Those were innocent times, the fifties
\nKorea was the not a war then
\nand we would not think
\nthere was anything wrong with
\nEven the police action was
\na curiosity
\nand so was the bag
\nsomething to discuss over bridge
\nin the common room or
\nafter Senator John Kennedy’s
\nvisit to campus
\nbut the bag made Time magazine
\nand the senator’s visit did not
\nso that was something
\nIt was a silly wonder to us
\nHe wore it over his head all semester to class
\na craft paper bag with two holes for his eyes
\nThe professor, a liberal for his time
\nhad agreed to this experiment
\nand only he knew the boy’s identity,
\nbut the prof is long dead now
\neven his books on civil disobedience
\nare old hat, although today<\/p>\n
Every day, the boy wore precisely the same outfit:
\ngrey sweatshirt, matching grey track pants
\ngrey socks, greyed tennis shoes, grey gloves
\nand the bag<\/p>\n
No one ever discovered who he was
\nHe never revealed an inch of skin
\nexcept maybe a glint from those
\ndark eyes behind the two dark holes
\nin the bag
\nNo one knows why he did it
\nEven the professor professed ignorance
\nNo one remembers what the class was about
\nHe could have been a celebrity
\nHe could have been someone’s room mate
\nHe could have been more than one person
\ntwins perhaps or similar boys
\nor a girl although
\nOr maybe he was
\nin witness protection
\nor maybe he needed
\nthe protection of the bag
\nmaybe he was ugly or deformed or
\nsomebody said
\nthe Klan
\nthat was said as a distraction
\nduring my grand slam
\nI didn’t let it<\/p>\n
He could have been God watching us
\nSanta Claus, Buddha, Elvis
\nsomeone truly exotic
\nor truly plain
\nwithin the bag
\nbut he had a certain
\nlong-legged animal grace
\na certain difference
\nfrom us<\/p>\n
We speculated in our
\ncoffee shop
\ndrinking our dark coffee
\neating our danishes
\nand PJs
\nWe all talked about it until
\nwe forgot to talk about it
\nBut we watched him sideways
\nWe tried to follow him
\nWe wondered
\nIt drove us crazy
\nuntil it no longer mattered
\nexcept for this:
\ndid he use the same bag all semester?
\nand what became of the bag?<\/p>\n
Would it still be around
\nnow, fifty years later?
\nAnd why?
\nI didn’t get it then
\nI still don’t
\nWhy?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Those were innocent times, the fifties Korea was the not a war then and we would not think there was anything wrong with Even the police action was a curiosity and so was the bag something to discuss over bridge … Continue reading