Long Minh Poems

Like Hannibal we crossed the pass and crossed 
   the Alps (okay, the Brynderwyn Hills) 
and a bridge too far on north-west passage.
   From out of the Valley of Mizpah 
to...

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Kalamatsch

As a kid I played with mud in pouring rain
                         ...

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I’ve sorted spuds at Cora Lynn, picked asparagus at Vervale, 
Cherries in the Dandenong’s, beans on the Thompson close to Sale,
I’ve picked apples out at Labertouche and made a tidy quid,
But I’ve never picked an...

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The pro-Hanoi Vietcong many years ago
In the 1950's Diem's government they'd overthrow
All opposition was crushed killed or jailed
These elected ones to their people they failed

This Buddhist country so religious in belief
Now politically torn apart, impending...

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P S its POETRY WRITE ON WRITE ON CONGRATS TO MY FELLOW POETRY SOUPERS PART 15

Many thanks to you selected poets;
 Of sharing your whispers from God,
 tho you didn’t know it;
 Each letters and...

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a ghost haunts the country of Laos
sieving through jungles
crackling twigs because
it has not yet died
beware of it
the one who drags one foot
while the other rots 20 feet away
shoes made of cast metal
footprints ever so present
in...

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Red, White and Blue

I fought in the Revolutionary war
To win freedom from tyranny 
I fought for the right to choose my religion 
For the right to live free!

No taxation without representation
Was our battle cry!
Fought to...

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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...

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Your quest for life was an abbreviated forty-eight years.
You served our nation honorably -
In a war – On The Ho-Chi-Minh Trail.
Then,--------Then, returned home for an unwelcoming!!

In a time I can’t remember, in a war: you...

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after Ho Chi Minh

I
The stone basin holds
still water. The still water

drinks the arid sponge
as rays of pure energy

slake their thirst on
the ebon wings of crows

II
Yangtze flows from widows peak
pooling briefly in the lock

of a tired...

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Thump, thump, thump,
I can hear the choppers
They are inbound
Med Evac
Another day in the bush
Another man down
I throw out a flare
It’s a hot LZ
Small arms fire
From a sniper
In a tree

Sitting in front of the TV
I watch...

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  Night after night, images flicker on the tube
    Horrific images of ‘the enemy’ dying
      Dying ‘Agent-Orange’ deaths
        ...

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Watch out for that ideology
Bad effects on your psychology
It bleeds into our sociology
‘Til we hate one another’s biology

Let’s make a pact
To get our facts together
Have no ideology
Whatsoever

Hitler and Stalin and Mao and Amin –
Terminating angels...

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Looking at a map and trying figure out the right route through Saigon streets.  Foreign maps are hard enough to figure out.  A local denizen takes pity on my plight.  He tries...

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Lessons learned
by first the Chinese
then France
and the Unites States...

Never underestimate
unconventional units
or guerrilla warfare
supported by regular units...

Dien Bien Phu
Bernard B. Fall
called it
"Hell in a very small place"
soon after 1954
America walked the "Street without joy"

The Viet Minh
attacking...

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Vehicles flow on the road
Engines rumble loudly throughout
All vehicles are running on the same road
But as each of them is different destination

So many people travel back and forth 
They step on the same path 
All...

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As Arkansas could never be Alaska,
so no-one wants Montana to be Maine.
Could North Dakota claim to be Nebraska?
Can Vachel Lindsay double for Hart Crane?

If Sing Sing isn’t Appalachian Spring,
and Justin Bieber can’t be Frankie Laine,
or...

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The oppressed Palestinian now hears solemn greetings from all around the world, riding the winds of war.
Many a giant ghosts stand contemplating the killing field,
Dr. King, Gandhi, Ho Chi Minh, lamenting your plight.
You persevere magnificently,...

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