Poets & Poems [Part II/10-16-2006] Three Biographical Poems

1) Saved: at St. Joseph’s Hospital
2) War: and self-defense
3) Last Day in Vietnam



1) Saved: at St. Joseph’s Hospital

I was born downtown, on an autumn day
Under the roof of St. Joseph’s Hospital;
Tended by nuns—they took me away
Until my (unwed) mother—screamed!
To the doctors…
Thus, under the crucifix, I was saved.


# 1506 (10/16/2006; written at El Parquetito’s, in Lima, Peru, during lunch)



2) War, and Self-defense

A war we waged:
For a cause, we cried,
The glory of it all
Resides in the Halls
Of some public domain.

Freedom was the reason,
It’s said, for the blood:
The sacrifice—the dead;
No matter how indignant!
It’s all self-defense.

Dedicated to the American soldiers found in: Vietnam and Iraq; #1509 (10/16/2006)





3) Last Day in Vietnam

Two men, and I stand at attention in Vietnam, then we jump up on the back of the five-ton truck (it will take us to Saigon) we give a last salute. The square I stood on so many times, fade…its now difficult to find; here youth dominates, with young and sparkling eyes.

The dusty clouds of dirt from the tires of the five-ton, covers the war I leave behind, soon my mother will touch my hands (so I think and almost I feel); twenty-four hours have passed, I’m now within reach. And upon arrival home, never once does she speak about the poor victorious logic of the war.

10/16/2006, #1510