{"id":9107,"date":"2016-05-30T20:37:20","date_gmt":"2016-05-30T20:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/?p=9107"},"modified":"2016-05-30T20:37:20","modified_gmt":"2016-05-30T20:37:20","slug":"remembering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/2016\/05\/remembering\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_3266\"<\/a>I had a hard time finding a post for today. I looked through public domain poems trying to find one that was appropriate, one that celebrates the soldier and laments the war. For that\u2019s how I feel. I hate war. But I appreciate the men and women who have fought and continue to fight in our wars. I appreciate their sacrifices and those of their families.<\/p>\n

Then I remembered I had a war poem, one I hadn\u2019t shared before because I was embarrassed by the publication of it. It was my first published poem and I celebrated when I heard it was accepted but I was disappointed when I received the American Poetry Anthology<\/strong> <\/em>(Volume 1, Number 2), edited by John Frost<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It was in the early 1980s and I had responded to one of those come-on ads in the back of Parade<\/em> magazine. I submitted a persona poem. It was accepted.<\/p>\n

Of course my poem was accepted; I don\u2019t imagine any weren\u2019t accepted. The book is over seven hundred pages, with as many as ten poems per page. The index of contributors is 25 pages long. My poem is on page 659.<\/p>\n

I learned my lesson. I put the big book away and didn\u2019t mention it. Until today when I share the poem with you.<\/p>\n

With gratitude to all those who have served and continue to serve; peace, love, solace<\/strong><\/p>\n

Duty<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sizzling August has closed over us again.
\nAnd, yes, he\u2019s sobbing in the night.
\nHis top lip, quivering, is blistered with sweat,
\nwhile shaky hands clutch at limp sheets.
\nViet Nam arrives with August\u2019s humidity.
\nSteaming jungles invade our city bungalow.
\nI witness fear and repulsion in flashes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not hot rods dragging,
\nthe 3:45 quaking down the tracks, or
\nAngeline clacking her bottle against the crib slats.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s gunfire,
\nchopper blades,
\ncommands and
\nwhispers.<\/p>\n

He speaks war only in damp sleep,
\nWhen weather triggers memories,
\nWhen sparks of moments ignite.
\nHe tosses, moans, mumbles dry-throated pleas.
\nI hope the fall will reach us soon.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Ellen Wade Beals, 1982<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_7144\"<\/a>\"IMG_7124\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had a hard time finding a post for today. I looked through public domain poems trying to find one that was appropriate, one that celebrates the soldier and laments the war. For that\u2019s how I feel. I hate war. But I appreciate the men and women who have fought and continue to fight in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3002,18,127,12,280,1620,39,13,7,16,3001,3000,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-9107","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-american-poetry-anthology","8":"tag-anthology","9":"tag-contributors-2","10":"tag-ellen-wade-beals","11":"tag-glimpse-of-solace","12":"tag-memorial-day","13":"tag-photography","14":"tag-poetry","15":"tag-solace","16":"tag-solace-in-so-many-words","17":"tag-viet-name","18":"tag-war-poems","19":"tag-weighed-words","20":"entry","21":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9107"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9116,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9107\/revisions\/9116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}