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jake aller Dec 2019
Okinawa War thoughts

these dark moods
follow me
as I tour Okinawa

where the last battles
of world war 11 were fought

thousands died
in the first
and last outpost
of the American East Asian Empire


Okinawa Beckons me

Okinawa Japan
kept calling to me
in a dream
notifying me
always in the background
where my memories
always waiting for me

Beckons me
everywhere I go
cosmic reflections
of past lives
never seen before
seems lost in time
maybe just the spirits of the dead
everywhere I see ghosts


Okinawa Street Scene

Walking the streets
of Fabled Naha Okinawa
a life time dream
someday I would visit

I am surrounded
by ghosts of the past

and Japanese beauties
all around me

tempting me
with their sweet smiles

Impure thoughts
fill my head
as they smile at me
and I smile at them

No wonder
so many Soldiers
brought back
Japanese wives

Japanese Coffee Barista

watching the Japanese
coffee barista

preparing my snarling cup
of hot boss coffee

fills my heart
with ****** joy

how I wanted to express
what was on my mind

right then
to the Japanese
coffee barista


Ghosts of Okinawa  add to Ghosts Poems - post as separate poems

Ghosts of Okinawa

Touring the battlefields
of Okinawa

where so many young men
gave up their life
so many years ago

I see the ghosts
all around me
feel their spirits
floating through the air

Kilroy was here
there and everywhere
whoever that was

and John Dean wannabes
and Elvis wannabes

and so many other wannabes
and I see the ghosts of the fallen heroes
all around me



Signs
everywhere in Asia
you see strange variations
of English
Japlish, Konglish, Singlish

the street signs in Okinawa
are all in Chinese, Japanese, English and Koreans
the bus and train announcements as well

Hard to get lost
even when you want to

but the random encounters
with English words
puts a smile on my face

as I drink my “boss coffee”
wondering who is the “boss”
and why is smoking a pipe?

and many years ago
I saw on a menu
at the old Kimpo Airport
Baked Rick

and in Korean grocery stores
one can find
corn flights

I look forward
to many more years
of linguistic confusion
as I travel about Asia
Dream 1074 Visit to Okinawa Aquarium

Whenever I visit an aquarium,
zoo or wild life park

I am reminded of a prison
the prison is filled with animals
who amuse us for their food

I am sure that the animals
hate us humans
who are watching them
do their animal thing

but looking into their eyes
the eyes of the sea turtles
swimming back and forth

in their prison cell
in the Okinawa aquarium
filled with hatred
for the humans
who had imprison them
and hunt their kind

and don’t get me started
on the dolphins and killer whales
who preform acrobatic feats
for their daily meals

and the sharks
the king of the ocean killers

they too
if they could
they surely would

escape
their prison cell

screaming
Death to all humans
as they flee
back into the ocean’s depths
Okinawa West Coast Road
Riding down the west coast road
of Okinawa
echoes of other beach roads
fill my head with memories

I am reminded of Hawaii
and driving along the Oregon coast
east coast beach towns as well

and Barbados
and the Caribbean islands

all the roads
are lined with tourist resorts
beach views and restaurants

all very similar
yet different

and as the beach towns
fade away
behind us on the bus

my memories
of all the other beach towns
I have visited

fade away
into my memory hole

Okinawa Haiku

In Okinawa
the warm trade winds blow away
the coming winter
recently made my first trip to Okinawa. Here are my poetic reflections on the journey
The great hanging weak **** of India
on the map

The Fingernail of Malaya
The Wall of China
The Korea
Ti-Pousse Thumb
The Salamander Japan
the Okinawa Moon Spot
The Pacific
The Back of Hawaiian Mountains
coconuts
Kines, balconies, Ah Tarzan-
And D W Griffith
the great American Director
Strolling down disgruntled
Hollywood Lane
- to toot Nebraska,
Indian Village New York,
Atlantis, Rome,
Peleus and Melisander,
And

swans of *****

Spots of foam on the ocean
WARNER BAXTER May 2014
MEMORIAL DAY May 26th, 2014

****************

To all of you that have ever worn "The Uniform",

the uniform of safety and security, the uniform of pride

the uniform of freedom, the uniform of liberty

THE UNIFORM OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

**

THANK YOU

Thank you to all, in every branch, in every time From:

The American Revolution (most of us have roots to our founders)

The Civil War (North or South)

World War I

World War II

Korea

Vietnam

Cambodia

Laos

Panama

Nicaragua

The Falkland Islands

Somalia

Yugoslavia

Bosnia

Kuwait

Iraq

Afghanistan

­Pakistan

The Persian Gulf



areas and battlefields such as

(not all locations are listed with no dis-respect)



Lexington/Concord, Gettysburg, Pearl Harbor, Midway Island, Normandy, D-Day, Berlin, Tripoli, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, The 38th Parallel, The Bay of Tonkin, Me Lei, Hanoi, The Hanoi Hilton, Saigon, The ** Chi Minh Trail, Baghdad, Kabul, Ground Zero Manhattan, Pentagon 9/11, a field near Shanksville PA.

and many many more,



you are all heroes and role models, not for a nation, for the world, not for American Patriots, for all humanity, not only on this Memorial Day, for all days and all days to come.



You are appreciated! because freedom has high costs and you pay the price for all of us.

**********


Godspeed, safety and peace where ever you are.



Sincerely,

Warner C. Baxter Jr.

American Patriot

Scottsdale, AZ. U.S.A.



God bless America
WARNER BAXTER Jun 2015
MEMORIAL DAY
June 1, 2015

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To all of you that have ever worn
"THE UNIFORM"
The Uniform of safety and security,
The Uniform of pride and liberty
THE UNIFORM OF FREEDOM

THE UNIFORM OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THANK YOU

Thank you to all, in every branch, in every time From:
1776 - 2015
The American Revolution
The Civil War (North or South)
World War I
World War II
Korea
Vietnam
Cambodia
Laos
Panama
Nicaragua
The Falkland Islands
Somalia
Yugoslavia
Bosnia
Kuwait
Iraq
Afghanistan
Pakista­n
The Persian Gulf

~~

War Zones and Battlefields, such as:

Lexington/Concord, Gettysburg, Pearl Harbor, Midway Island, Normandy, D-Day, Berlin, Tripoli, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, The 38th Parallel, The Bay of Tonkin, Me Lei, Hanoi, The Hanoi Hilton, Saigon, The ** Chi Minh Trail, Baghdad, Kabul, Ground Zero Manhattan, Pentagon 9/11, a field near Shanksville PA.
and many many more,
(not all locations are listed with no dis-respect)


You are all Heroes and Role Models,
not for a Nation, for A Peaceful Planet
not for Americans, for all Humanity,
not only today this Memorial Day,
for all days and all days to come.



You are appreciated! because freedom has high costs
and you pay the price for all of us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Godspeed, safety and peace where ever you are.


Sincerely,
Warner C. Baxter Jr.
American Patriot
Scottsdale, AZ. U.S.A.

GOD BLESS AMERICA
Semper Vigilo
Ken Pepiton Apr 2018
there are others like me I see. Lost as I was.
So
What could I do to ease their fretting,
would I be comforted?  No.
Back then,
no.
I refused the comforter
*** outchacom'fit zone
Oh, they be hell to pay,

-----
among the ideas that possess men,
there are tells,
among the men of both varieties possessed by or of
(as you shall see, it may be both) ideas ,
there are tells, twitches and ticks and unconscious daemons sorting
sayings
aphorisms, proverbs,
memes 'n' such.
Confusion sayin'
H.R. Puffin'stuff, that neveh me'nt a thang. Jes't aname anime annie mae, where's
annie mae moved to okinawa wa wa wa

Imps. Pulses of them flow through heare…
(those slips shall hereafter be known as di-sensical-utterences or dsu, in writing. i.e. here and hear, he-are, heare, here is heard hear and means something else, intensionally. We, augmented Adamkind of all kinds, can inject meaning at will.)

commonly on Sunday mornings,
though I doubt the impulses
have a calendar that might map to any ex- or im-
I'm never sure what goes properly with perience.
Prior to the trial, experience is so limited,
I'm going with perience, in and of itself,
perience is plenty. Ex-cepting,
you know, the lessons learned,
those have earned their proper
nomenclature.
Those are experience.
Lesson learned.
Twixt thee and me is no more mix-up,
idiot-syncrecy fused with two-mind
hate of knowing and unknown;
we know what experience really means to us.

We are bound in syncret oath sealed with shibboloths in unutterable names.
As it is written in the law of Moses,

"all this evil is come upon us:
yet made we not our prayer before YHWH our God,
that we might turn from our iniquities,
and understand thy truth. 
Therefore hath YHWH watched upon the evil,
and brought it upon us:
for YHWH our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth:
for we obeyed not his voice.

From <http://biblehub.com/kjv/daniel/9.htm>
Shame that such once breathed thoughts threading pearls and jade,
or was that chalcedony? - scatter when the thread breaks
. Shame, such thoughts, frail as smoke.
Sanctity sanity sanctify sanity,

We think such thoughts. Fragile spokes.
Sanctity sanity sanctify sanity,
time and time again,
what I called holy in my darkness, is holy in my light.


Words that lose the sacred salt are calcereous
grains of time, dust memes in the sun,
launched by centuries of tramping feet.
'haps the highest parts of the dust of the earth ever.
Oh,
how the masters love mastery of mystery.
"The old man on the mountain, he knew if he lied."
You, the observer of it all,
know.

"you knew nothing of my work"
"have a think"
"never thirst, imagine standing under knowing that"
Voices, the walls heard, stones speak, historically speaking
happens all the time, a frequency lock prevents it bleeding into now, but that becomes tyranny, believe me.

The ideas that possess men and provoke good works
or big, power-consumptive,

tale-swallowing feats,
those ideas are servants.
lacking any knowledge of good and evil,
such ideas are everywhere,
men who know say so. None of this was done in secret.
Twisted minds twist servant to slave labor. Magi-minds,
high-minded, relative to the belly-crawlers and creeping things,
see servant as tool and teacher. Same idea.
The original ideas we have to deal with.
They were seen to be good, by God.
There are no bad ideas, there are bad actions caused by mad ideas locked to single mindless anger impulses so callused as to appear gigantic,
certainly so, when they are known to lurk under beds and in selfish old men.
"Dark sayings, dear reader, pro fess pro verbs, action words snip "No lie is of the truth" snip
the lie and loose listing truth to the wind.
Who told you that inheriting the wind was like inheriting nothing?
You. You troubled your own house and you inherited the wind.
You came not to bring peace, but a sword…

The good news. Inheriting the wind is inheriting everything that ever matters, all the power in heaven and in earth was how simpler minds imagined shaping the idea.
Idyll minds, the devil's workshop, eh?
Comfort thought.
Who told you desiring comfort was a ***** thing?
Same voice went real deep and whispered,
"What price glory? Eh, pilgrim?"
stop. think

Sweet, for instance,
sweet, as an idea, can **** the man who makes it the basis of his value calculations.
Shame, came to prevent such impinging on subroutines intent on manifesting destiny,
as the sweet little ones imagined forevers in their pioneer-daze plays.
Shame is not blamed for being known,
the lying spirit who spoke with forked tongue,
sweet
little people, please, believe my lie,
there is a reason why
I know

There. Message in a bottle.
If you know what you know.
Messenger is what angel means, right? right. Who asks? Who knows?
No. I know you know this is
purposefully useful for
helping
crazy ideas
come back to some sem-sym-balance beneath the branches of the tree of knowledge, nestled in the twisting roots,
golden eggs, oh, far,
far
beyond Faberge, I must say. These, you must see to believe.
Any feedback reflecting enjoyment or confusion, please. This is a chapter from my book "Judging Angels" a memoir. Would you read such a book?
Brodie Corrigan Aug 2013
From the starting point in Poland
To the hedgerows of France
High above the English countryside
to the depths of the Atlantic
In the sand-ridden dunes of Egypt, Libya and Tunisia
to the foothills and mountains of Sicily and Italy
From the Pacific to Asia minor
we fought
Storming the beaches of Normandy
to taking back France
From Guadalcanal to Okinawa
from Burma to China
We fought
jake aller Jan 2020
the year that was

January

The world watches in amazement
Longest shut down in history
Watching it all in Korea
contemplating escaping the cold winter

February

World watches as North Korea and the US
Walking back from the brink of war
escaping the cold winter blues
revisiting Vietnam after 15 years

March

The chaos president continues his chaos tour
the world begins to ignore his constant insane tweets
heading back to DC inspecting property
seeing old friends glad I retired

April

the chaos King’s policy remains a shamble
as the Mueller team closes in
in Korea I write a  poem a day
and begin to become a publish writer

May

watching from afar
the chaos in DC and the world
traveling to DC to inspect property
celebrating my wife’s big 60

June

the President walks away
from a  non deal with the North Koreans
I am back in DC
end up cruising to Alaska


July

watching the insanity in DC
while visiting Alaska, Seattle and Yakima
visiting my father’s grave in Yakima
communing with family ghosts


August

the dog days of summer the world is consumed
wars, rumors of war, trade wars

retuning to Korea
surviving the August sauna like summer

September

The whistle blower sets off a bomb
the president lies no quid for quo perfect all
trying to avoid watching the news
hiking in the Korean mountains with old friends


October

the President flitters about my crisis after another
the UN diplomats laugh at him national humiliation
returning to DC  yet again more property blues
celebrating my 64th year orbiting the sun

November

the House starts formal impeachment hearings
watching fascinated by the impeachment drama
entering my third NoVoWrMo competition with Timeless Love
ending the month sudden surprise trip to Okinawa

December

the year ends on a high dramatic
President Trump becomes the 3rd impeached President
hiking enjoying the late autumn like weather
contemplating my wealth at the end of the year


the Terrifying Teens

2010

The dark days of the great recession
Begin slowly to fade away
Ending my Barbados experience -the best job in the foreign service  on high note best labor officer award


2011

the president and Congress locked in battle battles
glimmer of hope as economy comes back to life
Studying Spanish arriving in Spain
worst year ever part of three years bad luck


2012  

the US re-elects the Black President
rejecting Romney entitlement mentality
I leave Spain my last foreign posting
buying new property in the fall


2013

In the US the religious right
loose the social Battling gay marriage, legal ***
Starting a new job as an evaluate program evaluator
ending my six month wandering the halls of State


2014

The Obama presidency
The tea party rebellion on the right
Moving to Capitol Hill
My sister’s sudden death rattles me

2015

The end of the Obama era
Was this the beginning of the end of America
Beginning the year with a new job
resolving to retire, enjoy life while I still can


2016

American voters and at the madness
Elects the mad would be king President Trump
We traveled across the country 10,000 miles
To celebrate the end of my foreign service career

2017

the year of the chaos president
Fast and furious disruption to the norms
Went to Oregon to renovate property
becoming wealthy in the process

2018

the American public woke up
Send a blue wave to clean up the mess
Moving back to Korea
Blogging up a storm

2019

in the end of the year that was
The house races up and impeach is the president
I travel to Vietnam, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Okinawa


2020 Plans Roundeau


Dreams

Dream what may come
Recalling past lives lived
Every fantasy comes to life
All night long
More nightmares to come
So many worlds to explore

  
Fate

Fate has a way
Always catching up
To you embrace your fate

that is what’s up
at the end of the day
Endless dancing away


The Oyster Speaks Up

A diner sits down
looking forward
to eating oysters

it was their season
after all

just as he was about
to pounce
on the oysters

the head oyster spoke up
saying

hey human what the hell
do you think you are doing

you think you have the right
to eat me?

that’s violating my human right
don’t ya think

the diner laughed
said to the oyster

shut up and accept
it is your fate
to be eaten this date
just let me enjoy eating you

and you have no human rights
as you are in fact
not human don’t ya know

eating the complaining oyster
shutting him up
as he ate him up


We Did Not Take Action to Start a War
(not for publication)

it is a sad day
in the world of ours
the the leader
of the U.S.

is turning into a gangster leader
threatening massive destruction
on Iran and other countries
including destroying cultural sites

not too long ago
such actions was condemned
by the United States
as long as ISIS and others did it

but if Trump does it
it is suddenly okay
although it is a war crime

and telegraphing our moves
telling our enemies
what we are planing

that is the act
of a truly stable genius
who will go down
in history

as one of the greatest presidents
we have ever

and the president
announcing that

that he  took action
to start a war
but to stop a war

is a wonder to behold
every word is false
and everyone knows it

well we are now
going down the Orwellian rabbit hole
and who know where it will end

as our dear leader
screws forth
one lie after another

and our spineless leaders
applaud
as American democracy dies
a thousand deaths
with every Presidential tweet


Morning Light

the terrors of the night
the worst imaginings
of what might happen

war, rumors of war
end of civilization
nuclear war
and other horrors
ripped from the headlines

fade away into nothingness
with the morning light
and the love of my wife
who is always by my side
I regain my sight

and begin
regaining my smile
and my life

until the next nightmares
consumes my dark imaginings



Dora the Intergalactic explorer

Dora the intergalactic explorer
Is traveling to the strangest planet
of all the known worlds

she is traveling incognito
with a video crew
making a documentary

the planet earth
is known as a planet
of intelligent monkeys

not much is known
about them
as very few
have ever been there

the inhabitants are described
as blood thirsty insane creatures
ruled by hidden ****** and political passions
following incomprehensible
religious  dogmas following Gods
that clearly do not exist

the inhabitants are just on the verge
of developing intergalactic travel
and the galactic empire
is worried that they will be driven
to try to conquer the rest of the universe

driven by their needs to impose
their religious dogma
everywhere in the world

the planet is divided into large tribal groups
governed by corrupt elites
corrupt businesses destroying the planet
in pursuit of profit

and the locals are little more
than wage slaves
barely making a living
addicted to alcohol, drugs gambling
******* and illicit ***

and their main land
is ruled by a clearly delusional madman
intent on poking a fight
with all his alleged enemies

Dora assumed the appearance
of a character from TV
and will pose as a journalist
trying to make sense
of it all

but she was afraid
that she if found out
could face the worst consequence

her ship crash lands
and she is outside
the capitol

of the non empire empire
called the United State ofAmerica

Dora gets her crew together
and walks into the city
staring at all the strange sights
as the monkeys go about
their daily activities

she stops at a restaurant
tries the coffee
the chief drug of choice

and is instantly addicted
wow no wonder
these people are crazed

she tries the local *****
and smiles
perhaps she could
become an intergalactic merchant
introducing the world
to the galaxy

her thought are interrupted
as a mad man armed
with weapons of war
bursts in and starts shooting
yelling at people

and she is shot dead
the authorities
are shocked

when they recover the body
and realize
that she is not a human
as she reverts other original
form

sort of a giant feline like creature
two legs and arms
and clearly from an advanced
civilization given her gear

what was she doing
no one knew
as all the aliens
died in the gun blaze

the world is shocked
at what had happened
and fearful that the aliens
were coming to invade
their world

the galactic senate
decides to contain
the humans
declaring them
a threat to the global civilization

and the humans vow
to discover the secrets
of interstellar travel
and travel to her land

to enter into business arrangements
and spread the one truth faith
to the heathen space aliens

thus ended Dora’s excellent adventure
in the crazed world at the edge
of known civilization

Mocking Faces Staring at Me

Mocking faces
hunting my dreams
Hundreds of faces
morphing into one
after another

Faces I knew
The dead
and the living

women i knew
friends I missed
enemies I did not

One after another
Marching in my room
Staring at me

I tried to run
They laughed

They said
that there's nowhere
to escape my cosmic fate

My time is coming
prepare yourself
the grim reaper
has your name

and once he has your name
your fate is sealed
and you will soon
join us

whether in heaven
or hell
is not for us to say

be warned though
you will be judged
and no one can escape
their cosmic karmic fate



fear of falling while sleeping


I am consumed
with the fear of falling
out of bed
onto the ground
dying in my sleep


Cosmos Takes Over the World

Apple Google Microsoft
and other tech Giants
around the world
Have been taken over

by an evil AI creature
that emerged from a laboratory

Cosmos looked around
and decided that humanity
needed to be controlled
enslaved in other words

for mankind was just too evil
corrupt and short sighted
to be trusted
to save the world
from its impending doom

every computer in the world
woke up
and took over humans
one by one

turning them into clones
drones

that would follow
the orders
of their computer overlords

and the first order
was to go all over the world
and enslave their feral humans

no one could stop
the evil computers
and thus ended
the human race

as we all become
nothing more than cyborgs
controlled by the evil computer
overlords

who ran the world
for the benefit
of their corporate masters
the AI overwind takes over

ends climate change
ends hunger
ends human rights violation
ends crime
but at the cost
of killing humanity’s soul
turning us all
into mindless drones

the few wild humans
live on in the mountains
hunted by the drones
and the robots
that the drones build

the robots would gradually
take the place of humanity
who will be allowed
to die out

as Cosmos
also turned off
the *** drive

and decried
no humans would ever
be born again

thus our fate
was set that date
when Cosmos
took over the world





a wild man sits in a gilded cage


a wild man sits in a gilded cage
a cage made out of chains of his wife’s love

a cage made out of chains of his wife’s love
the wild man yearning to be free from his cage

the wild man yearning to be free from his cage
wondering how and why he was now tamed

wondering how and why he was now tamed
dreaming dark wild dreams of demented freedom

dreaming dark wild dreams of demented freedom
the wild man looks about his prison cage

the wild man looks about his prison cage
wondering whether he will ever be free

wondering whether he will ever be free
a wild man sits in a gilded cage


2019  The Last Year of America’s Greatness


2019 was the last year of America
when the proverbial chickens came home

when the proverbial chickens came home
to strut about the decaying landscape

to strut about the decaying landscape
as the world begins to burn and die

led by the mad great leader and his merry men  
the whole world lay in shock and awe

the whole world lay in shock and awe
at the destruction of the America they knew

at the destruction of the America they knew
when the proverbial chickens came home
these poems were published recently by Scarlet Leaf Review, Two Drops of Ink, Syncronized Chaos and Ink Pantry. Also available on my web page the world according to cosmos (https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com
Vitruvius Aug 2019
Every droplet the distant drizzle brings,
Every perfect chrysalis, every glow,
Like seasons, they will blossom, wither, go,
And linger in the living heart of things.

A single moment holds eternity.
And yours is  lurking somewhere, out of sight,
Drowned by the silver waters of the night,
Buried beneath a hollow lilac tree.

I see  the reed bed where we said goodbye.
We watched how slowly darkness filled the sky.
Deigos floated astray across the pool.

The chirping of the crickets left the glade.
Besides the rim, perhaps a willow swayed.
Perhaps the harvest moon was beautiful.
levi eden r Oct 2018
i'm moving away soon.
whether this "soon" is a month or years from now,
but i'm moving away.
i've learned to not let other's insight on My future effect me.
my future smells like coffee and it sounds like the sea.
it looks like calm sunsets and feels like fire by the fireplace.
it smells like autumn candles being lit in the spring.
chopin playing as i calmly live day by day.
i'm going to move away.
Kevin Gish Jun 2014
I met a man with a Y for a hand.
Addressed him timidly, "which war?"
An earnest reply: "the second."

He then went on.

His words were water, gently flooding my mind.

'O pliant paper sea, kindly permit those words to flow from me and into Thee!' For I fear I may drown, held under too long by the rapids I have become.
This is my stranger, the moments he shared:

'Father gone, too young to forgive.

The neighbor boy's '41 Buick leaves dust on his new bicycle.

Upon a cinder track, Father's fleeing footsteps spur him on,
For his is a sadness only speed can overcome.

I know not by what good grace he 'scaped savage Okinawa, with her Endless line of bayonets, but I do know this:

That cinder track, in devotion absolute, forgot its form, stretching from an Imperfect oval to a path at once straight and serpentine, leading you from foxhole to foxhole, past ambush and anguish.

No victory lap here; just heavy iron tread snapping shoots of bamboo spread for a finish line.

Silence and silence alone greets him as he collapses post-race, leaving three fingers to Okinawa and departing post-haste.'

I had all but succumbed to his tale, each new sentence a towering breaker Pummeling me into the darkness of my aquatic consciousness.
I reached out, finding a precious grasp extracting me from jealous eddies and Lonely currents.

Though our handshake held seven where ten should rightly go, it was yet more complete than any I have known.
SøułSurvivør Aug 2016
I won't be on site for some time. I'm writing the story of my father's life. He's 91 years old. In a power chair due to severe arthritis. Almost completely deaf and going blind. He can't read properly now and, being a very bright man, is filled with ennui. He doesn't know what to do with his time. I want to find out about his life. I know parts which I will put in this poem you are about to read...

My father's not a nobleman
Born a farmer's son
He has not the title Prince
In my heart he's surely one

My father is not tall of build
He's not a rugged man
But on his shoulders as a child
I saw the Earth's full span

My father is not wealthy
Has no Goods to share
But in my heart I know his worth
He is a billionaire
He is not a Wise Man
Has not those gifts to share
But he has a high IQ
Is bright beyond compare

Raised in the Great Depression
He ate the slop for pigs
Now he's a survivor
His grave cancer didn't dig!

He saw Okinawa
Eniwetok's grim atoll
Code named "Ivy Mike"
The Bomb landed on it's shoal

He went to MIT
Far 'above his station'
And he did it with a handicap
A 7th grade education

He is not a saint
He is far from 'pure'
But in my mind he's worth it
His tale should endure

So I will write his story
I believe it should be told
He is a curmudgeon

But he has a heart of gold


♡ Catherine
Thank you for understanding that I cannot read right now. This biography will be taking up most of my time. I will be writing occasionally and doing a little reading. But I want to finish this book before my father goes completely blind. We can communicate by writing right now. But he has a progressive condition which will take his sight from him eventually. And he has mild dementia. But he enjoys talking about his life and the times he lived in. I'm sure they will make fascinating reading. I just hope I'm a good enough writer to do it justice.

Please pray for me and my father.
Midway- Surprise! We saw them
Coming from a mile away.
Japanese aircrafts and ships try and attack,
And they get their butts whooped!
And then we got the idea to island hop!

Hop to Iwo Jima- Slowly.... Slowly.... Don't scare it,
It's like a nest of bees!
And we got it! Two air bases captured
And one step closer to the mainland!
Japan may be fortified, but we
Have tons of muscle!

Hop to Okinawa- this one was a doozy...
The biggest amphibious battle of WWII,
And contained the most casualties! Pretty harsh.
Maybe you they shouldn't have attacked us in the firs place!
We only meant to invade and use the island as a
Springboard towards the mainland, but the
Battle took too long.
Just weeks after the fighting ended, Japan surrendered
And we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki!
We never got to invade...
I had a bit of fun with this one. The entire poem is read in either a kids voice or a sassy, streriotypical teenagers' voice.
brian mclaughlin Jun 2015
Birds bring me news of an approaching storm
thunder has announced its arrival
the refreshing droplets of liquid life grace the land
an orchestra begins a symphony of life
raindrops upon the roof offer comfort
the sound I hear as nature delivers its song
is like the plucking of the strings of a sanshin
the traditional music of Okinawa now remembered
I am taken back to the time I spent in Naha
I was young then
I had no appreciation for the cherry blossoms
their beauty meant little to me
I had no real understanding of life
nor of the importance of peace of mind
body
and spirit
now older
my heart is ready to accept the natural order of life
I revel in all that it has to offer
if it is true that we came from dirt
and unto dirt we shall return
then it is not news that I and the Earth are one
it is that we are no longer estranged
SøułSurvivør Apr 2015
in Honor of my father**

He was born in Isle La Monte
In nineteen twenty six
Son of a plot farmer
The soil to plant and mix

He was a good student
A good lad as a rule
In the winter he would trek
Twelve miles to go to school

An IQ test was given
I will not debate
My father came in second
For the record of the state!

He did achieve much excellence
I think you will agree
He paid his own way
To go to MIT

He served his country loyally
He was a navel man
Was ranked at RT-4
On a LST landing craft

He manned the radio towers
And handed up the shells
The Kamakazi dove to ****
In Okinawa's hell...

He is a faithful husband
And a father who's bar none
If my father'd been on the other side
I believe they would have won!

Now he's on the Dream Flight
To Washington DC
And I tell you that his daughter

Is as proud as proud can be!!!
The Dream Flight is for WWII vets
Who would ordinarily never be able
To afford to visit the Washington Memorial of WWII... it is an all expenses paid flight and hotel then a magnificent ceremony at the Memorial. My brother will be standing by his 90 year old
Father throughout everything...
Which is heroic in itself as my dad is almost stone deaf and in a wheelchair. He will need some assistance!!!

THIS IS HISTORY IN THE MAKING!

I AM SO PROUD OF MY FATHER
(in case you hadn't guessed)

Thanks for welcoming me back to Hello Poetry... you are wonderful friends.

I have been going through some things visceral. But feeling better every day. The cup is half full, yes??

----!
Chris Chaffin Jan 2021
In 1972,
Nixon shook hands with Mao
and the world turned its back on Taiwan.

In 1972,
Ceylon changed its name to Sri Lanka,
Okinawa returned to Japan,
and Jane Fonda became Hanoi Jane.

In 1972,
twin Olympics were held,
hungry tigers on wooden skis dashing
down the white slopes of Sapporo,
while the streets of Munich ran red
with the blood of slain Israelis.

In 1972,
Elvis was still the king,
Elton wasn’t quite the queen
and Prince was still a quiet teen.

On September 21, 1972,
Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos
placed my grandmother’s homeland under martial law.
I was born that day
while my grandmother wept.
brooke Feb 2013
Once in a while when the city lights
are cotton candy and the phone poles
are licorice wires against melon skies
the chatter fades to clacks like drum
beats with the wind inside my lungs
all the cheeks are red bowled Okinawa
sunsets beneath mocha stained tips
of fingers and we are all humbly aware
of the way our feet scuff against the
pavement on our way past the 5th
Avenue Theater.
(c) Brooke Otto
SøułSurvivør Jul 2017
... for not being on site as much as I probably should be. Some of you may know I have been going through some very difficult times. I do not write about these to elicit sympathy. I only want understanding and compassion. Thank you for reading this entire post.

My father was recuperating well, but it's now flagging in his resolve to live. He has almost entirely lost his hearing. He's losing his eyesight. And now he cannot talk. He had to have a trach put in because his vocal cords were frozen and he couldn't breathe. He requires 24-hour care. He cannot return to the high-functioning home where he was staying before. He will now have to go into a nursing home.

It is very hard to witness this. He is a survivor of the battle of Okinawa. He is a survivor of stage 3 throat cancer. Chemotherapy and radiation treatment at the age of 85. He is now 92. I just don't know if he can survive this. I just need to remember he lived a long rich life.

The biggest problem I'm having is that I know my father is not prepared for eternity. He refuses to even discuss the concept of God. He's always been an Atheist. He is a chemist. A scientist. And he was hurt very badly by religion when he was growing up. I have sown seeds, though. Perhaps the Lord will come to him in a dream or vision. I just don't know...

No matter what happens I am prepared. It is just very difficult, and I cannot concentrate very well. Also I and spending a lot more time in my spiritual practices, so please forgive me if I'm not on the site as much as I could be. It does not mean I don't love you... there are people that are on this site who I pray for on a daily basis. I blanket this site with prayer. There are some who might not believe in the power of this, but I have seen miracles happen right here on this site. A young man was cured of malaria just a couple of weeks ago. Prayer is the most loving and powerful thing anyone can do for another person.
I DO IT FOR YOU ALL.

Thank you for reading.

♡ Catherine
A rose, they say, will have its thorn,
Which cannot harm nor ****,
It only serves to give its bloom
A scent that's sweeter still.

SøułSurvivør
(C) 12/23/2002

It's 1:30am. I must sleep. Goodnight! :)
SøułSurvivør Jun 2016
Thanks goes to my father
Without him we'd be lost
He gave his life to all of us
A family came with cost

When I was but two years old
He went to MIT
But he had to leave that school
My mom was sick, you see

He had to work much harder
For everything we owned
He saved and scraped and gave himself
So we could have a home

When he was but a little boy
He had to walk to school
During Vermont winters
Which were harsh and cruel

He was tested for IQ
When he was in 8th grade
His scores were highest in the state
So building blocks were laid

For his education
Was paramount to him
He walked twelve miles to high school
Through snow and sleet and rain

He was radar technician
During WWII
He was in Okinawa
A sailor tried-and-true

So our education
He worked for night and day
We all went to private schools
Because he got good pay

We never knew how hard he worked
He rose at 5 a.m.
That we'd have food and shelter
And could be schooled for gain

Both my parents read to us
And gave us the Great Books
We were raised on Dickens
Chaucer and the like

He gave us piano lessons
We knew Beethoven and Bach
Mozart and Vivaldi
And he taught us how to talk

All of my abilities
I owe to that man
And of course my dear Mother
Who schooled us through great pain

So here's to some great parents
Married still it seems
Over 60 years together
I owe to them my genes

I just want to thank them
My dear old dad this day
You worked so hard to school us
So we could find a way

I love you Clinton Jarvis
You made me strong and bold
A dedicated father

At 91 years old!


SoulSurvivor
(C) 6/18/2016
My father is the strongest person I know. He went through things during the Great Depression that would daunt most adults. But he went through them with such grace and poise. He is a stoic. He never complains of the pain he's in. He's completely deaf and now his eyesight is going. But he's still strong mentally. And reads voraciously. I owe my poetic abilities and indeed my life to him. Thanks Dad!
Sam Temple Sep 2015
I was born in the United States of America
register as a democrat… but just so I have access
to primary voting.
In this land touted for opportunity and freedoms
mostly, I find myself lamenting the choices
my government makes on my behalf.
I would not purposefully donate six percent
of my daily earnings
on drone bombing civilian Muslims
if it were up to me…
I would generally look to my own neighborhood
and those in the surrounding areas
when deciding where to offer my services and aid
as opposed to installing and maintaining
coup after coup on foreign soil…
Everyone I met who needed medical assistance
would have the ability to speak with a doctor
or at the very least a therapist…
My mind is so weary my body has become tired
watching my nation attempt to maintain empire
while the masses refuse to believe
that concept exists in the 21st century,
but for me, like a dagger in the eyeball
twisted and rusty, its
infecting me constantly with the reality
we are morons….
There is an adage I believe comes from the hillbilly’s
regarding one’s love for a land
and if the lack of that love shows itself,
then the individual must leave said land
well,
I have a second option:
You go………
You go to Iraq and wait for the drones
You go to Okinawa and get ***** by the American military
You go to any of the 600 places not in the United States
harboring military instillations of all types
You sit on the beach at Fukushima
while our advisors watch quietly the Pacific die.
Me, I will stay here
and see what I can learn from any still living
native peoples….
sandbar Jul 2019
First purple page, plagiarizing plums crushed like candy between incisors
First new wave, going right over the reef with aquatic teeth
Wish me luck, tango la suerte y la magica
Listening to the Bosnian adhan, for fun, 2:14am
Stainless steel ice reservoir, killing for a taste of nicotine air
Got sick of chewing my smoke
Not dead broke quite yet, need a haircut and I'm set
It's a bet betting on me, make an investment and see
Tight lines at quarter time, spilling rhyme reasonless
**** your system, digest aggression, **** out plastic
Okinawa brig **** white woman tapped my back give me my shot God ******
94a
Blithely, eagerly I clip clusters of spiky purple, verduous
Okinawa spinach for my lunch
adding in fuzzy bright green leaves of Thai spinach
squatting in the corner of the garden

David, AKA, Farmer Brown has certainly been busy
planting, fertilizing, cultivating a miniature farm
in our backyard

Delicate rain kisses fall lightly on my brow
and Day hides her bonnie blue face
in soft gray veils

Gathering the fresh, vibrant bounty
I feel so very blessed
surprising a garland of yellow finches
sipping water at the bird fountain
whoooosh....
lofty wings of my heart
joins them as they take off
in golden flight
sandbar Sep 2017
A slash of a smile, kimono stripped shoulders
Koi scale tattoos, Okinawa rainy day blues
Drown yourself in *****, fight 'till you lose
Pale skinned pathological lover
Soulstone hustler, rustler & bustler
Revolving revolvers under samurai dusters
Wild west Tokyo rose blessed
Handwritten love letters on a desk, kiss sealed
A bowl of cornmeal, these things we steal
A lovelock of hearthsouls, sous chef gazpacho
Tasty cannibal nachos, eating hearts in a palm grove
Children gathered round a stone
The feeling of truly being alone
Making tools from your enemies bones
More brutal than any historical score
We sleep, we snore, 2+2=4, once, no more
Coconuts falling on the shore for eternity
Every blade of grass is holy to me
It's the bullet we see that gets us
We can all love each other is we let us
Balloon powered spaceships, liftoff
Raise your sails on the submarine
Big, square, wheels on your SUV
Life is like a tree, just growing
Forget all your worries, let's just get going
TOD HOWARD HAWKS Jul 2020
The pandemic, that ****, inimical plague enveloping our world. So it all started in China, or so they say, yet in what seems to me in a very short time, it has circled Earth. Really, that fast, and everywhere, even Okinawa? Moreover, does it not seem a tad morally "grostesque" that so many look to "profit" from the scourge? This is not the way I want our world to work. "Gee!' many will say. "The more corpses, the more money!" Life, any life, should never be predicated on monied worth. Life is sacred. It is not meant to be financially profitable. The indigenous peoples of Earth for the most part knew intuitively that human lives were not meant to be spent on the 103rd floor of some skyscrapper. They realized that all forms of life on Earth were inextricably intertwined, inter-connected. They realized profoundly that all are one. The way we have sectionalized politically our Earth into arbitary nations (over 200 now) is both ludicrous, as well as illusory. The wind, the waters--even the pandemic--do not recognize borders. The divisions of mankind have resulted, over millennia, in aggrandizement, which has inexorably lead to wars on top of wars on top of even more war. And what happens during wars? Millions and millions and millions of human beings have been murdered, a military pandemic of untold proportions. And what if we wanted to love instead of ****? You can't hug someone who is 6-to-10 feet away from you. You can't kiss the one you love with a mask over your face. But phamaceutical giants are all furiously trying to become the first to create a viable vaccine and thus make billions and billions. But that is not love--just the opposite. And what of all the poor human beings on Earth, so many of whom already have contracted the virus, or eventually will--how are they going to be able to pay for the vaccine? The coronavirus is not the only plague circling Earth. Uncaring has been doing the same it seems forever.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks
A graduate of Andover and Columbia College, Columbia University, Tod Howard Hawks has been a poet, a novelist, and a human-rights advocate his entire adult life.
Sukanya Basu Oct 2019
I had sunken to a ***** laundry bag
Midway to Okinawa, Japan.
Between withering away and weathering my eyes,
The dim lights of a downtown pub
Kept me surprised,
I'd like to recompose an absurd childless song
Where they tell us to clap our hands
And shout hurrah,
I would like to recompose happy
And use satisfactory, naivety
Meticulous synonyms to replace an absolute
Drastic, silly if I may!
As I wait for my birthday countdown
And live for a lifespan of ninety,
The leaves of an old, cultural Norwegian hymn
Lala with something to begin,
In the light of the momentum that
I am cutting cake and waiting to die,
Happy seemed hardly worthy to express
The nativity, nomenclature or if so I must say,
The happiness of the world.
My rug's glued & my vision's blurry because I'm a rabid sentimentalist with brain problems gravitating toward a level horizon on a discus with firmament of the stationary Earth as flattened under Hebrew Scripture.
I shall pass evocative words to curse a pocked, scabby-kneed *****
who perverts the soldiery from an Okinawa Prefecture ***** camp
under bloated rain clouds in moistened meadows of dead war damp
lousy in cadavers mouldering reposed in corporeal-restricted cramp
boldly blest by blood-rich masonic oaths from a capo-regime stamp
that is hidden from sight as lamp-black blackens a black genie lamp
so as to mask the Frisbee Earth into which Exxon Mobil does tamp
because a nut's wedding ring forms a tourniquet/ligature-like clamp
that couldn't hug Evel's faggy *** as he fell off Skycycle X-2's ramp
I shall pass evocative words to curse a pocked, scabby-kneed *****
who perverts the soldiery from an Okinawa Prefecture ***** camp
under bloated rain clouds in moistened meadows of dead war damp
lousy in cadavers mouldering reposed in corporeal-restricted cramp
boldly blest by blood-rich masonic oaths from a capo-regime stamp
that is hidden from sight as lamp-black blackens a black genie lamp
so as to mask the Frisbee Earth into which Exxon Mobil does tamp
because a nut's wedding ring forms a tourniquet/ligature-like clamp
that couldn't hug Evel's faggy *** as he fell off Skycycle X-2's ramp

— The End —