Post NaPoWriMo

 

April was National Poetry Writing Month, hence the acronym above; it was tough and I feel successful about it even though I didn’t write 30 poems in 30 days. I feel good about it because I wrote two haiku poems and one poem free verse style of which I am particularly proud.  I’ll re-post them below. Let me know what you think either by replying to my blog post or by emailing me: dungarees@optonline.net

 

First, the haiku. There is one line of traditional thinking that states that haiku should never be titled, that it takes away from the juxtaposition of the impact of the words themselves. There is another, more modern line of thinking that says the poet can title haiku.  I’ll compromise and sum each up in a one word title.

 

Sunrise

 

Bird songs of sun light

Welcome sounds delight the soul

Awaken the mind

 

Changes

 

No chill in the breeze

Rejoice in the birth of spring

How soon we forget

 

I also posted the next poem and dedicated to Vietnam Veterans. This poem took a week to write and tweak, so I could say that even though I didn’t write any new material each day in April, I did allow the Muse to take me on another creative journey that culminated in the poem below.

 

Lost Something along the Way

By Ann Chiappetta

 

Youth yearns for action

The best soldiers eighteen to twenty one

Because that’s the way to make ‘em.

 

Things were different back then

Molded and forsaken,

Sent to serve

 

Jetted to another continent

Touching down in a humid foreign hell

Splotches of Olive drab upon shades of green

Toe tags and body bags

Shades of sorrow buried

With ordinance and trash

 

Dangerous to feel, so don’t

 

No safety — well maybe

Caught in a reprieve of minutes,

in beer cans and tokes

Brotherhood in chaos

 

Metal birds carry them

Innocence drained

With the fluids

flowing out onto the deck plates

In the teeth of fear

Feed the guns, starve the soul

 

Welcome to Vietnam says the pilot

 

Heat, terror and cold fire

Burn indelibly

Birthing specialties

Like alcoholism, addiction

mental illness

Homecoming meant shunning

Insomnia,

Welcoming darkness

Homelessness

Ending it all

 

They were once

The boys of summer who could smile

Love and trust

And who

Lost something along the way.

 

2014

Dedicated to Vietnam combat veterans