Best Two Hundred Poems
Chuzzlewit Chuzzlewit
Nicolas Nickleby
Pickwick, Scrooge, Dombey
And more of their kind
Two hundred years, filled with
Dickensiania
Real, just like you:
It is all in the mind
One first flight, Columbia’s name.
Seven souls aboard, bound for fame.
Six days, then ten, experiments thrive,
Eighty hearts of science, dreams alive.
Sixteen days, the Earth they skim,
Reentry calls—light fades dim.
Tick-tick, hiss-hiss, crack-crack—a sound,
A breach unseen, the heat unwound.
1.67 pounds, a foam unseen,
Pierced the wing, unstitched the dream.
40 miles high, the flames collide,
Mach eighteen, as heat did stride.
Mach fifteen—a fiery scream,
The air ignites, the fragile seams.
Seven names, carved deep in space,
Their sacrifice, a lasting grace.
At 9:00 a.m., a nation cried,
29 months, the fleet must bide.
Tick-tick, sigh-sigh, hush-hush—we wait.
Columbia’s legacy will navigate.
Eighty dreams and the minds they fed,
We honor the fallen, their voices not dead.
February 4th, 1999 - two hundred
and fifty two months ago
Shana Aubrey Harris officially completed,
now ranks among status quo
lawfully, legally, legitimately in toto
twenty one orbitz around the sun - whoa!
Chronological benchmark ye did attain
plus major purchase of second automobile
(2002 Subaru Impreza) skill ye did gain
curious if family/friends helped ye maintain
being calm, cool, and collected -
quite a taxing acquisition, one need be sane.
Said significant decision
perhaps makes heart skip a beat,
but analogously, and literally
puts ye in driver seat
tending to maintenance
of vehicle sweet
figurative taste of liberation,
while familiarizing feet
to become acclimated
accelerating at velocity
with precious fleet,
obeying Sir Isaac Newton's
first law of motion.
More important gently
and timely to apply brake
lest police siren wails
finding ye to quake
thus requiring thee
to summon nerves of steel,
cuz friendly police thirst
he/she doth slake
issuing moving violation
scenario haint no nightmare
unless fatal accident occurs,
whereby family and friends attend wake
mourning beloved daughter
forever ruing grievous
loss for Pete's sake.
Even after time tested practice
acquiring consummate skill
experiencing diverse situations
manning steering wheel will
unexpectedly introduce during
different seasons frightful scenarios
analogous to getting
spooked by ghostly chill
ye must Carrie on as
the shining defensive driver
setting sterling pride to self
giving ego uber lyft till
ye get over the hill
much quicker than Jack and Jill.
Poem after poem, "two" words by three
I count about a "hundred" rhymes
And I keep writing, "and" I keep rhyming
Convinced I'll be "going" for as long as I live
Because I am "strong" in my words
Two hundred and twenty stories never written but etched in time
were removed on a day which started fine.
The silver worms traveled down beneath the floors
carrying those whose day (lest they know) would be a chore,
through the escalators and out the doors passing the facades lined with stores.
Aristocrats and bourgeois run through the halls
for no one would ever believe that these stories could fall.
I myself went to the nineteenth floor of Cortlandt and Church
starting my day seeing on which call I would make first.
“My future is looking great”, flashed briefly through my mind,
little did I know that fate was not mine.
A large boom made the buildings shake and the windows had rippled
as I ran to the pane and suddenly was crippled.
I gazed up eighty some ought floors
to see an explosion rocking the world off its doors.
I exclaimed, “My God, their bombing us” at the top of my lungs
and ran down 19 floors...like I was 19 years young.
Standing in the corridor on Dey that day, my eyes witnessed things I’d rather not say.
The second explosion than flashed before my eyes,
and I ran near a bridge to try and survive.
I stood there and wondered and waited what to do next
until one of the stories decided where I should run to avoid the effects.
Half the stories came down like an angry freight train
releasing a smoke monster engulfing all with a white powdered grain.
Covering my mouth, coughing like crazy, crossing the bridge, all sites were hazy.
Standing on the other side of the east I looked to the west
to see the other half of the stories end my friends, to this I attest.
Hundreds and thousands and millions of lives
were all torn apart over this year plus nine.
So I sit here now telling you all first hand
a day in the life of a fairly young man
whose story had began and ended that day
may your hearts stay free and strong
and God Bless the USA.
as I got older
my brain started going south
so I rotated my bed
two hundred and seventy degrees
to the left
going west towards California
now I feel younger, more alert,
more liberal and free
tercets
Braxton H. Gardner of north Kentucky,
progenitor of our family tree.
His marriage date was 1833.
Braxton Charles S. Gardner from our archive,
was his youngest son, born in ’45.
He barely recalled his father alive.
Barney Braxton Gardner, uncle of mine;
his sister, my grandma, mother of nine.
My father was namesake of his blood line.
Barney Braxton Jolly born in ‘11,
married his sweetheart in ’37.
These four have died and look down from heaven.
Ruth Braxton Jolly, that’s me, data fount;
only female in this list tantamount
of Braxtons quite an accomplished head count.
Darren Braxton Poteet, my younger son,
Braxton Lee Poteet, age 14, grandson
complete my list of six kinfolk Braxton.
November 18, 2020
America.
Is equality truly our highest priority?
The equality of all white males, yes.
We have been on the maps for over two hundred years,
Promising the same things,
But never delivering.
A woman who works the same job as a man will still receive lower pay.
Why is that?
A man of African-American decent gets shot,
The government doesn't even blink.
Why is that?
Is it because these people are less than others?
No.
No they are not.
At the end of the day,
These random people are still human,
Just like you and I.
The color of their skin,
Their gender,
Their sexuality,
None of that makes them any less human.
Any less than those who have more political power.
These women working to death every day,
Only to be mocked or cast aside because they are women,
They are more important now, than ever.
Equality is expected of America.
Yet who here agrees that we are treating each person with the same amount of respect?
No one.
No one except those unwilling to change.
Those unwilling to hear out people that look different from themselves.
That is not equality.
That is pathetic.
That is cowardly and disgusting.
Take a long look at your government.
Are these the people you want your children to look up to?
Are these the people you want your children to be?
I hope not.
Or equality may be something we are still fighting for in two hundred more years.
Not really a big number. less than half the number
of pennnies needed to buy a Big Mac without fries.
But uncovering the remains of 215 children at
the Kamloops Indian Residential School, run by
the Catholic Oblates of Mary Immaculate Order
staggered my mind. Then I realized this was one of
hundreds of schools, and when you do the math,
thousands of children have died under our “care.”
Forget the fries, much more than an apology is needed
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-western-canada-the-importance-of-a-residential-schools-paper-trail/?cmpid=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Sumthang wrong wiff dez words
They give know direction
To me and you
Hypertheticail thoughts
They don't tell me
What I gotta do
Ribeye, broccoli, and potatoes
Cup of gravy on the side!
The Carney, sorney
Tater, broccoli and
Meat special
Now we know
The garlicky, onion,chivey
Sun dries tomatoes
With olive oil roasted
Red pepper and bacon,
Cream cheesed
Scalloped potatoes.
Where inspired by a
Lonely man begging a
Woman for a date.
The night he scored they
Dined on these dishes.
She made him to harvest
His cattle
Potatoes
Pick the broccoli
And pick the
Apples for the
Turnover
She said she:d
Marry him if he
Planted seven
Peach trees
Seven blackberry bushes
And seven rows of
Lavender
She asked for
Twenty male quails
And fourty hens
She'd consimate
If he bought
Jersey cows
Two females
and one male.
And seven rows
Of mulberry
To make scented soap.
He complyed!
They married before
A orchestra of sixty
And seven vocalist
The preacher wore purple
And ate
Red snapper and apple pie.
Santa is humming as he checks over his list next to the snow.
What song is that? Asks Blixen, who truly does not know.
Not sure, Dancer answers, but this year we do not have to go.
We are going Dancer and Prancer informed them, even if we are slow.
We are too old, argues Blixen, and Comet falls into place too.
Let’s let the young reindeer have a chance; like that youngster Phew.
We will slow down Santa, I can barely fly two hundred and two.
Santa says “Come on, fellows, you have more good years in you.”
So the original reindeer get ready for another worldly trip.
They fly fast and furiously, like a well-honed rocket ship.
When they return home, they have cookies and a tiny sip.
Of egg nog and liquor, and Blixen does a happy upside down flip.
Two hundred steps to
The mouth of truth
Open up that gaping maw
Crack wide the snapping jaw.
In its eye no mystery
Just a need
A need to consume
And strip my costume.
Violins play as I walk
I'll learn your insides next
I'll be a student of your teeth
An apprentice of true relief.
I can see them slowly marching off,
Through the midst of time.
Some looking back over their shoulders,
(A few were even crying'")
Oh, if I had the chance to speak with them,
What do you think they would say?
"Son, our efforts won your independence;
Are using or abusing it today?
With tri-cornered hats and muskets,
We defeated England's best,
To establish a new country,
Which, I hope, has stood the test.
In Philadelphia, the Congress me
Relying mightily on God;
As other brave, patriot lads,
Spilled their blood upon the sod.
This young and vibrant nation,
Was not the concept of any mortal man.
Our leaders moved as they were directed,
In bringing forth our Lord's great plan.
Two hundred thirty years ago,
Beginning on the July the Fourth,
We broke free from English tyranny,
So God's laws could be enacted on this earth.
Now that this country has expanded,
From sea to shinning sea.
Doe God still reign Supreme in America?
Does God still reign in thee?
in respect love's there in love respect's there too both are of two hundred
Did the Yankees win?
Without sin
Challenging monarchy rule
Characterizing King as a fool
Escaping angry courts
Exploring adventurous ports
They came to a new world
Searching for patriotic pearls
Combatting rag tag war
Against red coated boars
Who thought they knew best
Putting rebellious subjects under arrest
Charging them for throwing tea
Into the Boston Harbor Sea
Defined as freedom of speech
Protest reached
Many others
American brothers
Wanting representation when taxed
Stating facts
Until the royals surrendered
Historians remember