Written on 18 December 2004; published on 20 December 2018; republished on 20 October 2020
Image: “Big Pod Ceanothus (Ceanothus megacarpus), Sage Ranch Park, Simi Hills, California,” cropped, by Alice B. Clagett, 16 February 2020, CC BY-SA 4.0, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..
Image: “Big Pod Ceanothus (Ceanothus megacarpus), Sage Ranch Park, Simi Hills, California,” cropped, by Alice B. Clagett, 16 February 2020, CC BY-SA 4.0, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..
JOY SPRINGS FORTH: A POEM IN THREE PARTS, by Alice B. Clagett
Dear Ones,
Here is a poem in three parts that was inspired by walks in the Santa Monica Mountains …
JOY SPRINGS FORTH:
A POEM IN THREE PARTS
by Alice B. Clagett
About the Santa Monica Mountains 18 December 2004
Springtime in the mountains, . . . . and my heart . . . . charts a fragrant course . . . . through Ceanothus seas.
The afternoon sun . . . . sings soft green dreams, . . . . and mountain slumbers.
Grey ghost . . . . of yesterday’s white fire, . . . . yucca exclaims upon the mountain . . . . “I am I!”
Written in August 2004; I indicated 1 August 2004 as the date of writing; published on 20 December 2018
HOME AGAIN, a Poem by Alice B. Clagett
Dear Ones,
Here is a poem about dreams and the workaday world …
HOME AGAIN
A Poem by Alice B. Clagett August 2004
From time to time
some part of me
falls through the cracks
of my workday world
Spills
like a boisterous
mountain stream
into the star-spun vastness
of my childhood dreams.
Written in May 2004. Video filmed and published on 2 October 2014
Previously titled: For Our Fathers: A Poem on War . by Alice B. Clagett
Location: Pastorius Reservoir State Wildlife Area, La Plata County, Colorado, among other places
VIDEO BY ALICE
SUMMARY OF THE VIDEO
“For Our Fathers,” a Poem on War by Alice B. Clagett, May 2004
Postlude: Music of Chris Zabriskie and Scenes from Pastorius Reservoir State Wildlife Area, Colorado
PHOTOS BY ALICE: FROM THE YEAR 2012
PHOTOS BY ALICE: COLORADO SCENES
Image: ‘Into the Jaws of Death” — US Army troops wade ashore on Omaha Beach on the morning of 6 June 1944. photo by Chief Photographer’s Mate Robert F. Sargent, from Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Image: ‘Into the Jaws of Death” — US Army troops wade ashore on Omaha Beach on the morning of 6 June 1944. photo by Chief Photographer’s Mate Robert F. Sargent, from Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Dear Ones,
Here is a video by me about a poem I wrote for my father. The Postlude features the music of Chris Zabriskie and scenes from Pastorius Reservoir State Wildlife Area, Colorado. A Summary follows the video …
VIDEO BY ALICE
SUMMARY OF THE VIDEO
This is Alice, Dear Ones.
I have another poem for you, that I wrote years ago for my father, who was in World War II, and saw some difficult action on D-Day, on the beach of Normandy.
Years ago, I was driving to work every day, through the Veterans Administration grounds in Los Angeles, because there were so many beautiful trees, and so much green grass there. No stoplights. It was great. So, one day I stopped, while driving to work, and I wrote this poem about the VA Grounds, and the veterans there. It is a poem for my father …
“For Our Fathers”
A Poem on War by Alice B. Clagett
Soundtrack and Words May 2004
At first light, on the laid-back VA grounds — . . . . . a land of not so well clipped lawns, . . . . . and blooming jacaranda trees . . . . . and blousy buildings, sprouted long before . . . . .. . . . . the first computer cast its eerie glow . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . upon the shadow that had been our history —
Old men wait for the bus, unmoored . . . . . from the stale sameness of the working day, and . . . . . all adrift in that sour sea we call ‘retirement’.
These are the once-sung heroes . . . . . of the ancient wars, . . . . . who fought for freedom on unfriendly shores
. . . . . and who, returning, found . . . . .. . . . . no peace of mind . . . . .. . . . . in a far too civil union,
. . . . . who wake, each night, . . . . .. . . . . dreaming atrocities . . . . .. . . . . dreaming the sloe-eyed death . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . of their personal dreams . . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . . on the altar of our nation.
Now here they sit, . . . . . this one nearly blind, . . . . . and that one racked by gout, . . . . . another, legless, . . . . .. . . . . wielding his wheelchair like a Grand Prix pro
Each offering his friends the sweetest gift — . . . . . a cheerful countenance . . . . . to brave the gathering storm —
. . . . . and hoping, in his heart, that he may be . . . . .. . . . . finally on his way home . . . . .. . . . . to a land of perfect freedom.
Postlude: Music of Chris Zabriskie and Scenes from Pastorius Reservoir State Wildlife Area, Colorado
[The stately instrumental music at the end of the video is “Prelude No. 13” from the album “Preludes” by Chris Zabriskie, CC BY 4.0, and scenes from Pastorius Reservoir in Colorado.]
In love, light and joy,
Alice B. Clagett
I Am of the Stars
This blog has been added here … Link: “Compendium: My Childhood and Family, and Later Years,” by Alice B. Clagett, compiled and published on 21 March 2020; republished on 29 March 2020 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-haj ..
PHOTOS BY ALICE: FROM THE YEAR 2012
Image: “Rock at Cooper Falls,” by Alice B. Clagett, 2012, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..
Image: “Rock at Cooper Falls,” by Alice B. Clagett, 2012, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..
. . . . .
Image: “Power Plant and Lowering Sky, Arizona,” by Alice B. Clagett, 2012, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..
Image: “Power Plant and Lowering Sky, Arizona,” by Alice B. Clagett, 2012, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..
. . . . .
PHOTOS BY ALICE: COLORADO SCENES
Image: “Barbed Wire and Mountains”, by Alice B. Clagett, 2 October 2014, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..
Image: “Barbed Wire and Mountains”, by Alice B. Clagett, 2 October 2014, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..
. . . . .
Image: “Dam Dike,” by Alice B. Clagett, 2 October 2014, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..
Image: “Dam Dike,” by Alice B. Clagett, 2 October 2014, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..
. . . . .
Image: “Reservoir and Gold-and-Rainbow Sunlight,” by Alice B. Clagett, 2 October 2014, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..
Image: “Reservoir and Gold-and-Rainbow Sunlight,” by Alice B. Clagett, 2 October 2014, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..
poetry, war, power over, PTSD, poetry by Alice, post-traumatic stress disorder, Chris Zabriskie, World War II, D-Day, Normandy Beach, stories by Alice, stories, war, photos by Alice,
