May 2003  

Remember   © by   David T. Manning
 

when we rode the River Queen
down the Big Sandy
from Twelve-Pole Creek

and a hung-over church organist, Windy
Skeens, clambered up the cabin roof,
sat down at a battered red-and-gold

steam calliope and slammed out Stars
and Stripes Forever with masterful flourish
and so loud, cows fled the river banks

and people waved white flags from the shore
and you said to me "honey, there's the guy
I want to have play for us at our wedding."

Previously published in the North Carolina Poetry Society's
Award-Winning Poems 2002. Used with the poet's permission.
NOTICE: The poem on this page is copyright © by the poet.