Another Memorial Day finds us

Memorial Day finds us, another year older

Memorial Day finds us no less bolder

"A war to end all wars" once said

Why, since then, are so many more dead?

Do you want to really end wars?

Are you messing with our heads?

It's been: A war on British for freedom

A war on Indians for more land

A war in the South to end slavery

A World, both I and II to end aggression

Soldiers keep marching in succession

A war to end communism

Now a war to end terror

Somehow since 'to end all wars' there's occurred an error

This Memorial Day, the war skies are no fairer

People in America have no decent jobs

Around the world, people form protest mobs

Another soldier dies, another mother sobs

We talk about love

We know more about hate

Some young soldier, for prom, just wants a date

We love our kids, so we say

Yet we pack them off to war to die

Same old lies, just another day

To die for what?

For Coke and Pepsi to get a foothold?

It's no reason to die, if I might be so bold

Sending kids to their deaths

We knew we always could

Do we ever ask if we should?

Wars are a rich person's game

Different day, the lies remain the same

Stop that war, we think someone should

But would you stop a war if you could?

The military: Go to war, my Son, or Daughter, you should

They will pay you badly, morn your death, sadly

On Memorial Day, we honor with our lips

Yet another war plan, corporations pull from their hips

I long so to hear from those who "should go"

"This new war?  No thanks.  This time I will skip"

Memorial Day finds us another year older

When it comes to war, still no less bolder

I hope you find something better to do than become a soldier

The Healing powers of Your Story

I have always been a firm believer that everyone has a story to tell.  Why do I think that?  I know this to be true because even if people have shared similar experiences, like war, poverty or family tragedy, each person's experience is unique to them.  

I could be in the same war, same natural disaster but I will see it totally differently.  My experiences will cause me to see things in a different light than even a person standing next to me. 

That being said, it is good to write about our lives, about what we personally have been through, how we may or may not have handled the situation.  By writing, by sharing, we just may touch on the heart string of another reader who has or is now, going through something so similar that they are changed, forever, by what we have written.  Is everyone an excellent writer?  Maybe not, but writing your story isn't as complicated as you might think.  With self-publishing these days, I know that what you might see as ordinary in your lives, can now reach hundreds maybe even millions of readers.  I love self-publishing because I think the reading public is not stupid.  I prefer to let the readers decide what they like, not some publisher who chooses for them.

I have assisted people in editing, arranging and telling their stories.  I enjoyed it very much.  Why?  Because while helping a writer arrange their thoughts and notes, I have read some very touching stories.  I am going to show you some great examples of that.

My husband's book is at the top of this blog.  While I may be a bit biased on his, I can assure you it is somewhat a universal story about war.  About one soldier's experiences of a war that has been such an embarrassment to the United States government, that for a very long time, the government tried to bury it and pretend it never existed.  Kind of like the WMD fiasco that has now drawn us into wars where we do not belong, to this very day.  Steve tells about his experiences in Vietnam, how it's so easy to be drawn into a war and hate faceless enemies.  But once there, once he got to know the people of that country, it became increasingly harder and harder to hate people who did nothing to us personally.  He tells of the fears soldiers face when fired upon, how most soldiers, from both sides, will shoot others more from fear than from hatred.  How propaganda about the perceived enemy, is the driving force behind all wars.  He tells why he chose to make the military his career and why he chose to become a Drill Instructor to be able to teach all soldiers how to survive when faced with combat.  I'm sure anyone will love his story. 

 Poems of a Forgotten War is a series of Steve's feelings about a war he participated in.  They express how he felt.  Sometimes torn, sometimes he loved the country, sometimes not so much.  But they can certainly express how many people in a war feel about those sometimes mixed emotions.  Did he have regrets?  Well, does anyone ever experience anything as emotional as war and not have regrets?  Vietnam may be in the past, but stories he has read about concerning our recent wars are similar.  So he has come to the conclusion that war is war, no matter the era in which it takes place.  These are poems that modern military people can relate to.

The nursing home book is my story.  I guess you can call it my baby.  I've worked with the elderly in nursing homes for a long time.  I've worked with the elderly in the community for a long time too.  This is a book about my observations of the situation that many elderly find themselves in when they are too frail to take care of themselves at home.  It is a tale of many people facing this situation.  Some like nursing homes, but far too many hate the experience.  I try to explain why people hate it, what causes them to feel like it's hopeless.  But I also tell how and why, it can all change, if people stand up and demand changes for the better.  I explain how the Federal Government and state governments think throwing money at the problem should change it.  It doesn't.  But I also tell of the Culture Change movement taking place in America right now.  I explain how it can change for the better and why it should change.  I'm hoping everyone will read it, learn from it and I hope they will demand changes and understand that the government is not the hope for changes they might have expected them to be. 

I have one more story to share.  I'm hoping this writer will not mind my sharing it.  I chose it because it is so powerful, I think everyone should read it.  This story is set in a time when home health for someone who is dying of cancer, did not exist.  This writer tells about a time when a woman, her own mother, had to experience the shame of having a child out of wedlock.   She tells of growing up and feeling she was hated by her own mother.  How she, as a very young child, had to care for a mother who was so sick, she almost felt overwhelmed by it all.  But most importantly, it is a story of healing.  A story of coming to understand that it was not her that her mother hated, but it was the situation her mother found herself in, that was the object of her hatred.  She tells of a mother who was so proud and strong, she felt like she lived in her mother's shadow as a child.  A very unique story that anyone who may not have the perfect parent, can relate too.  I hope you will take time to read it.  The author related to me how just telling her story has given her the emotional healing she so desperately wanted and needed.  A good author, a powerful book.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about the healing power of stories.  Do you have a story to tell?  If so, I'd be happy to help anyone compile their story into a manuscript.  Yes, I charge, but I charge far less them others and far less than you might think.  I can work on a sliding scale. 

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Soldier, one day you will grow older

             

                              The soldier then

When young we know no boundaries

We come to war from factories, offices and foundries

Hormones and patriotic feelings abound

That's a mix of energy to be used in leaps and bounds

The youth factor is what the military count on

"Step up here, we will help you release that energy, Son."

We feel patriotic, we think, we will win a war, what fun

Not one recruiting brochure tells you; When you're done, you're done.

That's the important part they always leave out, Son

We survive, we come out alive

We then grow older, we grow much bolder

The veteran now

We finally see war without all the fog

Plenty of memories in our brains we have logged

Don't resent those who don't understand

I highly doubt if anyone fully can

What we've seen as soldiers can only confound it

Even we who were there cannot fully wrap our minds around it

Those who've not seen aren't being mean

When you actually stand on the turf, it isn't so green

Given the small facts we were given back then

I'm sure, as young men, we would all do it again

Available on: Amazon.com

Barnes&Noble.com

Kindle

The poor make war on the poor

Just exactly who makes war?

Generals, Congress, Rich men, of course

Just exactly who fights the actual war?

It ends up becoming the poor against the poor

Is this a poem of 'let's hate the rich?'

No, but you don't have to be anyone's bitch

Harsh words you might say

Well away from killing, plundering and hate you must stay

What have the poor of another country done to you?

Try to see their point of view

Would we like to be preyed upon right here?

For some soldiers to ruin what we might hold dear?

As young soldiers we think war is a grand duty

But all we do is add to someone's rich booty

War and death isn't what you do as a lark

War isn't exactly a walk in the park

But as young people we never listen to the older one

We just think, it's different, so we pick up that gun

Maybe we don't get every gory detail

Explaining war in words is where all words seem to fail

How do you put into words what war is about?

How does a soldier adequately explain what war is about?

I wish you would listen, young man, young woman

Because war is not the noble cause for freedom like you heard

But war's horrors cannot be placed into any word

Books available on:
Kindle
Barnes&Noble.com
Amazon.com

Scared to death

In a group of trees
Scared, brought to my knees
Bullets wizzing over my head
Will Mom get a telegraph saying I'm dead?
Waiting,watching every movement
Waiting for the gunship
Counting the ammo on my hip


Little, on this day, do I know
This is not to be my first look at death, oh no
Each day, as a soldier, you know, even if fear never shows
Some days you wonder:what do I do, where do I go?


Before my stint is up, the taste of fear will fill my cup
Fear of death, passing to the other side
Or simply fear of the bullets that could rip my hide?
You swallow your fear, you wear your pride


Death finds me once again
In a bar while sipping gin
I leave the table to take a pee
I could not have known, did not see


An explosion, a deafening blast
Is this my last pee, will this place be my last?
When facing death, no, I never recollected my past
They say you see your life before your eyes
Facing death, not like that, a bunch of lies


A bomb in a bar blows out a wall
The blast tears at the seams
All I hear are peoples' screams
I run to check my friends
For one of them, this is the end


Once more death comes to call
A blast, a rocket, in a helicopter
The bird jerks, I begin to fall
I hit some trees
I scrape my side, I tear my knees


Facing death, is a soldier's lot
Some live to tell a story,some not
Why some stay and some will go
That is an answer no soldier will know


Whether Vietnam,Afghanistan or Iraq
You tell each other, 'I've got your back'
In a death situation,there's no time to slack


You never think Death will pick up your baggage claim
You never think Death will draw your name
When facing Death's final portal
As young soldiers,we think we're immortal


So when you see a soldier,offer him a shake of your hand
He's seen it all, he's played in the band
Tell him thanks
For facing guns,for facing tanks
Tell him you are eternally grateful
For doing their job, remaining faithful
They will be forever grateful 


Vietnam is a war time and people forgot
But all soldiers know their lot
War is hell, war is rotten
Makes no difference if time has forgotten

A war is still a war

Whether it is to Vietnam or to the Middle East

Soldiers pack their bags to heed the call

Some will survive the tour, while some will fall

It doesn't matter where the call is from

Soldiers take heed when America says: "Come"

A war is still a war

We had a war to 'end all wars'

When will countries stop trying to even the score?

The Big One didn't do the trick to make them cease

Countries still have a problem living at peace

Whether it takes place in a jungle or a desert

A war still calls to its men in arms

Good men will show up to help keep the peace

To stand up for those who cannot protect themselves

Good men will assist those who need their help

Men are saying they don't want to come home just yet

When you feel the job's not done, it's hard for it to set

A job not done, gets inside your bones my Son

In Vietnam we knew, we went home yet there was still no calm

It plays on your mind

You feel you let down the memories of those left behind

You come home, but not alone

You bring ghosts of a war, you seen things you never seen before

That kind of thing, the sights, the smells, the people are in your core

Your civilian loved ones don't understand

Don't understand what you gave up to become a man

You gave up your youth and rose colored glasses

You gave it all up to kick some enemy asses

Loved ones will never fully get how you feel

They ask: "What's wrong, whats the deal?"

You can never fully explain

In the area of war, you're on a different plane

Some people will even peg you as insane

But you know you cannot just return to the mundane

Bless you my Comrades

What you saw, what you will always feel, they don't get;

how sad

But rest assured you did America proud

You were taken from the herd, away from the crowd

It takes a special person to go to those shores

Maybe when it comes to war, America will eventually say: "Nevermore."

Whats New & Other upcoming events

*****************************************************

  A Vampires tale of Love for a young girl - coming in June

The story of a young girl who meets a mysterious young man, at first they become very good friends even though he seems very different to her.  She has an attraction that she cannot quite figure out but it's there just the same. 

She wonders why she never saw him before but figures it's a big city so she cannot possibly know everyone.  He is fun to be with, appears much older and so much more fun and much more experienced when it comes to knowing how to treat a woman like a lady.  He appears like a knight in shining armor compared to the boys in her own age group who seem so juvenile in comparison.  But little does she know he has had centuries of experience. 

***********************************

We welcome your comments and feedback

To order  Paperback books go to the title you are looking for and click BUY IT NOW Button.