Until this poem
I spent little time
considering my Saxon-Norse-ness
or how the Viking genes
dominated more in me
than in my siblings.
I mean I am six feet
five inches tall
blonde hair
with one percent more
Neanderthal
than most white people.
Then I consider
the perpetrated violence
from the slaughter at Lindisfarne
through the Battle at Hastings
and wonder if
nearly a thousand years
is long enough
for my genetic memory
to allow me
to forgive myself.
I accept when I was young
my biological heritage
caused me great ecstasy
at the British invasion
though I wished
the Dave Clark Five
to chart-top the Beatles
every week of the year.
copyright © 2023 Kenneth P. Gurney
Umflop 