Tule Lake Jerome Arkansas the Santa Anita Racetrack
but to me as a boy camp meant a green pup tent
blue-and-white water jug Coleman gas stove packed
in the back of our Ford Falcon wagon Mom Dad Mari me
swaddled together two sleeping bags warm even in rain
Mari with tight grip at each end of a stick
gill-kebobbing five silvery fish Dad caught in the lake
he said he learned to cook in camp perfected judo throws
in brother Mits’s club chased brother Frank with a garter snake
sounded like a long vacation my mother got sick and died
in camp the only sad thing he said no mention
of barbed wire guard towers cold wind or hot dust
blowing through rows and rows and rows of barracks
but to me as a boy camp meant a green pup tent
blue-and-white water jug Coleman gas stove packed
in the back of our Ford Falcon wagon Mom Dad Mari me
swaddled together two sleeping bags warm even in rain
Mari with tight grip at each end of a stick
gill-kebobbing five silvery fish Dad caught in the lake
he said he learned to cook in camp perfected judo throws
in brother Mits’s club chased brother Frank with a garter snake
sounded like a long vacation my mother got sick and died
in camp the only sad thing he said no mention
of barbed wire guard towers cold wind or hot dust
blowing through rows and rows and rows of barracks