John F. McCullagh Poems

Their names will not be on the Wall.
It’s of the ghost patrol I sing.
Veterans of an unloved war.
Men from the age of Kennedy and King.
...

Time passes, Things change.
Nothing, it seems, remains the same.
Except, of course,
your stone hard heart-
...

This is the Anniversary,
of a gentle night in May.
The call came from the nursing home.
to say you'd passed away.
...

For many years he'd traveled far,
a merchantman by trade.
His Mom passed on while he was gone-
she sleeps there in the glade.
...

He's paid his dues for far too long,
singing other people's songs.
For so long that he's forgotten
the voice that was his own.
...

Who can stand against the wind
That Tornado Ally blows?
What is within a people,
Who naught but hardship knows?
...

Just some stupid girl,
just fourteen years old.
She should have stayed silent.
She shouldn't act bold.
...

Your impulses are generous, kind and pure-
But impose costs on us we cannot endure.
One point three trillion spent each year, tis said,
to keep our current poor in their own beds.
...

Jackie Robinson is exalted
as the first Black man to play,
but far fewer fans remember Glenn Burke,
the first ballplayer openly gay.
...

Tommorrow is on my calendar
as is every day next week.
I have interviews, appointments,
Dinners at which I'll speak.
...