Beyond Columbus

driving north

on interstate 71

a roadblock not

construction

a police officer

just fired form the force

holds five cops hostage

up ahead

says the state trooper

while his wife lies dead

in their columbus

bed

says the radio

his name is hernando “cliff” harton jr

she was elizabeth

we are rerouted

no power at the days inn the night before

i had to ask for candles

----- ----- ----- ------

Elizabeth Harton was also on the force, a new recruit,

a model police officer,

reports the Columbus Dispatch,

unlike her husband.

------ ----- ------ -------

up towards kent

i visit the campus

but can’t find

the May 4 memorial

getting late

drive into PA

sign says

408 miles

to new york city

(green mountains coming)

rush limbaugh

on the radio

argues with a teacher

about salaries

------- ------ ------ ------

Fran’s husband Jeff was at Kent that day in 1970.

He was in high school, up from West Virginia to party.

He’s in one of the famous magazine pictures, the one

where a woman is pleading heavenward over the

body of a student. He’s in the left back corner.

He’s cropped out, most of the time.

------ ------ ------ ------

rush limbaugh

on the radio

argues

------ ------ ------- ------

i never found out what happened to cliff

harton

whether he lived

in the left back corner

green mountains

coming

(Wikipedia gives an account of the events that happened at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. It also shows the famous photograph.)

|