Mark Pirie

poet - writer - editor - publisher

(for brentley)

when j f k was shot
history was re-loaded
in film, literature and politics -
back then it seemed like his death

had brought to attention
for the first time the black heart
that eats America - and so yesterday
in Melbourne, when we walked

the length of bridge rd
passing shop after shop
of decadent commercialism
i started to remember j f k

as if my heart too was being
re-enacted, assassinated once again -
& remembering what it was
he stood for

i glanced around
and saw a McDonald's sign
positioned justifiably above us
like a sniper on the roof

October 2003