too shy to have a girlfriend
Braces in my senior year
Antioch by accident
First an engineering nerd
Then Lit, then Psychology
Second year I fell in love
Wore our berets like beatniks
Drank a lot of three-two beer
Married Katja at the end
Graduate school a nightmare
Big Ten, Michigan football
My dissertation, good grief
Six years, then off to Cincy
Joint appointment, Psych and Soc
An anxious classroom teacher
Struggling to get tenure
Justin born in sixty-nine
We bought our house in Clifton
Katja, teacher, social work
Such insane tennis parents
We lost our fathers, mothers
Then three brothers, much too young
Hikes with sheepdogs and a friend
I retired, 2-0-0-9
Joined the gym, took line dancing
Started OLLI, back to school
Writing loony poetry
Family visits to NOLA
Grandkids, Vida and Leo
And that’s my story to date
*7 stanzas; 7 lines per stanza; 7 syllables per line (plus a 7-syllable title)
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