tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1916031369325814810.post8230236425353356260..comments2023-11-05T04:04:54.585-05:00Comments on DRAMA QUEEN!: "America"Uncle Sydney 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/06315955207217416368noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1916031369325814810.post-30954949237637850152010-07-07T22:08:50.170-04:002010-07-07T22:08:50.170-04:00Thanks both to Bodmin, and Anon. The poem is great...Thanks both to Bodmin, and Anon. The poem is great, and Hendrix should be on the silver Half Dollar!Uncle Sydney 2012https://www.blogger.com/profile/06315955207217416368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1916031369325814810.post-50315363662839973862010-07-04T19:41:44.905-04:002010-07-04T19:41:44.905-04:00Great post Sidney..........Your sense of place and...Great post Sidney..........Your sense of place and time are sdpot on. I enclose the following, written by my friend and fellow,poet Steven Mannihng:<br /> <br />My ode to growing up in America<br /><br /><br />An American Odyssey<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />I have travelled far and wide America; <br /><br />And have waded in your oceans-East and West. <br /><br />I have worked your mills and mines and truck farms; <br /><br />I studied in your schools and universities <br /><br />And then I took my rest. <br /><br /> <br /><br />My father and forefathers fought to keep you free; <br /><br />My mother bore her children…taught them destiny. <br /><br />I have stood with them in Church and learned their songs… <br /><br />I have read the news…argued… <br /><br />Infuriated at the wrongs. <br /><br /> <br /><br />When the time came, I at last joined to another, <br /><br />And then I learned some more; <br /><br />Raised our family together-fed and dressed them; <br /><br />Still sometimes, I can’t wait until I’m out the door. <br /><br /> <br /><br />In the sands of Montauk <br /><br />I remember seeing footprints that <br /><br />Walt Whitman might have made; <br /><br />At the base of little Round Top <br /><br />I looked up to see another world’s end, <br /><br />And (somehow) I was dismayed. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />I have wandered in your cities without number, <br /><br />Stared at motel ceilings without slumber, <br /><br />Joined with people of the night in dingy barrooms – <br /><br />Filled with wonder; <br /><br />Mystified at how a tiny moth’s wings shake <br /><br />Can move my soul like thunder. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />I have stood atop twin towers <br /><br />Above canyons that forgot the day; <br /><br />And have leaned against the wall at Fillmore West <br /><br />Watching children of a foreign culture play; <br /><br /> <br /><br />I have felt the clamor of Niagara, <br /><br />And have soared two miles above the Great Salt Lake; <br /><br />I have witnessed how the Mississippi introduces prairie, <br /><br />And I still remember how <br /><br />Old Faithful made a young man quake. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />A life’s new chapters start <br /><br />When a man begins to roam, <br /><br />Still nothing in the world - large, small, or beautiful- <br /><br />Can stir a wounded heart, <br /><br />Like standing on the steps to home. <br /><br /> by Steven L. ManninGAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1916031369325814810.post-25499565399259503042010-07-04T12:16:16.491-04:002010-07-04T12:16:16.491-04:00For myself, I celebrated my former country's 2...For myself, I celebrated my former country's 235 birthday by cranking up the volume and playing Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_k-6FLfDkM, for want of better). It's the aural equivalent of Guernica - or to put it another way, if Picasso's Guernica had a sound track, Hendrix's music would be it. Happy Ben Tre! Happy Af-Pak! No danger of running out of barbecued kids from superior air power!Bodminnoreply@blogger.com