Best North Carolina Poems
North Carolina—a beautiful place of humble abode,
On summer vacations or all the year round.
Rife with history, the Wright Brothers showed,
Thanks to Kitty Hawk's sand dunes at heights quite profound,
Hosting Earth's first manned flight on wings at our coast.
Carolina Tarheels—the battle cries loud,
Across our green state, Biltmore east, towards Kill Devil Hills.
Rolling gently across cotton and tobacco fields plowed,
Over civil war lands defended with vigor and skill.
Lakes and streams they're a plenty, abundant wildlife to boast,
Identified as "Southern" south of Mason-Dixon’s own line.
North Carolina place of wonder, from mountains to coast,
Appalachian Trail hikers by the thousands lovingly opine.
So the next time you feel, the need to discover,
Visit North Carolina's splendor, with a friend, sister, or brother!
Her list includes croutons and jelly and jam,
as I read down, I see knockwurst and ham.
Bananas and tuna, pick up Borax and Bold,
if there's no Zest, then get Palmolive Gold.
Orange juice and lemons, Pepsi and Sprite,
ice cream and cookies for our guests tonight.
I arrive on line nine with it all and croutons.
It rings up, I reach in..I forgot the coupons.
Blue blue blue blue blue blue
Dressed in blue banging North Carolina
I'm a blue dog I'm a blue dog I'm a blue
dog
dressed in blue banging North Carolina
yeah I bleed blue yeah I bleed blue yeah I
bleed blue
Blue blue blue blue blue blue
I bang my North Carolina State you see
my North Carolina hat nothing but that
NC state the dog is off the chain the dog is
off the chain the dog is off the chain
Blue blue blue blue blue blue
written by Keith Edward Baucum aka Red
Seven aka The Brown Philosopher aka
The Green Poet
I wrote this when I was stupid
A K-8 school, J.S. Waters, was roundly chastised today
Its students held a 'mock' slave auction
This happened in March, in North Carolina, in the year 2022
White students sold black students as slaves, and used the n-word too
One boy went for $350, later he was clubbed with a baseball bat
So, if you roll your eyes over 'Racism?' --in the USA?
~ You ought to think long and hard about that
Fire the principal, the teachers involved, expel the white participants too
Throw the book at the adults, and at those white kids too
Make an example of these horrid beasts, so this NEVER happens again...
We dare not wonder why Civil War wounds have yet to mend
North Carolina approaches
And I retreat
To my recognizable refuge
Marked by the stains of memories on the floor
And the broken shelves
Destroyed under the pressure of moving pictures
A closet I can finally walk into
And maybe, just maybe, get lost in
Never to be found
Never to be moved
Yes, I’ll stay
Because I’m not prepared to part
North Carolina
A young woman of North Carolina,
Danced on tables at a down-town diner.
Serving Chilli-dogs and fries,
To leering men she despise,
This Lady deserves something much finer.
I sang the words of
Joni
Mitchell
and pretended to own barstools as my sweaters lost color, I scribbled words on napkins and
slid drinks underneath them, I pretended to be...
him.
“Buy me something, something I can wear around my neck and place pictures in, something
that sparkles, something.....pretty,” I asked him.
He shook his head because he knew about my tendencies to break chains when I felt too
locked up, he knew the way I loved to run.
I stopped for a second and paused the moment we were supposed to kiss in, I placed my head
on his lap and told him of North Carolina~
only because I loved the words.
I stopped there, sometimes, on the borders that separate Virginia, I've thrown my life on
hotel room floors, losing it under the bed just so I could sleep, I've walked out and left
myself behind, and I've wondered, those times, about the meaning of forever.
We met, he and I, you know, in a hotel, in a room where the key unlocked me, and I had
thrown myself to the floor with a black skirt and a pair of fishnets and
h i d
under the bed while he smiled...
I kept my eyes open, on top of bedspreads and headboards and I kept thinking that we'd
stayed too long
that
we
stayed past the moment where people kiss...
and I wondered, that time, if that moment meant forever, but I forgot to ask and was too
frightened to hear the answer.
Years later, we slept, we dreamed in North Carolina, after I sang him
Joni Mitchell
after he gave me something pretty,
he gave me his name
to dangle
around
my
neck.
the time?no one cares
the mountain's called me in then
when am i going?
BAN BACKWARDS NORTH CAROLINA (PSA)
deep in the belly of the empire
where “fights between cats and dogs are prohibited,”
“women must be covered in AT LEAST 16 yards of
cloth at all times,”
“bingo games cannot last over 5 hours unless they take place at a
fair,”
“it is against the law to sing off key” &
“the mere possession of a lottery ticket results in a $2,000 fine,”
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE & CIVIL UNIONS HAVE BEEN BANNED
yes
that’s
right
campers, NC!---that backwards, knuckle-dragging, thumbless part of the empire, has now joined the other 29 states that have passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage…that’s
30 STATES FULL OF
BACKWARDS
KNUCKLE-DRAGGING
THUMBLESS &
STONE AGE
judeo-christians
(clinging onto their little
book of ****ing fairytales,
still trying with all their
might to beat us over the
head with it & deprive the
brothers & sisters who live
right next door to them in
this so-called FREE LAND
in this so-called WESTERN-
CIVILIZATION of the rights
that they have, because they
think that their “god” said so).
OH BUT WAIT!
NC WANTS TO UP THE ANTE!
they have also banned domestic partnerships between gay or STRAIGHT couples.
soooooooooo…
don’t go to NC if you want to get oral sex (“it’s a crime against nature” in NC),
OR IF YOU WANT THE SAME RIGHTS AS STRAIGHT SELF-RIGHTEOUS JUDEO-CHRISTIANS LIVING TOGETHER IN “holy matrimony”
don’t go to NC if you want to have sex in any other position besides the missionary
(“while having sex you must stay in the missionary position AND HAVE THE SHADES PULLED”),
OR IF YOU WANT THE SAME RIGHTS AS STRAIGHT SELF-RIGHTEOUS JUDEO-CHRISTIANS LIVING TOGETHER IN “holy matrimony”
&
PLEASE
oh
PLEASE
don’t go to NC if you want to stay in a hotel with your lover in the same bed
(“all couples staying overnight in a hotel must have a room with double beds that are at least two feet apart”),
OR
IF YOU WANT THE SAME RIGHTS AS STRAIGHT SELF-RIGHTEOUS
JUDEO-CHRISTIANS LIVING TOGETHER IN “holy matrimony”---
because it just ain’t gonna happen. all them people in NC have made up their mind.
COMMENCE THE
EXODUS
all sane & rational occupants
(= those believing in equal rights for ALL people)
of NC!
&
join the rest of the
21st century.
Cotton
Swooning acres of it
Cotton
Brown bush withering miles of it
Cotton
Fallen ground level clouds
The white of it
Memory shaking shrouds
The plight of it.
And all this innocence of white
The black earth yields
All this - strands of phony light
In dry fallowing fields
The rigor of it
Clothing a back bending history
The vigor of it
Building from blood a white economy
The stillness of it
The dead silence about it
Memories of the cross
And resurrection
With no stone rolled away.
The cross
Consist of so many varied expectations
The loss
Of something beyond mere integration
Cotton - clothes the mind with meanings
The sheer beauty of it
Sin and sorrow forever the gleanings
The wind sighs
In fearful tumult of the spirit
ive never met anyone in this life
as nervous as deputy barney fife
andy gave him a big gun
but a bullet only one
and will thelma ever become his wife
Limerick 4 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Joseph may
2/13/19
I took my bike on Amtrak, got off at Charlottesville.
Climbed up to the Blue Ridge parkway, the first of many a hill.
I met a Canadian Carpenter as I got closer to N.C.
He was cycling alone; his wife would meet him in Miami.
We shared some jokes and when food ran low
resupplied at the green valley of Shenandoah.
The Laurel by the road is pink and white in spring
But late fall had its charm as well, a bike ride for a king.
The carpenter told me that I biked too long
He was right: I gave out, it was he who was strong.
He kept riding south but not with me.
I turned back just 60 miles from the town of Cherokee.
All I really needed was a day or two to rest
But a foolish reflex made me give up the quest
I had told him I had to get back, which was a lie
He shook my hand; one last wisecrack and we said goodbye.
I got home and there was a letter waiting for me:
the Carpenter praised to the sky the stretch to Cherokee.
Sometimes clear, sometimes fog, on the ridgeline high,
Blue smoky mists blended mountains with the sky.
The road climbs above 6000 feet, there's red spruce and pine:
He said I had to go someday, the views were so sublime
But there were too few blocks of time when I was free
And for those times, storms raged above the land of the Cherokee.
Then dad got cancer, and mom got cancer too
Brothers sometimes shared the load, but the years still flew.
But I'm hoping that there is an opening yet
that I can reverse this particular regret
I'll tear the veil, warp time's bridge
And make my way to that lost Blue Ridge.
But you never know, you can't open every door
There are portents on every scale, and I'm afraid of what's in store.
Good Morning North Carolina
By Franklin Price
12/24/2016
Good morning North Carolina
It's Christmas eve today
Half way around the world
The sleigh is on the way
Santa must start somewhere
With the children tucked in tight
I believe he's in Australia
It's the middle of the night
Already Christmas morning
As his reindeer lead the way
Flying East to West he does
To make a longer day
To make the best use of his time
He must outrun the Sun
And deliver all the presents
Before the night is done
Walking downtown streets of Asheville
I could hear drums in the white wind
Despite being deserted I feel a thrill
Of creative energy hoping to thrive again
The shops full of unique crafts and goods
With store workers seemingly bored
Gentrified was the emerald neighborhood
But evidence of roots still in stores
Helene had come through full steam
Wiping away many quaint little places
Despite that people here still dream
Need for hurricane relief etched in faces
I picked up the cutest jewelry at Noir
Was impressed by the design and symbol
The artist had breast cancer, a star
Who designs shine in times not simple
And the drumming was the shop above
That sold music coffee and specialty gifts
Three men playing drums with love
Giving ambiance and silver souls a lift
I can say I survived Hurricane Hugo
And I have some sense of their loss
But we had more support than they do
If you can shop online or visit help their cause
muddy waters recede
give up beloved dead recovered
appalachian songs eternal