Kitty Jarman

THE VIETNAM WAR is a ten-part, 18-hour documentary film series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick that will air on PBS in September 2017.

https://youtu.be/Ex9MdsQzazs

As She Remembers 1968 

Rain falls hard
on his burned out
bunker as ashes blacken
the Agent Orange’d
rice patties.

Back home she knows
fear standing near
cornfields where deer
scatter outrunning her
daddy’s buckshot.

“He will come home to me,”
she whispers, brown eyes
blazing at the sun
crazy for news of him.

Walking home through
pregnant stalks of corn
she feels the baby stir
in her belly. Hungry
to get on with living
she cries to every God,
“Just bring him home!”

I’m delighted to release details of my first published poetry book, “Dead Orchids.”
You can find it at Amazon.com.

I can’t wait to hear your feedback!

How Mommies Grow Up

flashes of lightning and I run
trying not to clutch my son
too close

afraid he’ll be infected
with my fear

but we’re in the basement again his eyes wide
too young to say silly mommy it’s just a storm

later that night as we
both approach sleep
I pray I grow up
before he does

years later as thunderclouds build
my son stands with his sons
in front of the window
their eyes wide
all of them infected
with the wonder of it

The ending is so final – so deep.

Photo Credit: Leilani Haag

My first marriage was arraigned
by fate and my first born. I did
not mind, what else would I be
doing? My heart was protected
by baby kisses. Hubby left me
and our television for a woman
who could decorate a room.

The second time there was more
at stake. Little ones gone making
their own beds. So now it was our
time. But he left me for a room
I decorated and the love of a
blaring television.

The third time…..
enough is enough.

Shaman

I went to see a shaman
looking for a missing part
hoping to find a cure
for an empty ache in my heart

the shaman shared some stories
I explained my need
we agreed a journey would help me
so we followed Cherokee leads

lying upon her table
in a midst of cedar and sage
we let my aching pain
revel a previous age

I spoke of smoke and peace pipes
of red tailed hawks soaring high
I spoke of drums and wigwams
dancing under starry skies

I know that now is reality
but that life also was mine
my body walks upon this earth
my heart beats in another time

There you are
as if it were fate
but that doesn’t
happen
right?