9/11
Sonnets From Other Lives: Daniel

Rattlesnake beside the highway. Dead.
I pull over, cut the engine, take a look.
A big one.  Someone's tire took off its head,
not long ago--meats fresh enough to cook
tonight.  I throw it in the bed
and take it home--which is not much a prize--
a garden patch, a trailer, & a shack
just outside Ukiah. 
                               Guess some guys
got out of Nam unscathed--I wasn't one.
But then my dad was kind enough to croak
& leave enough insurance to buy the farm--
(the guys from my old squad would dig the joke)
I got my goat, my garden, grow my weed
& ask only that the world leave me in peace.