Joe Dolce: Four Poems
Kilroy
was here.
The world’s most well-known
graffito. Bald-headed geezer
with banana-nose peeping over walls,
fingers clutching sides to steady a pea-eyed gaze.
In WWII, the average Joe’s
default method of planting the flag,
on every available wall, barn, railway carriage.
Discovered on so much captured US weaponry,
Hitler thought it a code name.
Even Stalin found Kilroy
perving in his bathroom.
Known as Mr Chad in the UK,
Private Snoops, The Goon and Watcher.
A variety of accompanying slogans included:
Wot, no sugar?
Wot, no Fuehrer?
In WWI Australia, Foo Was Here.
In Africa, Smoe & Clem.
In Russia, Vasya.
Other nicknames: Flywheel, The Jeep,
Luke the Spook and Stinkie.
Contests held to discover origins—
How Kilroy Got There—
to no avail.
One theory suggested a derivation
of Greek Omega Ω
the symbol for electrical Resistance.
In 1997, the little witness was
last officially spotted
peeking over the edge
of New…
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