SITTING IN A QUIET LAKEFRONT PARK
LOOKING AT PICTURES OF MY MOTHER IN THE DARK
THE ILLUMINATION OF VIVID MEMORIES CREATE A SPARK
A TRUE HISTORICAL MILESTONE EXCURSION LANDMARK
SHEDDING A RARE TEAR, BUT CALMLY SANE
LOOKING AT PICTURES OF MY DAD AS IT BEGINS TO RAIN
WISHES AND REGRET CAN CAUSE SUCH IMMEASURABLE PAIN
I GET SHEDDING SNAKESKIN HANDS TRYING TO WIPE AWAY EVERY STAIN
DRIVING BACK TO A REALITY LONG SINCE RUSTED
THINKING ABOUT HAPPIER TIMES WHEN I WAS LESS DISGUSTED
MY LIFE IS BLUE BALLOON WITH AN INGROWN BOIL DOUBLE BUSTED
SO LITTLE REPLY AND REACTION HAS ALL THE FUSS DID
She spoke to me
about the semantics of shame,
the seduction and flame,
the name of the pain,
lunatic loop of lost meaning,
complaining of symptoms remaining
robust and teething
weighing upon me
morning through evening
like a stoney smoke stifling,
misidentifying the madness
of this sadness as inherent illness
primordial and permanent,
the face of Her wisdom
a jewel of enlightenment,
a catharsis burning on the coals
of my ingrown crown,
Her voice vouches for my vim
as she says to me with a cerulean sympathy,
The Mind must make Itself
as a heart must learn to heat the soul,
emote to promote the promise of your pulse,
you are not a puzzle
you are a powerful purpose,
emotions are the lights of your eyes
the colors of your concepts,
the verve of your values,
find no shame from your sensitivity,
make love with your intensity...
J.A.B. 2023
Of WHAT USE ARE FINGERS TO HANDS THAT ONLY UNDERSTAND MITTENS
I have a bunion and an ingrown toe nail;
I’m a blind man wearing glasses and I can’t find them;
My hair is so short that I am bald;
My spine so straight I am tall;
I have a four year old who keeps shaking his fist at his sister;
And it’s cold and snowing my question is;
Of what use are fingers to hands that only understand mittens;
And what’s the use in cooking dinner in the kitchen;
When we don’t know how to fry chicken livers;
12/17/22 2022©
For Of What Use Are Gloves to Fingers That Only Understand Mittens Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: John lawless
A nation dies
when its ideas become slogans
nothing is deeply planted
or cultivated
just notions to be scattered around
as exposed hayseeds
that fly directionless.
When a state is oppressed
the collective impulse
is to oppress another country.
Wars are never fought
over an ideal.
In the staggered march of time
dead men become
the enemy.
Minds die
they become buried in the deaf flesh,
become as thin as the bones
of extinct songbirds.
The dead consider themselves
the finest examples of a new reality,
an existence that is the loudest shout
in the widest open mouth.
Dead letters, dead opinions,
dead ends
travel in circles together
until the land forgets its roots
becomes a basement for the sky
a place that is ingrown
like a toenail
pushed into the white tissue
of all such unkept deathbeds.
Before you go and buy that new pair of shoes,
There is something you should do,
That will save a return trip for you,
Or maybe even one less cost if you do this before you go.
If buying for your children,
To save a hullabaloo,
Before you leave the house,
This is what you should help them do,
Cut their toenails.
You may have another trip, not to do,
And earn a thank you from your local GP,
As yet another ingrown toenail,
Will not be on their bucket list of things they want to do.
Keola-Sonnet-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Imagine perched above, you ride THE lofty throne
Peering through pellucid skies to seek our MORAL truth
You yearn to spread what people need; empathy ingrown
To stare into transmutative hearts, from elderly to youth…
Suddenly, your throne volplanes into a graceful ARC
Your view, now curved, a myriad OF sights
THE UNIVERSE so grand, folks pale to smooth and dark
You cry as crisis BENDS what’s good, tears AT every right…
THE journey must proceed; though lachrymose you feel
Another ELBOW OF your trek; celebrate below
For this great place watched JUSTICE rightfully appeal
A moral victory, a beginning, where together, folks will grow…
Written and submitted on February 1, 2022
Submitting for Keola Secret KA-CHING-cash cash cash Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: William Kekaula
YELLOW
a center of a highway line
yellow a
Banana and pears
yellow
the cowardice and ingrown fears
yellow
a golden parakeet
yellow
a bag of crunchy Cheetos
yellow
A pampered golden puppy
yellow
Warm homemade pound cake
yellow
Cheddar cheese
yellow
Yummy boiled summer squash
yellow
Mustard squeezed on a bologna sandwich
yellow
A soft plush pillow
A young baby chick feathers
Yellow keeps me warm and true -
8/20/20
written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2020 ©
Samantha is as delightful as an ingrown toenail.
As wonderful as a virus, hearty and hale.
She was a corn on the bottom of my foot.
Her caustic tongue as long as a tree root.
The rest of the family said “give her a chance”
But I had to let her go, so I could dance.
She entertains the rest of them with her vile.
I prefer keeping my distance, and natural smile.
Brown the color of the passive ground Autumn I'm falling leaves horizontal the waist by product the leaves leave me Brown blooms with the bloom of unemployed in clouds Grands made from scratch chocolate cake taste the golden tan Brown pancake taste like hot coffee and cocoa yum I'm in pecan much and crunch right on mushroom potato soup delicious feels like synonym of dressing being in down Brown a cloud of pollution Brown the face and skin the many races Brown is a color nurturing ingrown it's the color of Mother Earth Brown so Earthly neutral Brown colors filled and pumping iron serious down-to-earth stable bility protection and supported sense of Duty and responsibilities 5th and the listing of last names I'll be around must be own wit
BROWN
10/29/19
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr
The Agony of de feet
When I am afoot I fear for the fact
That my didgets will fidget
And I must react
My corns are like thorns
When the pressure is great
The bunion’s no funion
My toenails ingrown
With all this pain I can loudlly state
I must buy large shoes
To give me some space
to rid me of this winged tip fate
Ralph SergI ©
October 23, 2018
“Joy”
Your joy should be my joy,
Without question,
Without reservation,
Without pause.
If it gladdens your heart,
It shall gladden mine.
If it fails,
I cannot profess to love you.
For Love, ” ingrown” love,
Selfless love, is born from within.
It is not celebrated in this life alone.
It circulates through our souls
From one generation to the next.
It is what creates us,
Gives meaning to our lives,
Teaches us the glory of
Being a Giver, rather than a Taker.
It is Life’s own reward,
Here on earth,
On the Battleground of Life.
Justify my words
As I cater to my life
Something all around me hurts
Must be the candle light
The spelling of relief
Has ingrown toe-nails
And yes cabbages don't have feet
I often eat chocolate covered snails
Then I place it in the Holy Grail
How can I read
When I can't see
I've been blind since 1923
written by James Edward Lee Sr.
1/01/18
A garden unattended
is a woman abandoned
Grass growing unruly
her hair untidy
Petals dried out
manicure urgently needed
Dry stems and twigs
chapped lips and dry skin
Weeds vined and entwined around trees
ingrown toenails and coarse heels on feet
A treatise on regenerating life
Old Man Winter's residual cultivated by Spring's mid-wife
Into fertile cavity seed with precision did knife
In earth's dark bosom; cauldron of strife
With jolting, painful movements rife
Helios incubated the embryonic pod
Unction sparked from Zeus's rod
Jupiter's vital streams embalmed ingrown clod
With growing pressure swelling kernel did prod
Fledgling shoots pushed through birth canal onto sod
Ladies upon a stage which are dressed in feminine style
Gracefully in a row, they flow as a troupe dancing the ballet
I am sure those ladies had many ingrown toenails and cramps.
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