Midnight Poems V

Midnight Poems V

1

Beasts,
Inside the Vietnam War (1969)

All around me men are protesting;
but I am stubborn, I take no part.
Here is the difference:
I welcome the Beasts of war!

—Mr. Before

I went to war completely clothed,
and I have returned half naked.
The Beast gave, and the Beast took,
I am part of the Beast.
—Mr. After

No: 3043 (8-29-2043) Midnight Poems V


Brief commentary: like all wars, the war in Vietnam was costly for its time, $220-billion dollars. The U.S. Military dropped 6.5 million tons of bombs on Vietnam. It killed two-million Asians, and we lost 58,000 men and women (and it created neurological issues for soldiers for the following half century, not to mention maimed soldiers). The United States Government airlifted some 10-million military personnel, by commercial aircraft to the war. We lost 5000-helicopters. Millionaires because of military contracts became billionaires; one star generals became three and four star generals (that’s what the war was about).


2

Irene (August, 2011)


The Storm goes on through North Carolina, Virginia—
My breath grows slow and heavy, in the melancholy.
Pulling up from far above, where the storm is born;
Thus, spreading ruin, tomb like ruin, on rocky shores—
My breath grows slow and heavy, in the melancholy.

No: 3037, August 27, 2011-08-29 Midnight Poems V

3


The Father Teeth of War
((Iraq and Afganistan) (commentary on Vietnam))


Let us drive those
Fighter jet bombers down
There light beams
Down
To the chambers of
Hell, and dismantle them!
And live inside of peace
For a while—
That falls on the brow
Of our president (Obama)
Tied to his desk
With empty promises,
And the whims of generals
And merchants…!
As he sits in the White House
In Washington
Watching our Nation’s Youth
Die one by one, in a crisis
That has nothing to do with the
U.S…
Bring our solders—home!
Return them to earth
As now they live
Inside of fear and sweat
Waiting to die a useless death
In the far-off deserts of Iraq
And Afganistan!

No: 3041 (8-28-2011) Midnight Poems V



4


The Farm Orphanage
((North St. Paul, Minnesota; Kiddie Corner) (Poetic Prose))


In my mind I can see-–still see—the farm (orphanage); children and adults on the side of the wooden fence standing, gossiping—where I and my brother had lived as a child ((more on than off)(for five plus years)(back in ’48 thru ’52)).

Here I am, a boy, feeding the cows and horses with grass through the fence, even giving them a delightful little tap on the snoot—in the light dusty heat of a summer’s day.

No: 3020 (8-12-2011) Midnight Poems V





5



Nothing to Something Poem

There is a bit of nothing that flies above my head
It is like a dark shadow, a condor all-encompassing
the sky—nothing distinguishable!

Something out of the fragments of my dreams
I do believe.

What amazes me is this: it was a bit of nothing that
Somehow became something (a large bird, so it seems):
once it reached my cranial…?


No: 3022 (8-17-2011) Midnight Poems V

6

First Things First


If you want to drive across the desert
you do two things: first you kill the
scorpions; second, you build the roads.


No: 600 (2004) Midnight Poems V


7

No One sees it!

It is always lighter just before the dark
There is always calmness just before the storm
Pride always comes just before destruction
A weed in a flower garden is always out of place
In all such cases, no one sees it before it comes!

No: 3024 (8-22-2011) Midnight Poems V (10:11 p.m.)