recovering notes from the deep

north side pittsburgh circa 1965

cobblestones are hot in the summer
to the point of burning
with a touch
dropping fliers can be dangerous
scooping them up
as we did so many times
but not as dangerous as being ignored

jobs for youth wasn’t just a slogan
my friend ron L called me from cleveland
in the morning
to tell me that hough was jittery
youth without jobs ignored
he said

phyllis found herself that summer
on the north side for a project
with the words of the good doctor
w e b dubois in her rucksack
sixteen-year-old
rebel girls & boys
bureaucratic conformity
the dominating culture
street lights breaking shadows
on restless stoops
at midnight
rolling stones or maybe the marcels
booming from a radio
my hand touched her shoulder
but it wasn't noticed
that i was giving

the iron gates surrounding
downtown fathers
never opened
they told us to stop using jobs for youth
to incite unpatriotic restlessness
better watch who we associate with
didn't know at the time
we were the test bed
for fbi cointelpro
the old white men from grant street
just dispatched more red squad operatives

never said a word
as we turned in a thousand signatures
on the jobs for youth petition

hough exploded the next summer
manchester burned two summers later
phyllis went on to berkeley
the war spun death for many years
the conformists and apologists
ran out of excuses

i still touch the heat
of a cobblestone
when i get the chance

--- e b bortz

(published in The City Poetry, issue 20, Sept 2007)