Linda Sue Grimes's Blog
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Jerry wrote: “Merry Christmas to all, and sleep peacefully this season. Our men and women in uniform have our backs as we enjoy our family and friends. May God bless each and every one of them!”
As I read the poem, I was delighted with its message, its form, and its superb use of the metaphysical nature of the soldier’s presence in every one of our lives. These brave men and women stand metaphorically at the doors of our homes while literally serving in distant places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, South Korea, Kuwait, Europe, anywhere in the world they are needed.
Americans in the homeland can be assured that these soldiers are protecting the freedom and human rights of their families, their fellow citizens, and their country. My friend Jerry can assure us that these selfless servants “have our backs,” because he is one of them. Even after military men and women leave active duty, that sense of duty remains with them; they are permanently changed in attitude and strengthened in faith.
A Labor of Love
Michael Marks, the poet who penned “A Soldier’s Christmas,” has appended a note to his poem where it appears on the International War Veterans’ Poetry Archives: “In loving appreciation of the countless Americans who have, and continue to serve in the Armed Forces and those who gave their life for their country. Your sacrifices will never be forgotten. We look forward to the day you come home. God bless and keep you always, and God Bless America.”
Marks also explains that he deplored the fact that “in the wake of the 2000 Presidential Election our nation saw the right of US Armed Forces personnel openly questioned and debated.” He felt it was “unconscionable that at the onset of the Christmas season, those serving to defend our nation would hear anything but our love and support.”
The poem, penned on Pearl Harbor Day 2000, has been widely circulated on the Internet, as well as in magazines. Marks has received many letters from Marines, soldiers, moms, dads, brothers, and sisters. He says, “I have saved and cherish every letter and set out to continue writing throughout the year.”
Readers continue to be enlightened and enchanted by this wonderful poem. I dedicate my commentary on this exceptional piece to Michael Marks for having written it, to Corporal Jerry Smith for sending it to me, and to all the men and women who are protecting our freedom to enjoy, read, and write about poetry.
Merry Christmas to all!
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
In addition to articles about poetry, I also write about politics and spirituality. The following are links to some of my politics and spirituality articles here on Suite101:
Politics
Cheney Counters Emanuel on Afghanistan Strategy: Is the Current Procrastination Based on Politics?
Vice-President Dick Cheney disputes White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's claim of having to start from scratch on Afghan War strategy.
Rep. Phil Gingrey on Health Care: Victim of Media Spin
A 45-second clip from a speech attempts to paint Rep. Gingrey as a crass buffoon amused by the suffering of his fellow Americans. Context forms a very different picture.
Spirituality
Spiritual Marriage: The Purpose of Marriage
What is the true purpose of marriage? Is happiness the most important reason to marry? Or to avoid loneliness? How can a marriage become a spiritual marriage?
Our Changing, Turbulent World: A World in Transition
Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings offer a scientific method for outsmarting changes that keep us nervous, frustrated, and dissatisfied in this turbulent, changing world.
I also have resumed writing for the Republican Party site at BellaOnline.com.
Thank you for visiting.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Kooser’s Commentary
About the poem, Kooser comments: “This week’s poem is by a high school student, Michelle Bennett, who lives in Tukwila, Washington, and here she is taking a look at what comes next, Western Washington University in Bellingham, with everything new about it, including opportunity.
The Poem
Depending upon the reader’s own experience, this poem will ring happy or sad, melancholy or uplifting:
The first four lines of the poem:
You find yourself in a narrow bed you’ve never slept in,
on a tree-lined grassy field you’ve never walked upon,
on a cold toilet seat you have not sat on,
in a place you now call your home, your learning, your future
To read the rest of this verse, Column 234 .
Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry
While serving as the U. S. Poet Laureate 2004 to 2006,
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry
While serving as the U. S. Poet Laureate 2004 to 2006,
Kooser’s Commentary
Kooser introduces the poem: “I don't often mention literary forms, but of this lovely poem by Cecilia Woloch I want to suggest that the form, a villanelle, which uses a pattern of repetition, adds to the enchantment I feel in reading it. It has a kind of layering, like memory itself. Woloch lives and teaches in southern
The Poem
This poem has a disturbing, condescending tone, and says more about the speaker of the poem than it does about the subject, the speaker’s mother. It is a typical atheist/agnostic, postmodernist appraisal, easily forgotten, if ever read in the first place. I'm afraid Kooser's assessment of this poem is too kind and utterly simplistic.
The first two tercets of "My Mother's Pillow:
My mother sleeps with the Bible open on her pillow;
she reads herself to sleep and wakens startled.
She listens for her heart: each breath is shallow.
For years her hands were quick with thread and needle.
She used to sew all night when we were little;
now she sleeps with the Bible on her pillow
To read the rest of this verse, Column 228 .
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
In 1976, I entered Ball State University graduate school to pursue a M.A. in English. I was primarily interested in poetry writing, so I enrolled in a poetry writing workshop. We would hand in our poetic efforts, and the prof would make mimeograph copies to hand out to the class. We would read and react to the anonymous works during the workshop meetings.
One of the works that I found most memorable is titled, "The Woman Speaks Poetry." I had a copy of the original mimeographed sheet for a number of years but somehow eventually lost it. I had read it so many times, however, that I memorized most of it. The following is my rendering from memory:
THE WOMAN SPEAKS POETRY
What you say turns with the back roads
Through cornfields that plant the horizon
And wonders along the Mississinawa
Crossing over through covered bridges
Beneath sycamores where the air is cool
And still as crawfish
In the slow, green water of the river
Each word a milkweed in October
The sentence branches into asters
And clings to the cuff of my ear like cockleburs
Beneath the skins of grapes
My tongue looks for you.
Because this is merely a rendering from memory, there are, no doubt, many inaccuracies. I have left off all punctuation, because I cannot remember how or even if it was used.
If the poet who wrote this piece would just happen to see this blog entry, I would be delighted to have a corrected copy of this delightful piece.
Thank you for visiting Poetry at Suite101.com.
