Best Summa Poems
I wrote this 50 years ago, yup, been dipping the brain in ink for a few years now.
What do you do on a rainy day
'sides twiddle your thumbs to pass time away.
I have a suggestion, mere conjecture,
escape from it all, attend a lecture.
There you can doodle, take a few notes
- fill up your pad with ambiguous quotes
from Shakespeare and Bacon and Chaucer.
Study and cram and stay up all night,
let your brain fly unbelievable heights -
you know all the answers, let no one deny,
any question you're given you correctly reply.
Summa Cum-Laude then straight to the top,
your ambition, your knowledge, no one can stop
...and just when you think you've got the world won
you awake from your dream, late for class, off you run!
Children raised with discipline
Parents spanked and praised
Summa Cum Laude
A midlife challenge offered me its hand-
with careful thought, I took the challenge up.
This choice I made- some could not understand
why this endeavor would help fill my cup.
The cup of knowledge I was meant to fill-
to gather facts of which I never knew.
To read great books and write with added skill-
breathe deep the satisfaction as I do.
Began my part-time college-going days-
a steadfast choice I never will forget.
My journey took six years, and in all ways
a firm decision I would not regret.
Each day on campus, in another world,
my mind consumed sweet knowledge like fine wine.
A deeper way of thinking soon unfurled;
fulfillment and accomplishment- were mine.
Summa cum laude- my graduation day!
My father, husband, children, family
stood proud to honor this in every way;
to praise my choice- be overjoyed for me.
September 9, 2015
~3rd Place~
Contest: A Graduation Blessing
Sponsor: BJ Legros Kelly
Judged: 07/06/2021
~3rd Place~
Contest: The Choices We Make In Life
Sponsor: Edward Ebbs
Judged: 09/11/2015
I know a maid—her name is Rose.
She has long hair that’s thick and dark,
and great, green eyes like no one knows;
and she can sing just like a lark.
She loves to read, and is well-read:
she’s a genius, and knows a lot—
in truth, there’s so much in her head
to figure out than just let rot.
Glad to say she’s now a student
enrolled in classes at a college:—
how wonderful, how elegant,
that she attends a place of knowledge!
'Ere long, she’ll graduate with honors
and "summa cum laude" distinction,
with a master’s conferred upon her
to pursue disease intervention.
In all this time, I’ll support her;
and be the best friend that she needs:
I’ll be there to urge and exhort her,
to guide her from life's baleful "weeds."
His voice was loved,his colour not
Only the former him fame brought
Summa cum laude in study and sport
His origins drew him up socially short
Jim Crow laws were the sinister wedge
Which left him at his country's edge
His nation's shame burned deeply within
Denying forgiveness for his darkness of skin
He longed for the time when men would be equal
His involvement with communism delivered the sequel
At a time when McCarthy sought to unmask the red
So many suffered paroxysms of dread.
In 1929 after his London show he set out for home late
It was then there occurred a miracle of fate
Singing rang out sweet and crystal clear
Voices of Welsh miners singing songs to them dear
Amazed by their power in their penniless plight
He became their brother in arms that very night
Colour was not what bound him to them
But the poverty to which politics the lower classes condemn
So there was born a rich and mutual harmony
Between a star and a proud but poor army
They both knew the the sting of imposed misfortune
Refusing to give up their independence of tune
He bestrode the world like a black Colossus
Until he was pulled down by destructive bosses
Who would brook no challenge to their status
But his example lives on to fully elate us
This man ,Paul Robeson,a tower among men
Met persecution with stout acumen
He stands out as our beacon of light
For all the victims who fought the good fight.
I’m a little firework
Halfway towards the sky
That’s burnt out to dust
Into nothingness
And now I have to die.
I was a crow, flying through a tree
Tried to slalom through the branches.
The thorns clipped my wings
Here the handcuffs cling
Because of my murderous advances.
I’m a crooked atheist
I don’t believe in hell
Or in a Summa Bonum
Or in heaven, like some.
Once the needle goes in, I’ll tell.
“I am not afraid of death,
I’m glad you didn’t postpone a day
To cause my body to wilt
To remove me of guilt
and to let me get away.”
Santa Claus took from the NON-for Profit
" people who wish to marry fund"
to support his gift giving campgain.
Santa who doesn't eat Venision
heard that the "rights of Modern Men"
were sponsoring a Four Meat supper
to raise money for the
" People who wish to marry fund"
he asked one question, " are they serving Venision?"
the fella said yeah, and taters and yams, and those
sweet, sweet taters. " Oh yeah said Santa,
them po' (Bleeps) gonna learn. "Bife for the We-if"
"not sear the deer". "Things their mothers have done, don't they
know better" " "They have a treasurer who drinks don't they"
"the fella said they sure do boss!" "they sure do!" Santa told him
that summa (beep) is gonna look foolish when
he finds the gift I'm leaving him"
then he got on his sleigh and flow away.
when he returned,(two days later)
he just smiled and said "Christmas is saved!"
and everyone went back to work cheering for Ole Santa!
When asked, "what did you leave the fella for Christmas?"
He told him, " I left the (beep) absolutely nothing"
"I farted in his face when I walked by him sleeping"
I Am MoonBeam
My Sisters, StarLights
My Brothers, SunRays
… All-Academic-Bright
My Family of Heaven
My Mother, DawnSky
Father of Celestial Lights (James 1: 17)
Taught At Universe-High
By Father’s Master-Degree
And Mother’s Alma-Mater
Brother Graduated
Summa-Cum-Laude, Super-Nova
Dine At Dimension-Table
Of Cosmic-Family
Global-Bodies, Glowing-Grace
In Our Galaxy
Our: Cambridge, Yale, Oxford and Harvard
Are: Comets, Orbits, and Asteroids
Black-Holes, Pulsars, Waves and Quarks
Red Giants and Red and Snow-White Dwarfs
Enlightened Astronomers, Radiant New Worlds
Time-Continuum, To Unfurl
Outer-Space, Advent-Solar-Systems
And A Big, Blue Jewel, Freed From Cataclysm
Light-Years Away, From Today …
But Still Quenching Thirst, On Milky-Way
and Planetary-Rings and Eclipse
Satellites, and Soaring-Rocket-Ships
Atomics and Evenings-Scholarly
Lectures, On Pure-Energy
To Explore and Expand Brilliantly
‘Diplomas’ … thru Eternity
I Am MoonBeam
My Sisters, StarLights
My Brother, ‘Big’ SunRay
Shone-Academic-Bright ! …
Ibi , culpa non est
Quia hoc modo non solum superest,
Dixit non restrictione
Et tandem sanavit dolor meus
Let me poetemur sine ban
Quia est indefinita
Et quod relinquetur mirabile escape
Hoc erit questus
Denique , non permanens, restrictione
percutiam
in finem
Nam cum summa felicitas legere omnibus dicam?
©Copyright 2015. All rights reserved.
At no time say never- that it is too late
fulfilling accomplishments you've left undone.
At times, what you long for is not met by fate;
Must tend to those wishes yourself- to be done.
I, married with children, had turned thirty-nine;
two went off to college, the other, soon too.
A gap in my life at this time seemed just fine
for me to reach out, a new venture pursue.
It took six long years- although what a great ride!
As a part-time student, in college, I bloomed-
with English BA, Business minor, my side-
rewards in my writing and work status zoomed.
At the graduation, my heart filled with cheer!
With summa cum laude, Nineteen eighty-four,
I walked on that stage with my family near-
all praising my courage for growth to explore.
At times, what you long for is not met by fate;
at no time say never- that it is too late.
Anapestic Tetrameter -/--/--/--/
When your not happy with yourself ask why
Is it because of that toothbrush in your bag you had on standby
You may not enjoy your body but many people don't
But just like King James have those thoughts overthrown
Some people can't even gain weight
That's why most of their lives are filled with hate
So come, sit and contemplate
Look in the mirror is this what you really hate
Your body is a temple
Which you need to worship
Those hurtful words that were brought to you need to be zipped
Because people love you for you, not the shape
So graduate from this conversation like a summa cum lauda
Because your the most important person in your life
So spread your wings and thrive
Because a rose is still a rose even when its petals fall off
Ernest Dowson was a singer of the saddest, tritest tune,
Of the fawning, futile love that poets blame upon the moon,
And his lyrics all were painted on the margin of the page,
So his water-colored lines were barely noticed by his Age.
Wine-and-roses, and Cynara, floating lonesome in the air
Of the foggy yellow Nineties, in a Soho restaurant where
An Italian fickle waitress cracked a poet’s dream, yet made
His exquisite, fragile verses, faintly flower, not to fade.
07-01-72
Non Sum Qualis eram Bonae Regno Cynarae & Vitae Summa Brevis
serving up sum o dat fooreel dough stuff
track one on love
cast the night these folks
love one another
summa tyme jam boar ree!
corner jerk, the ritual
stand up and sing
better love next tyme
let the player do his thang,
shuck -dolly doo-woop
crazy bout talking tease
warm night and a cold woman?
cold woman and a warm night
sho'ya''l disk hot thing,
mooing, yeah
mooing yeah
cause you love is what I've been lookin for
"talking trash: Beat that ass"
Was it like the one: "Loosin up, get ready to dance"
Here's yo chance to romance a woman.
Start from the bottom(working our way to the top)
yes we can: baby yes we can!
brand new dance called the toadwalk!
Me Soo Fly:
Realmns of understanding.......Cattlecoat diplomacy, Dynamic doo-doo!
"Pigeonwalk:Played jar-eyed" Bestest summer ever! dogwood bassoon: miss fetcher's bouis!
really, really(real love)
stop by and dance with me! cause the night is right(and I love you)
aint got enough to buy the whole thang, (you take the other half)
laugh at yo @*$$$$@@@, aint that ah *****, NAy:Nay (she's the other one)
The grammy speech for dim haters!
and who's yo other girl, Bluer than Blue, MissaWhat a World,
Next til we Kiss again, "Fanga ringin" Dippie's ddo-doo!
She's
becoming
part of the order
of the tattooed butterfly
she has ceased to speak
has four metal wheels for feet
A chorus of numbers on her arm will forever chant to her inner being
they'll whisper to you everything you don't really want to ever know.
She graduated summa cum laude at the University of Auschwitz,
with a bachelor's degree in "work will forever set you free".
many others dropped out-leaving their chrysalis behind
herded into gas chambers-becoming tattooed butterflies
turning into clouds...…...stories never survived
ashen raindrops...................crumbling psalms
tapping on faces...……………………. truth becoming fable
a thinning and gleaning of ages
endless brutality becoming art
She finally left the flesh behind
became a tattooed butterfly
her tale will not survive
time never embalms
it crumbles all things
truth becomes opaque
a cleansing of the stable
as brutality is re-labeled as art
It then becomes a weapon
of...…………...grand...…………..denial
~ ~ ~
An overachieving college student
with lofty ambitions.
Her education is finally over,
a completion of a complicated puzzle.
A summa cum laude graduate
with two doctorate degrees under her belt.
The sky's the limit, yet she struggles
to decide which fork in the road to take
She stands with her arms akimbo
on the cusp of destiny.
As her eyes search the infinte stars
in the sky, she's wondering "Now what?"
Crossroads Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Silent One (Winner: 3rd Place)
Date written and posted: 09/20/2019