Jeff Coomer
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Sarge, 1970
Sarge watched the world disintegrate
from his chair in the dining room
of our suburban Cape Cod, what little bit
of light he had to shed on the matter
coming from the tip of a cigarette.
College boys pranced for the TV cameras
and spat on the uniform he’d just traded
for a civil service coat and tie; the wife
who’d dutifully tended the home fires
during his last tour overseas was
missing in action at a neighborhood bar.
At fifteen, my only concern was loosening
his grip on the length of my hair.
Years after he died, my mother told me
he’d retired from the Army so he wouldn’t
have to serve in Vietnam. It was an act
his words could have made either cowardly
or courageous. But he’d surrendered
his voice to bourbon and water, and I suffered
his silence to grow locks that unfurled
in the hot summer breeze like the flag
of a new and terrible army he couldn’t
bring himself to enlist in or fight.
Manifesto: The Overachiever Liberation Front
All devices for denying & otherwise subverting the PRESENT
moment are subject to summary ASSASSINATION.
SEVER your tethers to gadgets / SILENCE the perpetual buzz
FREEDOM for your eyes / your ears / your HANDS
ABOLISH the TYRANNY of fanatical MEASUREMENT
NO MORE how much did you pay
NO MORE how much do you weigh
NO pass / NO fail
NO anything on a scale of 1 to 100
PROCLAIM UNIVERSAL AMBIGUITY
MANDATORY 10:00 am GAZE OUT WINDOW
MANDATORY 2:00 pm consultation
with PILLOW
MANDATORY 9:00 pm invocation
of whatever you hold SACRED
MORE campfires under glorious sky!
MORE poetry & CHEAP art!
MORE naked / MORE rain on face!
MORE DOGS of humble ancestry!
Unconditional AMNESTY for all WINE
detained in cellars!
1. REFUSE to SYNCHRONIZE
2. DEMAND RESTORATION
of the ANALOG RAINBOW
3. PLEDGE your ALLEGIANCE to
IM-PERFECTION
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Jeff Coomer is a recovering overachiever who's now retired from a career as the Chief Information Officer of a Fortune 500 company. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he spends his time studying Buddhism, writing poetry, and volunteering as a certified local Tree Steward.