05/04/2026
Dear Poetic Medicine Friends,
I have posted this poem before on May 4th. That was the day in 1970 when 4 students were murdered at Kent State University for protesting the Vietnam War. Nixon had just invaded Cambodia and people, including students rose-up in protest.
One of the students was Allison Krause. The other students killed were Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder.
There is a Wikipedia page that says about Allison Krause:
The day prior to her death, Krause observed a single lilac within the barrel of the gun of a guardsman on the campus of Kent State University;[5] upon hearing an officer order the guardsman to remove the flower, she caught the flower as it fell to the ground, stating, "Flowers are better than bullets."[6][7] This quote—inscribed upon Krause's gravestone—has become synonymous with Krause's legacy of peace activism.[8]
I was 15 at the time of this tragedy. I had been protesting the war in Vietnam for about a year prior. Yet the killings of innocent people at Kent State was a thunderstrike to my conscience and world-view.
This became personal. My parents, along with eight other couples in the Cleveland area, including Allison’s Uncle and Aunt by marriage, Jack and Lynn, had worked for years together to create a summer camp called Y. E. S. Camp – Youth Enrichment Services.
These parents did this for their children and other young people with Down syndrome or other developmental challenges. My parents wanted to create this summer place of play and community for my eldest sister, Holly – and so many others.
I am not sure when Y.E.S. began exactly; I learned that Allison was a camp counselor at Y.E.S. in 1969.
This poem Allison by Alex Glidzen – read more about its origin here:
