JULY 4, 2009

I have been home from Vietnam for 38 years

I came home with little hope

I wanted to be surprised

I had wanted war to recede from my mind

The ghosts of war are still with me

I had read about our part in conflicts

(no declared wars)

in Lebanon

in Grenada

in Panama

in the Gulf States

in Somalia

in Haiti

in Bosnia

in Kosovo

in Afghanistan and

in Iraq 

North Korea is testing missiles

and becoming a nuclear power

Our relations with them are problematic

I left Vietnam 38 years ago

More than 50000

did not come home

How do we make it matter

A sunken wall helps us to remember them

We need a wall that can stop war

We need a porous wall

That lets ideas pass thru

I hope that the ghosts of war 

Will always be with me

As I test ideas about peace