ALL QUIET…

Fireworks were refrained

In D.C. ’cause it rained…

The crowd good sports

With weather reports.

Shouted and cheered all the same!

–

On cable this weekend,

They showed women and men…

Standing with arms

Bearing the harms

Protecting us in the end.

–

The Networks—I don’t know—

Those stations we rarely go…

In the past

Networks cast

A minimal shadow.

–

During commercial times,

Featured overseas stationed kinds…

Of salutes to home

To sister and Mom,

Cheering and easing their minds.

–

At work on Memorial Day,

Most employees can stay away…

A skeleton crew–

Security too,

Have something to do today!

–

–Jonathan Caswell

NOT SO BAD LOOKING!

(Photo of Mr. Jonathan Caswell taken Memorial Day, 2015, by Mrs. (Diana) Caswell)

–

NOT SO BAD-LOOKING…

–

A simple picnic affair,

Out in the warm sunny air…

Photos were due

Of me and you,

We were not bad-looking out there!

–

Jonathan Caswell

PICTURES FROM THE SUMMER

(Above Photo of Mrs. (Diana) Caswell taken Memorial Day,2015, by J.E. Caswell)

PICTURES FROM THE SUMMER

–

Using film in a camera for us,

Doesn’t happen fast…

Developing is longer still,

Till autumn shadows are cast.

–

Memorial Day, last winter

All come tumbling out…

Eight months is just too long to wait

Keeping our life’s hope stout!

–

–Jonathan Caswell

TANKA AND HAIKU ASSORTMENT

TANKA AND HAIKU ASSORTMENT FOR MEMORIAL DAY

(To keep blogging…I gotta keep writing!)

–

Memories still sting

Of loved ones gone to battle,

Not so long ago…

Death rattles’ painful image,

Softened because they’re at peace.

–

Distant grave await

The trumpet’s call to freedom

Few expect to hear!

–

Many nights we cried,

For young people lost in lands

Where we never went…

Some surprised us at the door,

Some have never been confirmed!

–

Mainstream media

Too cheap to set aside time

For those who gave all.

–

Flowers sprout on graves,

American flags renewed…

Showing someone cares:

Looted medallions sold,

Kids whose memories are cheap.

–

Millions remember

Where valor is still valued

Sacrifice mattered.

–

Many old movies,

All that money–nothing new?

Corporations don’t…

Christian networks do the most,

Special networks fan the flame.

–

Rhine bridge was intact

“Padre was busy”

Won’t happen today!

–

—Jonathan Caswell

ANOTHER MEMORIAL DAY

ANOTHER MEMORIAL DAY

–

Contrary to practice we hadn’t any plans,

Just to get through another day…

Near the end of the month with very little cash

She made fresh blueberry pie anyway!

–

We watched all the war films we could find,

She’ll watch tonight’s concert on TV….

From the Mall in Washington under the stars,

Maybe I’ll find it streaming on-line , for me!

–

We got outside for a walk, not very far

around the building end and back in…

It started to sprinkle as we headed for the door–

A day or two before she’s out again,

–

We’ve thought about our forebears–she’s called one or two–

I leave my family pretty much alone…

She urges me to call a cousin who cares–

She’s more active than I would be aat home.

–

No cemetery visits, no marching in parades,

On Sunday I just couldn’t keep the pace…

We do the best we can considering conditions

and pray for peace among ther human race!

–Jonathan Caswell

HOLIDAY MASH-UP

HOLIDAY MASH-UP

 

Heard on the radio,

In the middle of a talk show…

Someone insisted

That ALL be listed

This weekend for a memorial bow.

–

He wanted the families too,

To be lauded for what they do…

Isn’t this why

Flags already fly,

To help these folks make it through?

–

An Armistice Day conspiratorial…

After the next war became Memorial,**

The War to End All

The next domino to fall,

In the long human history tutorial!

–

We remember the ones not home,

And the ones who raised kids alone…

Sure isn’t the same

Having only a name

And not a warm body to own.

 

–Jonathan Caswell

**Too bad the Poet mashed up the facts…Memorial Day was the result of Decoration Day after the Civil War, when Civil War veterans’ graves were decorated.

Armistice Day, on November 11th, 1918, was the day the “War to End all Wars”—World War I.—ended by treaty with Germany.  It became Veteran’s Day by 1958 and was firmly established as being celebrated on November 11th by Congress and President Gerald Ford in 1971.