POETS’ CORNER: IN HONOR OF JFK’S BIRTHDAY

28 May POETS’ CORNER: IN HONOR OF JFK’S BIRTHDAY

Editor’s note: John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th president of the United States serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Events during his presidency included the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, the Civil Rights Movement and the early stages of the Vietnam War. Beautiful, smart and rich, JFK and Jackie were straight out of Camelot. David Feela honors JFK’s birthday with a poem.

JFK

The Dead Don’t Care

People say, after you’re dead
you don’t care
about the details that piled up
while you were living
but I wonder how they know,
how anyone can be so certain
that worry turns off its light
and slams the door.
And I wonder if by believing
the dead don’t care
the living reveal how much
they do care
but wish they didn’t.
I wonder what they’d say
if after death
all they do is care,
care that while alive they didn’t care
enough, that they spent their anxiety
on news and politics,
anticipating a day
when justice might be paid off.
If the dead ever stop caring
there’s really no hope for the living.
Leave your house unlocked,
your dog unleashed,
your heart open to happenstance.