Oswald's Return. Poem by Michael Walker
Oswald's Return.
When I returned to America
with Marina and June,
I carried baggagefrom the past,
notably a suicide attempt in Moscow.
I was hopeful back in Fort Worth
staying with Robert,
and welding it together.
Back in Dallas I was a photo processor,
but I did not become part of the process.
I did a stint in a New Orleans company
that made coffee: it was flat-white.
Back in Dallas, city of magic name,
I rented a rundown apartment with Marina
until she walked out on me again.
It was love-hate with Marina.
I assaulted an officer in the Marines,
and one April night I shot at General Walker,
a right-wing fanatic, but just missed.
Anyway, I moved in to a rooming house in North Beckley
when Marina went to Ruth Paine's in Irving.
Actually, Ruth found me a labouring job
at the Texas School Book Depository,
in mid-October 1963: I worked hard
for Roy Truly, impressing him
and I got along well with co-workers
taking textbooks floor to floor.
Yet I still felt very poor:
I had no car, though I test drove a few.
I had no house, just a rented room.
President Kennedy had everything I lacked.
Was resentment my motive?
More like a desire for JFK's fame.
Fidel was a secret hero of mine
and I really was left wing
not just acting a part.
Thursday night I stayed at Ruth's;
Friday morning I left Marina seventy dollars-
all the money I had- and our wedding ring.
I got a ride to work with Wesley,
carrying a long parcel wrapped in brown paper
to the Book Depository, where I clocked in at eight
and hurried upstairs to the sixth floor.
(Lee Harvey Oswald1939-1963) .
- November,2016. Revised May,2018.
(Lee Harvey Oswald,1939-1963) .
Oswald explained away the long brown package to Frazier, saying that it contained curtain rods for his bedroom in the boarding house. I have read about 100 books, over 20 years, on the assassination.
This is written in blank verse-unrhymed verse in iambic pentameter. The challenge is to keep to ten syllables(or five stressed syllables) a line. Mostly I have.
This poem focusses on the last months and weeks of Oswald's short life, leading up to the assassination. It is a story of a loner and a drifter, who still made an effort to work, earn money, and support his wife and children.He did not fit in at any of these jobs and was fired from most of them, except the School Book Depository, where he was making a better impression with the foreman and co-workers.
Whether Oswald was guilty or not, he deserved a fair trial: he did not deserve to be shotby Jack Ruby.
The first book I read on the assassination was Lane's 'Rush to Judgment'.
For those interested, a small selection of books I read (some without their sub-titles) . 'Marina and Lee', by Priscilla Johnson;
'Oswald's Tale. An American Mystery', by Norman Mailer.
'The Last Investigation', by Gaeton Fonzi;
'Case Closed', by Gerald Posner;
'Six Seconds in Dallas', by Josiah Thompson (what a title and what a book too!) .
'Rush to Judgment', and 'Plausible Denial', by Mark Lane.
'Mrs. Paine's Garage and the Murder of John F. Kennedy', by Thomas Mallon;
'Legend: The Secret World of Lee Harvey Oswald', by Edward Jay Epstein;
'Reclaiming History', By Vincent Bugliosi.
'The Death of a President', by William Manchester.
I loved reading these books and many more, reliving my own youth in the 1960s in the process.
I have always been fascinated with the controversy surrounding the assassination of JFK and the murder of Oswald. I have a short story posted on this site called 'The Seer', and one of the chapters deals with this very subject. I think it was chapter 7 but can't remember for sure right now.
Your taste is like mine, in reading books about the assassination both for and against L.H.Oswald. Thank you.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Delivering Poems Around The World
Poems are the property of their respective owners. All information has been reproduced here for educational and informational purposes to benefit site visitors, and is provided at no charge...
4/30/2024 12:33:31 PM # 1.0.0.1119
Very nice, a poem which every American should read! ! I have always felt that there was more than one shooter. Another 10.
Thanks Darwin. I really liked your poem on Donald Trump. I meant to say: 'like a journalist meeting a deadline'.