Michael Ceraolo- Three Poems

Remember the Alamo

Remember the stirring images,

from the books,

                       movies,

                                    TV shows,

of John Wayne

                        and David Crockett

and the guy named after the knife

(or who the knife was named after)

and close to two hundred others

(though not the guys the big cities are named after),

                                                                            where

"men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom"

and created

                   "the Shrine of Texas Liberty"

in the ultimately successful fight

against those dictatorial Mexicans

The ultimate sacrifice of brave men

is always at the adult table of history;

it's time for what they were fighting for

to be promoted from the children's table of history

Mexico had abolished slavery in 1829,

                                                        but

had granted an exception to the Texans,

an exemption the Texans saw as temporary,

an exemption they were willing to fight

to make permanent,

                              thus

the war for Texas independence

                                                 But

not independence for everyone,

                                              and

who independence was not for was spelled out

in Section 9 of the General Provisions

of the Constitution of the Republic of Texas:

"All persons of color who were slaves for life

previous to their emigration to Texas

and who are now in bondage,

shall remain in the like state of servitude"

                                                              And

"Congress shall pass no laws to prohibit emigrants

from bringing their slaves into the republic with them

and holding them by the same tenure by which

such slaves were held in the United States"

"nor shall congress have the power to emancipate slaves"

"nor shall any slave holder by allowed

to emancipate his or her slave or slaves

without the consent of congress"

                                                   And

"No free person of African descent, either in whole or in part,

shall be permitted to reside permanently in the republic,

without the consent of Congress"

                                                   "and

the importation or admission of Africans or negroes

into this republic,

                          excepting

from the United States of America,

is forever prohibited"

                                 And

so they were brought,

                                because

the slave population doubled in the four years

after 'independence' in 1836,

                                          and

then doubled again in the five years

to annexation in 1845,

                                 and

then doubled yet again in the five years

till The Great Capitulation of 1850,

                                                   which

did delay the Civil War a decade

And that's the way it was,

and still isn't in most books

Reasons for Moving

Not the Mark Strand poem,

                                        but

the reasons why people came to America

The ones always mentioned,

and rightly so,

                      are

fleeing oppression and/

or seeking opportunity

                                   But

not everyone was covered by these two situations

For a sizable population

there was another reason absent from the history books

and rarely,

                if ever,

                          remarked upon

outside the history books:

the avoidance of military service

America,

an uncelebrated haven

Excerpt from Summertime Blues:  Twenty-First Century Edition

"I called my Congressman 

and he said, quote,

I'd like to help you son"

but did you pay for my vote?



Michael Ceraolo is a 56-year-old retired firefighter/paramedic and active poet who has had one full-length book (Euclid Creek, from Deep Cleveland Press) and a few shorter-length books published, and has a second full-length book, Euclid Creek Book Two, forthcoming from unbound content press."