Destruction is My Name
By Rebecca Cady
My young body hit the wet soil
The ripped parachute hit me shortly after.
Smoke and bullets traveled by me
While I perfected my next commanded kill.
Before I knew it, the villagers died.
The blood and guts made an ugly pic
Of families, soon I thought
…forgotten.
My habit of repeated loss
Became an habit of calculation,
And keeping score of sacrificed
Bags of flesh delivered me
Out of this hellhole dubbed Viet Nam.
Three Buddies eradicated,
But somehow I continued to exist,
…Extension.
My Asian delicacies fed
Me whenever I hungered.
Delivered hearts and souls without
Thoughts of tomorrow’s disappointment
Of unwanted pregnancies;
Of flower buds that would die before
Any sunlight could kiss them, before
…Creation.
My government’s masters stood
In another space and time.
My government could worry less
If opiates took soldiers.
No emotions, Sergeant, your name’s
…Destruction.
Poem 2: Write from the point of view of anything not human
Family Tree
By Rebecca Cady
Comrade blue sky is my ceiling
And then his soulmate clouds decorate
While other tree members reach
For feathered friends flying
As others embrace many
Birthplaces of nature’s
Wild life generations.
Some are martyred for the sakes
Of our human neighbors.
Some suffer for the cause
Of regrowth
Of our cousin plant life.
Seasons can be amazing
Or can be awful to trees
Green is the color of our hair
In the breathtaking spring and summer
And in astonishing autumn
We dress in earth-toned hues.
But only in the chill of winter-tide
Do we reveal our true
Splendor and silhouettes
When clothed in lacey snow
And outlined in pinks and blues
At the end of each day.
Trees are movie-stars
Surpassing most legends
Unless those humans decide
To wipe out another barked relative
Like countless of tree kinsmen
That has faded away in the past.
The family of trees
Sing ballads with brother breeze
And guards Mother Earth when
Mr. Weather is in a bad mood.
Why a tree’s artistic canopy
Has cooled many a human
And our ever-changing wardrobe
Has provided pleasing portraits for millennia.
Forget flora and fauna
For the time being…
Our family of trees has watched
Over the world of all living things…
One in particular… Mankind. (Continuance of poem)
Poem 3: Read Ted Kooser’s poem “Tattoo” Write a brief poem in which the speaker describes a person she or he is observing.
Coddled
By Rebecca Cady
The bundled bear cracks open his front door
Large ungloved paws feel for weather’s warning
And his straight nose smells other breakfasts prepared.
Back in all black, he proceeds up the stairs
Out to the icy parking lot he goes;
Quietly steps across cracked sidewalks,
Stopping to get warm with a sip of tea
He shyly greets the passers with a nod
He sighs at the thought of another day
Of work without meaning except for pay.
Blue eyes cast down at the floor for no one.
Movements of experience get food ready
For customers who come to buy reds and greens
Fixed by this “Coddled King” behind the throne.