I am beyond thrilled to share a link to my latest poem which was chosen as a finalist in
RockPaperPoem’s 2nd annual Contest issue:
[if New Orleans married Manila and had a baby it would be]
Hanoi
I’ve been away for five weeks – hiking, cycling, and exploring eastern Europe. Being an American in that part of the world –with everything that has been happening in our country –was surreal.
My biggest takeaway: From the Baltics to Warsaw to Berlin – the hard-won fight to live free is fresh, recent history. You see it in their monuments to poets and the fallen. You hear it in the tour guides who share what daily life looks like now –who speak about how hopeful their youth are.
I saw this in Vietnam and in the Baltics. And – it breaks my heart that I cannot say the same about the youth in my own country. And, that the questions we were asked most often: Why are you (read: the citizens of the US) letting this happen? Why are you not fighting back?
Sobering…
Lithuanian Tour Guide
I envy your blue-eyed joy, your future of hope,
your happy friends – the happiest! I mean,
who listens to poets??? But they did!
Through hardship and resistance, in forests
puddled in blood– the hearts that stopped beating–
those old teens, twenty-somethings, names
engraved in stone, reminders: a future is worth fighting for.
They would be my parents, your grands who whispered
in the amber, planned…buried bones beneath the echo
of gunshots, drooling for one potato– defiant. They
erected crosses– not in faith…in memory. And 30 years in,
you sing of home, reunions, tomorrows.
photos and poems
© 2025 Patricia J. Franz
Patricia Franz writes picture books and poetry. She believes children, dogs, and sourdough have a lot to teach us about life, joy, and wonder. She has raised two boys, four dogs, and holds a master’s degree in Theology with a focus on children’s spirituality. Patricia, her husband, her Bernese Mountain dog, Bonny, and her sourdough starter split their time between the Arizona desert and the Sierra Nevada mountains. 
Questions we must all ask…
Two stabs in the heart from this post: “Why are you letting this happen?” and “What were we afraid of?” Thanks for the thought provoking poems (congrats on being named a finalist!). The Hanoi images were so vivid; Lithuanian Tour Guide is poignant and gut wrenching. I think too many in this country have taken their freedom for granted and are willing to destroy democracy in the name of $$ and power.
I think American exceptionalism and lack of understanding of history/other countries’ experiences are why we are letting it happen here. We don’t actually believe it CAN happen here. We’ll find out, though, won’t we. Thanks for the excellent post, Patricia!
Beautiful and congrats on the poem. ROCKPAPERPOEM is a classy journal.
K
Beautiful. Congrats on the publication. Rockpaperpoem is a class journal.
K
It’s the same thing here in Canada – as a nation we’ve never known the levels of hardship and loss experienced in so many places around the world, having only experienced the major world wars from a distance, and so we take our freedom, our peace and comfort for granted. We forget that nothing in this world is guaranteed. 🙁
Patricia, I admire the intensity of your questions and your poem. Freedom means so much to many but there are others who just take it for granted. You are right! Enjoy the rest of your trip.
Patricia, one of the great benefits to us who write is that travel affords us the opportunity to bring back stories. You have collected some rich and sobering experiences. The experiences of others often innoculate us against complacency and I sense your disquiet in your words. Travel is also a way of alerting us to our fortunate lives. Your poem possesses a raw honesty indicating how close you have managed to get to the subject and essential message of your poem. Thank you for this important reminder about people, places and the importance of living with grace and gratitude.
Amen. Ruta Sepetys, American Lithuanian author is one to read. She writes YA/Crossover (crossing over to grown ups) literature along just these themes and urgency. My heart breaks for our youth that resist learning and respect for the legacy so hard won by our ancestors for them. Congrats on poetry that wins! So happy for you and the words. Keep writing, Patricia!
“whispered in the amber” and that photo of the crosses is haunting!
Travel provides such fresh perspectives, doesn’t it? The traveler learns and grows by learning about the people and their history, and by looking at her country through their eyes. What WILL it take for us to yank democracy back from the brink???
Such a tremendous heartfelt poem that bloomed out of your travel experience. Travel expands our minds and our experiences to see beyond our own lives into those of others, of whole countries. It is sad that our own youth do not know enough history to put today’s plight into perspective. Thanks for sharing. I hope you will post more about your travels.
Thanks for your powerful poems and sharing them, and many congrats on your poem’s publication!!! Democracy has presently Disappeared in Chicago… the situation feels very bleak…
Congrats on the RockPaperPoem contest! Your poem has a wonderful title. And “those old teens” in the Lithuanian poem is a very poignant description.