November 22, 1963 (if Alive then and Over Five, You Remember)
November 22, 1963 (if Alive then and Over Five, You Remember)
Ushered from pine
desks to blacktop,
the big girls–third-graders–
roamed red-eyed arm-in-arm,
while we, who always spent recess as horses,
studied holding our bowed heads stiff
so that even our hair (the reins)
would not seem to play at anything
but the insurmountable grief
we were only just
learning about.
**************************************
Fifty years. Fifty-five words without the title. I know it’s late in the day but tell it to the G-Man.
I am also linking this to Victoria C. Slotto’s Poetics prompt on calendars over at dVerse Poets Pub. (Not sure this quite fits the prompt, but it is a day on the calendar that pops up for me.)
(All rights reserved to poem and photograph.).
Explore posts in the same categories: news, poetry, UncategorizedTags: 1963 poem, Friday Flash 55, Kennedy Assasination poem, learning about public grief poem, manicddaily, November 22, where were you then?
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ManicDDaily 
November 23, 2013 at 12:38 am
Karin…
What an incredible day of remembering moments frozen in time forever. Morbid as it sounds, this was one of the best FF-55 days ever! I felt every word and emotion that you conveyed in your poem.
I Loved your remembrance 55
Thanks for playing, sometimes I don’t feel like the day is complete without seeing you…:-) ThHave a Kick Ass Week-End
November 23, 2013 at 7:36 am
Yes, I’m sure that is true. Thank you, Galen. Have a good weekend yourself. k.
On Sat, Nov 23, 2013 at 12:38 AM, ManicDDaily
November 23, 2013 at 1:52 am
emotive and so effectively descriptive – hair as reins is such a vivid image ~
November 23, 2013 at 7:36 am
Thanks, M. k.
November 23, 2013 at 3:55 am
Amazing leaf.
November 23, 2013 at 6:21 am
Yes — I was about the same age — it was not having a vocabulary yet for what was being expressed — not having any sense of the history behind the moment — all of that emotion like a dark sea pressing against a wall. And yet feeling the need to suppress a giggle. To act the way the others were grieving. Very fine taut write.
November 23, 2013 at 7:36 am
Thank you, Brendan. You have written a 55 right there. k.
November 23, 2013 at 8:22 am
i wasn’t alive then but thanks to the tags got it… i think it was one of the events that threw the world a bit out of its trajectory… and you get it never really back on course..
November 23, 2013 at 8:24 am
ok – maybe course is the wrong word… like if a ship stays on target..? like if a rocket gets out of the planned path…? cannot find the english word for it…ugh
November 23, 2013 at 10:26 am
Understood. That is a big question–it’s nice to think that Kennedy would have had enough sway with his advisors to get us out of Vietnam early. Hard to know. I think it was especially difficult for Johnson since he was truly a domestic policy kind of person and had a very hard time resisting the input of Kennedy’s foreign policy advisors and all the generals around at that time. Thanks, Claudia, for your always kind visits. k.
November 23, 2013 at 8:26 am
A day that will be engraved in our minds forever.
November 23, 2013 at 10:14 am
Yes, it’s hard to assimilate events of that magnitude at that age(or any age, I suppose), yet we feel them perhaps all the more.I was at that pre-teen stage where you’re beginning to see adult ways, (and so think you know much more than your actually do :_) ) but still have a child’s malleability and softness.
In this , k, you manage to weave in the sense of great grief and upheaval, all while keeping that innocent perspective–an excellent job of compression and selection to make us feel the shock anew fifty years down the road. A sad time, this anniversary, despite all the positive things that have been presented along with it(peace corps, great–truly great–inspiring speeches, and for me, the film clips of he and his children, and of Jackie looking at him so lovingly.)
November 23, 2013 at 10:29 am
Thanks. This is one of those times that I regret not having a TV as I would really like to see some of that footage. Of course, you can find on the internet, but a little more difficult (and one feels somehow more voyeuristic or obsessive to look it up there.) Growing up in DC, I went to Kennedy’s inauguration and funeral. My memories are quite impressionistic, but they were pretty impressive events so I do have some. I should probably write more about them before they go. Thanks as always for your kind comments. It was such a sad time. k.
On Sat, Nov 23, 2013 at 10:14 AM, ManicDDaily
November 23, 2013 at 10:39 am
just a little before my time….the first tragedy for me was the challenger explosion…watching it as it happened in science call…was quite a shock, but def this is a turning point in our country…
November 23, 2013 at 1:14 pm
Alive, yes, but under five. I do remember watching the funeral on TV, mesmerized by the riderless black horse. That image in your poem has such resonance…Thank you.
November 23, 2013 at 7:03 pm
Thank you, DS. I was at the funeral, and think I will post something about it. Thanks much. k.
November 23, 2013 at 6:02 pm
Karin, it is so sad when children have to come to terms with insurmountable grief at such an early age. This should not happen to them until MUCH later. I think, no matter what the age, JFK’s death had impact though…..which lasted until the present; and life never really WAS the same again. And playing horses never had quite the carefree nature afterwards…..
November 23, 2013 at 6:07 pm
I enjoyed your evocation of the playground, and of you girls playing horses but in a different way because of JFK’s assassination.
November 23, 2013 at 6:23 pm
Excellent poem. Subtle and poignant.
November 23, 2013 at 6:28 pm
I was a student nurse working night shift with the house supervisor. I remember details of that shift–low demand for pain meds as people were lost watching the happening on television.Glad you used the prompt for this.
November 23, 2013 at 7:00 pm
Hi Victoria–I’d actually thought of finding all these elephant pictures I’d started to draw once in the thought of doing a calendar, but I didn’t do that many, and this was fresh. It is a very good topic, and someday I may do an elephant, silly, calendar.
There was so much generalized pain that I can imagine people not using pain meds. Thanks. Hope all is well. So great about your book. I will order it. (It may take me a little bit of time as my work life is out of control at the moment, but will do.) k.
November 23, 2013 at 7:31 pm
the insurmountable grief
we were only just
learning about.
Indeed… Beautifully written…
November 23, 2013 at 8:09 pm
A beautiful piece.
November 23, 2013 at 9:23 pm
You have so well captured those moments in your words. 🙂
-HA
November 23, 2013 at 11:44 pm
I do remember….. and you brought me back to the day and also playing horses….
November 24, 2013 at 5:25 am
Karin, I was too young back then,,, and living in Sweden. I cannot say that I remember it… The way you describe learning on how to show grief is so special and well penned…
I remember the Swedish primeminister was shot (still unsolved) and how I woke up to the radio playing something I thought was a radio theater (as an opposite to War of the Worlds). It was so hard to beleive that it had happened and the day is a day I remember in vivid detail..
November 24, 2013 at 5:35 am
Hi Bjorne–was that Olaf Palme? I remember that too, but of course it wasn’t as big a news item here. There are these important national tragedies though. Thanks for your visit. K.
>
November 24, 2013 at 5:54 am
Yes. it was Olof Palme.. Killed in 1986..
November 24, 2013 at 11:01 am
We mark our calendars permanently with events like these…assassinations, hurricanes, then there are those who mark passing anniversaries every year….we learn to grieve soon enough and while you were a 3rd grader I was a sophomore in H. S. 😉
November 24, 2013 at 11:24 am
Yes–I was a first grader– but yes. k.
On Sun, Nov 24, 2013 at 11:01 AM, ManicDDaily
November 24, 2013 at 11:04 am
My mom tells the story about feeding me on her lap while watching the television as the horrific event unfolded. This is a really well-honed 55. I am struck by the visual of girls with bowed heads and the hair as reins.
November 24, 2013 at 5:22 pm
Thanks, Jane–I’ve extended a little bit in the next piece. Not the same poem, but thinking of memories of that time. k .
November 24, 2013 at 12:01 pm
I remember that day too.
Anna
November 25, 2013 at 1:58 am
very vivid! moments that freeze in time and you have created a stunning visual here
November 27, 2013 at 7:19 pm
Believe it or not, I remember because I was home with my grandma, sick with an pneumonia and her reaction defied all words! You’ve crowded a few seconds that have lasted my lifetime in brilliance ~ Faithfully Debbie