CaLokie

The Summer of Woodstock

During my first year as a Los Angeles teacher

which was also when UTLA was formed

and we went out on our first strike

around nine months after the first human walked

on the moon and the summer of Woodstock, Carl

Mark Stilwell was born March 2,1970.

.

Mark had red hair as did my mother,

her grandfather, oldest sister

and two younger brothers.

After the 6.6 Sylmar quake jolted our Pasadena home,

Mark would climb down every night from his crib, snuggle

between mom and pop and sleep with us till wake up time.

Nancy and Rick with their daughters, Michelle and Ana

lived a few houses west of us. Michelle was two years

older than Ana as Luke was with Mark.

"Go see Ana,” Mark would say and off we'd go to her home.

One night after returning home, Mark spotted a full moon

rising above the Camphor trees lining our street.

"Moon! Moon!” he said pointing to the sky

and pumping his legs like they were

a hummingbird's beating wings.

Michelle will be killed at the age of 25

in a freak accident when a truck

rolls over her car.

Luke at the age of 47, after moving to Japan

and living there for 13 years,

will die from colon cancer.

Nancy and Rick,

Cheryl and I,

will be divorced.

But at this moment which I believe

Paul Tillich calls the "Eternal Now,”

the world couldn't be more beautiful.