Best Socialwork Poems
New Deal
Black Tuesday
October 1929
Vanishing wealth; stocks decline
Great Dust Bowl
Windstorms and drought, top soil gone
Breadbasket empty; nature’s con
FDR
He’s the man, New Deal imposed
Opportunities renewed; hopes rose
New Deal Reigns
Work offered by the CCC
Saves the lost American dream
Recession Echo
The winter plunge 2009
Who will save our dreams this time?
Reality Knocks
Frustration with Congress, current events
November elections a time to vent
New Deal Needed
Americans looking for leadership
Power from sheep about to be stripped
*For Constance, a Rambling Poet’s “Create your own form, maybe?” contest
By Carolyn Devonshire
I work frequently in this form that I choose to call “Headline Couplets.” It includes a
headline followed by rhyming couplets that address the concept, person or event in
the first line of three-line verses. Probably inspired by my years as a journalist.
The land of white
Home of Ahiram your ancient king
You, who grows cedars in her back yard
You, who raised millions of children
Whether they did you harm
Or left you blind
Your door was always open, and your yard was always green
Loubnan, you are not my country
You are not a landscape of cedars and mountains
You
You are a patch of soil
The same patch
The one beneath my face when I fell
When the taste of blood trickled down my throat
But always a drop escaped, and landed on your rugged surface
Your tested and scarred surface
And when I sweat, of toil and pain
When I run from your invaders
My sweat trickles into my lips
And I taste the pain I endure
And always
A drop escapes
And on your cheek it lands
That rugged surface of root ridden soil
But you do not wipe your cheek of my blood and sweat
With it
You build us mountains
Crystal white beacons of your fortitude
With it
You grow us cedars
Vivid green emblems of your prosperity
And when your foe would bring his fist and thunder
Crush your mountains and burn your trees
Always, whether we ran
Left you alone and blind
Or stood, made you hopeful and proud
Always of our sweat and blood
You made us roses
Roses to place on our dead
The dead we burry under the shade of your Cedars
Under the protection of your Mountains
My Loubnan
My patch of soil
You are still not my country
No
Because my country is not a patch of soil
Not without someone to work it
A farmer to work your land
Not without your people to stand proud with you
My country
Is nothing without her children
Without her fruit
Without her cedars and mountains
Her running rivers, the tears she sheds at our turmoil
But whether fists come crashing down on us
Or thunder shatters our hopes
We will always work the land that raised us
We will always be One country
One nation
Of mountains and cedars
Of hope and pride
We will always be
Loubnan
Oh, if only fiction was as real as hope
© Samir Georges
2009
We Are What We Lived
A “Happy Home” grows happy adults.
A “Miserable Home” grows miserable adults.
A “Love-able Home” grows love-able adults.
A “Hateful Home” grows hateful adults.
A “Peaceful Home” grows peaceful adults.
An “Angry Home” grows angry adults.
A “Quiet Home” grows tranquil adults.
A “Braying Home” grows braying adults
A “Respectful Home” grows respectful adults.
A “Ridiculing Home” grows ridiculing adults.
An “Affectionate Home” grows affectionate adults.
An “Indifferent Home” grows indifferent adults.
A “Hopeful Home” grows hopeful adults.
A “Pessimistic Home” grows pessimistic adults.
“Children see…children do” When they grow up.
The lessons taught at home are passed through generations.
We must take time to evaluate, adjust, and reevaluate our homes.
Peace begins right there…in each individual’s heart.
We are what we choose; so, choose wisely.
It behooves us all to show: love, wisdom, and respect.
Practice every good thing together as a family.
Ourselves, our children, our homes can be heavenly.
If we choose to work together, we can make it so.
If not, dreadful despair will conquer too many souls.
I say we shall succeed. We shall encourage one another.
We shall work together for the good of all…
Then, there will be joy once more upon the earth.
Selah.