Best Herrera Poems
Voice: Jason Williams
***
I danced!
Whirling air around me, particles of sundust
in tornadoes and hurricanes following me in awe
I danced.
Each night I wake and feel my legs
The ones that once carried me and jumped so high
The ones that took me away from a world I didn't want to be in
Creating a dream,
I danced.
The music colouring a world with brushes and pencils
With moves and muscle, practice and pirouette
A world I thought no one could take away
I danced.
When my eyes are closed I dance
My mind paints my body whole and healed
A unicorn, a world of faeries, a galloping horse
A world of dreams, veiled and away from hurt
I live again
I live
I don't dance anymore
But I write. My words, my lines, they carry me now
My legs are useless, my arms and emotions
Carry me
So....
I dance again, in words
I dance.
***
1st Place in contest: Practiced Passion
Sponsor: Frank Herrera
November 9, 2016
Born out of wedlock
she gave up her baby girl
for quick adoption.
Twice married since, old and frail,
she laments her childless life.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Contest: Regret
Sponsor: Frank Herrera
Chosen POTD-1st Oct 2016
For miles silence reigns
For years solitude,
My heart is heavy
My spirit low
And I have a long way to go.
In life's eternal journey
I walk alone,
The night is dark
Somewhere yonder
lies my home
And I must traverse
many a silent shore.
I cannot laugh
Try as I may,
I cannot bring
myself to weep,
My joys and woes die
before they materialize.
From dawn till dusk
I have toiled often
gathering the remnants of
my broken dreams.
Before a hope is built
It crumbles down,
Before a wish is fulfilled
Frustration overwhelms me.
I am helpless
I drift through life,
As many a time I think to live
As many a time I die!
Contest: 'Faces of loneliness' by frank herrera
I AM
A Father.
A Son.
A Brother.
None are just titles.
I live those titles every day through my actions.
I am successful at those roles every day.
I possess unconditional unwavering love .
I AM
A Director
My profession as much as my titles defines me.
It is not just my career it is my love.
Directing theatre has my unconditional unwavering love.
I am successful at this role every day.
I AM
defined by my actions.
I act on my beliefs.
I AM
defined by my beliefs.
I believe in the fiber of someone's character
not their words,
in their intent not just their actions.
Peoples needs are important to me not just my own.
I AM
committed to forgiveness,
Humans are basically good.
The forest is dense predators lurk in the shadows.
Fear plays too important a role in too many lives.
I help others rather than judge them negatively.
I believe
Even though the task ahead seems insurmountable
we will find our way through the black of these days.
People with completely different views can and do bond.
I believe
We must learn tolerance for without it we are lost.
I believe
in priorities
I do not give too much importance
to words and ideas.
I learn from nature
like the mighty oak
I can bend with the wind.
I prefer more round tables,
less round 'em up.
In less locks
more open doors,
in more heart
less knee jerks.
I have the strength to accept I die
the will to live every day.
I worry about the incredible suffering
exists away from North America.
I Am
Love
above all else
Love
It is about put up
or shut up.
I am anything but silent.
I Am
one of many
in the end
that is who
I Am.
06~11~2014
Sponsor: frank herrera
Contest Name:"I AM"
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL
My childhood spent without peers
alone and prey to my fears.
Nights spent face buried in my pillow
my emotions like a weeping willow.
The school kid disliked and attacked
like a player continuously sacked.
Bruises and scars physical,
cuts deep and salted, emotional.
Not a friend not even one
or an adult there to help - none.
You look to the skies for relief
but lessons taught come with grief.
Our life books come prewritten
set in stone, can't be rewritten.
Loneliness moves in, year after year
without choice you hide behind a veneer.
You give up on living
focus on just existing.
Sorry, I have to stop here. This story now transcends
rhyming, calls for a voice free just to speak.
Loneliness has many faces.
I imagine one of the most intense state of loneliness
is losing a loved one.
A planet of three billion would feel empty.
I have witnessed my mothers chagrin after
losing my father.
Happy partners a lifetime long and suddenly
she is one of two.
You do the math.
They were two who became one.
Now she is alone cut down the middle
add her pain and she is barely half.
There is no crowd that could fill her void.
There is no amount of family love
that could fill the hole in her heart.
My pain was different. I just had a wish to belong,
to have one friend, one love, or just to have a hand to hold.
When you're abandoned, ridiculed, and disliked
by everyone even by people who don't even
know you, you have no choice but to hide.
My loneliness turned me into a critter
that could curl up into a small ball.
Still I had hope.
I wished someone could love me.
Love me for my gentle ways,
my giving nature and my open arms.
18~11~2014
Sponsor: frank herrera
Contest Name: FACES OF LONELINESS
WRITE ABOUT LONLINESS FROM YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE....MUST BE AUTO BIOGRAPHICAL.
I am a face hiding behind a computer screen
I am maybe the one you search for in your dream
I am compassionate and for other’s I care
I am generous and with you I’d share
I am a mother, sister, daughter, wife
I am a friend to some I have known all my life
I am small but have a big heart
I am scared to lose my parents - I dread us being apart
I am considered to have a good sense of humour
I am British that’s the truth it's not a rumour
I am happy to listen to others and share a pot of tea
I am proud to say I am simply me
I am female
11~06~14
Contest: I am
Sponsor: Frank Herrera
Abandoned flowers placed against the wall,
stems bent and twisted, limp and on display.
In long, straight row they line the gloomy hall;
these wilted gems now spent, no role to play.
Some showing with their blossoms barely raised
and others hang on weakened stems so low.
In varied ways, their languishing is phased;
decaying flowers lined up in a row.
Abandoned flowers there against the wall,
their colors dull and dry like winter grass.
What once stood straight now lies in wilted sprawl;
they stab the heart of visitors who pass.
Abandoned with no sunshine in their skies...
in worn wheeled chairs, awaiting their demise.
Sandra M. Haight
~1st Place~
Premier Contest: Poem Ending With A 'Chilling Twist'
Sponsor: Frank Herrera
Judged: 09/11/2016
For nine long long months I longed to greet you
We’ll if I’m perfectly honest …
You were so snug in your home you stayed for an extra ten days!
I had waited patiently for your arrival and couldn’t wait to hold you in my arms
Finally the day arrived and I discovered they don’t call it labour for nothing …
It was damn hard work!
But twenty-four hours later you arrived in the world
I guess every mother thinks her child is the most beautiful
You were gorgeous! With fine downy blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes
I counted your tiny fingers and toes
You were absolutely perfect
Later that evening I sat in a comfy chair to feed you
Looking out of the window I saw soft snowflakes swirling
It was so so beautiful tears started to fall
Now, whenever I see snowy scenes I think of you my precious son
12~08~16
Mr Fondest memory Contest
Sponsored by Frank Herrera
A MAD (TAG!)
I am very upset right now.
I do hope many of you read my tag.
Do not care if you comment or not.
I may not answer a comment correctly.
Do I have to ask for forgiveness.
Every time I do not understand a poem.
I am no genius.
I do not care if I do not rhyme in this one .
Why are them ladies making me an enemy, what did I do.
Well I am done playing nice.
I am sorry I am not fully educated, but I tell you what.
You keep running people out.
So you can drink up all the soup.
From this point on I will comment only them who comment me .
I will block every one out, for being smarter than me.
I also will reply with a thank U only.
I can't believe them folks who I admire Talked about me.
I also want all you to know do not pretend to be my friend.
Every poet can have two points of view.
That is why it is called a comment.
You write it, I make it what I want it to be.
I am not Esther leaving ugly comments.
We are all armatures here like it or not.
Do not tell me I am a typo for not wanting high class words
I do not care, back stabbing ladies that is what I heard.
You and your poetry are not that perfect as well.
You can say I have no sense of poetry
You can call me a dead beat poet.
Hey! U can even (Shoot this poet.)
The one thing you can not take away from me
Is my God given right to say
"I AM A POET ! "
----I am not going to say sorry! For expressing my anger about the gossip-----
----I TAG YOU FRANK HERRERA ----- Hope you are not one of the above.
The sound of thick bubbling,
with the smell of fresh blackberries.
The stains upon our fingers and clothes,
all part of my homemade jam memories.
Growing wild along the roads,
the brambles tall and thick.
Pails and buckets overflowing,
eating our fill as we would pick.
The kitchen, busy as a beehive,
those tasty berries getting mashed.
The "Women" all worked together,
young or old, we each had our tasks.
Four generations, making jam.
"Puttin' back" as it was called.
I still remember the stories told
and the laughter from us all.
Not just a smile does it bring,
a calmness pours soft over me.
A giggle will well up time to time,
at my homemade jam memories.
For the contest: Sounds and Smells
Hosted by: Frank Herrera
Placement: Honorable Mention
***
I AM
I am one breathtaking moment
I am one who is lost or alone
I am one raindrop, or one flowering rose
I am warm as the sun, or cold as a stone
I am a distant star or a meadow lark
Or one dark cloud that hovers on the horizon
I am many memories from a long ago childhood
I am today and tomorrow
I am a teardrop filled with sorrow
I am the first rainbow of the season
I have many ways to sing a love song
Or tell a story, or share the laughter, or feel the glory
I am all the colors of our world
I am a disappointment, I am a pearl
I am all races, all creeds, the scattering of all seeds
I am a leaf who's frayed by the wind
I am a friend, who stays till the end
I am all words unfurled into the light
I am all the broken hearts and hopes lost in the night
I am all the hurt, all the anger, all the joy, all the love
I am all who believe in God above
I am all who doubt
I am all who laugh, and sing, and wail and shout
I am unleashed with wild emotion
I am silent with devotion
I lay stepping stones to healing
I renew by sharing feelings
I am a few unbroken rules, a few enchanting jewels
I am the ember, I am the spark
I am unsure, in ways that count
I have been kind, I have been cruel
I have been curt, I have been hurt
I am a poet.........I have a heart
I am a season nearing autumn
I've climbed to the top, I've hit rock bottom
I am a mother, I am a wife
I have been taking, I have been giving
I have a family, they are my life
These are my reasons to be living
I AM
____________________________________________
For The "I Am" contest, sponsored by Frank Herrera
11/3/14
What might you find
if you peeled away layers
If the rind of my soul was to be stripped away
I fear what you'd see…..what you'd say…..what you'd think
The feeble of me sinks in fear of your thoughts
that you would only be thinking you don't see enough
Were someone to care just enough to see through me
look beyond what's assumed, looking deep to the core
Would you score me as average……or even as nothing
All my life I've been striving to be of the stuff
that others became in the places I've been
What might you find, If you peeled off the rind
Where someone else hides that you've not seen before
In the fairytale story where the sun seems to shine
is a child never grown, wearing shells of self doubt
hiding in worlds where the light was turned on
to the others who shared every stage I've been on
Where wishes were written in words of a song,
Longing for something I cannot define
that stems from a childhood, where something else would
shadow my dream of being enough
Never quite reaching …never quite being
Never as bright as the very next star
Never outgoing, most often remaining
back in the shadows of the other bright stars
Still turning the pages from the time I was born
never quite being the star of my life
Wanting to share but still doubting my worth
that shadows the sun, and my place on the earth
There in the limelight…..there will always be someone
lighting the stage with his very own star
I must be content, to climb up the ladder
searching the stage with my eyes, from afar
_________________________________________________
9/17/16
Contest: What Might They Find There?"
Sponsor: Frank Herrera
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘’’’’’’
Angular hips now more round than grapes
grieving a little for new voice whispered,
swells of flesh curved in plumper shapes
while the flow of monthly arrival lingered
Almond eyes grew sultry deepening hue
baby powder blending into lavender spray
this crossover of rebellion I harshly knew,
awkwardly choosing between truth or dare-play.
Then, nights gazed at sandals of childhood seas
toes raking, confused about dissent down path;
a ruffled star finding myself sliced by cold trees
as Mom screeched at moody blues ready to hatch
My mind felt strange; Dad became a fading hero
questioning him with glares longer than steam,
rude awakenings cracked fears, tears stuck at zero
with ripening bosoms; this turning point at thirteen
Struggling for identity bloomed in freshman year
when tresses climbed on stairs of clumsy romance
beguiled by some hunger in my bones, a blushed cheer;
exalting the senses, a lady-in-waiting for her first dance.
©
‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’
For Frank Herrera: Coming of Age
By nette onclaud
My culture has been taken away,
I am a result of the government;
my hair dark and long
sometimes I wear it in braids,
I am of an era brought up white.
My life happy and I have been loved,
though, I always knew that I was different
and have a wildness inside of me
that could never be tamed.
(I yearned for something unseen;
in dreams I ride a wild horse
and live in a forest- green.)
In time I was told:
that I was Ojibwe
so I went in search of my roots,
the reason for my vivid dreams.
I recall my first visit to an Ojibwe Culture Center,
where I felt, this is where I belong, with
my people.
I listened to the teachings of the elders
their stories, songs, and the beating drums,
I heard the lessons on morals, values and spirit.
The stepping stones one must follow,
The 7 Grandfather teachings;
the wolf, the raven, the buffalo, the bear,
the beaver, the turtle, and the eagle
and that everything in life is circular, and
the heart is the center;
and after all this I embraced the eagle.
(The eagle flies the highest and is
closest to the creator and sees all
from a great distance, the eagle
is the core to all teachings. The
eagle is love.)
One day, I climbed a high cliff
I stood tall in my doe skin dress,
and my black braids blew in the wind
in my mind drums beat a rhythmic pounding
and the elders sang.
Soon an eagle was hovering above in the azure
and down drifted an eagle feather
into my hands.
This is considered the highest honor
the most sacred gift,
I placed it in my hair- and now I have found
my place in the circle of life and who I am
meant to be.
_________________________
February 10, 2017
Poetry/Narrative/Everything In Life Is Circular
Copyright Protected, ID 17- 874-147-0
All Rights Reserved. Written under Pseudonym.
Native American Lore Contest
sponsor, Frank Herrera
Third Place
MY FONDEST MEMORY
The two of us, diving into that wooden chest
Looking for that one dress, that one vest
That one large hat of straw
Those high heeled shoes with buckles of gold
In our eyes there was no flaw
Nothing cheap, it was a treasure to hold
I was the damsel in distress
She my saviour of noblesse
She wrote the words I had to say
A true director on Broadway
With everlasting patience
And seriously watching every move
Paid attention to my cadence
In her eyes I saw when she approved
My far too long gown conceals
My stumbling on those high heels
In the dark circumstances of my years
This memory shone bright as day
And saved me in every way
I am still here, smiling through my tears.
***
December 7, 2016
1st place in contest: My fondest memory
Sponsor: Frank Herrera.