As usual, National Public Radio has accumulated a parade of Independence Day stories and features, including the history of the Stars and Stripes, memories of the Vietnam War from July 4, 1967, a reading of the Declaration of Independence, and reminders that 150 million hot dogs will be consumed in America today (along with more beer than St. Patrick’s Day — and, probably, more kegs stolen), tips for photographing fireworks, and much more.
Update 10PM: The Yankee Doodle Editor of Blawg Review has accumulated a lot of annotated links to interesting July 4th postings across the so-called blawgiverse. He was even nice enough to mention f/k/a. Meanwhile, the New York Times has an editorial with a most apt message: “It is a day to ask how good a job — from the world’s perspective — we are doing living up to the principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, whether we have done enough to make those sonorous old rights seem like more than a limited case in a limited argument. The answer is more equivocal than we like to believe. But the ideal is one that must drive us all.”
As we have declared our independence from punditry, all the f/k/a Gang wants to add to our coverage is a few haiku. (See more poems on independence, fireworks and dissent at our July 4, 2005 posting.)
you squeeze my hand . . .
how still the sky
after fireworks…………………………… by Michael Dylan Welch, from Open Door (see photo and poem)
Independence Day
after all the fireworks, the stars
still there
… by George Swede, from Almost Unseen
night train
the fireworks
you missed
fireworks
I close my eyes
for a second look
… by John Stevenson, from Quiet Enough
fireworks end –
town hall fireflies
keep working the crowd
…………………………………………………… by dagosan
This morning (July 4, 2007), I put together the Arthur Polachek Celebration, a collection of haiku in honor of a much-beloved neighbor, who died in May. Art was the proprietor of Arthur’s Market here in the Schenectady Stockade Historic District for almost 60 years. He will be missed for at least that long by all who knew him.