Every Town, An Island

What if every town was an island?


All shopping done right here

No money being spent away

No corporate takeover fear.

We would have to eat at Donna’s

“Coffee, eggs and ham” for you?

No Starbuck latte’s sold in town

We’re fine with Donna’s brew.

You need a car? See Frank in town

At “Smiley’s Lot” on Main

I traded in my Jeep (still there)

It only leaks in rain.

The banks would have to go along

And lend us what we need.

We’d pay them back with wages

Earned at “Barney’s Grain & Feed”.

Barney’s wife works in the store

Where we shop for chicken thighs

From “Tilly’s Free Range Chicken Farm”

Not quite Tyson’s size.

The money stays on the island friends

There is no place else to spend it.

Besides it all comes back again

To those who spend and lend it.

We’d have to find the leaks for sure

Like buying stuff “on line”

Instead of at the local shops

Like “Mabel’s Five and Dime”.

I guess it will never happen

But we could make a start

By buying local first instead

And shopping with your heart.


F. Thomas Crowley, Jr.

6/10/10

Don't Ask. Don't Tell

There comes a time

You know it well,

When you want to ask,

But hope they won't tell.

In years gone by

You wrote your List

to Santa Claus.

He seldom missed.

But something's different

You ponder, alone,

"Should I send my list

from my IPHONE?"

You go to sleep,

perchance for dreams

of Christmas Past

While youth, it seems

Has passed you too

when Santa came

and reindeers flew.

The world has changed

But not your heart.

You want to believe!

A brand new start!

Once Mom and Dad

Told you stories true

of Jesus' birth

and Santa, too.

There's still time!

You need not ask

about how it worked

in Christmas Past.

Keep the dream alive

You know it well

If you don't ask,

then they won't tell.

F. Thomas Crowley, Jr.

12-16-10

Camden, Maine

The Lie

He was fine, just fine
no problems here.
Happy to be alive
Nothing to fear.

Others much worse
He avowed and believed.
Yet deep inside
He was proud and bereaved.

Two tours of duty,
He would have gone back
Except for that bomb
And that last sneak attack.

He was only wounded
The others had died.
His wound was nothing
It was on the outside.

"Call the VA"
His wife had suggested
"I'll be just fine
once I am well-rested."

The shadows grew darker
Nightmares persisted.
He kept them a secret
Treatment resisted.

His family was worried
He wasn't the same.
One night he just lost it
Calling dead buddies by name.

"John! Over here!
Crawl out of that Hummer!"
"Warren! I'm coming!"
They all died that summer.

Fall in the clinic
They covered the scars.
Home the same winter
Finding peace in the bars.

Marines don't complain.
They get things done.
Wounds are a weakness.
The Lie had begun.

No one to talk to
Who'd understand?
I still have my body
I am still the same man...

Who enlisted at 18
And grew with the "Corps"
Bigger, and stronger, and better
Than I was before.

I believed it then
But now know in my heart
That I need help.
Where do I start?

The VA at Togus
Was where I began.
I am not ready yet
But it's a good place to stand.

I'm taking my meds
And I'll give it a try.
I'm still a Marine
Proud to say "Semper Fi!"

A Navy Vet from Togus - December 10, 2010
F Thomas Crowley, Jr.