ANDY CLAUSEN

I Looked In Jerry Rubin's Eyes

He had a kerchief around his head

& a red flag in his hand

I said “Don't fight”

He looked at me as if I were vermin

I checked out the cops, they wanted

to use their billy clubs

their eyes charged with bad intentions

We had a baby in the mixer

We had to get out of there

One large room with bath second floor

One week the water was brown

It wasn't a hallucination

It came out the tap

The papers said we could try to wash

with it, but don't drink

Broken miner, farmer, waitress, butcher

Greek, Puerto Rican, Croat, Serb, neighborhood

everynight clarinetist same riff

I mean same same samsara same

brick wall for a view

wooden fire escape

across the alley mother screams

at her young ones

“Shaddup you sound like a bunch

of hippies at the park.”

Chicago, 1968