(A Cleave poem is three poems in one. First read column one, top to bottom, then column two, then each line across.)
Independence Day
they sought freedom / a better life
on a distant shore / just over the Rio Grande
a month’s long journey by water / across treacherous terrain
entire families / they came with nothing
risking everything / but their precious children
to chase a dream / only to face a nightmare
when met with hardship / separated by icy hate
the people fought / begging for mercy
for freedom and liberty / for their babies, now orphaned
a cost too dear / by a once shining beacon
too pay / a lady, now looking away
some would say / on a hill
bloodshed and glory / she’s building a wall
the ultimate sacrifice / it can’t come too soon
paid by heroes / whatever the cost
for our independence / to protect them from us
~kat
For some this is a day of national pride and celebration, barbecues, family gatheries and fireworks. For others, it is a continuing nightmare. We have forgotten that most of us were foreigners and refugees once. I cannot celebrate until we remember.
like mercury colliding... 
July 4th, 2018 at 1:16 pm
Love this Kat, superb message and also at the Cleave form poem. They can be very hard and yours is excellent all three ways! Happy July 4th!
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July 4th, 2018 at 1:17 pm
Thanks Mandi. A cleave is the perfect form to illustrate stark contrasts. 😊
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July 4th, 2018 at 4:36 pm
I agree. You do them very well. I believe I learned the form from you a couple of years back. 🎈😊
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July 4th, 2018 at 5:27 pm
Thank you Mandi. I do like the form.
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July 4th, 2018 at 1:57 pm
Beautiful and oh, so sad. 😎🥀
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July 4th, 2018 at 2:15 pm
Reblogged this on Pastor Michael Moore's Blog and commented:
Powerful, Kat, Powerful!
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July 4th, 2018 at 2:25 pm
It needs to be said.
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July 4th, 2018 at 3:03 pm
Indeed it does…
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July 4th, 2018 at 3:04 pm
❤️
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July 4th, 2018 at 2:34 pm
Brilliant. Clever and well written.
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July 4th, 2018 at 2:34 pm
Thank you Scott.
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July 4th, 2018 at 2:35 pm
OMG Kat, this is so moving and so beautifully written!! I love this! ☺❤
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July 4th, 2018 at 2:45 pm
Thank you Walt. The contrast of our values, especially today, called for a cleave poem.
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July 4th, 2018 at 6:51 pm
It was wonderful!
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July 4th, 2018 at 4:11 pm
May there be many reasons to celebrate in the near future, and for many centuries to come.
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July 4th, 2018 at 5:27 pm
Yes indeed to that Peter.
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July 4th, 2018 at 5:46 pm
Wow, hauntingly beautifully Kathy 😦
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July 4th, 2018 at 5:57 pm
Thank you Debby.
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July 5th, 2018 at 12:19 pm
🙂
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July 4th, 2018 at 7:29 pm
Absolutely brilliant, Kat! This is the first time in my life I didn’t celebrate the 4th. We did hand the flag, to honor those who lost their lives in the defense of our country. Once military, always military. Go Air Force! ❤️
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July 4th, 2018 at 7:36 pm
I know what you mean. Their is a dark cloud over this year’s holiday.
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July 4th, 2018 at 7:37 pm
You portrayed that perfectly. Your poem deserves an award. 🥇 😍❤️
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July 4th, 2018 at 10:10 pm
I think we are all feeling this, this 4th of July. It’s hard to celebrate the government we have…(K(
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July 5th, 2018 at 7:28 am
Excellent Kat! All three work brilliantly.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” 💜💜💜
As long as you are not Mexican, or have a religious belief we do not agree with, or if you are of an original nation, or you are poor or sick or opressed. Hold on, scrub the original speech on refugees…. KEEP OUT! The orange antichrist has spoken!
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July 5th, 2018 at 9:25 am
The scary part is that orange is just the mouthpiece and a symptom of a loud, powerful minority of us. The anger and hateful rage here is palpable. 😳
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July 5th, 2018 at 9:48 am
I am at a loss as to how and why this happens. We are all the same under the skin.💜
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July 5th, 2018 at 10:01 am
I know. I do attribute a good portion of it to low IQ, crowd mentality and gullibility after years of having to interact with these lowlifes, with minds, several eggs short of a dozen. What is shocking is that they’ve become so powerful. And yet not shocking. The rich hold the puppet strings and know who to exploit to advance their agenda. And people like me are much too trusting in the idea that good overcomes evil. ☹️
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July 5th, 2018 at 10:25 am
Yes I had always clung to the victory of good over evil. But the longer I live I realize I am fooling myself. Things are just going to hell in a handcart. I did think Tony Blair was the was the antichrist sadly he was a pale fore runner. 💜💜
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July 5th, 2018 at 11:00 am
Ah yes, Tony…good buddy to our dunce, George W. It’s really sad that Georgie now looks rather harmless in light of who we have now. Even Cheney, the devil himself, seems mild when I consider Bannon, Pence and Stephen Miller…trumps sidekicks…true evil!
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July 5th, 2018 at 11:08 am
We used to call him George Double Ya! And Blair the Grinning Assassin’s they were an awful two and all their cohorts. But as you say next the Orange and his four horsemen of the Apocalypse pale into insignificance…
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July 5th, 2018 at 11:08 am
By the by do you remember the Reagan Thatcher love affair? 😉💜
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July 5th, 2018 at 12:09 pm
Oh yes… sheesh.
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July 5th, 2018 at 12:25 pm
💜😉😱
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July 9th, 2018 at 7:17 am
Reblogged this here and commented
https://ron877.com/2018/07/09/restrained-independence/
The poem was so clever I wanted to share it. The message was so dark that I didn’t want to add to the misery. As a side note, where I live the expat community didn’t celebrate. In the past, we have held large community-based activities for expats, their families, and anyone who wanted to interact with the foreign community. Many nationalities were involved but US types organized it.
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July 9th, 2018 at 8:31 am
I didn’t feel much like celebrating either Ron. The drama continues with the courts demanding a list of separated families that the feds do not seem to be able to provide. This is evil at its worst. I weep for these families and the children who are likely traumatized for life.
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