Long Backbones Poems

Getting Lost in Peace

When a man loses his bearings
In a land of riches and honey
He sometimes loses sight of life’s tribulations
Spoiled to the core he wonders what the heck for?
Why should he care of the...

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Circumstances
Poem
Lionel Derbyshire

Circumstances leaves you few A chances.
No nick, no pick, no give me more.
Just a little sauce.
No custard tart.
You in shoestring circumstance
It's rough-and-tumble
In the orphan grumble.

All I can stitch together in memory is my big...

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The Government's behaviour firstly no longer defends our church 
this mockery in itself shows a deep lack of good sense 
or the simple sourced judgement to cast defiance 
within this ruling class displayed
 
Openly liars...

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I killed the earth last night,
with my unregistered gun and I joined
rich men with toupees, and backbones 
of little boys. 
I killed the earth last night,
by bringing my .38 caliber to school.
Bang. Bang.
I killed the...

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Some children growing up in towns,
    Wear sallow faces, sullen frowns.
    Streetwise urchins, Jack the lads,
    Reminiscent of their dads.
    Guttersnipes roam nine...

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All for one
None for all
A house of cards that will
Bring about a great fall

Only a select few
Can spellbound the masses
Becoming Kings and Queens
With illegitimate claims to fame

We lift them up high
On a plinth made of...

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There was a time when the great, gridiron classic,
    Was the ultimate in athletic pursuit.
But lately, the evolution has been warped, by
    Policy & standards that have served to...

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I saw them,


there were so many
young and old
sick and broken


a sea of black bodies


hunched over
and shuffling through


a thick dense fog
of worry and bewilderment


their heads bobbed in unison
wafting and dipping

 
a learned behavior of survival


unable to...

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Born from slaved backbones of our forefathers and mothers
We have risen, Liberated, freed from encroachment
Apprised through noble heritage, an abundance of history
Mother Africa gave birth, infused life, 
rocked the Cradle to all humanity.
Kidnapped for trade...

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Muscles ache and backbones creak
New things bought become antique
Metals tarnish, plaster cracks
Paintings fade, their colour lacks
Rocks erode and woodcraft weathers
As does brick and hands and leather

So can't this work on poetry?
A problem for a bard...

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Mother comes out of you, father too,
and my son makes a cradle for me
with his elegant fingers.

Many backward facing faces
lead me to our tomorrow.
I to the undercroft and the unknowable,
you to these steps I have...

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How unfortified are favored mystics; 
ripened men devoid of backbones, 
ladies with bogus analogies,
others, their nuisances known.

Some put fools on pedestals,
without attention to outcome, 
but things are much different 
when dealing with intellectuals.
If recollection tallies,
them...

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Mr nobody-can-catch me; 
Many have passed to yonder by your rod of power, 
you have kept millions weeping and wailing
while you are wining and dining on their inheritance
just because you want to rule this this...

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Millions of Species Going Extinct

Species loss is hundred times faster than in the past
Without good habitat half million species will not last,

27,159  species is the threaten tally
Includes half the plants and more if we...

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Has anybody seen will power?
He does not come around much anymore,
I don't know how long we can hold out,
Without a dose of his fortitude,
An ounce of the courage he once thought us worthy of,
Or the...

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Yes, yes I forgive you.
I reach, eyes closed, for your naked paws;
for are you not faithful? Like a dog you wait 
and I bless you now for your patience.

Mother comes out of you, father to,
and...

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To you, my lovely Hermie

You can be the star 
That shines bright at night;
If, you wanted to be.

You can be the bird’s song 
That fills the air of early morn; 
If, you wanted to be.

You...

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On the bayou, molded brick streets
circle docks of wooden backbones stretched 
into black water, limbs sunk into seaweed 
now catchalls for rusty abandoned fish hooks from 
the "one that got away".
Old cement plateaus boast of...

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We know you must break the law to join them,
So why are we pandering to them,
Letting them rule too many streets,
And even whole towns.

Is it not way past time for push back?
To grow some backbone,
And...

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You can draw with the yellow ink
while I draw with the green one

Take your yellow ink
and you will sketch the islands of:
Grand Bahama, Abaco, Cay Sal Bank
Bimini, Berry Islands, Andros,
New Providence and Eleuthera
against the dark...

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JOBLESSNESS!
Oh joblessness, you aweful, aweful thing!
I know you again and the misery you bring.
Never do you keep away for long, do you?
You evil doer, a form of a devilish 
mind, you seek to demise the...

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very early right after I lost everything
that day was born with me scared in the woods
refuge of one who has forgotten the padded way 
of his own sanity
feeling cold without sun rays or comforting thoughts
the...

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Writing for contests, is often a crapshoot!
Some may be teasers, and others no brainers.
Results often open a new can of worms,
though sponsors with backbones, will stick to their guns!
Plagued by the screams of dissatisfied rhymers
whose...

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households lurch
creak unmoored
  hulls rocking

the twang of whip lashed rigging
as electric wires stretch
pull up clods
  yards of plantings

where once roots clutched
bricked-up aluminum
long jacked-up boards
  swirl and bloat

bed-springs shiver off
   ...

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Alpha and Omega

The reality is that I love men. 
They are perfect, just as they are. 
Not always doing as they are supposed to do. 
Not paying attention to fears that are false. 

Strong backbones,...

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