Memorial Day ~ 2020

A Memorial Day Tribute ~ 2020

So be our prayers of love and praise this Memorial Day

For Our Veterans who have served in their own selfless way

’Tis the vision of freedoms and valor within souls that be

Known be our sons and daughters who have served from sea to sea

The cry of Freedom ever a blessed creed

Held by sacrifice, a vision, and noble deed

Each life that was, NOW lives in God’s embrace sublime

Ever blessed be their souls in soaring grace divine

To Freedoms’ Call hearts in praise be heard

And so the spoils of victory and liberation’s word

No words can explain the wages of war we do spend

But for the freedoms and rights we are to defend

Tears of lament and loss we do shed and share

Let us in heart know, in valor, souls soar high in God’s care

This gift of Life with vision blessed and bold

This the giving within each Veteran’s story told

Light beholden within our heart

From which love and freedom have their primordial start

Endured they battlefields of victory of plight

Through all held they freedom’s light

In homage to sons and daughters, husbands and wives

Hearts of purpose who have given their lives

Our dear ones who once filled our day

Their souls taken to another path, to the eternal way

Be there Peace, Brotherhood, Freedom, in God’s name

And to each Veteran our blessings and acclaim

Memorial Day in word, in song, in tribute, honor be heard

The glory, the blessings, the light of Freedom’s Word.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

SHANKS LEGACY ~ V-E Day ~ A Happening at the Orangetown Historical Museum & Archives

Rose Marie Raccioppi 

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York 

Presenter

Opening event 

SHANKS LEGACY

Exhibit Viewing Hours 

There she is... 2019 and there she was... 1945...New York City gal during Word War II... In presentation at the SHANKS LEGACY, Historical Museum Opening Event today... April 13, 2019... delivered words in tribute to OUR VETERANS, and what it was like in 1945 for, "This little girl..."

• click for larger view •

The artifacts of WW II, the photos bringing memories to the NOW, the music of the 40's bringing back smiles, dance steps, tears, and gratitude for freedoms won. Accolades, superlatives, and heartfelt appreciation for such an impressive ORANGETOWN HISTORIC MUSEUM and ARCHIVES presentation. An experience of such significance awaits you. Public Welcomed...

~ and on the Friday Evening of April 26 ~

Orangetown Historic Museum and Archives 

• Wine, Cheese, and Poetry Night •

 SHANKS LEGACY Evening Event

April 26 from 6 to 7:30 PM

845-398-1302 ~ otownmuseum@optonline.net

 DePew House

196 Chief Bill Harris Way, Orangeburg, NY

 🇼🇸

Celebrate National Poetry Month with the Orangeburg Library and the Orangetown Historic Museum and Archives at the DePew House. Suggested donation is $5.00. Enjoy a glass of wine and a special look into the poetry and music of the 1940's along with a tour of the museum's current exhibit - SHANKS LEGACY. 

Orangetown's Poet Laureate
 Rose Marie Raccioppi
will read poems in reflection of 

WW II and in Tribute to OUR VETERANS.

Music by Lounge Zotica 3000

~

Memorial Day 2018

...and why a poet this day in Memorial Tribute...

…a day of reverence, respect, a salute...

a quiet certainty… words that call to the silence

words that pulse the heart

praise be an expressive joy

an embracing gratitude

ascension

the rising of spirit 

the glory, the glory of the WORD in Memorial Tribute

beyond lament there is love

beyond shadow there is light

beyond despair there is divinity

beyond dismay there is beauty

beyond death there is eternal life

Be this the freedoms cherished

The lives in valor dedicated

The sons, the daughters, in service 

The visions held for freedom

The loss of limb, of life

The willingness to confront

The heart held resolve

The heart held resolve

Its ever present pulsing quest

Humankind to live in liberation

To be freed of domination

To be freed of oppression

To be SELF in expression

This the silent yet resounding pledge

This the rising in defense

This the Veteran in knowing sacrifice 

'Tis the vision of freedom and valor within souls we hail

Homage, gratitude to Our Veterans ever, ever, to prevail

And as we look to vistas far and the heavens above

Our Veterans in the embrace, in the embrace of God’s love.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

In Honor... In Tribute...Vietnam Veterans of America...

Vietnam Veterans of America

Chapter 333 Rockland County 

New York

30th Anniversary Dinner

October 28, 2017

In Honor of Jerry Donnellan

"Rockland Veterans Agency Director Jerry Donnellan has announced his retirement — well, to the extent that Jerry can retire. We fully expect Donnellan to continue advocating for his fellow veterans, and welcome his rabblerousing on their behalf.

Donnellan, who has served at the agency for three decades, leads by example. He tells of his own catastrophic injury — riddled with shrapnel, a leg blown off in battle during the Vietnam War. He frequently discusses personal and ongoing struggles with post-traumatic stress. He has worked closely with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs but has called out its shortcomings loudly and repeatedly. 

Donnellan, 70, has done much to make sure local vets are remembered and properly honored. He worked for years to get notification from the VA when a servicemember returned home. He helped establish FAVOR, which stands for Find and Assist Vets of Rockland, which provides discounts from local merchants. He helped establish the county's Public Service Medal to honor those who served in Afghanistan, Iraq, or as part of the global war on terrorism. These and similar efforts, though, were also about connecting with local veterans who may be wary of government. That way, his office could provide support and advocacy now or whenever it was needed.”  

The Journal News.  http://www.lohud.com/story/opinion/editorials/2017/06/07/veterans-thank-jerry/377080001/

These Words Delivered in Loving Tribute

click for larger view

Memorial Day Tribute 2017...PEACE.. the heart in aspiration, the soul in knowing ...

Well Done

A Memorial Day Tribute 2017

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Well done

Be thou at PEACE

So be our prayers of love and praise this Memorial Day

For Our Veterans who have served in their own selfless  way

Heartfelt be these words and remembrances

Heartfelt be the sacrifices, the visions

Heartfelt be the freedoms and rights that prevail

’Tis the vision of freedoms and valor within souls that be

And known be our sons and daughters who have served from sea to sea

The cry of Freedom ever a blessed creed

Held by sacrifice and noble deed

Each life that was, NOW lives in God’s embrace sublime

Ever blessed be their souls in soaring grace divine

To Freedoms’ Call hearts in praise be heard

And so the spoils of victory and liberation’s word

No words  can explain the wages of war we do spend

But for the freedoms and rights we are to defend

Tears of lament and loss we do shed and share

Let us in heart know, in valor, souls soar high in God’s care

This gift of Life with vision blessed and bold

This the giving within each Veteran’s story told

Light beholden within our heart

From which love and freedom have their primordial start

Endured they battlefields of victory of plight

Through all held they freedom’s light

In homage to sons and daughters, husbands and wives

Hearts of purpose who have given their lives

Our dear ones who once filled our day

Their souls taken to another path, to the eternal way

Be there Peace, Brotherhood, Freedom, called in God’s name

And to each Veteran our blessings and acclaim

This day in word, in song, in tribute, honor be heard

The glory, the glory, the blessings, of Freedom’s Word.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

Memorial Day Presentation by Rose Marie Raccioppi, Poet Laureate, Lions Community Event, Blauvelt New York... as featured by the Blauvelt Library.

Click for larger view.

Awaiting at a Wood Table

The wood table holds the divine signature of the tree

Shades of russet brown in markings of age before me

The quiet beauty of time and strength in grace to greet

Lines, waves of grain, where branch and bough did meet

I behold the majesty abiding in its humility and glory

The towering tree, a table with its calling calling story.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

This inspired by my awaiting the arrival of Veterans at The Union Arts Center, Sparkill, New York,  in response to an APOGEE Acu-Tone™ offering... gifts of CREATION ever in exchange 

...the pain is real... PTSD ~ Heed the cry...

PTSD ~ Heed the cry...

“Even though I knew they were just fireworks on the 4th of July, to me they still sounded like incoming mortars. It took me right back to my deployment…”

webs of thought, echoes of time sound
the din of shocked sensibilities
what was, now is once more
hush, hush be the cry, the plea
free what is trapped deep within me
shed these shackles of shadow and despair
heed the cry for resolve and Creation's care
listen, listen, and there shall be heard
the search, the want of the guiding WORD
let there be a command of self whole and true
let the bonds of torment give way to light ever new.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

photo courtesy: http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html