I read the news. I want to flee.
I have "hate fatigue" you see.
I don't wish to add more fuel,
by saying, "cowardly and cruel",
or calling discourse national
ignorant or irrational.
I might note that hate causes pain,
misery, hurt, and more hate again,
spreading as freely as a virus,
like the flu or hepatitis.
It can take on many forms.
I hope racism and bullying aren't new norms.
Hate is a problem. The solution
is not to add to hate pollution.
I have "hate fatigue" you see.
I don't hate you. Please don't hate me.
Fifty-year old pastor Archibald
And already the vessel is bald
Now cold not red heat would the priest scald;
Now 'irritable'when he is called...
For twenty years now A Pastor:
Would not sit on chairs denied castor;
Claims a pastor:Better Doctor,
Against every demon: Victor
Before ordination shooting star,
No speeding sprinter was faster,
His knowledge of the game vaster;
So much the case that he was master
But right now caged up by Arthritis,
Real blows exchanging with Mastitis
A time-and- again Hepatitis...
It has been growing anxieties.
Human ingenuity leapfrogs beyond ordinary
Buoying upon wings of intellectual curiosity
Sustaining innovation, creative imagination,
Breaking barriers once thought impenetrable,
Daring to conquer the arduous, unknown~
Resistant to understanding, inert to inquiry.
Unfathomable is force of scientific curiosity
That opened doors to discoveries, inventions:
Telescopes that explore the origin of universe,
Space flights landing on Moon and Mars,
Defying gravity, exceeding the speed of sound;
Telephones, electricity, computers, automobiles,
Untold preventive medicines, therapeutics,
Vaccines holding in check reign of pandemics,
Treatments for diseases, cure for hepatitis,
Nuclear fusion searching new source of energy
Reducing emissions to sustain life on earth.
Curiosity is the flame of wisdom, inspiration,
Lifeline for mortality pursuing life and liberty;
Promise of yesterday, today, and tomorrow,
For explicating phenomena less understood,
For guiding aspirations of cognitive intellect,
For directing journey on roads not traversed.
January 8, 2023
Placed 1st: This or That, Vol 15 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Edward Ibeh
The Jab
I am somewhat disenchanted by what I’ve seen and read
Antivaxxers believe the lie that soon the vaccinated will be dead
That our leaders are out to get us, dictating what we need
and will decrease the population by deciding how we breed
I’ve heard more twisted theories in my time upon this rock
made so much worse with rumors on you tube and tic tok
I pray that common sense will soon take hold of every friend
Covid 19 is NOT just another virus. Don’t let it be your end
Remember mumps, measles, tetanus and whooping cough
They were cured by science, not a de wormer in a trough
Think of polio, rubella, diphtheria, hepatitis B and A
Thanks to vaccinations, these diseases were kept at bay
This world is full of deadly germs, we make perfect hosts
Please listen to the doctors instead of any ill-informed posts
Life is short, so show respect for the time you’ve got
Think of others, not just yourself. Now go and get your shot!
Before Corona, HIV ‘n Hepatitis B
caroused with a death scare - intrinsic
Under sheets, a plausible viral milieu
zip-zapped the pompous macho buzz
Influenza strains cheered o’er a din of garrulous ‘I’s
carrying on, toasting a jaded Earth toxic,
awakening the grim grinning gestalt of Gaia!
New lessons and poignant liaisons must begin…
Because she’ll play with ‘us’ again and again
Coz, she’ll just laugh us out with a louder gist
CAUSE, is germane to ‘our’ best treatment
Because ‘we’ can stop all her mistreatment.
(5/7/2021)
Remember when we 'matured' and went off to college
And they classified all us guys as wimps or as jocks
The latter got the girls, the press and the glory
While the former were ridiculed, scorned and mocked
And though we took courses to become
Lawyers, accountants or docs
Half of us wound up on Wall Street
Trading bonds, options or stocks
A few of us joined the Army
For campaigns like "Awe and Shock"
Many more became computer specialists
Who liked to think outside the box
Yes, there were those who found cures
For diseases like hepatitis and chicken pox
Others who delved into eternal mysteries
Like Saturn's rings or the vernal equinox
But now we're on the brink of retirement
We've had our fair share of hard knocks
We've decided it's finally time to relax---
To enjoy eating creamcheese on bagels with lox
My rhymes are timeless while this time is lifeless
why is life this kind less, reminds me that this
mind is spineless ready to tip and quit, as
my lies become mindless and get swollen shut
and Stuck up inside my sinus
Drivin in my prime but with no optimus
Victim to the flip-side of the Midas
Running through my blood like a virus
The sun makes my skin mundane
rubbin on ben gay but get arthritis
touch spermicide and converts to hepatitis
I hit the plus sign but it just musters up a minus
I'm seen sucking my thumb like the peanut's Linus
I run and duck when I hear the sirens cause
I abducted the president's Nike air pumps
now air force one is trying to find us
I'm at my desk obsessin about success but
This whole time its been right behind us
black snakeroot, yew, cocklebur, poison (ivy, oak, parsnip, sumac, ryegrass, hemlock), blister bushes, daffodil, mayapple, lilium, jerusalem cherry, indian licorice, deadly nightshade, christmas rose, bleeding heart, asparagus berries, wolfsbane, tomato leaves, doll’s eyes, the suicide tree, young larkspur, blue-green algae, stinkweed, dumbcane, european spindle, blind-your-eye mangrove, manchineel, laburnum, mother of millions, elderberry root, bacterial pathogens, exotoxins, mycotoxins, grayanotoxins, rhinovirus, chicken pox, sleeping sickness, cholera, yellow fever, typhoid, rotavirus, river blindness, measles, japanese encephalitis, hepatitis (a,b & c), cryptosporidiosis, shigella infection, pneumonia, meningitis, tuberculosis, schistosomiasis, malaria, influenza, herpes (1 & 2), crab louse, scabies, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, chancroid, trichomoniasis, hpv, hiv/aids, ebola virus, marburg virus, mad cow disease, mudslides, avalanches, blizzards, storms, cyclones, hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, fires, supervolcanic eruptions: evidence of absence.
Beautiful curls flowing down
Large sparkling eyes, enticing
Life just starting recieved a death sentence
Though death has been around every corner since seventeen
She keeps on the dark, wide path
Shady deals and lies
Doesn't know the truth
Old cadillacs, old smelly men
Needles...oblivion
Where am I? What is that stinch?
Crying baby number five
Won't get to raise this one either
Gave this one drug addiction and Hepititis C
No never thought I would be that person
Addiction
Drug addiction has claimed a young lady I know who has 5 small children, that have
been taken from her due to her inability to take care the kids and addiction. The last
child she had has Hepatitis C and drug addiction. All of her kids were born with
addiction and other mental problems. Such a sad life...She will die if she does not
get a liver transplant within a year... at 22.
So many heroes, I have know
So many heroes’ names untold
The greatest still is kind
Loving and even smarter then he knows
He holds the love of so many
But no one loves him more then I
His oldest Daughter, Sarah Jho
So many lives have change for the words he wrote
Some find it hard to believe such beautiful words come from
A man who stutters so very bad
But make no mistake the most amazing poet of our day
Stutters as he tries to read the words he wrote
The greatest hero I have know has overcome so many pains
He battled drugs most of my life
Now years clean and he is back in my life
Hepatitis was the next test
But with no surprise as I knew he would
He won that test
But saddened still nerves
Would die and he can labor no more and he feels a useless foal
But my hero do not worry for what God has in store
For a poet’s hands are meant to write
Hold a pen, and dance on paper
To create a piece of art
God has chosen a new path for my hero’s life
(This is a true story)
These idiots are letting out too much water in the lake.
It's getting to be just a little hard for the people to take.
The lake water is getting into people's wells and is giving them hepatitis.
Many people are getting extremely tired of putting up with this.
It's now impossible for me to take a walk on the lake because they've let so much water out.
They're probably going to be in big trouble for making people sick, on that I have no doubt.
I dread to think of the trouble that these people may be in.
They'll think twice about letting the lake out so much again.