Long Cornmeal Poems

I wanted to write
 The best slavery poem   ever written—
Perhaps win a Pulitzer or Faulkner. 

I had every intention of conforming 
To the standards 
Of modern verse and composition, 
Lyrics fluidly written, 
Perfect...

Read More

I've never seen a baby so merry as Martha...
They say March newborns are bellwethers for blissful Springs Mary...
Hannah, Haverhill has been a hard place to call home
I'm sorry about Elizabeth's hanging, 
Thomas has honored you...

Read More

This piece was inspired by a journal left behind by an adventurous young man that elected to take his wife and two young children, by ox-drawn wagon, to California, in the early 1850s, expecting to...

Read More

My Darn Musisk

She wanted her family to
have food throughout the month.
She said often we run out: but feel there is something I can do to help remedy the problem She Knew that substituting meat could...

Read More

We all meet Friends like these and sometimes we keep them!!
Written with a bit of Jamaican Patois thrown in.

           
     ...

Read More

The feet of twenty cousins were trampling and pounding the floor
As my Aunt Pearl's house trembled and suddenly became smaller.
We were racing with the games of 'who could find who' behind the door
While munchkin toddlers...

Read More

De love inna mi heart, it a bubble. It a bubble (3*)
Mi say the love inna mi heart it a bubble. “  “  ”
Mi get beaten from parents
Mi get beaten from strangers
Mi get...

Read More

'The Millwheel wouldn't turn until the Spring'. It was a strong wood-frame structure originally designed for a very special purpose. The Gristmill was a mill for grinding grain, and before we ever considered dancing on...

Read More

It was a strong wood-frame structure originally designed for a very special purpose. But in the early 60's, my father converted it into an entertainment hall and a little cafe for young people.  Though...

Read More

Growing up in Podunk Missouri,
meant that we had the freedom to roam.
Up and down rivers and wooded hills,
those places that we called home.

Picked berries, peaches, plums, and cherries,
and at least the ones that didn’t fill...

Read More

AT THREE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING 

trucks toil the city’s streets, 
a minuet of practiced precision, 
to the pulsating rhythm, 
to the incessant beat. 

they parade and pause, 
they roll-on. stop. 
roll-on. stop. roll-on. stop....

Read More

Did you ever Roberto Nesto … the reggae maestro
Decorating rocks in the ghetto … children’s falsetto
Rising for liberation from tenures of poverty
Logwood lit from the shredded ash of ganja smoke
Rising to rinse the heart of...

Read More

Is this a true story or a legend still believed by the locals? 

Somewhere in Southern Texas,
there's a small church with a white marble cross
which sways as desert willows...
when the crisp ocean's morning breeze ...

Read More

6 fillets of sea bass
cup  of melted butter
2/3 cup of flour
(7 tablespoons of cornmeal)  (seasoned)
 dash of cayenne pepper
sprinkle fish in cayenne, coat with butter both sides
dredge in flour-cornmeal mixture
bake until browned about...

Read More

Down by the river can you picture me here?
    Fishing pole in hand, sipping on a beer.
Life is just sweeter than sweet.
     Hopefully by night there’ll be a...

Read More

Mountain soften the gawp of sun 
far beyond the boondocks, 
where the fog plays in stillness,
 ‘fore the banties arouse the glade
When life came to Bottom Land 
bare feet stomped common paths 
Between the tall...

Read More

Here’s to all my champions, yes you, this is my thing
You are the yam, cocoa, breadfruit, cornmeal dumpling 
Pumpkin, dasheen, and potato, in my pot of soup
An excellent, poetic, supportive, pen loving group

You, David Smalling,...

Read More

Tumble, crumble cornmeal, salted flour 
Stream olive oil
Feed water and toasty yeast with sugar
Crinkle, rumple, crease, and fold
Smooth a silky, doughy globe.

Cover, leave the orb to grow
Keep baby warm
Wrap with snug and swaddling towel
Linger, loiter,...

Read More

NATURE, BEAUTIFUL NATURE

When the morning sun peeps over the hill
The birds and squirrels can't seem to be still
I watch the horses out in the field
Romping and playing as horses will

I take a stroll to the...

Read More

I love that one
what's in this one
its got chocolate on it
try one of these
put cornmeal in it
apple sauce in this one
what does that do anyway
makes better texture
softens, adds a nice flavor
my, these are really good
are...

Read More

The Old Gristmill
(Not fit for the contest)


Way across the glen,
Many years gone passed
There lived a beauty of a women
With her fine little lass
Her daughter was a charmer
And could take me at will
To do a little...

Read More