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November 22, 1963
| Open Poetry #48 |
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November 22, 1963 |
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Krawdad Member Elite
since 2001-01-03
Posts 2597
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November 22, 1963 I was in uniform on the drill floor It was competition day one squad at a time My fellow students were doing well we were headed for a win all the moves were correct all the uniforms neatly aligned But I remember nothing of the winners or the losers I honestly don't know how the squad I led finished No one cared how it turned out even as we finished the drill our actions were on auto-pilot our heads swimming in fear The President was dead the Colonel had said! Were we suddenly at war? Who could have done such a thing? We were nearly paralyzed! But there was duty to be served leading a daily honor guard to lower the half-staff flag until the acute fear subsided The chemistry of the brain fixes such an unexpected event much like a sculptor would reveal the form as if done in an instant 112113 / 2222 [This message has been edited by Krawdad (11-22-2013 10:47 AM).] |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa |
This has me in tears, Ed. I can see the whole thing in front of me - all of you - and the indomitable spirit of "the show must go on", except that wasn't a show. I relive President Kennedy's death in my mind too. It was my first year out of school and I was at a teachers' training college. The world had its heart numbed and cried oceans that day - and even today, 50 years later, the horror and devastation and inhumanity of it feels as real as it did then and the waste of a human life, and such a wonderful one, as well as all other wasted lives, is a tough truth to accept. Rabbie Burns, and you and Yann, all speak of man's inhumanity to man, so clearly . . . when will such inhumanity end? If only each one of us in the world would look after only our own actions, there wouldn't be any of this . . . the simplicity of this frustrates me beyond belief - we each only have one person to control. Despite all the "buts" and the declarations of complications, it is truly this simple. Owl |
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paderewski Member
since 2011-02-04
Posts 287Louisiana, USA |
Everyone knows where they were on this date. Your poem was a fitting remembrance. Thank you for your service. ~*~ My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them. ~*~ |
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Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666California |
I was not alive to have such an imprint etched in mind as you have... but you my friend have etched one for me. Thank you. Michael |
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2islander2 Member Ascendant
since 2008-03-12
Posts 6825by the sea |
hello krawdad, it is so intense how we can be marked by an event, especially one like this, when a remarkable person is shot in the street, you make this alive now, and we can mesure the importance of emotions, I was 6 when it happens and it was my first emtionnal shock, thanks for the deep and fascinating poem, yann |
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