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Poetic License

10/9/2011

2 Comments

 
Picture
Yep--poet and poker player Cal Bush IS still handsome!
Saturday, October 1, 2011

This time of year gets a little crazy—my son’s golf season zooms by in a blur—and along with his Homecoming events, his birthday, my parents’ visit, my dad’s traditional fall cold and—oh, yeah—my job, I don’t get to the Soldiers Home as often as I should.

Which makes it even more special when the Soldiers Home comes to me.

Today I got my weekly Soldiers Home mailing. I usually just zip through it to check on residents’ birthdays and last-minute Bingo changes, but today I lingered on “Chaplain’s Corner," in which Pastor Dale Stol wrote, “The other day Caleb Bush allowed me to borrow a book of poems he wrote over the years.” Stol reprinted one, titled “Memories of a Wedding,” that restored all the Soldiers Home joy that last Bingo session sucked out of me.  

I’ve always loved Cal’s intelligence, spirit and sense of humor—but I never suspected he had the heart of a poet. (“Fought a bear with a hair brush” is one of my favorite lines anywhere.) What a lovely surprise.

Memories of a Wedding
by Cal Bush

Hope you didn’t notice the tremble in my voice, or the shaking of my hands.

My knees were waffling and I could hardly stand.

I have slain the dragon,

I have seen the world.

In fact there was a time I could have rode the wind,

Roped the moon, scaled a mountain,

Fought a bear with a hair brush.

All this for you.

But it sure was hard to stand in front of a preacher and say “I do!”

I can joke about it now and I often do,

But I still remember the way I shook when I married you.

When it was over, I swallowed with relief.

That was 14 years ago in Midwest Omaha.

You’ve gotten a little older, I’ve turned a little gray.

You’re still beautiful and I’m just as handsome as on our wedding day.
2 Comments
Ruth Anne Bush
2/16/2012 05:55:48 am

Thank you for sharing his poem. I'm a sister-in-law. He was much loved by everyone who knew him.

Reply
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6/25/2013 04:51:33 pm

The blog was absolutely fantastic! Lot of great information which can be helpful in some or the other way.

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    Author
    My name is Sandy Deneau Dunham. I'm a journalist who’s worked at The Phoenix Gazette, The (Tacoma) News Tribune,  The Seattle Times, Town Hall Seattle and Pacific Lutheran University. I'm now back at The Seattle Times, as associate editor of its gorgeously glossy Pacific NW magazine. I've been a volunteer at the Washington Soldiers Home and Colony in Orting, Washington, since January 2009, and I am still a remedial videographer.   

     

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