Clark Park cannon fodder

It’s not often news stories inspire poetry. Thanks to Larry Udman of Everett, who shared the poem he wrote after reading stories about the popular World War I era cannon that disappeared from Everett’s Clark Park and then was found by parks staff after people started asking questions.

“The Lost Cannon”
by Larry Udman

Early Everett got to have a park.
Few people drove, so they
walked downtown to Clark Park.
Mystifyingly there was a cannon there.
The kids climbed on it
and shot up the town for play there.
Most never knew ’til then
what a cannon was for…
Until the visit to Clark Park
and the cannon that was there.
Kids played upon it without fear
and their parents took relief that it was there.

Years passed
the cannon disappeared
from the park, so dear,
But the O’Donnell Brothers found it,
I don’t know where.
Not at the scrap yard, so don’t you fear!
But Jack O’Donnell and Larry O’Donnell
found it and reveal it’s history, too, here.
And that’s the story ’til now
of the Clark Park cannon
And the Civil War battle fought here….