A Rosie Poem by 'Rosie Friend' Rob Spina
We were so delighted to have Rob Spina reach out and share this poem with us! Inspired by his WWII Hero father, Rob pays homage to the important part the Rosie the Riveters played, to achieve Victory in WWII.
Rosie the Riveter
A Poem by Rob Spina
“All the day long, whether rain or shine,
she's a part of the assembly line.
She's making history, working for victory.
“Keeps a sharp lookout for sabotage,
sitting up there on the fuselage.
That little frail can do, more than
a male can do.
“There’s something true about …
something red, white, and blue about …
Rosie the Riveter.”
— Song by Redd Evans
and John Jacob Loeb, 1943
December 1941, in the beginning,
infamy unfurled that day at Pearl
The Axis powers ever-influencing,
and Germany’s blitzkrieg onslaught;
so fraught with darkness and despair
and contemptible kamikaze in the air
‘twas communism’s manifest mantra.
Have no illusions and make no mistake;
Roosevelt’s 4 human freedoms at stake.
Freedom of speech, and of worship,
Freedom from want, and from fear
History repeating itself badly, again.
It wasn’t a matter of if, but when.
Democracy and its alarming loss,
quickly and rabidly spreading across.
A hope-for-mankind’s direct appeal,
to the global Face of Freedom then.
Uncle Sam to save the world, again
Pleas for Isolationism be damned
My dear Lord, listen, I pray to you.
Please defend the red, white, and blue,
with able-bodied men to pursue
Each “Tom, Dick, and Harry,” so sought,
to ‘tunnel’ through atrocities uncaught.
And fight in Hitler’s house, ‘over there’,
preferentially and eventually, to victory
But boots on the ground though sound,
a challenge for change was needed;
and indeed … a new breed heeded
a manpower must as never before
Thus, Womanpower stepped up and out.
An about-face, tossing tradition aside,
and old, familiar roles to the wayside
Rosie the Riveter entered the lexicon,
as well as our factories and our hearts
Mothers, daughters, everyday women,
dynamo defense workers with a roar,
answered the call to win a world war.
Rosie the Riveter jitterbugged by night,
and did ballet around Hitler’s evil by day;
asserting women’s stock along the way
Arsenals and shipyards saw her like,
dedicated and duty-bound vs. the 3rd Reich;
Building big ships, bombs, and B-17’s.
Rosie knew freedom wasn’t free, you know.
She … our home front equivalent to GI Joe
That iconic Saturday Evening Post cover
had Rosie not in A-line dress but overalls;
rivet gun on her lap, true mettle showing,
defiance flowing, her penny loafer trampling
that copy of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf!’
Rosie the Riveter, late of World War II,
long our turn to rise and salute you!
May your service, strength, support,
prowess, patriotism, and punch,
never be forgotten or undervalued
You helped the Greatest Generation then,
annihilate that which hates and denigrates
and smile forward again
Thank you … Rosie.
There’s something true about …
something red, white, and blue about …
Rosie the Riveter.
