ON SECOND THOUGHTS Poem by Peter Semolič

On second thoughts, I was never
a child of nature. I compared dragonflies
to helicopters and a shark's sharp fin
to a periscope. On second thoughts,

Cowboys and Indians out of Westerns
were, perhaps not more real,
but undoubtedly more important for me
than farmers who took milk to the local co-op

each morning at the same time, along the same route
past our house. On second thoughts,
the seven o'clock cartoon was
a hundred times more exciting

than any storm, no matter how wild,
which broke out over Morost. On second
thoughts, for years the only real sunset for me
was one in black and white.