Cardinal Poems

List of New Poems

PM	Poem Title	Poet	Form	Form	Categories
	Totem Pole Dervish	Caren Krutsinger	Free verse	Free verse	cardinal, 10th grade, 11th grade,
	THE BEAUTY OF THE CARDINAL	Jim Yerman	Verse	Verse	cardinal, bird, nature,
	Ode to Spring	Susan Linn	Couplet	Couplet	cardinal, spring,
	Winter Pallette	M. Renee Taylor	Sonnet	Sonnet	cardinal, color, life, winter,
	TRAIN A TEMPERED THOUGHT	Rick Viljoen	Prose Poetry	Prose Poetry	cardinal, anger,
	Black Hawk Soars High	Caren Krutsinger	Free verse	Free verse	cardinal, animal,
	a wakening beneath the stars	douglas pederson	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, nature,
	The Cardinal	allen beilschmidt sr.	Haiku	Haiku	cardinal, seasons, weather,
	Daffodil Majorettes Laugh	Caren Krutsinger	Blank verse	Blank verse	cardinal, flower, spring,
	The Birdie and the Crocodile	Caren Krutsinger	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, 2nd grade, 3rd grade,
	Moon Defers to Sun	Caren Krutsinger	Blank verse	Blank verse	cardinal, morning, nature, spring, sun,
	I Drove Away From my Relatives	Caren Krutsinger	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, 10th grade, 11th grade,
	soft scarlet flutters	Connie Marcum Wong	Haiku	Haiku	cardinal, bird, snow, winter,
	God's Palette	Susan Jeavons	Free verse	Free verse	cardinal, art, bird, blue, color,
	Spring Birds-HC	Tania Kitchin	Haiku	Haiku	cardinal, bird, spring,
	Shopping Cart Man	Anthony Slausin	Free verse	Free verse	cardinal, seasons, storm,
	Once You Complete Another Race	Bernard F. Asuncion	Acrostic	Acrostic	cardinal, birthday,
	MY SMALL BIT OF FOREST	Kim Rodrigues	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, bird,
	Oh Lordly Warbler	Gregory R Barden	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, animal, beauty, bird, metaphor,
	CARDINAL IN SPRING	nette onclaud	Quatrain	Quatrain	cardinal, bird, song, spring,
	Birds	ARBOL VERDE	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, bird, freedom, garden,
	A Quilt For Mother Earth	Anthony Slausin	Couplet	Couplet	cardinal, earth day,
	Crescendo	Debjani Mitra	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, beautiful, bird, dance, flower,
	Backyard Entertainers	Tania Kitchin	Tritina	Tritina	cardinal, bird, nature,
	The Mockingbird	Janice Canerdy	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, bird,
	Cardinal Messenger	Carolyn Devonshire	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, bird, lost love, memory,
	Cardinals Trill	M. L. Kiser	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, animal, appreciation, bird, image,
	The Loveliest Bird in My Forest	Caren Krutsinger	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, bird,
	You Doubled The Potion	Bobby May	Free verse	Free verse	cardinal, dance,
	Red Feathered Hut	Anthony Slausin	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, nature,
	Cardinal Sins	Fritz Purdum	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, angst, blue, love hurts,
	Christmas Cardinal	judith kerttula	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, bird, christmas,
	Cardinal Moon	Chantelle Anne Cooke	Haiku	Haiku	cardinal, bird, color, moon, red,
	Haiku 39	Tom Cook	Haiku	Haiku	cardinal, bird, nature, winter,
	Falling Snow	Sandra Weiss	Quatrain	Quatrain	cardinal, appreciation, beautiful, morning, weather,
	Springtime Fantasies	Tania Kitchin	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, spring,
	The Cardinal's Message	Clarence Billheimer	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, bird,
	Cardinal	Heather Ober	Sonnet	Sonnet	cardinal, farewell, grief,
	Winter Haiku	Janice Canerdy	Haiku	Haiku	cardinal, beautiful, bird,
	Country Living	Caren Krutsinger	Free verse	Free verse	cardinal, 10th grade, 11th grade,
	The Perfect Christmas Tree	Tania Kitchin	Enclosed Rhyme	Enclosed Rhyme	cardinal, beauty, bird, christmas,
	Variations on theme of red	Rose Johnson	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, red,
	Innocent Gunplay	Freddie Robinson Jr.	Dramatic Monologue	Dramatic Monologue	cardinal, dark, perspective, truth, violence,
	AUTUMN AFTERGLOW	Anisha Dutta	Rhyme	Rhyme	cardinal, autumn,
	Bluegrass And Bliss	M. L. Kiser	Free verse	Free verse	cardinal, animal, appreciation, beautiful, bird,
	Gift horse	jan hansen	Blank verse	Blank verse	cardinal, blessing, books, break up,
	ANGER	Abdul Malik	Choka	Choka	cardinal, anger, sin,
	VERMILLION AUTUMN	Anisha Dutta	Couplet	Couplet	cardinal, autumn,
	C2 Official Oz Omission	Freddie Robinson Jr.	Epic	Epic	cardinal, child abuse, dark, spiritual,
	Mariah of Magdala	Beryl O. Adhiambo	Narrative	Narrative	cardinal, beautiful, beauty, body, desire,

Cardinal Poem Example

BLOODLESS - Tale of a Hero and the People He Died For

You knew you were going to die. 1
And yet you came, thinking no matter how insane,
the man on the seat of power would never want you dead
… it would be too much on his head.

And so you came, and there in the brightness of the day
they took your life away, on the tarmac… in broad daylight. 2
I was too young to  fully understand, and yet I cried  -
The greatest leader we never had, the greatest leader we needed to have … died.

August 21, 1983 was a day of ignominy.
The nation suffered from shamed infamy;
Too many people, not just one witness,
yet not anyone saw, everyone was witless.

The world mocked our country of too little people.
Seemed all we could do was pray on the steeple,
we were hopeless, hopeless…helpless…
Quo vadis, Filipino?

The tide of justice was slow in turning,
even though on the streets, one felt intense mourning.
Peace loving people were silently seething,
faithful and compliant, yet inwardly…defiant.

Seventeen years seemed still not enough,
the man on the throne just couldn’t give up;
With close-knit advisers, and media sanitizers -
If one contradicts, he sees the gunpoint…with silencers.

What must have you felt the days after you left? 
Did you think we were too blind, too mute and deaf?
Took almost three years for us, to finally get our act
I guess we were too set in our ways, too afraid…to react.

What the man in power and his cronies up the tower.
must not have considered… are the new movers and shakers.
There was only so much we could take…
There was only so much we could tolerate…

February 25, 1986 was the day we started to fix 3
the road of our shamed history. 
It was the day People Power came to be
the man in power was kicked out from tower
as ordinary citizens , nuns and everyone
faced his armed men aboard the tanks.
People unarmed, just some bottled water, 
a few sandwiches and bunches of flowers.

It was the day we looked up the sky, 
offered a fervent gratitude to heaven’s door -
and told Ninoy…thank you for believing 
“The Filipino is worth dying for”. 4



History Notes:

1. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., then senator and leading opposition leader (to Pres. Ferdinand Marcos, Philippine dictator who was in power 1965-1986) was advised  by the First Lady not to come back from 3-year exile in the USA, as there was a plot to assassinate him. As to whose plot, it was not clarified.

2. Manila International Airport, right after he went out of the airplane. Media took photos from the window.

3.  There was so much social unrest, and Cardinal Sin, through the radio and other respected media men, finally appealed to all people to go out and stage a massive peaceful protest with people making human barricade against the tanks in EDSA Avenue, Metro Manila's main thoroughfare. No one was killed. Ninoy's wife Cory Aquino who won the election, took the oath of office. The People Power Revolution, the first of its kind, in the Philippines and in the world, was eventually copied by France and other countries.

4. Ninoy Aquino, in an interview a few minutes before he left the plane to his death.



31 July 2015

Poem Copyright © KP Nunez