The Lost Generation
Raised up on cigar smoke in geometrically defunct rooms
How can four guys in a pool hall feel like a packed Madison Square Garden?
Danny Rocco, making collections
Eddie Stix, running numbers…
Feels like I imagined it,
As my grandpa Dan was being lowered into the ground
As they handed my mother his American flag from the war
I remembered the abuse she and my grandmother took
From a beer swilling, gallivanting, hero of the German theater,
I’d spit on his grave now
It’s too far though, Calvary cemetery is a two-hour drive
That’s how I’ll remember the man,
Not even worth a drive.