Michael Cluff- A Poem

Untitled

Before the air conditioner
came back on
Mr. Franks
had stripped off
his blue glen plaid sports coat
and his green, blue
and black striped tie
and his black penny loafers were
sighted across the room
under his chipped
pre Vietnam- era desk.

The class
continued the history final
and the gunshots
coming out of Mr. Franks'
battered soul
recalled to him
the delta hot
summer nights just
outside Saigon
with fatigues
as drenched as his now
yellow pit stained
white dress shirt
was now
and then...