Edward Dorn: Like a Message on Sunday

.

Sits
...the forlorn plumber
by the river
with his daughter
...staring at the water
then, at her
his daughter closely.

Once World, he came
to our house to fix the stove
....................and couldn't
oh, we were arrogant and talked
about him in the next room, doesn't
a man know what he is doing?

Can't it be done right,
............World of iron thorns.
Now they sit by the meagre river
by the water.......stare
into that plumber
so that I can see a daughter in the water
she thin and silent,
he, wearing a baseball cap
...in a celebrating town this summer season
may they live on

on, may their failure be kindly, and come
in small unnoticeable pieces.

Lititz, Pennsylvania. Scrap collection drive. Each household placed its contribution on the sidewalk. It was then picked up by local trucks whose owners had volunteered their services for civilian defense. The scrap outside a plumber's house consists of pipes: photos by Marjory Collins, November 1942 (Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress)

Edward Dorn: Like a Message on Sunday, from The Newly Fallen, 1961