All Comments on 'Graduation Photograph, 1965'

...but not in the way one typically expects around here. Very poetically provocative.

I too graduated in '65, Ellen. For that reason, it was more evocative than provocative for me. It's interesting how you combined sexuality and war, very original and smart.

Just a thought: I might have used 'Nam instead because that's what the soldiers called it back then, and followed it with an extra line to further contrast it with those departing for Canada who, as you know, we're pretty much considered cowards, rather than conscientious objectors, at least in '65. Maybe this is more than you intended, but I also thought a little more emphasis on the soldiers would have contrasted well with your uniform (parochial high school?) and you're "coming back from the dead" while some of them came back in a body bag to be later dressed in their uniform for burial.

The sixties were an incredible time, and in my own writing those years have played an important role.

I don't think my earlier comments about sex and war did justice to how the poem triggered my imagination. I spoke about contrast, but what could be more so than "making war" and "making love," the latter being the impression you left me with at the conclusion.

Eighteen and pale

with a slender thread of gold

Years have passed, filled with life

but somehow feels cold?

Days go on, and on, and on

turning weeks to months to years

Life was lived, and choices made

that may have wrung some tears

Legs were spread,and seeds were sewn

sometimes yielding fruit

the strongest may not always survive

but survivors make that moot

Life must be lived and fought for

under dim, or brighter stars

Memories can sometimes help

but often harden into scars.

IMTurner © (what can I say....picked this idea up from you! Keep writing!)