July 8, 2007

A DAY TO REMEMBER

What if global warming

brings our Pacific Ocean

washing new shores halfway

up Main Street hill, no

longer where it is now out

at the Cove? People with

good credentials are making

such predictions.

Point Arena's response: Tut!

Tut! Henny Penny, the sky’s

not falling; it just has a

hole in it, and what can we

do to help with the patching?

Our parade theme this

year: GO GREEN! And you

may see a few Mother Earth

flags along with the stars

and stripes of Old Glory.

Today is the Eighth of July,

not the Fourth. What if, when

only one man, John Hancock,

had signed the Declaration of

Independence, and the others

got into a row and demanded it

be sent back to committee and

one hothead threw the only

copy into somebody's cookstove?

Union Jacks might be flying

overhead or a Spanish flag.

Instead, our forefathers stood

out on a street in Philadelphia

on this day two hundred thirty-one             years ago, July Eighth, 1776, and

read aloud for the first time

those glowing words of rebellion

against King George of England

who thought he owned the Americans

by divine right. Presidents

sometimes make the same mistake.

Happy INDEPENDENCE DAY!

© 2007 by Fionna Perkins

Point Arena Poet Laureate July 8, 2007