Poem 10, June 10  

Chester Johnson, Poem Two  

I was born down the street from where I live now
in a white house just past a flower shop.
There is no house there now.  

I lived there until I was 13—really 12 and a half,
and then I went to the CCC camp
at Stearns, Kentucky.  

I have a cap up there above my bookcase—the one
in the middle. It represents
my time at the CCC camp.  

The other two caps there
represent my service on two ships
of all the ones I sailed on.  

After my time
with the CCC camp expired,
they told us we were going to the National Guard.