Best Castaways Poems
Christmas Castaways
My good friend Jerry’s unemployment had run out
I feared print journalism’s future was in doubt
But while we commiserated on Christmas Eve
A disheartening report was broadcast on TV
Local law enforcement had been busy that day
People found living in the woods had been cast away
These homeless families had set up tents on state land
And police had ordered these squatters to disband
How heartless it seemed that these souls should be tossed out
Poor folks who had nothing and learned to do without
We shut off the TV, couldn’t take it anymore
And headed for a café with joyful décor
Just twenty degrees as we drove down the highway
Where a sight neath a bridge caused far more dismay
A couple and their small child huddled together
Trying hard to stay warm in cold winter weather
Sad images of Bethlehem flashed through my mind
With no room at the inn for the savior of mankind
I looked at my friend and he returned my glance
We both felt this family needed a second chance
“Pull over,” he murmured, “we can’t just leave them here
These folks deserve to share in our holiday cheer”
So money that could have bought steak dinners for two
We used to buy hamburgers for our five-member crew
Some cash left over for a room at Motel Six
Not a real solution – a temporary fix
We returned Christmas Day; our church would take them in
But they had checked out; it was half past eleven
For long I’ve wondered what happened to this family
And what each Christmas holds for those who are needy
*Recollection of Christmas, 2007, when the economy started to fail.
the castaways walk alone.
down the many allies, roads.
looking for someone to take,
them in, for a meal, for rest.
for a kind hand to hold them.
to heal their wounds,their
scared,broken,straved bodies.
to be loved,cared for,a home.
thrown out by irresponsible humans.
who thought they were cute once.
kicked to the curb to fend alone.
their cries go unnoticed by so many.
such devastation, they endure because
of the ignorance of mankind.
the castaways walk alone.
down the many roads and allies.
Castaways
Around the Rue
Jasmine hues
Oh fluttering wings
Dance
Over the horizon,
on distant shores
lies my message in a bottle
cast askew on the beach
with other remnant memories
and hopes in tatters scattered
strewn among the drift wood debris
dead soldier memories lying face down
castaway sailor survivor sobs long gone,
in the debris fields of dead memories, silent
On distant shores
turtles hatch
alligators bask in the sun
seagulls argue and caw
fishermen love just being there
stranded cockles ooze under for cover
waves surge up and run out
tides rise and ebb
surfers smile, turn and head back out
ghosts of lovers walk the beach hand in hand
cries of kids playing echo in the splash and hiss of waves
kites ply the skies
pearly shells beckon beach-combers
cuttlefish and seahorse skeletons stark white
buried in the flotsam and jetsam
wood debris worn smooth and bleached
smelly old seaweed dried-out leathery
action aplenty, memorabilia.
On distant shores
the hiss and roar of waves
the glare of the sun
the coming and going of the sand
moved in drifts by wind and wave
drowns out all the memories
cast ashore as debris and litter
on a graveyard shore
where fresh footprints are washed away
where lingering wanderers
see, feel, touch and taste in the moment
but where no one hears
the stories locked away
in the debris fields of dead memories, silent.
Oh great protector
Of all the worlds human sectors
Rain falls on the erector scale
It came down without fail
So many of us left out to bail
Without anything to sail
Human kindness
People helping people
Without blindness
It's things like this that remind us
We will be able to put this behind us
America's spirit will get through it
The water just blew through it
Everything old and new totally screwed
Nothing could be truer
In how the winds grew
The rains came stunningly
Like a facet left running
Washed our city of Houston away
All on this 27th day of August 2017
Like Catrina, Harvey packs a punch
Put so many worlds into a crunch
Nothing left but a homeless bunch
Castaway stranded for days
People coming together in extraordinary ways
Everything we know in a complete maze
Human perseverance
Without the government's interference
We all praise our first responders
For saving so many left to wonder
Mile after mile the city has been reduced
To nothing but rubble piles
It will take a miracle and a great while
To reconcile all the lives broken without smiles
I prayed through wave after wave
Of mother natures conflict rave
That washed so much history away
With thousands of people that have no choice
But to stay and rebuild there lives day after day
The good old fashion way people helping people
Human kindness in extraordinary ways
With a gentle day,
Comes a nice sunny sky,
With no clouds to the eye,
A careless whisper,
And a time for fun,
With a castaway,
You’re never done,
They watch them simmer,
Under the rising sun,
A chance where they need to run,
And go through the gentle day,
But still be a “difficult”,
Cast-a-way.