bare feet in the grass, white tee-shirt,
palms up, gathering what fell to earth.
Everybody wanted to see him, see like him,
something for the first time.

Then came the collective
to establish Rule by New.
Rachel drove to the shore in a new car
listening to the Muppets' Greatest Hits.
James took up T'ai Chi and karate
until he broke his fist on a sewer pipe.
Emily pledged a sorority, put pictures
of 80 new friends on her wall.
Sam drank Maddog
vomited fluorescent green
then picked up smoking.

After the snow Yonatan became
quite alone, old news as everybody was addicted to Newness.
After graduation he spied for the Mossad.
Word on the internet is that he's now a ranger
somewhere in Arizona, investing and
earning $500.00 per hour for tantric massage.

For the others, The New became passe while
The gods of ordered lives awoke from hibernation.
In the spring they all graduated marrying one another on the same day.
Their kids were all born within a few weeks of each other.
When the kids were adolescents, they fell to a disorder
whose victims think only in rubber ducky ideas.

Squeak squeak. Squeak squeak.