Palmdale, California 1951 - KAMP KERR

James Michael Taylor

PALMDALE, CALIFORNIA 1951

Palmdale, California 1951. Pretty yellow chickens hatching in the sun
Fertilizer spreader flings its fecal load. I climb up to watch in the trees along the road.
Little chickens, running, pecking, darting, so aware
Tiny fluffy brand new babies hatching everywhere
Mojave Desert blows across the street. Calls to fly my kite now - cloudless smiling breee
I will let my string out til it’s all unwound. Kite will fly to heaven. I’ll stay on the ground
Dusty devil grabs my string and jerks my kite a bit
“Snap” it breaks my string . I go running after it.
Quartz path markers sparkle, spread along the trail. Horny toads smack red ants. Slap their stubby tail.
Tumble weeds are bouncing up against the trees. I climb down and bury naked legs up to my knees
Tiny stickers prick my ankles, grab my socks and shoes
I can’t stop the itching and I scratch myself a bruise
Army worms are marching westward to the ditch. Gold my breath and watch them falling
Miniature migration, dusty black and green, answering a silent calling
And they wiggle, such a struggle, but it’s futile now
They can not escape the heat, no butterflies allowed
Cement chunk of rubble, origin unknown. I call it Bear’s Head. I’d go there to be alone.
“Neath blast of afterburners, deadly silver bird, echoes of the canons so recently unheard
I didn’t know the war was just the day before, and I didm’t know tomorrow would be another war…

(c) 2006 Royal T Music