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
(sorry, i deleted my previous comment because i spelled cemetery incorrectly)