Long 16th Poems
Long 16th Poems. Below are the most popular long 16th by PoetrySoup Members. You can search for long 16th poems by poem length and keyword.
My name is James, born 1961
In Inverness, a small Scots town
To my father Andrew, and my mother Beryl
And Billy my brother, a pair of devils
In 67, we woke one night
Our house was ablaze, full of orange light
Our neighbour next door, for whatever reason
Started a fire, it must be crazy season
We had too move to a caravan park
By this time it,s three, to make a new start
My mother Beryl decide to leave
But the three of us left, never bothered to grieve
In the next few weeks, we ended in court
Two small children, in a marriage abort
We were asked to choose either Dad or Mum
But we ignored the parent, who went on the run
As we left the court, to start a new life
We felt sorry for Dad, as his illness was rife
He never told us that he was unwell
It would upset one of his boys, as the future will tell
Then came the night all parents dread;
Being told one of his boys is nearly dead
We were going to a boys club, on a Monday night
My brother was running so far out of sight
I turned the corner to see him ahead
No!! he's been hit by a van, Boom's Boom's dead
I ran to my father, sreaming and crying
I'm finding my life,at 7 - far too trying
After the funeral, and with my father unwell
We left Inverness, our eyes a swell
To go as two, and not three as before
It's like Mother Nature closed a door
So we headed west, to a place called Fort William
Was it in the stars, cause Billy " is " William
We moved there, as the air was so pure
Hoping my father will find his cure
For whatever reason, we left the above
We found no Angel or peaceful dove
So we headed back to Inverness
Fathers health decreasing, life still a stress
Over the next few years, i was fostered and loaned
In couples houses and children's homes
It was really strange in all those places
Different people, different faces
Then on the 16th of Feb - 76,
James, i was told, your dads very sick.
The cancer had taken your father away
To be with Billy, where you'll join them one day
In 77, i joined the Navy, as i promised my dad you see.
I did'nt enjoy it, i decided to leave
Back up north, where my futures to be
I wanted to have, what my parents had lost
And that was my aim, no matter the cost
see page 2 of 2, ty..
http://www.thehighlanderspoems.com/me.php
ANYONE CAN BE A FATHER BUT NOT EVERYONE CAN BE A DAD,
I WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE THE BEST FATHER THAT A SON EVER HAD.
WHEN I WAS YOUNGER YOU USE TO TELL ME STORIES UNTIL I FELL ASLEEP,
AS I GOT OLDER YOU WERE ALWAYS THERE FOR ME WHEN I GOT IN TROUBLE NO MATTER HOW DEEP.
YOU WOULD TAKE ME FISHING WHEN I WAS A LITTLE BOY,
YOU WERE ALWAYS THERE BESIDE ME WHEN I CAUGHT A FISH TO SHARE THAT MOMENT OF JOY.
WHEN THINGS DIDN'T GO QUITE RIGHT YOU TOLD ME THAT TOMORROW WOULD BE A BETTER DAY,
EACH NIGHT WHEN I WENT TO BED YOU WOULD STAND BESIDE ME AS I WOULD PRAY.
SOMETIMES AS I GOT OLDER I DID NOT SHOW YOU THE RESPECT THAT YOU DESERVED,
BUT NEVER DID I STOP THINKING HOW LUCKY I WAS TO BE YOUR SON THAT IS FOR SURE.
THOUGH DEAR FATHER I MAY NOT HAVE SAID IT QUITE ENOUGH,
I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW DEAR DAD THAT I ALWAYS LOVED YOU VERY MUCH.
WHEN THE TIMES COMES FATHER THAT YOU GET CALLED BACK HOME,
I WILL NOT ONLY LOSE A FATHER BUT ALSO A FRIEND AND MY HEART WILL TURN TO STONE.
IN CASE YOU DO NOT REALIZE IT FATHER I AM A WHOLE LOT LIKE YOU,
I ALWAYS HELP OTHERS AND I'M NICE TO PEOPLE TOO.
IF IT WAS NOT FOR THE STRENGTH AND VIRTUES YOU HAVE GIVEN TO ME DAD,
THEN LONG AGO DUE TO DIFFICULTIES IN MY LIFE I WOULD HAVE GONE STARK RAVING MAD.
EVEN THOUGH THIS WORLD IS NOT ALWAYS THE HAPPIEST PLACE,
I KNOW IN MY HEART I CAN ALWAYS DEPEND ON THE GREATEST DAD THAT CAN BE FOUND ANYPLACE.
I WISH FATHER THAT THESE MERE WORDS COULD EXPRESS EXACTLY HOW I FEEL,
THAT I WISH THAT I COULD REPAY YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU HAVE DONE FOR ME AND MADE IT REAL.
SO SOMETIME IF YOU ARE FEELING DOWN OR JUST A LITTLE BLUE,
PLEASE REMEMBER DAD THAT YOU HAVE A SON THAT IS VERY PROUD OF YOU.
I WOULD NOT HAVE EVER TRADED YOU FOR ANY OTHER FATHER THAT IS THE HONEST TRUTH
BECAUSE I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT ANYONE COULD BE A BETTER FATHER THAN YOU.
I JUST WANTED TO WRITE THIS FOR YOU ON THIS FATHER'S DAY
TO TELL YOU DAD THAT I LOVE YOU IN EACH IN EVERY WAY.
IF YOU ARE EVEN ONE HALF AS PROUD AS I AM OF YOU,
TO HAVE A SON LIKE ME THEN I AM VERY LUCKY TOO.
I HOPE THAT THIS CONVEYED TO YOU JUST HOW GLAD I AM,
THAT YOU ARE MY FATHER AND IT WAS YOU THAT MADE ME A GOOD MAN.
IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER LEWIS JAMES KOLTER DIED DECEMBER 16TH 1996
I MISS HIM DEARLY
Written By Michael James Kolter
I used to think that life was a joke.
When I was 9 I started to smoke.
When I was 11 I began to drink.
But as I got older I began to think
I started thinking about what I wanted to do and what I had to give.
But then I realized I had a long life to live.
At age 13 I started to fight for no good reason.
Thanks to my dad and my anger,
I got kicked out of school for the rest of the season.
Not long after, my mom and my dad were separated,
By this time, my anger had very well escalated.
I was baker-acted for making threats in 1999.
Threatening take everyone’s life, including mine.
I hated it! I hated my life in every way.
I always stayed in the house.
I never wanted to play.
After being home schooled for two years,
It was time to go to High School my dear.
My mother appraised me, she said I would to fine.
Oops! My Bad. I got suspended 22 times.
I got baker acted again and I caught a charge.
A charge that landed me straight behind bars.
I was on probation and violated constantly.
For once the only thing I wanted was to be free.
At age 15 I was in a program locked in a cell.
Oh boy! How fun! I had my 16th Birthday in jail.
It took 11 months and 11 days to get my act straight and learn better ways.
January 16,2004 I was free once again,
To be locked up no more.
3 days after I was 17 and free from being locked down,
My mother tells me I’m off probation now.
Now that I’ve told you what I’ve been through,
Its time for me to tell you about what I plan to do.
This is what I plan to do with my life.
To make good decisions and to do what’s right.
I plan to continue to go to school.
No more days of trying to play cool.
I am who I am not to pretend.
The way I think of it, in my life I need no fake friends.
People think I’m crazy for my plan to succeed.
Its my choice if I want to be a part of the city police.
I want to major in Criminal Justice to become a lawyer or be apart of the law.
I have came a very long way and have left so many people in awe.
People think of me as a misbehaved, disturbed little child.
But look at how far I made it. Even though it took a while.
When I was younger, I was wild.
But to all who doubted me, I hope I made you proud.
See the effort that I chose to give.
And all this was to earn a better life to live.
Poet: Ken Jordan
Poem: Freedom
Edited by: Sparkle Jordan
written: March/2013
I grew up
in the
south,
where
spanish
moss
hanged
heavy
from
oak tree's -
Where
hound dogs
roamed
dirt roads
tracking
down
a race
of people,....
Black people,
America
said
were free -
We were
not free -
America,
was
"Segregated
America,"
Whites
on one side
and
Blacks
on the other -
Signs
posted
told us
where
we could
sit
and eat -
And
"For Colored
Only"
signs
pointed,
to
restrooms
that we
could use -
Water
fountains
were
prohibited,
except
the ones
outside
in the park -
I grew up
in these
times,
where folks
with black
skin,
were called
"colored,"
and
a few other
words
that lowered
our self
esteem -
A time
when we
were lynched,
and
hanged
from
southern
trees -
A time when
brutal
and
ruthless
killings
of
many black
family's
became
routine,
and
the perpetrator's
were never
brought
to trial -
America
said
we were
free -
We were
not free -
I grew up
in these
times -
When
a black
man
couldn't
look
at a
white
woman -
They
called it
wreck-less
eye balling,
which carried
a sentence
of death -
I've seen
the vicious
dogs
attack us
in the
street
on
command
from
police -
We had to
fight
for our
civil rights,
through
protest;
boycotts,
And
when we
gathered
to march
the police
beat us down
in the streets -
I grew up
in these
times -
When
they
assassinated
Civil Rights
Activist
Medgar Evers,
in 63 -
A few
months
later
they bombed
the 16th Street
Baptist Church,
in Birmingham,
killing
four little
black girls
as they
sang
and
prayed
in a place
of peace -
I grew up
in these
times -
I watched
on T.V.
Dr. King
deliver his
historic
"I Have A Dream"
speech -
He had hoped
that someday
all men
regardless
of ethnicity
could live
together
in
harmony -
Sadly,
he was
assassinated
in
68.
I've seen
the million
man march
on
Washington
D.C.
to promote
unity -
I grew up
in these
times -
America
said
we were
free -
We were
not free -
I’m about to tell what’s an important story,
Of a singer who is sadly now long gone,
Whose story needs some increased recognition,
He could p’raps be described a special one.
He was born in nineteen forty two,
And sadly died in nineteen eighty one,
His memory and music though will never be forgot,
His charities and work continue on.
He made a lot of money, in America renowned,
At one point highest paid of all his peers,
And still the homeless charities do work that bears his name,
Despite him being gone for forty years.
At Height of fame he realised a fortune,
At times it reached 2 million a year,
At least a third of it though he did give away,
Philanthropy towards his causes dear.
In Britain there aren’t many who remember Harry’s name,
But some of his songs linger in their head,
They’ve heard about a morning DJ and cradles for cats,
And a better place to be than in their bed.
Songs autobiographical,
And others based on news that he had read,
At first he struggled for success like Mister Tanner did,
Ignored the critics views and what they said.
His passion was world hunger that was unacceptable,
He’d do what he could to eradicate,
The Harry Chapin Foodbank still stands proudly in his name,
And still relieving hunger to this date.
He always felt Long Island was the place to live his dreams,
Perhaps you’d say his opportunity,
To make a massive difference in the world to many folks,
Perhaps you’d say a better place to be.
He co- founded World Hunger Year,
With DJ friend that he knew called Bill Ayres
Congressional Gold Medal, a posthumous award
That later recognised each of his worthy cares.
On July 16th Nineteen eighty one his fate was sealed,
Going to a show in East Meadow, New York,
A truck crashed into him whose fault ended his life,
No more he’d ever sing again or talk.
That could have been the end of things, for others it sure would,
But Harry is the subject of this rhyme,
His legacy maybe seems as important as his life,
And not diminished with passing of time.
Theatres and student halls named in his memory,
Foundation chaired by Sandy, she his wife,
His legacy continues to improve the world today,
This story of a most important life.
I find myself agreeing a lot with Goethe lately…
yes, I think it would be fair
to say I spend as much time on top of the world…
as I do floundering in the depths of despair.
On top of the world at our granddaughter’s 16th birthday party
on the beach with family and friends by her side…
In the depths of despair when I realized
Ann Frank was the same age when she died.
On top of the world knowing my family is safe, secure, happy
and, for the most part, free from oppression and pain…
In the depths of despair when my mind turns to the women of Iraq…and to the people suffering in Ukraine.
On top of the world as I walk my streets in the morning
unafraid…feeling invigorated and free….
In the depths of despair knowing these same streets
aren’t as safe or as free for someone who looks different than me.
On top of the world when I wake up thinking life is wonderful
looking forward to another new day…
In the depths of despair knowing I might not feel the same
If I was a person of color…
a woman…
transgender…
or gay.
On top of the world knowing the framers of our constitution
wrote how we all have these unalienable rights:
to the enjoyment of life
to pursuit of happiness….
to something called liberty
In the depths of despair knowing those same framers and many people today can’t agree on who should be…
or exactly what it means to be free.
These are but a few examples of how one moment I’m on top of the world…living a wonder life…seemingly without a care…
and the next moment when I look around
I find myself in the depths of despair.
It’s here, once again, I turn to Goethe for the hope I so desperately need to keep my outlook improving….
he said: the greatest thing in the world is not so much where we stand…
but in what direction we happen to be moving.
So every day I hope and I pray the world will right itself…
that people will be loving, compassionate and fair…
that no human…at the hands of another human
will flounder in the depths of despair.
That there will come a morning
when everyone in the world wakes up
whatever nations flag is unfurled…
and finds themselves
safe
equal
and free
and can join me…
on top of the world.
All the elegant ivy
an inch off the brick wall
is scattered so purposefully
and behind the gate a bird hops
like some kind of humiliated
game show contestant.
This is a view, one view,
through the redbrick arbor
where the corbeled arch frames
a bit of the street
so I can only see
one or two cars at a time
and a man walking by
in his rugged black tshirt
and another car and another
white van.
In Memory Of (the 16th century)
Thomas Dudley,
and I look up again
a bit higher
and realize:
this whole is incomplete:
a brickbanked stretch
of ugly black tar
called the corner of
Mass Ave and Bow St.
The perspective is throbbing
and it fingers me
to the back of my chair
this is the scene.
(horse on a bridge)
the focused sight
through a mullioned window in three
(it might as well be a prism
with a million fluttering sides)
where the shards
leave a scar
at the back of my eye
I am both
I become the charge
and thin gold foil:
(like a receptor cell
with an itchy trigger finger)
I am the glazed hat
of crème brûlée
and you, my view,
are the spoon that cracks
and starts the firing in my head:
I am the electric
that sparks through this circuitry
the impulse,
a picture,
fragmented green
that drives in pieces
(I run like Mercury)
through the endless glass tubes
crossing from left
to right-
through the tracts and chiasmata
I slept through during physiology
but a body, not a spark;
a body to promise up the pathways
(like an Indian bride);
a body wanting more than the tour.
I promise
(to no one; to the window)
to come back someday,
soon,
and charter the wilds
of this decussating optic aisle.
To unravel and unwind
the string
coiled up like telephone wire-
I promise to make note
of its fibers and chemicals,
but then bring it back as string
between two cans:
a slower speed.
Someday I will control
and hold my head under
until it shrieks and hits
and listens to me,
but for now,
I am stuck
holding the walls
of this beautiful wooden room
hoping I will get up soon.
Form:
ain't it a shame
when hate lynches
a 14 year old Colored boy
in 1955 Mississippi
and blows away the dreams of
four innocent little ***** girls
in 1963 Birmingham, Alabama
yeah
bus that to your segregated thoughts
as I interracially walk you
through Little Rock, Arkansas
with Daisy Bates & nine Black Children
to march along side the National Guard
on their way to a lily white school
as the message of this
un-segregates & untangles
the history of hate
attackin’ ******* in 1957
whose only desire was to be educated
and schooled too
racism & hate
doesn’t try to guide
the white citizen council back
to their good senses
‘cause racism
don’t care ‘bout nobody
being Jewish or Colored
when it needs to
fire-bomb
***** churches with ******* in them
or feels the need to hang someone
from a tree out of existence
racism even devours its own kkklan
as the innocent
pay the ultimate price
racism doesn’t care
if your church is the 16th Street Baptist
and 14 yr. old Addie Mae Collins
is one of the four black Alabama children
killed in attendance
racism ain’t concerned about
you being white either
or your last name being
White
Black
Brown
Till
Schwerner
Evers
Liuzzo
Mandela
Martin or Rodney King
and so many other names
that we’ll never know of
that racism wounded or buried six feet
under hate
racism doesn’t care about
what kinda NAACP dream
you’re having
or concerned about your last name
being "Parks" in 1955
when it attempts to guide you back
to the "Colored" section of the bus
where you know your
civil-rights will be denied
every time you allow
" segregation & discrimination"
to collects its fare
racism & its hateful followers
have no regard at all
for one’s race / religion
or sexual persuasion
especially when racism peers
into its discriminating mirror
century after century
time after time
day after day
and tells itself in 2006
"it’s better than you"
because you’re "cultured" different
from them"
yeah
racism stirs an ugly pot of soup
that no one should ever have to taste.
We Are Not Afraid
Why should we be afraid?
If this were the case,
There would be no United States.
The founding fathers were not afraid
To face imprisonment or death;
General Washington led the Continental Army
To defeat British tyranny of America.
And if the Electoral College had not been constituted,
Abraham Lincoln would not have been elected.
And if President Lincoln had been afraid
Of the plantation owners, and sympathizers,
And the Supreme Court justices;
Black Americans would still be enslaved.
And so, when bullied for political belief
Remember FDR’s inaugural speech
To the Nation during the Great Depression,
‘The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.’
Stand up and say, “We are not afraid!”
***
Notes:
1) George Washington: 1st President of the United States (1789 to 1797) – no political party.
2) Abraham Lincoln: 16th President of the United States (1861 to 1865) – Republican Party.
3) Franklin D. Roosevelt: 32nd President of the United States (1933 to 1945) – Democratic Party.
4) Sept. 17, 1787: ‘Constitution of the United States of America’ adopted and signed at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
5) March 6, 1857: ‘Dred Scott Decision, aka Dred Scott v. Sandford’ (United States Supreme Court): ruling 7 – 2 in favor of Sandford. In the opinion authorized by Chief Justice Roger Taney stated that ‘Persons of African descent cannot be, nor were ever intended to be, citizens under the U.S. Constitution…’ i.e. Black people were not and never could be American citizens and therefore not protected under the Constitution.
6) November 6, 1860: Abraham Lincoln of the Republican Party was elected POTUS with 40% of the popular vote but won the majority of the electoral college with 180 electoral votes out of 303. One hundred and fifty-two electoral votes were needed to win.
7) The Great Depression (1929-1939): The Great Depression was a period of severe economic hardship, affecting the industrialized Western World.
From dusk to dawn
Sunrise to sundown
This I will never forget
Your kisses that always left me in a comfort
And a bliss that no grief could ever secrete
A mile-wide-smile and sweet
That never deserted your cheeks
Your submissiveness
When my stomach would rumble
How you would enable my aptitudes
And change my ill attitudes
And fashion my self-esteem
Not to be the next awaited victim
Under any state of affairs
You reduced yourself down to zero
But to me you were still a hero
Jointly we went outdoors and out
And more often than not
We would go up the hills
And lean idly upon the walls
You were my physician
Upon all signs of hypochondria
You were a mother superior
You did the whole in a real thrill
You were to me mother-of-pearl
People said, "too much sweet cloys"
But your love to me grew bold in all ways
Now and then I never thought
Life could bring in me a heart-strife
And put a blot of blood on my ecstasy
I recall one day I stood neighboring you
With my two hands akimbo
It was the nightfall of the 16th July
My tongue had stranded on its pivots
My mouth was kept mum
So were my tryouts
To keep you from shutting those eyes
I asked myself so many whys
I stretched my eyes to see if it was a lie
Only to hurt them and find I couldn't deny
That I was left a flag without a pole
And like a shoe without a sole
Or like a worker denied a dole
In my heart there was now a hole
Life turned a wound that hurt
I got myself caught up in a mesh
Like a fishbone stuck in my throat
I never thought
Life could be so dicey
I was blind at the outset now I see
This life will never set me free
In every breath I'll pay a huge fee
For my blameworthy breakthroughs
Still death split people into twos
The worldly and the heavenly
The lonely and the heavenly
Mothers gone, children left odd socks
Little strokes fell great oaks
In my life time and hereafter
As long as eyes can see, mouths can utter
From side to another, below to above
There has never been a heartfelt love
Like yours to me
Or whose love that can be?