Before
Before our opinions,
you were as confident and brash
as I was tentative and timid.
Before our opinions,
you were understanding,
not judgmental,
tough,
but never mean,
proud,
but never haughty.
Before our opinions,
you wrote in my yearbook:
“Although for a long time,
we weren’t very close,
I’ve always considered
You one of my
best friends.”
That was 56 years ago.
Technology has enabled us
to shoot our opinions
like ball bearings
in slingshots,
stinging each other,
polemicizing
but not talking.
We’ve seen each other’s pictures,
admired each other’s
grandchildren.
But we haven’t spoken.
We haven’t shared
a bottle of memories,
loosening our tongues
to learn about what
happened to us
over the decades,
taken swigs
of confidence
and timidity,
laughed at our younger selves.
We need to argue now
but only over
who kills the bottle,
honored
with that last
sip
of
vintage.
Len Shindel began working at Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point Plant in 1973, where he was a union activist and elected representative in local unions of the United Steelworkers, frequently publishing newsletters about issues confronting his co-workers. His nonfiction and poetry have been published in the “Other Voices” section of the Baltimore Evening Sun, The Pearl, The Mill Hunk Herald, Pig Iron, Labor Notes and other publications. After leaving Sparrows Point in 2002, Shindel, a father of three and grandfather of seven, began working as a communication specialist for an international union based in Washington, D.C. The International Labor Communications Association frequently rewarded his writing. He retired in 2016. Today he enjoys writing, cross-country skiing, kayaking, hiking, fly-fishing, and fighting for a more peaceful, sustainable and safe world for his grandchildren and their generation. Shindel is currently working on a book about the Garrett County Roads Workers Strike of 1970 www.garrettroadstrike.com.