Sun rose over peach trees
and the billboards
put up by the John Birch Society
America is a Republic
not a Democracy.
Don't that make you feel better?
Daylight spread across
the fruited plain.
American beauty roses
burst with pride
on the Fourth of July.
A contest entry
- Favorite Things by Pamela A Lamppa.
1200 points, ended July 3, 2008, 12 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
How soon did you see the train?
Comments
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shudders... and knows how close this could again become reality...
Brilliant! You pulled my favorite things beyond themselves as prompts and pushed history right smack in front of us. Perfectly timed. And damn - those American Beauty Roses... YES! The perfect punch!
I loved this one poet. I loved it. Thank you for this. ~Pamela
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Wow, deep topics on the fruited plane! Chilling really. Whenever there is pride involved, especially as if it were a given, one wonders where/when is the fall. A hard look in the daylight.
Marlene -
How soon did you see the train?
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Yes, how soon?
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I am fascinated by the date here - and had to go back through your poetry, to find that you hadn't yet heard Martin Luther King's speech, or seen John F Kennedy at the time you write of here. So I'm left to wonder - what great moment of your life, Fourth of July 1962, embraced?
Your poem is, as usual, a beautiful image with some uncomfortable thoughts attached.
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Thanks for your comments and your question. July 1962 - JFK is President - the apogee of Camelot - we will bear every burden - support any friend - oppose any foe. Just over the horizon in October waits the Cuban Missile Crisis. Vietnam is beginning to boil. The New Right with the JBS on point is in ascension. My country is as yet unsullied. Untapped capacities for good and evil
await events and human decisions. Arlington, Texas is an upscale,
conservative, confident suburb of Houston.
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