Author’s Notes

GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby

“IN MEMORIAM” was originally published in 1961 in Writers Notes and Quotes, then 1968 in Wisconsin Poetry Magazine, then again in 1980 in Seal Beach Journal. Military service was common in Margaret’s family. Her great grandfather fought at Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1863. She was two when WWI began and only six when it ended, but she saw young men leave to serve in WWI, including her uncles. Later in WWII, her male and female friends, her younger brother, and cousins were swept into the fight. Most survived, but as was too often true, not all. Later she waited in fear for the result of the Viet Nam draft lottery which might take her son from her based on the random draw. He was not chosen, but some of his childhood playmates were. This selection is about all of them and so many others. She wrote this poem originally for Memorial Day.

REFRACTIONS

“PEACE AT LAST” by Robert Roxby. In this poem, Robert describes the funeral of his younger brother, Kenny, WWII serial gunner with the rank of private killed in a training exercise during which his plane crashed. Kenny was 22 years old.

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby

“A FLIGHT OUT IN THE MORNING, BUT HE NEVER TOLD ME”. During the Viet Nam War era, a friend of the poet suggested she join a group of young women who attended social hours on the local Air Force bases. Kathleen did so and at a base near San Diego she met the young man of this poem. They became warm, if still casual, friends. This was written shortly after she learned that this pilot friend had flown out the morning after their last encounter. She never saw or heard from him again. While the fate of this one pilot is unknown, she knew that the ending she included in her poem was all too often true.