Four years before George Floyd met death
Tony Timpa drew his last breath
A cop pressed a knee into his back too
Tony cried warnings, the warnings were true.
Tony was white, George was black
A knee in Tony's back wasn't a racist attack
In neither case, was killing sought
It was a bad police tactic, that cops were taught.
If we talk of George Floyd also recall David Dorn
When protests erupted, then riots were born
You can cry "no justice, no peace'
But a looter shot David, made his life cease.
David, a black man, was trying to protect a store
That too is a story we should not ignore
To some, black lives matter only if the story resonates
So many other stories buried in these United States.
Don't just care when the outrage aligns,
Think of the lives falling between the lines.
autumn is "calling"
falling leaves as rain showers
beauty colorful
~
kaleidoscope dorn
brilliant tint of beige
greens tans oranges
~
yellows and reds hues
fall leaves as rain showers dawn
beautiful autumn
11/9/23
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2023
When twist-and-turns, like narrow mount-roads, I face,
When deaths of kith, like winds in fall, bring disgrace;
When my cries, like waves of oceans, surge endless,
I laugh, serving the orphan and the friendless...!
Wealth gone, poverty dorn, when I'm in the pits,
When shelter, in rain torrents, shatter to bits;
Stitching, ad infinitum, old robes I wear,
I laugh with the poor who laugh in loincloth bare...!
When exhaustion and hurt feelings weigh me down,
In floods of helplessness when I sadly drown;
Grasping divine-drawn frail hands as lifebuoy,
I laugh within forgetting every ennui...!
Life is present presented to live the present,
Accepting each good and evil heaven-sent;
As farmers separate corns from hay and chaff,
Keeping away grim facades, I loudly laugh...!
13 November 2022
Pick-A-Title, Vol 33 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Edward Ibeh |
Know very well why you are shedding tears;
but what you gain except remembering
that dreaded sorrowful event of past.
Makes you physically weak as I've fears
it'll affect your life, think surrendering
to HIM, HE will heal your woe, anguish fast.
Never blame yourself for that accident;
you're not at fault for the incident.
I was at the driving seat, despite years
of experience, it was my error
of judgement to decide, it appears
that stiff turning one does flee in terror;
Yet, I wasn't cautious; horn didn't reach my ears;
'twas my fault, I didn't look at the mirror.
~x~x~
The Alfred Dorn sonnet is different than most sonnets,
in that it has an Italian sestet and a Sicilian sestet
linked by a couplet.
Both sestets share common rhyme set by the first line.
The rhyme scheme is as follows;
a. b. c. a. b. c. ... d. d. ... a. e. a. e. a. e.
Pasted from http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/2006Challenge/oneten.html
Little patriot's rhetos
If we don't see through,
Through the eyes of our fathers
And if we don't write
Write the stories of our mothers
Can we ever be better
Better than bustards
And if we hate those
Those Who fly with, our same features
Dorn in our same feathers
Won't it make much a difference
If we as a people,
If we embrace each other
And be the other's shoulders
Eloping away to foreign places
Places far Away in Westernlands
Proudly Abandoning your beloved
Your own beloved motherland
Building majestic palaces in thereto
Imagine a black palace in Switzerland
Can all our success stories
Can they all be written
Written in foreign places
What will be our legacies
Notorious runaways I guess!
That one I bet, I will bet on it forever
Will you be happy honestly
Will your ghost find peace
When Far away from its kind
Away from the cradle of its being
Let's build our own legacies
Write our own stories
Love our ownkind
And hate no one else
That way we will survive
Survive the harsh realities of derision
I FEEL NATURE
**************
I feel nature, it's part of my being.
A cock blackbird soloist, what a joy.
The tiny Jeny wren throughout the day.
Nature's turned it's volume up, ears ringing!
Bidding me to hip-hop but I am coy.
My invisible partners dance away.
Fairies with their friends, Elves and Leprechauns.
Fireflies and Gloworms partied till light dawns.
Can't teach nature about hip-hop, raving!
The whole forest is jamming, owls twoo, late.
The dawn chorus, ain't all life amazing!
I breathe in joy, all wildlife celebrate!
Time now, party done, all procreating!
Oh yes, next time, I'll bring my wife, my mate!
***************
P-aint the heart with love,
A-im to bring pink color;
T-he wound is finally healed,
R-ecovered from pain and horror.
I-t's time to erase the scar,
C-omforting the troubled mind;
I-nside cracks of the core
A-re filled with soothing sign.
S-o paint the heart with love,
U-sing care and concern;
A-dorn the feeling with passion,
R-esemble the pretty pattern.
E-arly September seventeenth, God is watching from above;
Z-ealously apply affection, paint the heart with love.
Wonderland
O'er the hills lush and green,
Around the squishy marsh,
A ship stopped at the dock,
Her name was Wonderland.
Over the seas she sailed,
With me as the captain,
And the sailors were all young men
But their strength never failed.
They rowed the oars for hours,
Often day and night,
Whilst one rowed the other rested,
I was proud of my crew.
We set off early at dawn,
With a blow from my bugle horn,
And all the excited passengers
Came with me to Land Dorn.
We sailed the mighty seas
That tossed and turned and roiled,
But our boat was even stonger,
And it tamed the wild ocean.
To paradise we were headed,
The mystical land of Dorn,
Where 'tis said the faeries live
The magical land of Dorn.
We arrived the following day,
The faeries were quite nice,
They gave us food and gave us drinks,
And told us to permanantly stay.
O'er the hills lush and green,
Around the squishy marsh,
A ship stopped at the dock,
Her name was Wonderland.
Poetry Day #2: Alfred Dorn Sonnet
Dive
The moon is high as she watches the night,
The gentle crashing waves of the ocean.
A light midnight breeze passes through her hair.
Closing her eyes as she smiles in the light,
The silence setting her dreams in motion;
Nothing can touch her body while she’s there.
Standing up, the girl steps towards the ocean,
Falling, the blurry world in slow motion.
Air rushing up, but the girl gives no fight,
As she dives into the ocean’s blue waves.
Despite morning being far, the sea is bright,
Welcoming her as one of the free slaves.
As the world around turns a hue of white,
She is now walking in the watery graves.
TRACES...
A faint footstep left behind since my birth
And a thousand years later, I found so clear
A burning vision from the flames of wailing hearts
A drum-beat, a bull-horn sound, a clap
A music of realities dorn, this hour...
... somewhere this day...
I live to see it clear, my footsteps; so clear
From within the mirages I foresee a future
So my hearts' wish now is the sun's dawn
So I sing the lost rythm "Hail Thee Son's Afrikana"
At long last! oh what a day....
For the sun's blesses upon my heard
Times' testimony to my thirsts
For what we lost long ago, wailing as losts......
Traces of our footsteps yonder the dark clouds
Today is a merry day
For traces recoverred
For ideas emancipated
For the shackles clang of freedom
Worthy for none than the stocks* liberated now.
Human conciousness, human liberation
Spiritual Rediscoveries, soul cleansing
Races fostering bonds, lands-boundaries collapses
Hungers eradication, lives elongation
When the accordions laugh, as the twilights blazes.
(c) Lamptey Godson K. 2012
In darkness beams a shaft of tender light,
A dream foretold within a gypsy’s tent,
While she sat gazing on an open hand,
The gift of gods revealed in second sight,
And had she seen my heart was left unspent,
As she then told of the destiny planned.
Then into the cup, she began to stare,
And told the wonder that she saw in there.
How love and fortune lay within the night,
As in the crystal, she then cast her eye,
My hopes and dreams were bound in love’s first flight,
At last, no more my heart is born to cry,
I felt the joy that comes from pure delight,
As my dreams unfurled in a gypsy’s scry.
Fprm: Alfred Dorn Sonnet