Best Clive Poems
“...The leftists that you voted for
jacked up the minimum wage,
so new workers like me cannot
get hired, much less get paid.
“And those very same people
ignore foreigners who work cheap,
they can work, and break the law,
But the same can’t be done by me!
“And then the proposed solution
to this raging dumpster fire
is to throw others' money at me
until the day that I expire?
“They create all these problems,
then watch as the city rots,
and fools like you vote for ruin
out of fear that the checks might stop!”
His mother with quite the shocked look,
Said,”Don’t talk like no honkey here!”
Then raved about slaves and Jim Crow,
the same old litanies of fear.
Clive said,”Mom, save the conspiracy,
that garbarge is hard to endure.
And stop using your skin pigment
to explain away your failures!
“John bought into all this crap,
thought his thugging was justified.
All it did was leave him lying
with a bullet between his eyes.
“I’ll not end up some dead banger,
or give up what makes a man a man,
even if I have to go out
and vote for a Republican!”
He turned to leave despite her cries,
and her endless protestations,
he had to go down to City Hall
to change his affiliations.
I watched
A Cornish chough,
Flying so Cornish high,
Over Cornish cliffs,
In a Cornish sky,
All Cornish observations,
Made by my Cornish eye.
I watched
The Cornish sun,
Masked by a Cornish cloud,
I thought my Cornish thoughts,
My Cornish thoughts were loud,
I viewed the Cornish landscape,
And I felt so Cornish proud.
I watched
The Cornish waves,
Roll into the Cornish bay,
I saw the Cornish sunset,
At the end of another Cornish day,
For I am forever Cornish,
And forever Cornish I will stay ...
When Clive was nineteen years old
he graduated from high school,
it had taken him five years,
but he would not become a fool.
He’d seen why not two years prior
when is brother John had gang-banged
and was shot down in an alley,
not found until his corpse stank.
The same fate had met his father
back when he was a baby,
and despite all the evidence
his mother cried,”Conspiracy!”
Clive would not allow himself to
be subjected to the same end,
if high school brought a crummy job
then he would work, unlike his friends.
So he set out that summer day
wearing the best clothes that he owned,
and went about from place to place,
to all types of shops did he go.
Most of them were not hiring
despite the strong economy,
a restauranteur even said,
“I wish I could help you buddy.
“But the city raised base wages
to fifteen dollars an hour,
I had to fire all but two,
and I still can’t pay the power!”
Frustrated, Clive started on home,
when he walked part a fast food joint,
and what he saw at the counter
made the young man rather annoyed.
A Latino man took the orders,
so Clive asked,”What is your pay?”
The man looked nervous, then he choked,
“Sorry senior, no anglaise!”
Clive was pretty furious
when he reached his mother’s flat,
she sighed deep, then she just clucked,
“Didn’t I warn you about that?
“They’re all looking to keep us down,
they like seeing our people wrecked.
We’ll go to welfare tomorrow,
see about getting you a check.”
Clive’s fury then boiled over,
and a hot raged marred up his face,
he balled his fist and seethed out loud,
“Now let me get this all straight...
You saw the hidden talents in me
Things that even I couldn’t see
You encouraged me to learn new things
Qualifications and the glory it brings
All the things that I have done
Your support has spurred me on
I wrote a book and some poetry too
All these things I did because of you
I learnt to drive and you were patient then
I bumped the car but I drove again
I once got the car stuck on the drive
You never stayed angry with me Clive
You lived your life and it was full
Life was happy and never dull
You loved the kids and they loved you
A wonderful dad and husband too
Life goes on as it always has done
I carry on now that you have gone
No one knows how life will be
I thank you Clive for supporting me
Since you’ve been gone I have had to move on
Got my freelance journalist diploma done
I have had a novel published of that I am proud
I can play guitar and keyboard I sing out loud
Nothing can change what you did for me Clive
I am so glad you did but sad you’re not alive
I have followed my heart and now I am gay
Lot’s of things I have done since you passed away
I think of you fondly as you were good too me
Rest in peace now coz what will be will be
You won’t ever have to suffer over life anymore
God has taken you away and shut the door
tho its years pass
some we ran out of gas
no doudt
the shots ran out
hard to forget
my minds not at rest
still has its stack on the rack
with
CLIVE RIGHTS FLASH BACK
Here lies our dear friend Clive
Never again will he drink and drive
4-11-19
Struggle.
How easily we could avoid that perpetually mundane institution.
But we subject ourselves to it.
Day in and day out.
Waking to wrathful conflict, flagellating our psyches with sick,
venomous passion.
What to do what to do what to do
Imagine a situation.
Imagine that situation resolved and forgotten.
Between those two statements lies the answer, in one word.
We'll never know that word.
Most of us take comfort in that.
Now, imagine a world with meaning, truth, and a clear path.
Choices that make themselves, codes of honor to uphold.
This should be ideal.
And to some, it is.
But I do not exist in the same illustrious kingdom as
Those.
Standing outside the walls, I realize I must make my own way.
I loathe this fact daily.
We search, and search, some find, some give up.
Others... reevaluate.
What is the place for the reevaluators?
it was know play
thinking of that day
on the hiway
those had lot to say
for todays change
he wasn't insane
tho some say repent
IT WAS THE
CLIVE RIGHTS MOVEMENT
you stood tall
you was our wall
it was time fall
heaven made the call
it was plain
you stood by man
with a plan
you both did your thing
you will for ever
live in our heads
THO YOUR DEAD
ATTRIBUTE
TO CLIVE RIGHTS KING
some was name king
he made his name
some was name
john he was know pond
my repect he won
had brother name robert
re fuse to stop us
let us move as we choose
than there were jerker
who did't like
THOSES CLIVE RIGHTS WORKERS
it wasn't just a dream
you had too be mean
stand tall
backs against the wall
it now still has the sound
say don't lay down
to the lords will
CLIVE RIGHTS LIVES
some or insane
to thinks this a game
been to much pain
for us to gain
and stil need the lords will
to have a brigher light
there still fught for hope
CLIVE RIGHTS NO JOKE
he taught us
get out of the dust
if you must
in his god to trust
he was for rights
brown black or white
some say he was insane
they call him the king
of the peace preacher
he was a
CLIVE RIGHTS TEACHER
Good ole Clive is only 67,
an going for a rest,
signed himself in to a mad house,
4 bed swapping it seems best,
Clive's been hanging with a shiela,
leccy trike she rides about,
handicapped is Ophelia?
nope, she has it all worked out.
Taxi driver and a street kid,
some of the boyfriends of Ophelia,
with Clive on the side, yes 3 to ride,
subtle cards, i have to deal ya,
so for a rest i did suggest,
might be more in the field of play?
signed him in,
banging in the wheelie bin,
yet love does find a way.
Don
you were born
the world wasn't torn
be you me too
there those who stood tall
they were strong as wall
some had to fall
just to have the tools
for a better school
theyer fought day and night
so we could see the lights
THE
STORY OF CLIVE RIGHTS