Me and the 58,000 and Other Poems

Hello Shauna - I am not sure that I write poetry. Some I read is so elegant. Now, I admit to being in the Army in the Vietnam era. I was not in Vietnam. I would have never survived. Thanks for your visit here today.

Hello Mark Tulin - I appreciate the visit. Thank you.

Hello Verlie - Thanks for stopping by this poetry hub. It seemed like everyone had a bit to contribute, so I thought I would jump in with my two cents worth. Happy April poetry month.

Hello Audrey - There are sad times in the Nations history, fifty years ago and again now. Thanks for your kind comment.

Hello Eric – Thank you. The first one had some depth to it. That war seemed to scar all of us how lived any piece of it.

Hello Genna – Thank you. That Bill, sure has a way with words. Indeed, ..."a collective stain on our souls."

“… What a field-day for the heat

A thousand people in the street

Singing songs and carrying signs

Mostly say, hooray for our side”

Happy Sunday

Hello Tom Cornett - Thanks for the comment. It seems each adult today for our generation has their memories of the war. It is our war, we all approached it differently or viewed it from their own particular angle. Hope your brother fared well.

Hello Bill - For the record I served during the Vietnam war era, but not in country. I served in a garden paradise island of Okinawa. Lots of war coming and going happening on Okinawa. For a while I served in a hospital ambulance unit. Then when I angered an officers wife I was transferred to a unit that rebuilt Deuce and a half and five ton trucks that where blown apart in Vietnam. It was an assembly line where I helped with acquiring all the hardware. Go ahead ask me anything about deuce and a half hardware. haha

Hello Paula – Thanks for the Wow. I am not sure I have mastered anything, but it is nice to hear. All of us here at HP are expressing ourselves, we have found a place where someone will listen. The sixties were indeed a glorious time, the Age of Aquarius as it were. The music, the fashion, the energy a feeling of breaking free from the past. Again, I am a simple soul. Now it is time to walk the dogs.

Hello mar – Yes, my poetry is simple. The head on approach. The Me and 58,000 mostly wrote itself. There is plenty more to it. Stanza after stanza presented itself, mostly as I was dozing off to sleep at night. The music I am most familiar with is from the sixties and early seventies, then the world changed. Thanks for the peaceful Sunday wishes.

Hello John – See I learned something. I did not know that Australia drafted men into service to fight in Vietnam. Hope the cousins fared well. Eleven, that makes me feel old. We both watched it on TV.

Hello Nikki Khan – Thanks for the welcome back. I am not feeling much like writing these days. As far as the timing, you are right, I am here and that had something to do with the timing. Things were starting to settle down. I was a year younger than the other kids at graduation and that delay seems to have made the difference.

There is a homeless crisis and not many good options without government assistance.

Hello Shy - Glad your brothers are both OK. I was in the Army. I did not serve in a combat zone. For a while I served with a Medivac group. One of the jobs was to meet flights carrying wounded (all fixed up) to do some recovering prior to their next leg back home. In between that, I drove an ambulance. The Army makes dumb mistakes like that. You write so many poems.

Hello Ruby – Each generation seems to have its war. Vietnam was mine and yours. Our generation cannot forget how divided we were – the country was steaming at the injustices, a lot like now. Thanks for being you.

Hello Peg - I watched the Ken Burn's Vietnam War series and it left me with how many different categories the people fell into. I remember my dad saying, kill all the long hairs. Those that went to Canada made a choice that changed their lives forever. There were those that went and fought, there are those that served in relative safety and those that served in complete safety. That is a lot to digest in a poem. There are those that served and are now forgotten.

Thanks for the welcome home. I served in safety, which carries its own weight.

Hello Ann - The first is my favorite also. I am sure I could have continued it, and with patience, (which I have none) it could be polished to be more. I appreciate you.