Despite the seven men of American Legion color guard, the high school kids’ snare drums and tuba, one antique fire truck, and five Cub Scouts with one of the fathers marching alongside, this poem is longer than the parade.
Jerry Wemple published three poetry collections and has a new collection forthcoming. He is currently at work on a nonfiction book about his ancestors who include a “free mulatto” born in the mountains of the western Carolinas in the 1700’s, as well as many German, Swiss, Irish, and Scots immigrants. His poems and nonfiction work appear in numerous journals and anthologies. He teaches in the Creative Writing program at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.