Last year I found a way
To double my salary
It was simple enough
To join the US Army
An 88 ASVAB
Could have earned me safety
Just another desk job
That would hardly suit me
"Let us try"
I'm an Active 12B
"Essayons", let us try
To be all we can be
And then as soon as I was in
We declared war on Iran
But having trained in the winter
I was eager for the sands
So go on, take my pin
And drop me on the map
Over ¾the mortality--
Infantry and a half
And they walked me 'round the base
Singing all sorts of things
About mothers without children
About how the widows weep
They sing "he's a US soldier
And that's all he'll ever be"
Because that soldier never came home
And he never heard us sing
"Let us try"
I'm an Active 12B
"Essayons", let us try
To be all we can be
And if I died at war
Would that be such an awful thing?
Five hundred extra thousand
For a man that doesn't know me
And people don't roll eyes
At that kind of legacy
And even if I went home
Well I don't know where that'd be
ONE ON ONE WITH MYSELF Poetry Contest
Nette Onclaud
2/19/26
Daddy's little girl at fourteen chased dreams
of being an actress and model, up,
up, and away eloping with the stars
in a fairy book, still tucked in darkness.
The makeup and foundation ... a ruse.
The dress rehearsal of life dwarfed
in a nightly battle of make-believe.
growing in body and mind.
lots of living to do, still.
bunch of life lessons to learn;
i m b i b e parental wisdom
schooled on the birds and the bees
keep searching for yourself, kid.
make the most out of your youth!
Life was so hard at fourteen,
I need to work hard while studying,
My dream was to be successful ,
So go on strived to reach for the stars,
Be the one, fly high, you can do it,
Have faith in God, He was there for you,
Poverty is not a hindrance girl.
February 19, 2026
What I Would Tell My Fourteen-Year-Old Self
You are not late to your becoming.
The mirror is a passing witness.
Loneliness will unclench its hands.
Your tears are training you in courage.
Keep every page you ache to write.
Those words will anchor your pulse.
No one gets to measure your worth.
Sponsored by: Nette Onclaud
Contest Title: ONE ON ONE WITH MYSELF Poetry Contest
Date of Poem: February 18, 2026
Category: OTHER
Look at you at fourteen. I envy you!
Romance is shortly headed your way,
but here is what I need for you to do:
Be brave; throw not your dreams away.
Go abroad, but after that, don’t return
to that college far from home. Also learn
to wiser be (buy stock in Microsoft!)
romance is a TV schedule--
your first kiss doesn't win final rose.
parents might require parenting.
your father's absence was sufferable.
you'll parent the other one soon.
your first rum ends with murder.
alcohol poisons resilience!
She wanted to be an astronomer
but there was too much math involved,
math was like a foreign language
and she without a translator-
listen to me younger self,
if you can’t study the stars
write them down in poetry!
she came downstairs dressed for the dance
her daddy could not stop looking at her over-the-top makeup
a wise man, he said nothing until she left
to his wife
She looked younger tonight than she has looked since she was six
his wife agreed
and silly, she suggested
They both were a bit gleeful
thinking how crazy she looked with all that make up
like a second grader
I have been retired for fourteen months
lost twenty-eight pounds in this time
when I was working, I was on the road ninety minutes a day
now I am not on the road ninety minutes a week
for two months my car has not moved
I had no idea how stressed I was
the job was stressful, but the drive was ten times worse
I am relieved to be able to stay home and do nothing
No schedule, no worries about being on time or dressing
I am comfy some days to wear my pajamas
This is the life I never knew I wanted
Fourteen-year-olds
Always
Ask questions
Fourteen-year-olds
Always
Try to understand others' lives
Fourteen-year-olds always
Ask
The wrong people
Fourteen-year-olds already
Have forgotten
The important things in life
She knew the joy of motherhood
once; for nine months:
Two hours, fourteen minutes.
she held him for his entire life
and tried to give
this tiny, unformed soul
all the love that he would need
as he moved on.
And all the hurts
they would endure together,
he and she;
falls from trees,
bruises, scratches, cuts,
broken bones,
broken hearts,
failures, confusion, anger.
She felt them
all at once
unbearable,
the weight of her grief.
Always Remember
...summer kisses, moonlit nights, strolling by the sea...and me.
First and Last
Our last times, gone, but our first times, always in memory.
Music Box
A garage sale music box plays, "I will always love you".
From the Sky
She tumbled from the sky - what a lucky lad was I.
One Eye Blink
Heaven sent, no time to think, she was gone in one eye blink.
Magic Flower
Gaze at her an hour - your love will not rise from that flower.
Enchanting Woman
Mona Lisa, Doris Day, you were The Twist, the ballet.
To Dreamland
Dear lullaby, take the apple of my eye...to dreamland.
Wedding Anniversary
From the first girl scout cookie to a glad gift of gold - sold!
Land Meets Sea
man of land and woman of sea, meet in sand, loving free
In case of article fourteen
Quite a problem could have been
Solved completely, setting free
All from tribal pedigree
No prejudice would take place
Based on nation or the race
No one meets with deprivation
Well protected by convention
Be it truth, we could have been
Living in most fairiest dream
Ever dreamt about, or heard
Magic of the written word
Would reach out the moral height
For the sake of human rights
But of course it’s just a joke
Article fourteen evokes
Well known habit to proclaim
Vaguely written rules of game
That’s not law, but just convention
Paving hell with good intention
Fence the road, and change some slabs
Re-elect old fags and hags
No one reads conventions, man
Wishful thinking is a damn
That’s innate with human race
I would really be amazed
If the article fourteen
Meant to be a real thing.
Fourteen is yawnful and staring,
Lying around in pyjamas at noon,
Wondering, ‘What to do?’
Then scooping and gulping some sludge
From a tub in the fridge –
Until a parent full of peeves,
aged around forty,
Comes fuming and growling,
Banging and slamming
Until each glooms
In their room.
Fourteen and forty –
Leaving the cleaning-up
For tomorrow.
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