Notes About The Poem

Mockingbird - Crown of Sonnets

#1 "It is a sin to kill a Mockingbird. While playing games with rocks or guns, defray, them, please, ...shoot old tin cans. Each whispered song from Mockingbirds, can heal the wounds of the day" Virtues are cultivated, children are weeds, exploring a small southern town. Seeds, so rare, spread moral ivy, filling knotholes, threading trees, lining streets, during mad-dog summers. Scout, one sprout with solid roots, sifts wrong from right in spite of bull-headed pride. Stirring up dust, where resistance incites, although, brother, Jem, gently, grows more reserved. Scout, Jem, ...best bud, "Dill", are bronzed by summer's sky Moral's compass guides them home, as night returns #2 Moral's compass guides them home, as night returns yet challenged, the precocious child making assumptions. Folks would confound her! Some people were an oddity and quite beguiling Summer would sigh with ceiling fans, softly purring, people napping, long afternoons. Wilted yawns of a lethargic town, might seem undisturbed, with complacency, behind pruned shrubs, tall grass, mowed. Yet stilted air, would suffocate, with racial slurs and secret hate. Some hid by day, and spending their nights in masquerade, while crosses burned. We'd see a face, pretentious smile, falsely blend Integrity, at bitter cost, split wide the seams in 1930. Civil rights were just a dream #3 In 1930, civil rights were just a dream, and motherless children were coming of age. Bare feet were swift. Bandaged knees and hands unclean, would slam old screen doors, to seek lemonade. A ghost, they feared, in the raw sided house, watched close. A tree in his yard, hid treasures he stashed. The three Musketeers, upon discovering, shout! Armed by bravado, they are ready to dash. Putting yourself into another man's shoes, is a lesson, soon learned by Scout and Jem. They've faced their fear, and will make a friend. "Boo", the 'phantom', a new best friend left trinkets and gems. Kindness learned, role model intact, was Atticus Finch. A measure of integrity, inch by inch. #4 A measure of integrity, inch by inch, advocate for those who won't stand a chance. Folks down on their luck, where dollars won't stretch in a depression full blown. Money is scant. Fighting for the underdog, who have no paycheck. What's right is right. What's wrong, is wrong. Someone must stand at the end of the day, where flies fill a courtroom and tempers grow stronger. Regardless of skin, be it black, be it white Unfit, by standards of talcum shaved chins, if injustice is war, he'll give his lot. The falsely accused, he'll defend, to the end Those who wallow in mud, eventually sling lies when honor goes to hell, and folks sit idle #5 When honor goes to hell, and folks sit idle, false accusations can simmer, slowly inciting bigoted people, into mobs, spewing cries of hate. Screaming "rape" into the night. Ignorance and prejudice, are all of one stuff with corn-likker sauce and gravy mentality, amphibian worms, as if from a trough, gorging on mania. They covet brutality. Led by Bob Ewell, with arrogance oozing. Clan- fed, tantrums squirming out of control. Small minded men, choosing squalor, alluding the truth. Some would sell their mother's soul. They have lied on the stand, where justice treaded thin. Where white man's word, over a black, always wins. #6 Where a white man's word, over black, always wins, was a rule of the thumb, during those years... The innocent man, Tom, shackled, condemned, taken away and waits to die, and endure With Indian summer, waxing and waning, Atticus chooses the simplest words. His children need, wisdom, and calm understanding, in trying to explain, that most men are good. He tells them, gently, how someone so crude, even Bob Ewell, no matter how evil perhaps in his life, was misunderstood. The hellish of summers begins to unravel. But another ill wind, would brew up a storm, to bring more than a flurry, into their home. #7 To bring more than a flurry into their home, burnt embers of color, drift down, red and yellow. Carved pumpkins, and a grieving autumn, looms in the night. Roaches encroach, deep in the shadows As Scout rushes homeward, behind her on the trail, a whiskey-breath nightmare, with evil intentions Then, someone appears! Halts this devil,...,Ewell is not immortal! .....as we come to conclusion. A guardian presence, waiting to rally has kept a vigil, guarding children who run, swiftly through thickets. Lonely Boo Radley, appeared like an angel, a bird seeking the sun So pure of heart, and a thing so rare It is a sin to kill a mockingbird
__________________________ Re-submitted for Skat's Premiere Contest: #4
Copyright © | Year Posted 2014


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Date: 7/27/2016 5:40:00 PM
Worthy of winning many contests. This keeps its beauty. Congratulations. Love, Joyce
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Date: 7/27/2016 3:52:00 PM
Many congrats Carrie - an epic string of sonnets congrats on your win:-) hugs Jan xx
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Date: 7/27/2016 12:48:00 PM
With articulate detail, you have poetically shaped this wonderful drama, this life lesson, a tale of evil and good, of youth and age, of love! Bravo!!
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Date: 7/27/2016 11:29:00 AM
I love the mockingbird, and this is amazing... Congratulations on the win. Enjoy my latest blog. Skat
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Date: 4/26/2014 11:51:00 AM
So GOOD you! And see how well you did no worries over meter aye? Perfection, Congrad's Light & Love
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Date: 4/23/2014 7:49:00 AM
Way to go with this great work..Congrats on your win..Sara
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Date: 4/21/2014 8:23:00 PM
Oh, WOWOWOW, Carrie. I love the richness of your metaphors, how you brought it all home... FINESSE! Amazing! Thank you for this incredible crown...which moved me in every way. Congrats on your placement and I read below how much you enjoyed the write! Good! It was my hope that those who tried this will no longer feel daunted by the heft of a crown. The story is someone else's but the manner in which you told it is 100% Carrie. Hugs and cheers, Cyndi
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Date: 2/18/2014 4:30:00 PM
Carrie 5,6, & 7 were very rich, these were my fav lines [Ignorance and prejudice, are all of one stuff/with corn-likker sauce and gravy mentality,/amphibian worms, as if from a trough,/gorging on mania. They covet brutality.] The beginning sonnets I found a bit harder to understand what was happening? Did you enjoy the challenge? I did! Light & Love
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Richards Avatar
Carrie Richards
Date: 2/18/2014 5:59:00 PM
One of my all-time favorite movies and book!!
Richards Avatar
Carrie Richards
Date: 2/18/2014 5:58:00 PM
Hi Deb...if you recall the book/movie, first sonnets describe the 3 kids, free from school..Scout, the girl, getting into scrapes.then treasures they find in the old tree's knothole, left by the strange meek, locked up fellow, (Boo Radley)who had been hiding for years, which the children befriend. The moral values taught daily by the father(the mockingbird symbol). Hard to do it all justice
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