My Daughter's poetry interpretation competition is today.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

She just called and told me she'd advanced to finals. Her next reading is at 2:30. If she makes the cut again she advances to regionals.

Her category is American Reflections. She chose to do poems on the War in Vietnam. I thought I'd share the poems she read with you here on DU. Let me warn you ahead of time, they are very sad. I cry everytime she reads them to me.

This collection is written an Army Nurse who served in Vietnam. Her name is Dusty.


"HELLO, DAVID" ~Dusty

Hello, David - my name is Dusty.
I'm your night nurse.
I will stay with you.
I will check your vitals
every fifteen minutes.
I will document
inevitability.
I will hang more blood
and give you something
for your pain.
I will stay with you
and I will touch your face.

Yes, of course,
I will write your mother
and tell her that you were brave.
I will write your mother
and tell her how much you loved her.
I will write your mother
and tell her to give your bratty kid sister
a big kiss and hug.
What I will not tell her
is that you were wasted.
I will stay with you
and I will hold your hand.
I will stay with you
and watch your life
flow through my fingers
into my soul.
I will stay with you
until you stay with me.

Goodbye, David - my name is Dusty.
I am the last person
you will see.
I am the last person
you will touch
I am the last person
who will love you.
So Long, David - my name is Dusty,
David - who will give me something
for my pain?



"My Dead Are Not Silent" ~Dusty

My dead are not silent.
They scream in my dreams.

My dead are not still.
They reach for their mothers.

My dead are young soldiers
spent, wasted, discarded.

They paid the price
for political ploys
for strategic follies
for tactical errors.

The politicians and planners
the orderers and senders
discomfited but unshamed
demand that my dead lie quiet
that my grief be smothered
that my ache be shunned
that my memories be denied.

But my dead will not be stilled
They will not be shelved
numbered
cataloged
straightened
into sanitized rows.
Their blood yet drips through my soul
Their moans still echo through my heart.

My dead demand remembrance
My dead demand honor
My dead demand that lessons be learned.
I hear them still
through my dreams
through my laughter
through my prayers

My dead are not silent.

[JAbuchan08]

1. Well know we now she's the one kid there who won't be doing Shel

Silverstein.

I remember back in school there was like one Robert Frost poem 10 Shel Silverstein poems, and something else.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

2. Bah, Silverstein.

These young people are far to serious about their topic to read him. It seems the judges in her room were into the tragic side of American reflections. The other girl who advanced did a piece on the stock market crash of 1929. I'm not sure who it was by.

I was surprised the judges didn't go with the rah rah America readings, to be honest.

[JAbuchan08]

4. must live in a more cultured area,

when I did oral interp. I read Robert frost, I read a poem I found in a Great grandmother's diary (I think she had written it, but I forget) and I read Jabberwocky. Guess which one I advanced on?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. Hmmm, cultured area....

:rofl: Thanks I really needed that laugh! :) Not even close! Unless you consider cattle ranching culture. :)

They all want to make it to State and in order to do that they have to know their stuff. Also, the ones here who do this are usually also our theater students. I guess on a whole they are more cultured than the rest. Once they do begin to advance they run up against some very diversified pieces of poetry. They wouldn't stand a chance if they read something that's over used.

I'm really hoping you advanced on your Great Grandmother's poem. It's a lovely thought even if I'm wrong. I'm my experience uncommon pieces do better. :)

[skygazer]

3. Those are tragically beautiful

They gave me goose bumps reading them. Good luck to your daughter - she must be a very cool kid.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. They are very powerful.

Thanks for the good luck wishes, she's should be either getting close to her turn or about done by now. I won't hear more updates until the judges decision. :)

[jarab]

5. kick !!

For results update.
...O...

[JohnKleeb]

7. Those are moving

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. They really are.

I thought she'd made a good decision when she chose them. :)

I was afraid it may backfire on her for being too politically motivated, she said she didn't care. They are as relevant now as they were when they were written.