While I am trying to decide the direction of this blog, I will throw a few old poems in today.
Memorial Day Memory; 1983 There’s a Memorial Day Parade in Rumford today. The whole town will go the way they always do. With smiles of anticipation, we are ready to go. In Rumford today, Al, Digger, Lois and me crowd into the cab of the truck and head down the highway. We want to see the sights and share the fun. The whole town will go. They can’t stay away. Somehow Al and Digger find money to buy Lois and me flags. We watch the soldiers march by, and try to stand tall like them. Shriners ride their motorcycles the way they always do and clowns pedaled tricycles too. One sneaks up and pinches Lois’s nose and hands me a balloon. With smiles of anticipation, Digger brings over plates full of watermelon and red skinned hot dogs, We eagerly dine; a meal made in heaven. We are ready to go after all the soldiers have marched, the trucks and tanks have rolled. We share the memories and practice marching; Lois and I, a two-person Army. There was a Memorial Day Parade today.
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Jean Lafitte
Don’t call me “pirate.” I sail with 1000 men.
Your movie actors in Hollywood; megawatt smiles, betray their countrymen, move to France, because they don’t agree with war. I sail with 1000 men.
How can you be a pirate and not warrior. According to my code, “Coward” means death. I sail with 1000 men.
They call me Jean Lafitte. I am the best man on the Gulf Coast. I am The Buccaneer, The Hero of New Orleans. I sail with 1000 men.
While you read a script, pretend to sail, and steal, I am condemned and exonerated by your president. I sail with 1000 men.
I am loved by all, hated by those who fear me.
I sailed the Gulf of Mexico, in a leaking ship, and defeated the British in The Battle of New Orleans. I sail with 1000 men.
Don’t call me “pirate.” I am a privateer. I sail with 1000 men.
I invented economy in a new America that had naught. For thanks, I was branded “traitor” and reviled, though I saved you from your hated Motherland. I sail with 1000 men.
Now I am driven from your corrupted American shores, betrayed by a country that doesn’t know the difference between savior and satan. I spit on you. I sail with 1000 men.
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