Skip to main content

a blogxperimential memorial day poem

in a few days it will be memorial day, and in my experience, memorial day is one of those "holidays" whose true meaning is rather missed in exchange for something else, in this case cookouts and parties. instead of being about a nice juicy hamburger (which deserves a holiday of its own, no doubt), memorial day is a day to remember those who have died in service to their country. i think, though, rather than only a time to reflect on those individuals, it has also become a day to "remember" how those lives and deaths have contributed to the freedoms and lifestyle many of us enjoy today. for me, anyway, it is a day of remembering; a day of not-taking-everything-for-granted; a day of appreciating.
---
and so for this, my 350th post, i thought i'd try a little blogxperiment: i would like us to collaboratively write a memorial day poem. i'm going to start it off with one line, and then i am asking you, my readers, to add a line in the comments section. from time to time i will update the post with the added lines (i've already updated it once - keep writing people!) . i am not aware of this happening anywhere else in the blogosphere (although it could be), so let's break some ground! here are some rules:
---
-only one line at a time! (you can post more than one line in the poem, as many as you want actually, but you need to let someone else write before your next turn).
---
-keep it respectable (i reserve the right to delete any comments and exclude any lines that i deem inappropriate.)
---
-make it your own. that is, don't write what you think looks cool, but write the contribution that YOU have to give to it. the poem, i am hoping, will take on a bit of a life of its own, so interact with the poem itself.
---
-anonymous comments are absolutely allowed.
---
-don't worry about meter or rhyme, necessarily. again, let it take on a life of its own and see what happens.
---
-have fun with it! don't be shy - just write it!
---
i am looking forward to what we might end up with. let's see what happens! here goes...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
its one of those one-a-year mondays, and i'm trying to remember
the friend i lost in late november
and the families he and others have left behind
who have fought bravely for our freedom
it's the triangle flag that makes my mom cry
it is all the flags that fly so freely
the red, the white and the blue that stands out
from the cemetery gray of so many tombstones.
a reminder that freedom is not free.

Comments

Anonymous said…
the friend i lost in late november
Anonymous said…
and the families he and others have left behind
Emoly said…
who have fought bravely for our freedom
Anonymous said…
it's the triangle flag that makes my mom cry (julid)
Anonymous said…
it is all the flags that fly so freely
Emoly said…
the red, the white and the blue that stands out
greg milinovich said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
greg milinovich said…
from the cemetery gray of so many tombstones.

(sorry, i deleted my previous comment because i spelled cemetery incorrectly)
Anonymous said…
a reminder that freedom is not free.

Popular posts from this blog

bad haircuts (for a laugh)

everybody needs to laugh.  one good way i have found to make that happen is to do a simple google image search for 'bad haircut.'  when you do so, some of the following gems show up.  thankfully, my 9th grade school picture does NOT show up.  otherwise, it would certianly make this list!  please laugh freely and without inhibition.  thank you and have a nice day. 

happiness is dry underwear

we started potty training jack on thursday. we followed a program called POTTY TRAIN IN ONE DAY, which, by the way, i think is kind of crazy. i mean, if someone were to offer you a book called, "ACHIEVE WORLD PEACE IN ONE DAY" i don't think you would take it seriously. and yet here we are, trying to accomplish an equally daunting task in one 24-hour period. it is intense. the day is shrouded in a lie because as soon as your happily diapered child wakes up you tell him that it is a big party. we had balloons and streamers and noisemakers and silly string - all the trappings of a legitimate party. but it is most certainly not a party. it is a hellishly exhausting day. as soon as jack got out of bed, we gave him a present: an anatomically correct doll that wets himself. jack named him quincy. several times quincy successfully peed in the potty and even had an accident or two in his "big boy underwear." he also dropped a deuce that looked and smelled sus

the crucifixion of Robert Lewis

  "the crucifixion of Robert Lewis" mixed media collage with leaves, acrylic paint, and found objects by gregory a milinovich october 2023 this october i was invited to participate in a three day trip which was called a "pilgrimage of pain and hope."  while that may not sound super exciting to many of you, it actually really intrigued me.  i am the kind of person that wants to feel big feelings, and i am drawn to the deep places, so  i was interested in traveling to the scranton area, where the trip was planned, to see what it might look like to be a pilgrim that was wide-eyed and listening to the pain and the hope in the stories of others.   this trip included hearing the stories of immigrants to the northeastern pennsylvania area, and the work in the coal mines that many of them did.  it included hearing from folks who are working for housing justice and equity in downtown scranton.  it included hearing from those indigenous people who first inhabited that land.