Ft. Holabird Haiku
See the soldiers, row on row,
green leaves on trees —
beware defoliant!
Vietnam had soldiers too,
green boys in trees
whose limbs are now burnt black.
In the spring their leaves renew;
people’s roots bring
fresh life to scarred branches.
Mariann G. Wizard
Pacific Grove, CA, 1970
Posted Veterans Day, 2009 / The Rag Blog
Wizard Sez: “For a non-profit group to support this Veterans Day you may not know about yet, check out the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign. Help veterans here and civilians in Vietnam — including children — still suffering the aftereffects of US defoliation chemicals.”
Beautiful, and timeless.
– LP
Larry — thanks, but of course it makes me very sad to think that this little poem would be timeless. I would far rather be remembered for love songs and comedy; would far rather that none of the references in this poem were any longer comprehensible to the young, that it was all nonsensical gibberish.
btw, people who missed our KO-OP radio Rag Show on poetry can now click on the mp3 file on my website to listen at their leisure.
Poetry fades in the face of atrocities….