Best Questioned Poems
“Stealers-Keepers” Questioned
By Elton Camp
If something has been stolen long enough
Then is it all right simply to keep the stuff?
The Guggenheim some art to Italy has sent
Illicit when bought, they had more than a hint
To the original owner, stolen stuff should go
At least United States law tells everyone so
Demands of owners have museums in a scare
Requests for return of what shouldn’t be there
Greece for return of the Elgin Marbles does speak
The way England got them of larceny does reek
Egypt, country of origin of the Rosetta Stone
Says it was an outrage how it came to be gone
If your fine automobile some crook should steal,
What if you should spot the thief behind the wheel?
“That property’s mine and I absolutely want it back.
And from you, you thief, I want to hear no slack.”
Will Mexico perhaps someday make a similar claim
“For stealing half our whole country you are to blame.”
We were told of “Manifest Destiny” back in school
It made American imperialism sound sort of cool
It glosses over an exercise in raw military powers
“People, what you have is now going to be ours.”
If, to endorse this idea, yourself you did first find
Did the idea about Mexico then change your mind?
It’s easy to be in favor of justice in the abstract
Not as much in the face of an inconvenient fact
On these controversies, I take no particular side
Demands are intensifying and are harder to hide
One night …
I thought I’d glimpsed the future,
In a nightmarish scene,
Where lives were sad and pointless
And life was simply mean,
Where people feared the future
And craved the world’s past,
Where people wanted answers
And then these questions asked:
“Where are all the insects?
Where are all the birds?
Where are all the fish and
Where are all the herds?”
Sadly, there were no answers,
Sadly, there were no words …
existence questioned:
when the glass door wont open,
I wave at myself
So silent is he,
for he need not say a word.
He's proven himself.
She led him on, through the busy Congo junction
He only knew sound, oh and touch
She only knew sight and touch, and love
Their bones ached I guess, the tatters, the dirt, the old age!
He, he followed faithfully towards a Matatu that refused them
Oh the Makanga, that son of man, god, goddess, whatever!
So I asked God, WHY???
He looked up and stared and I stared back,
My mum taught me; staring is a bad behavior,
I did anyway, proudly!
I saw he was tired, old, sick
Oh my God! He carried a log on his shoulder
Still he walked on, in Kileleshwa
The cars, the houses, the wealth, the poverty bare!
I dared the question, until WHEN Lord???
The vicar this Sunday
Oh yes he will goddem say it
“God knows everything, He says trust me.”
I will retort, I will sneer, I will say it
“To hell with you all and your gods!”
The sheep will throw a WHAT??
God loves everyone the same
Some die of hunger, poor health, injustice!
All the same, God loves
God is all powerful and mighty, He is LORD!
Gadhafi, Hitler, Osama, Moi
They all lived among us
Genocide, terrorism, corruption, America!
They all kiss us “good night”
I beg the question
Is God good all the time;
All the time God is good???
You worry me, with your mouth agape
Save your judgment, I will save my sarcasm
What have I done to help?
What God is doing to help, I ask back
“God does not make what happens”
Save me the sermon,
I know not of Satan, devil, serpent, my foot!
The father rapes, the mother is murdered, the man is righted
The world is happy, crap! The world is sad!
A million sleep in the streets, a bunch in the slumbers
Patience in Jehovah you say???
I rest my case, I case with the owner of me
I case and question my existence
If at all it is any better than any of the rest
That others are used to show me grace and gratefulness
Vicar, are you serious, this sermon, really?
A leg she misses, where is the grace?
The grace in me having one, she doesn’t!!!
Yes I question God, WHY???
Why the twenty question game when you come home?
Was you out with friends or with a seducer of your own?
Question after question spill from my mouth..
Answers upon answers, you are still a louse!
Twenty questions doesn’t do this game justice.
Up the ante to forty, let me get my check list.
You are the quintessential best I have ever tested.
Guess what however, you have been busted!
Get your gear and get out of my life.
You had your chance you’re nothing but, lowlife
Are bells heard from Heaven
Blessed be your truth
Show them to sooth
Beyond the stories of their heads
Our road is led
God love is built to last
Blessed our paths
Gave us sparkle and glow
Gifted through fallen snow
Big or small
We have cared through it all
Blessed with each skill
We accept your will
Blessed by our Holy Mother
Answered by you Father
As the wind gently twirls
God cares for each of his pearls
Sent to destroy all sins
Our Lord sparked within
Jesus Christ our Narrator
Sent by our Creator
I searched for you in the night's dimmest light
Found quiet loneliness stirring in the dark
The moon's passing covered by clouds in flight
As it slowly traveled its nightly arc
This companion listened but never heard
The words pouring from pained lips of sorrow
And questioned reasons became unassured
Still lost in the moon's light and tomorrow
And what help does darkness bring that surrounds?
When thunder rolls in distant skies alone
And hazy eyes stumble across the ground
In the dim scattered light the moon disowns
To have found you before your departure
And capture again the days in time's sand
We looked into the stone of love's sculpture
And found the tool marks of opposing hands
Could I have given better understanding
Could you have given love less demanding
DO NOT WAIT
JUST HESITATE
DO NOT THINK
NEVER THINK JUST DO
TAKE A PAUSE
TAKE CONTROL
UNCONTROLLED
Letter to my mother,
To you dear mother
where you are in DrCongo
The distance between us
Won't cut the cord which links us
I still remember all the details of our
Last long conversation over
The phone and your last email.
I will do as you wished to please you.
Letter to my mother,
I saw some beautiful roses
In some gardens here
I think to make a best choice
So that I may not disappoint you in the future.
I know that mothers know the best flowers
Which can please their sons ,
Now you are far from these gardens
Where my eyes saw most beautiful red roses.
Letter to my mother,
As you said through love,
" Your choice is mine.
Let me see more grand children before
God call me to rest."
That lovely message from your mouths
Pushed me to look for some roses
Here and there.
I will end up finding the good flower that
Will please you.
Hope this open letter will reach you soon.
I love you
Dear mother.
April 28/2023
Written for poetry contest sponsored by
Anoucheka Gangabissoon
Writing this poem was an uphill climb
I wanted it to be rather sublime
Did not expect to make a slim dime
Took a second to cut up my lime
It was tasty, straight from the brime
What do you have? Asked a friendly mime
Nothing much I lied, just a little slime
Time to rhyme said the mime; time to rhyme
A flower garden was her veil
No one questioned it
For her thumb was amazingly green
Azure eyes gave her a haunting look
Some were intimidated by her
I was a bit jealous
She exuded a beauty few can hope for
I watched her turn the corner
And loved every movement
Shocked, as she questioned my manhood !
I told her, “ My eyes are up here.”
Couldn’t understand her attitude .
What she really meant, not clear.
We loved each other, there’s no doubt
displaying all my cards open :
How this awkward feelings to sprout,
I could never imagine even.
I didn't inquired what she had meant !
Couldn't surmised, what went in her mind.
I loved her and not to repent.
But I had to leave her behind.
Failed to analyse her problem,
what happened to her to say so.
What’s the reason to put me blame !
Couldn’t endure as she hit my ego..
Her feelings not to analyse.
My amour not to exhibit.
Actually couldn’t realise,
how could I prove me perfect fit.
Felt helpless, no urge to argue.
What to do ? Absolute no way.
Introspection offered no clue.
No alternative: walked away.
golden hearts in sulphur acids, shining bright like heavenly stars.
August 10/2023