Best Founder Poems
You say: Wrong place—wrong time,
Maybe: Wrong place—not right time,
Not right place—but wrong time?
I say: This's right place—right time,
In times and places,
What is the time?
Where is the place
For right not wrong?
Is this like signs
Tearing up the scenery;
What about my mind?
Don't what? I can read the sign!
Oh—Signs of the time?
What’s wrong is not right,
Lord, I will sing this song!
Fight for what’s right
Correct what's wrong!
In all times and places
Oh, salvation!
Please, be alright,
And make it—
On time!
~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~
© Joseph S. Spence, Sr., (Epulaeryu Master) 109/11/08
All Rights Reserved, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Senior Advisor, to Founder of Motivational Strips
Ambassador De Literature
Noble Star of Literature 2018
Living Legend of the 21st Century
Pentasiv B World Friendship Poetry Featured Poet 2019
~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~
Joseph S. Spence, Sr., is the author of "The Awakened One Poetics" (2009), which is
published in seven different languages. He invented the Epulaeryu poetry form, which
focuses on succulent cuisines and drinks. He is published in various forums, including the
World Haiku Association; Poetinis Druskininku, Milwaukee Area College, Phoenix Magazine;
Möbius Poetry, and Taj Mahal Review to name a few. Joseph is a Goodwill Ambassador for
the state of Arkansas, USA, a college faculty, and a military veteran.
~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~
Maestro – 4-23-24
Dedicated to Dr. Stanley Chapple. Co-founder of Tanglewood. Conductor of the London Philharmonic. Head of the Music School University of Washington. Conductor of the University of Washington Symphony Orchestra. Beloved Professor and so much more!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maestro
Music flowed from his baton
Like water from his English wellspring,
Taming trills in the perfume of restless scherzos
Coaxing shy adagios into lyrical splendor
Charming sinuous rondos into sinuous symphonies
Coaxing Thalia from cobwebs into tarantellas
In tangled woods and brick paths lined with cherry trees.
Bewitching a young baton to rise
Like a cobra hypnotized in west side stories
In concert with souls of Glorianna and Appalachia’s spring
And arabesques of rodeos to fanfares voces
Riding on concertos beckoning for east to oceans west
To streets glistening in an hourly carillon cadence,
Rain showers so like the Old City’s rhythms,
He found sheltered rests beneath gothic eaves
Soaring with scores of venomous revenge,
And octaves in librettos of a butterfly’s death,
To crescendo young symphonic dreams and emeritus chords
Maestro, melodic mentor, gift and inspiration
Friend of Lenny, Ben and Aaron.
You, unfeeling creatures
Who call yourselves human,
You, fleeting bubbles of reason,
Accidental parasites of time,
You, filthy microbes of cancer,
Ephemera of invincible eternity,
You, who try to fill your vanity
With abominable crimes,
You, insensible butchers of animals,
Notorious destroyers of pastures,
You, contaminators of oceans,
Deleterious polluters of rivers,
You, menacing beings of harmony,
Transgressors of universal laws,
You,
Who deliberately have put me through
The tormenting agony of dying
By
Strewing your treacherous dark web of
Your unworthy ambitions, all over my face,
Shadowing my generous fertility and
Rendering me sterile,
Behold,
For the time has come for you
To feel my wrath and my fury
Boiling lava over you
To flow every day,
Kneel,
Your tiny mortal beings
In front of the immortal cosmos,
For the shiny heavy sword of
Universal justice,
Punisher of transgressions, guardians of
The eternal laws,
Over your thoughtless heads to fall
With vengeance and rage
Decapitating the most of you and
Those who would survive
Shall feel the torturing pain in
Their hearts
For
Uncountable years!*
© Demetrios Trifiatis
20 March 2020
* This poem I wrote in 1985 in Montreal, Canada when, as a co-founder of a peace movement, was making efforts to raise conscientiousness for to save mother earth. It was posted here on the 28th of November 2012 with the title:"The Rage of Mother Earth". Now, with minor editing, is re-posted with its original title of 1985: "THE MOURNING OF MOTHER EARTH." THIS IS A STERN WARNING TO ALL OF US WHO DESTROY HER: REMEMBER NOT MUCH TIME IS LEFT TO SAVE OUR PLANET AND OURSELVES!
Dear merciful and gracious God
The Supreme Father of wisdom
The One who provides knowledge and understanding
The guiding light of all creation
Leader, provider, and shepherd of our fathers
I call upon You today in a mighty way
Please shed Your love of intercession on our fathers
Guide their feet while they run this race
Strengthen their hearts as they walk Your way
Cleanse their thoughts as they strive to stay on Your path
Provide them with hope as they learn to pray
Sustain them with Your love from day to day
Touch their total being as the family’s foundation
Show them wisdom to provide wise counsel
Open their hearts to impart Your values and the Gospel
Walk with them and guide their feet around sinking sand
Listen to their pleas all across Your land
Mold them as You are the potter and they are the clay
Teach them how to kneel with children and pray
Talk with them as they would with their child and family
Impart divine wisdom, knowledge, and understanding upon them
Wrap them in Your mercy and surround them with Your glory
These blessings I ask as Your humble servant
In the name of Your begotten son Jesus
The Morning Star of all creation
Singing praises to His name
Henceforth until everlasting
Bless all fathers today and always,
Amen!
~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~
Author’s comments: I thank God for my father, Kenneth Spence, a great father. He was the
kind of person when the dinner table was set you don’t want to be late. His stories were
entertaining and victorious. His instructions were always helpful and meritorious and his
praises uplifting and glorious. May he rest in peace!
~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~
© Joseph S. Spence, Sr., (Epulaeryu Master) 6/20/2010
All Rights Reserved, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Senior Advisor, to Founder of Motivational Strips
Ambassador De Literature
Noble Star of Literature 2018
Living Legend of the 21st Century
Pentasiv B World Friendship Poetry Featured Poet 2019
Cash
Slashed by
Uncle Sam
Hard earned wages
Burned as income tax
Cash gone like blowing wind
Tax is not like sweet vermouth
This is just like pulling hen’s tooth
Tax going up, paycheck going down
Tax man leave us alone—we need a break!
~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~
Won Honorable Mention
Etheree Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Andrea Dietirch
June 20, 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~
© Joseph S. Spence, Sr., (Epulaeryu Master) 6/11/2010
All Rights Reserved, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Senior Advisor, to Founder of Motivational Strips
Ambassador De Literature
Noble Star of Literature 2018
Living Legend of the 21st Century
Pentasiv B World Friendship Poetry Featured Poet 2019
...And Alexander Hamilton,
though know for controversy,
served alongside Washington
in the war to make us free.
Helped build up our new armed forces,
set the stage for our economics,
the prosperity we still enjoy,
he had a lot to do with it.
The man stood against slavery
when many just chose to ignore
the problem as unsolvable,
unwilling to seize something more.
He rose up from bastardry
to shape a nation not formed yet,
I think we should remember more
then the sad method of his death.
Then there is His Excellency,
George Washington earned that in full,
the only American soul
who any dare call by that title.
Stuck with an untrained army,
often outnumbered and outclassed,
he wouldn’t fight by Europe’s rules,
and the British he would outlast.
Ill-supplied and often hungry,
he kept the militas going,
and though they would have made him King
he gave it up voluntarily!
Taught us how to be a president,
was not a known thing in those days,
then even left that so he could farm,
the depths of his honor amaze…
Last is the one who didn’t arrive
until three generations later,
Lincoln, the man who finished the job,
that Great Emancipator.
Some would say he wasn’t a founder,
but I must include him within,
the nation we know traces right back
to the great deed done by him.
An ordinary politician
in a nation torn all apart,
forced to grow into a hero,
enough to test any man’s heart.
Forced to fight a murderous war
admist voices calling out for peace,
knowing defeat meant more chaos,
and millions left in slavery…
Nowadays voices spurn these men,
choosing to recall only mistakes,
forgetting that their bold ideas
are what have made this country great.
Teachers prattle on like socialists,
killers of one hundred million souls,
all of our mistakes pale next to that,
it’s a direction none should go.
But the wisdom of the founders
transcends the confines of their day,
they took on the challenge of freedom,
that’s a challenge that don’t go away.
If we take the time to heed them
then we can continue on thriving,
we should revere the founding fathers,
in truth we owe them everything.
negativity
peel away layers
behold emptiness
~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~
© Joseph S. Spence, Sr., (Epulaeryu Master) 5/15/09
All Rights Reserved, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Senior Advisor, to Founder of Motivational Strips
Ambassador De Literature
Noble Star of Literature 2018
Living Legend of the 21st Century
Pentasiv B World Friendship Poetry Featured Poet 2019
~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~
Joseph S. Spence, Sr., is the author of "The Awakened One Poetics" (2009), which is
published in seven different languages. He invented the Epulaeryu poetry form, which
focuses on succulent cuisines and drinks. He is published in various forums, including the
World Haiku Association; Poetinis Druskininku, Milwaukee Area College, Phoenix Magazine;
Möbius Poetry, and Taj Mahal Review to name a few. Joseph is a Goodwill Ambassador for
the state of Arkansas, USA, a college faculty, and a military veteran.
~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~
I am a child
Like the one you tuck in bed
The one you kiss on the head
The one who gets loved instead
The one who is so well fed
I am a child
I am a child
Like the one who gives you joy
Your pretty girl and fine boy
The one who gets every toy
The one who none dares annoy
I am a child
I am a child
With no home to call my own
The cold reaching to my bone
Hunger pangs, all that I’ve known
In tattered clothes, I have grown
I am a child
I am a child
The pavement my only bed
Dreaming of a piece of bread
With a small heart full of dread
My life hanging from a thread
I am a child
I am a child
With no gifts beneath the tree
With no hope to be set free
Wanting like YOUR child to be
Why, oh, why, can’t you love ME?
I am a child
I am YOUR child
I am GOD’s child
Remember me this Christmas….
Eileen Manassian Ghali
I'm privileged that Norma Nashid, founder of Restore a Child, has asked me to be an ambassador for the organization to help raise awareness of the plight of less fortunate children around the world. She asked me to write a poem for their newsletter, and I am sharing her FB post regarding it here with you.
(The poem below was written by Eileen Manassian Ghali, a professor of English at Middle East University in Beirut, Lebanon. She dedicated her poem this Christmas to Restore a Child. Her mother, Angel Dikran Manassian was my favorite teacher and my first teacher in school. Now I get the honor of enjoying the beautiful writing of her daughter, Eileen.--Norma Nashed)
If you are interested in finding out more about this humanitarian organization, please look them up on FB. I will be writing an article soon to highlight the plight of Syrian Refugee children in Lebanon. I hope my Mama would be proud of me!
restoreachild.org
http://ymlp.com/zMiueR (latest newsletter)
https://www.facebook.com/RestoreAChild
My poem will be published in the next edition
In my heart I've always loved you
Always thought you good and kind
Though I know you do not know me
Know you're always on my mind
Nights of darkness pass unbroken
By your smile and gentle ways
How I wish that you were present
Here beside me all my days
Light or darkness, rain or shadow
Thoughts of you are light to me
Now I pray that as you read this
Thoughts of me would kindly be
I would be your slave forever
Just to bring a smile or two
Have you walking life beside me
All your blest commands to do
How I hope that you will greet me
Pray you'll see my desp'rate case
Should you not, my heart would founder
Longing for your smiling face
About this poem: It is trochaic, meaning that it starts with a stressed syllable and alternates between a stressed and unstressed the whole way through. The syllable count is 8.7.8.7. Although I wrote this from the viewpoint of a man, it could be read either way.
your presence is:
sweeter than a ripe mango
filling to the soul
© Joseph S. Spence, Sr., (Epulaeryu Master) 6/12/08
All Rights Reserved, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Senior Advisor, to Founder of Motivational Strips
Ambassador De Literature
Noble Star of Literature 2018
Living Legend of the 21st Century
Pentasiv B World Friendship Poetry Featured Poet 2019
I
The Servants of Free Men on the Mayflower
Knew "abundant life" in Jesus, Great Savior
Two servants, too, rose up to sign The US Constitution
Lover of His Morals, Binder of America's First Bible, Jefferson
Perhaps, long before, some foundations cast by Tom Paine & William Penn
II
Then there is Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island
Who paid Native Americans for Providence, new way to get land?
More fortunate than Minister Anne Hutchinson, foe of New England
Because she read the Bible, taught it, and well ... thus expelled
Yet more fortunate than Mary Dyer, Quaker, now Watch at Boston Common
III
Smaller folk prayed for A Great Awakening. It came. Publicist: Ben Franklin
Preachers in the trenches, before two Billys: Charles Finney & Our Theologian
None other than Jonathan Edwards; when he died, on that occasion
His wife wrote her daughter: we weep but thank LORD he was our relation!
IV
The idea of America ... inimitable; Einstein came as Refugee of Distinction
And veterans I'm blessed to know, ennobled by trials and tribulation
We lost Lewis Reynolds this year; a Marine and Man of many an Invention
Your simple research will reveal we owe much to such Fighters For Freedom
And in my church: Walter Ogden, Dick (Tex) Pentecost, Russell Coleman
V
Yes, we may criticize its imperfection ... often without paying a price
There was the bad history with Indians - broken treaties and cowardice -
Yet John Rolfe did marry Pocohontas, many now claim them Ancestors
And slavery of Africans was brutish, but Lincoln busted free of old fears
As did Noble Roosevelt, Carter, & Obama ... celebrate USA in Living Colors
(c) Deo. Happy Birthday America; God empower the peoples and every level of Leadership to fulfill the Great Destiny of America. After all, Gandhi's great granddaughter, Uma, says: "Try to share; you'll have to one way or another."
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
One grows fond of all the involvement one has with society
To what end do we extend those words of forgiveness said so easily
You spend all those days and weekends
With those they say they are your friends
Those that say they will watch your back to the end
Then that day comes, and they pretend
They don’t know you; … those friends
Are not no more, they offend
They will hurt you and stir your anger
They say absence makes the heart grow founder
Is not always the answer
People inspire you, or they drain you and make you bitter
Reality is… we were friends for never
I can’t take this no more, so I’ll kiss them good-bye forever
They were not worth my time and worry so I’ll arrange to stay away
Stay away
Stay away
Forever
I don’t need you as friends if you can’t take me as I am and
Have my back at the end
11/6/2015
her head rests softly
on my chest with such grace
with warmth from her smile
© Joseph S. Spence, Sr., (Epulaeryu Master) 8/27/08
All Rights Reserved, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Senior Advisor, to Founder of Motivational Strips
Ambassador De Literature
Noble Star of Literature 2018
Living Legend of the 21st Century
Pentasiv B World Friendship Poetry Featured Poet 2019
I went to Georgia without my bonjo in my hand
I knew it would be great after I landed and took a stand
I told them my name and they asked, "What's your fame?"
I reached for my muse and turned it loose like a goose
They straightened their ties and said “O’ me, O’ my!”
“We made a mistake about this poetic rhyming guy!”
Someone handed me a bonjo and they all joined the tango
My muse had its way and we had a wonderful stay
As we departed for home they started to sing,
“Hurry back poet, may your muse give you wings!”
© Joseph S. Spence, Sr., (Epulaeryu Master) 12/31/08
All Rights Reserved, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Senior Advisor, to Founder of Motivational Strips
Ambassador De Literature
Noble Star of Literature 2018
Living Legend of the 21st Century
Pentasiv B World Friendship Poetry Featured Poet 2019
A warm smile of hello in the sanctuary of poets
The name is Arden G.; here to express not to impress
If I coud do an eye-contact and a firm handshake in the virtual land of PoetrySoup
Would be a dream come true to meet great poets called, "Souper".
If I could move heaven and earth; I'd love to meet Linda or PoetDestroyer, SKAT and Julie Rasley
The first few who commented on my featured poem, "LOVE" and welcomed me as a family
Anne Lise Andresen who always drop by and Sheri Harper that ranked my first poem entry, "A Shot of HIV"
I'll tell them a simple, "THANKS" and encouragement of "MORE POWER".
For no words could capture the emotions of knowing wonderful artists in this world.
Of course I'd like to meet and learn something 'bout Yasmin Khan
Who advocates to bind each poets; pure intentions to make us one
I'll tap her shoulder and tell her, "IT'S A JOB WELL DONE".
Now everybody's sharing their depths and self one by one.
Is there a way to meet the founder of Poetrysoup?
To tell HIM, "BRAVISSIMO" and my new "SOUPER-FRIEND" too.
Arden Gopela