Best Alabama Poems
I found you.
From the floorboards, to the trunk, to the stairs, to my table, you shambled. Howling and bleeding.
God, I had wanted so badly to recognize you.
To have some common ground with someone, even if it was just a ghost.
But, here we are.
You,
some memoir to a dead boy whose face is stretched so badly across the pain inside you.
And me,
some sad survivor.
In late on a late night from a long journey,
Barely in the door
She's telling funny stories of her own misfortunes.
A comedy of errors that harried her homewards.
The young woman who will always be our child
Has the lot of us laughing
When we should be asleep
At things that would've driven others
To fury or despair
But those have no hold on her,
Because bulldogs don't give up -
They just hold on.
So now she's holding on again -
A new grownup
In a too grownup world.
Schooltime over;
Lessons now born from living.
- But that's all right,
Because biting down, holding fast
Is what she does -
She's gonna chew this bone too,
The tough white bone of adulthood,
Down to a pile of fine, digestible dust
She'll make it all her own
The while she works it.
Black clouds bury the blue skies of Bama overhead
as monstrous winds wipe out towns of southern plain.
From historic antebellum it left a path of dead
in the midst of hail and drenching down-pouring rain.
Ten hours of terror that held the sweet south in its grip
not yielding to warnings since wind motion was quick.
Leveled houses and buildings with just one long dip
leaving nothing to relish of mementos or red brick.
Toys and papers scattered with the dying whirl twist
sending debris to nearby states in massive claws.
Disaster covers barren- lifeless- ground in hail and mist
while residents view destruction that harshly gnaws.
Blind darkness filled the night after the storms once seized
bleak clouds clung, still forbidding stars or moon to shine.
Lives spared but tattered beings were left quite uneased
and not rightly sure where tired bodies could now resign.
Despair fills many counties hit by a ravenous wind
that changed a million lives in a fleeted moment.
Winds of majesty can transform, bringing life to an end
along with frazzled minds and souls in much discontent.
Although lives have been altered and turned inside out
friendship and well wishes are given in great abundance.
It will take patience to rebuild quaint rural towns, no doubt
with God’s and friends help, we still have a fighting chance.
“Sweet Home Alabama, you’re home sweet home to me”!
Copyright © 2011 By Caryl S. Muzzey
It’s Iron Bowl Time in Alabama
By Elton Camp
Watching football may be okay
Even following it, play-by-play
However, I say, “Ho, hum”
Don’t care about the outcome
For I will use my time another way
(For readers outside Alabama, this refers to the extreme fanaticism so often seen here about the football teams of the University of Alabama and Auburn University. People who have attended neither school get all upset over it and tend to build their lives around the fortunes of the two teams. I think that’s going way too far about a dangerous child’s game.)
Oh how furious it was, God sent his power from above. He let the Black clouds
and the rain come gushing through our window panes. Oh what scary a sight to see,
I felt like running, I tried to free me. The gushing winds blowing so fast, I never
thought I would last. The winds he sent was meant to be, to warn all of us our
souls need to be free.
He sent his fury fast and long, we were all surprised where it roamed. The tornadoes
went from one county to another, sending its wrath, killing, destroying and giving us
trouble. Cries were heard throughout the night, People screaming and praying with
all their might.
The tornadoes did not stop, they destroyed our lands, and ruined our crops.
The devastation it left on our minds is here to stay and will never go away.
This is a terrible storm we will never forget, because it lasted a long time and all
of us were upset. We hoped and prayed it would pass us by, asking and praying
to God, please dont let us die!
We all tried to seek shelter in our homes, before we knew it, everything was gone.
Some of us found ourselves standing outside with nothing hardly for cover, we were
screaming and crying searching for one another.
A little south of Heaven
On the Gulf of Mexico
Here in the Heart of Dixie
The living's easy and slow
The weather's mostly nice here
Round Mobile Bay
Sunshine when it ain't raining
It's beautiful today here in L.A.
Living in L.A.
Lower Alabama
Spanish moss, azaleas
A deep south panorama, Lower Alabama
So far south, can't get no farther
Off the map, feet hitting water
A little taste of the bayou
A little twang in our talk
Folks are friendly when they greet you
We say sir and maam and y'all
We love sweet tea, our chicken fried
Shrimp and grits, and pecan pie
And watermelon in season
Man, I love the smell of bacon
Smells like Sunday morning
Like America, tastes like freedom
Living in L.A.
Lower Alabama
Spanish moss, azaleas
A deep south panorama, Lower Alabama
So far south, can't get no farther
Off the map, feet hitting water
Now, some might say we've got it all
Hidden treasures to be found
Bellingrath and Mardi Gras
(The first one, mind you) and the USS Alabama
The stuff of dreams, music scenes
Golden beaches, island streams
Fresh seafood to die for
Piggly Wigglys, there's a few
Foosackly's, can't fake the Foo
A sea of Shunarrah billboards, oh Lord
Living in L.A.
Lower Alabama
Spanish moss, azaleas
A deep south panorama, Lower Alabama
So far south, can't get no farther
Off the map, feet hitting water
Alabam, here where I oughtta be
© 2017.
create an image
plenty of clay and mirror's
plenty of jaw talk
Gray the sky grew,
And darker still in hue.
How could anyone know when the day began,
So many would never see the sun rise again.
So many the Lord did decide to take,
A trail of destuction the Twister left in its wake.
The winds twisted and blew,
Leaving a path of lost souls when it was through.
To terror many did awaken,
For many of their kin was taken.
When the sky turned blue again,
It was to many resounding voices whispering Amen.
Not all that prayed for relief,
From their grief...
Were as lucky as some,
For many were called to their eternal home.
So when we look back upon this day,
We will still pray...
That the many lost have found their way...
To the Pearly Gates and entered therein,
All due to the unruly winds.
When we remember this day,
Let us bow our heads and pray...
For the wonderous souls we lost,
And may we never forget the cost.
4-28-11 For:For the lost loved ones on 4-27-2011
(About relatives moving from New York to Alabama)
Alabama Here We Come
By Elton Camp
Of cold temperature and snow you’ve had enough
So you are moving to where there isn’t such stuff
In Alabama the cost of living won’t be as high
And it will be much easier financially to get by
On old folks’ pensions there isn’t any state tax
So it’s a good place to be laid back and to relax
“Youse guys” will no longer offend your ear
Although it’s, “Y’all,” you will certainly hear
And too, now y’all will no longer Yankees be
Since you’ll be residing in the Heart of Dixie
But although you are escaping the winter gale,
Welcome to the land of tornadoes and hail
To learn to eat grits and Southern fried chicken
But pretty soon your fingers you will be licking
And it is bib overalls that you’ll get to wear
Go barefoot in summer and nobody will care
It’s the Deep South that’s the best place to be
So just hurry on down so that fact you can see
Alabama songbird –
On radio she’s never heard,
But empties her poetic soul
For strangers all around the world
Sitting in her southern home,
Surrounded by adoring fans;
She sweetly sings angelic tunes,
And strums her plum guitar in hand
And soon enough her voice dispels
The walls around that fail to keep
A cage about her supple form,
As joy and sorrow then release –
In melodies so strong and true,
Yet gentle as the morning dew;
They warm the hearts of listening ears,
And move the eyes of some to tears
This diamond girl will one day shine,
Although she waits unnoticed still
Beneath the stars that seem to blind
An Alabama songbird’s chime.
Can’t believe these eyes
And what they see
As only blackouts survive
Driving my rig into the northern Alabama night
A twisting hand reaching out of the demon skies
And ripping out the heart
And giving back ruined lives
(I know, I was there)
Making a Snowman in Alabama
By Elton Camp
In Alabama, whenever snow falls
“Let make a snowman,” a kid calls
The result that he wants to see
Is one like in books or on TV
But when the snowfall is through
There’s little with which to do
Balls of snow you try to gather
The dry stuff won’t stick together
It picks up dirt from the ground
The snowman’s the worst around
While folks up in Yankee land
Can build one that’s so grand
But I’d much prefer it be that way
Than piles of snow for weeks to stay
The long never ending landscape of southern Alabama never runs cold. Today it decided to. The wind was at
ease and all the snow flakes were about. The cold ground shuddered beneath me but I could tell it was a good
kind of shiver. The snow fell down in a hurry yet it still took it's time swaying in the wind. All the snowflakes
danceing around soon started a low tune far off on the wind. The band played a song that the world has been
playing for centerys. One of love and peace. One that has no bounds or experation date. The song was cold
enough to freeze the earth but here I stood warm as I basked in my happieness. The world seemed still as the
orchestra played it's beautiful tune. The wind swirling and twirling as if it were a finely tuned violin. I couldn't
bare to close my eyes for it was just to beautiful to look away from. As the wind picked up in it's gusts the
snow felt ever so heavier and the skys begain to melt the love within the snow as all the snowflakes fell down
as rain. "What a beautiful conversion" crossed my thaughts. The snowed over feild grew dreadfully quiet as the
beautiful tune escaped into the wind. This was when I sudenly realized I was soaked and freezing. Almost killed
me but I steped inside away from the Alabama snow. But I knew she'd come back for me.
Alabama’s Governor: My Way or No Way
By Elton Camp
In office only for the second day,
Governor says do religion his way
The deacon in the Baptist Church
Wants us not to be left in the lurch
He says, “I want to be your brother,”
But it requires his belief and no other
And Jesus as savior you have to accept
Or into the deep abyss you’ll be swept
If you want to be my brother or my sister
Then listen to me, M’am, Ms or Mister
If Jew, Shinto, Buddhist, agnostic or Islam
Then the wrong way I say that you’ve come
People thought a governor they’d elected
A statewide pastor they had not expected
To his personal belief the man has a right
Speaking as governor, keep it out of sight
He apologized, but not for the thing he said
Will his tenets the man continue to spread?
If his “core beliefs” made anybody get mad,
As a “born-again Christian” it’s just too bad
It was a wrong way his governorship to begin
Alabama’s unsavory past had come to an end
But what does our brand new governor then do
Except hateful prejudice to promptly renew?
What a place 2 be
So beautiful so majestic are thee
Flowers bloom in the meadows
Harvesters in the fields
Cows mooing in the pasture
As the sun shines over the hills
Country roads that lead to no where
Lil log cabins sitting there
Fog a dew cover the night air
Like a thin blanket hung up there