May Day 1971, Washington, DC

Talking to myself,

I asked myself,

do you remember

that day in May,

that day in 1971,

fortified with cannabis,

when you thought

skinny-dipping out of a cherry tree

into the Tidal Basin

was somehow an act

of incredible bravery and defiance

against Nixon’s war machine.

Covered in trash and muck

you walked naked

through the encampments

along West Potomac Park

to wash up in the river

before you put

your clothes back on.

It took a week

before you could lay down

and not smell stupidity

in your hair and

a lifetime of trying to forget.

9-6-25