Starting a Howl

Piles of tires
below a bridge
in New Jersey

A song on the radio
"What the world needs now
is love sweet love."

Nobody talking
the tires fading
from my perch
in the back
of the station wagon

On the way to Rockaway
the cousins,
mud in the backyard
from endless sprinkling

Dad switches the radio
to WNEW
a deep voice
recites the news

127 VC dead
only 4 Americans
there is movement
in the jungles
it is 88 degrees
in Hanoi

Brian, my counselor, is there
Colgate toothpaste and
Winstons taste good
like a cigarette should

Mom lights up
Dad rolls down
the window
my brother and I
choke in the back

The air smells of eggs
and leather
still no one talks
and the trees of Jersey thicken

Neighborhoods on the sides
dirty white and green houses
lean away
in the woods

I remember the tires
and see that commercial
of an Indian on the roadside
with a tear on his cheek.