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Open Poetry #12
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Sunshine
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Listening to every heart

0 posted 2001-01-09 10:31 PM


Flagging Memory

Need to quit watching
the movies
they make me cry

a romance, you ask
no
a movie of honor
war and commitment

and the flag

is this what it means then
to grow old
and have young memories

to watch the here and now
on disk
and skip back in b&w time
to a flag and a scene…

picture it…

she was eleven
science camp ~ heaven!
rocks and toads
flora and fauna
and boys over in
Camp Towanda

skinny and shy
gangly and awkward
her biggest dream?
someday to be heard…

but now at this moment
she took great delight
in looking forward to
star gazing that night…

but to leave early they did
after a rainy-drizzly noon
left camp at 4:00
fortune to smile on them soon…

for the day would consist
of a nature's hike and such
rocks to be named
and flowers to be touched

but it was when they crested the peak
and looked back down on camp to seek
their landmark, the flag, blown by the breeze
and touched by a rainbow, there in the east

the young girl just stared,
so entranced was her eye
the goodness of man's flag
gloried by God from high

her throat clutched,
her green eyes teared
startled, her heart touched
by the cheering that neared

for fellow campers turned
and saw the sight, too
and the bugler saw
and the bugler blew

an early taps, to mark the scene
the flag flapping in the breeze
as the rainbow's colors gleamed
before they faded in the east

all the kids of grade six
on a science walk, to pick up sticks
waiting for the night, to see the stars
now wondered just who they were

to have witnessed such a scene
a moment of peace, in 1963
October's flag flying, in the dying sun
just weeks before the shot of a gun…

no, my friend
there's not a time
when I can look
upon this
flag of mine
and not know
what it means
how it makes
my eyes shine

oh 'tis yours
and others', too
I hope it means
the same to you

01.09.01



Karilea
If I whisper, will you listen?...
I would rather be silent and write, than speak loudly and be bound.
KRJ




© Copyright 2001 Karilea Rilling Jungel - All Rights Reserved
Martie
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since 1999-09-21
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California
1 posted 2001-01-09 10:36 PM


Karilea--This is so touching a memory...beautifully written...makes me want to hug you...so I will...(((((((hug))))))))!
doreen peri
Member Elite
since 1999-05-25
Posts 3812
Virginia
2 posted 2001-01-09 10:46 PM


quote:
and skip back in b&w time
to a flag and a scene

her biggest dream?
someday to be heard…

no, my friend
there's not a time
when I can look
upon this
flag of mine
and not know
what it means
how it makes
my eyes shine


these lines especially hit me... it ALL hit me... what fine writing, ms karilea... so special, distinct, real... so wise and expressive...

hey!! anybody ever told you that you have a way with words??? LOL!! of COURSE they have... and i am in a long line saying the same...

enjoyed this much, miss sunshiny one! *smile*

BSC
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since 2000-02-04
Posts 2919
New York, USA
3 posted 2001-01-10 12:47 PM


Wow Karilea ~ So touching, so beautiful... hey, I was in 6th grade then too...and I have green eyes.... wow.... Bonnie
Paula Finn
Member Ascendant
since 2000-06-17
Posts 5546
missouri
4 posted 2001-01-10 01:13 AM


The flag always affects me like that...I have seen it wave in many places from Missouri to Hawaii, over schoolyards and Memorials...I have watched children say the Pledge...not truly knowing what the words meant yet still feeling that glory as she waves...you really touched me with this one
bbent
Senior Member
since 2001-01-07
Posts 521
Alaska
5 posted 2001-01-10 02:23 AM


Hi Sunshine,

  I believe I may have been in the sixth grade in 63,

  Your poem left me with enough images in my head that I thought I might be having flashbacks.....................Peace

                                bbent


~ live and let live ~

tracie66
Member Elite
since 2000-01-18
Posts 4713
Australia
6 posted 2001-01-10 05:48 AM


Oh sunshiny girl, this is a wonderful touching piece, so very well penned...boy those images just fantastic  
Tracie~


Love is the life of the soul...
It is the harmony of the universe



Marsha
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Member Rara Avis
since 2000-07-10
Posts 7423
Maidstone Kent England
7 posted 2001-01-10 07:09 AM


Kari love, this was utterly utterly wonderful, it really and trully is awesome. You know what the English are like, well, the ones of my age and education anyway. We tend not to take much notice of our flag, possibly because we think that in our past we did an awful lot of hi jacking. Of peoples lands, their culture, their identities. (Don't get me started on that!) But as always you have portrayed a brilliant wonder.
and Yes I LOVE IT, as always.  

Take care love
          Majestic Marsha
                    
              


Take back the hope you gave,- I claim
Only a memory of the same
Robert Browning



Marge Tindal
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Florida's Foreverly Shores
8 posted 2001-01-10 07:48 AM


Karilea~

'is this what it means then
to grow old
and have young memories'


Yes, and doing it well is the key !
You've captured some poignant memories here.
~*Marge*~


~*The pen of the poet never runs out of ink, as long as we breathe.*~
noles1@totcon.com

CocoBaci
Member Elite
since 2000-05-06
Posts 3043

9 posted 2001-01-10 01:32 PM


Spectacular write Sunshine...
I enjoyed the read immensely...
Thank you PoetLady
coco

Stan
Member
since 2001-01-01
Posts 120
Inland Empire Southern California
10 posted 2001-01-10 01:50 PM


How lifting to see a touch of tradition being forwarded in the tangle of changing times.  And done so well.  Thanks for this fine work.


Sunshine
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since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
11 posted 2001-01-10 01:53 PM


Martie, your hugs are warm and wonderful...thank you...

Doreen...didn't mean to hit so hard...but that you were touched by any line of mine fills me up with pleasure...thank you for letting me know...

Bonnie, we've touched before on the "age" thing...we're getting younger all the time...{~,^}

Paula, sometimes I can't even sing the National Anthem because my throat chokes...but that's me...sentimental little dudette that I am....thank you for reading....

bbent...if only one good memory came to you, then the poem and I have done our job...thank you for sharing...

tracie66, so glad you could see the whole scene...and for sharing that with me...

Marsha, tell your counterparts..."notice the flag"...and then, be a role model....hugs....

Marge, I think you managed to pass on not one but two compliments there...thank you White Feather...

Coco...PoetLady?  Thank you!....

Balladeer
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since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA
12 posted 2001-01-10 02:39 PM


...and the next month I was on the firing range in basic training watching that same flag as it was being lowered to half-mast and I, too, had those tears in my eyes....
Wilfred Yeats
Member Elite
since 2000-08-04
Posts 2704
Wilmington, Delaware
13 posted 2001-01-10 04:26 PM


Oh yes - I felt that way - in sixth grade - - well thru my 20's  - into 30's - somewhere in there - I realized there is a belief that it represents the flexibility to continually improve - that ours is still an imperfect society - thus - the amendments to our constitution, the recognition that prohibition was not what some hoped - viet nam - was/is not our country etc - and when those with extreme right - or extreme left opinions hold up the flag - I get frightened
because I don't agree - I'm a christian in a plural society- - well - you get what I'm saying - I hold the flag high and proudly as I believe Emma Lazarus might have when she penned the poetry on the statue of liberty

suthern
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Louisiana
14 posted 2001-01-10 05:01 PM


This one made me swallow hard, Sunshiney one... ya done good!
Sunshine
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Listening to every heart
15 posted 2001-01-10 10:47 PM


Ah Deer, I hope I didn't pull back any bad memories...such times...

Mr. Yeats...never drop the flag...and your response could be a piece of prose in itself...write on!...

Suthern...thank you for sharing that...'tis much appreciated...

doreen peri
Member Elite
since 1999-05-25
Posts 3812
Virginia
16 posted 2001-01-10 10:55 PM


i haven't done the search yet...time limitations plust the combination of my brain trying to figure out if it's still in my head... LOL... geesh... but just to let you know THIS one's a go!!! i want to find one more... and it's going to be hard choosing... ... submit, my friend because you don't want to end up like me and not know how to... LOL! *g

hope that made sense
  

Sunshine
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Listening to every heart
17 posted 2001-01-11 03:28 PM


You ALWAYS make sense....thank you Doreen...for the "go" and the faith...

how else would I know?

Charisma
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lost in blue pages
18 posted 2001-01-12 04:52 PM


love this flagging memory, and you describe it so clear, heart touching words.

((hugs))
Charisma

Mark Bohannan
Member Rara Avis
since 2000-06-21
Posts 7269
In the winds of Cherokee song
19 posted 2001-01-13 02:46 PM


I could never tell you what this one means to me but just know that it is one that I will cherish and also share with my father as I know it will hold the same meaning to him as it does me.  "THIS IS ONE" for your book for sure.  Loved the feeling and the redflections in this piece much.
Sunshine
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Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
20 posted 2001-01-13 05:23 PM


Charisma, thank you for your kind comment...

Mark, knowing that you will share this with your father...well, that tells me that I did something right...thank you for the smile...

Mysteria
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since 2001-03-07
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British Columbia, Canada
21 posted 2001-10-01 02:16 PM


Now you know I love sharing your memories, and this is one of the very best of yours, thank you.

~Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self~ Cyril Connolly

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