Long Debated Poems

Long Debated Poems. Below are the most popular long Debated by PoetrySoup Members. You can search for long Debated poems by poem length and keyword.


Growing Up the Past Runs Deep

GROWING UP THE PAST RUNS DEEP

Growing up in the village..
days before electricity arrived
when i used a kerosin lamp..
as i browsed through volumes..
volumes of literature..

Till my eyes would turn dry..
and i would feel dizzy...
for not changing my reading poster
screaming nerves accussing mi..
i stood accussed of abuse
by my own senses..

Sweet sleep would fall over me..
the novel dropping..
from mines limb hands
dreaming of strange lands..
Oh the joy of addiction..
i was hooked to good stories

Evading peers to catch up
on a book.. didnt i love escapism
negleting schoo work... now thts dumb..
negleting sports and exercises wasnt i hooked
the past is deep i spent a lot of time..
reading make believe stories

Moving to the east coast town..
after finishing forth...
i fell in love with movies
and became an enemy of the books
a great movie i watched..
robbed of my immagination

Rushing over meals
running to catch a new movie
my brother michael...
sneezing allrgies of the polluted cities..
i was missing village life..

Strange swahili culture..
christian, muslims, arabs africans
strange foreigners,, i have this-
against them most of them didnt seem
to love clothes.. yet the others
covered to their eyes..

Mwadhini calling the faithful to prayer
christians holding week long crusades..
here the battle was for souls
or was it the offerings
strange swahili culture..
drinking strange palm wine..
such was the life at the coast

New friends trying to revert me to islam..
elders remmindim me not to forfeit..
the wisdom of our people..
borrowed clothes dont fit well..
and customs and traditions..
are the mirror of society..

No where were my beliefs challenged more..
they called me almukafirun...
i retaliated youre a zailim..
didnt we love the enlightening debate
softening of stands..
proponent and opponent reached common ground...

The bond of friendship and culture
breakin down- them
cultural religios barriers
friends and gal friends from all religions
people at the coast are very freindly
and salaams greetings a way of life..

Stories of jinn and black majic
we knew not to give much-
credence.. there of the disbelivers
we believed in the onness of the supreme..
debated on tenacles of faith..
for the bond of love runs deep
and the past is deep..


by lewis k nyaga


Premium Member The Star Spangle Banner

History of the Star Spangle Banner
 Maybe idea of Major George Armistead
  The glory of Americans who scan her
   Of Mary Pickersgill she was begat

   The creation of the original flag
  Be still a subject highly debated
 Mary Pickersgill was not one to brag
Old Glory she made, beauty wind inflated

Armistead first requested it to be
 A large garrison flag for reason
  So the British have no trouble to see
   Good to see our flag has flown in season 

   Fifteen colonies equal fifteen stars
  Having eight red stripes and seven white stripes
 Red and white stripes run in parallel bars
She flows in glory apart from other types

Rumor has it two glories were first made
 For a small and a large Mary did charge
  A document exists a bill was paid
   Though small one be lost or is still at large

   The  varied small Star Spangled Banner
  Never made it home to the Smithsonian
 Would be nice to see displayed in some manner
In national museum the large is on loan!

For Contest Dazzle us with History
 For Carolyn Devonshire and James Frazer

The History of the Real Star Spangled Banner

The creation of the original flag is still a debated subject. 
However, the general story accepted by most historians is that Mary
Pickersgill was commissioned to make the flag by Major George Armistead
for $405.90. Following the victory at Fort McHenry, the flag was preserved
by Col. Armistead and it remained in the Armistead family. A smaller one
which was flown during the actual battle, and a larger one that was
flown as a replacement immediately after the British retreat. 
This was a common wartime practice of the period.While no one
can say for sure what really happened, documents exist that show that
Mary Pickersgill was paid for two separate flags, a small one and
a larger one. If the smaller flag exists, its whereabouts are unknown.
In 1907, George Armistead’s grandson, Eben Appleton, expressed
interest in donating the flag to the state of Maryland or to the city of
Baltimore. After discussions with Maryland’s governor and the Mayor of
Baltimore, Appleton eventually placed the flag on loan to Smithsonian Institution
and it was displayed in the Hall of History at the National Museum of American
History. The loan was converted to a gift in 1912 and can still be
seen at the National Museum in Washington, D.C.
Form: Quatrain

Premium Member A Highly Debated Issue - Carolyn Devonshire

A "Highly" Debated Issue


From glaucoma to chemotherapy
Medical marijuana has its place
But you won’t find any prescribed
In the conservative Sunshine State

Chris couldn’t eat while under treatment
Watched him lose one-hundred pounds
He had no access to an appetite stimulant
His weight was 85 when laid in the ground

Hefty Jen had lived a life of kindness
Taught spiritually uplifting courses
She suffered when chemo raced through her system
Until people said, “How beautifully slim her corpse is.”

When Dad’s glaucoma grew severe
He relied only on eye drops that made him tear
His gift of sight was taken slowly
Though THC might have helped his eyes clear

And when I first wrestled with ulcerative colitis
A college friend brought me a joint, said, “Try it”
Less than an hour later I was eating without pain
But laws are clear, Florida doctors can’t prescribe it

Research has proved there are benefits
Only medical marijuana use can provide
But those who worry about drug abuse
Say those who could benefit should be denied

Each day in the headlines we read of drunk drivers
Mostly teens who seek access through friends
And if they want marijuana, they find a way to get it
But for those who abide by laws, agony never ends

If smoking pot or ingesting a tablet of THC
Can help a person who is suffering great pain
Don’t you think the time has come
To ask prohibitionists to explain

Why people who are hurting needlessly
Cannot have access to any remedy
That soothes their aches, improves their last days
Diminishing the symptoms of their tragedy

Copyright © Carolyn Devonshire | Year Posted 2010 


Why I love C.D’s poem “ A Highly Debated Issue”: 

Carolyn Devonshire’s poems showcase the extraordinary thoughtful mind behind those lines. All of Carolyn’s poems are profound, and full of depth, but this poem especially touched me -  I had the similar experience of losing a beloved one to the deadly disease, and we were not able to give him relief during the last days of intense pain. Carolyn was a strong, sensitive, generous, caring human being and a talented poetess, who loved life in her own way - she loved sand, and left her footprints on the shores of this mysterious earth. 

     Celebrating Carolyn’s poetry: an Uncontest Poetry Contest
                             Sponsor: Andrea Dietrich
Form: Quatrain

The Dignity of Living Beings With Regards To Plants

(The Silent Screams of Asparagus)
4th place in contest

The Swiss, those bastions of “Pease, Not War”
That neutral country to the core
Have gone to the edge – then one step more
On the Dignity of Plants

The killing of flora is morally wrong
The concept of “Plant Rights” missing too long
They’re crying out loud and crying out strong
On the Dignity of Plants

They’ve adopted a biocentric moral view
Living plants are alive just like me and you
So we have to be thinking in all that we do
On the Dignity of Plants

Individual plants have an inherent worth
They don’t just appear, they get here by birth
So when dealing with plants we have to think first
On the Dignity of Plants

They say that the farmer can mow his own field
They don’t explain why – but the hay has appealed
Beheading of flowers – on that he must yield *
To the Dignity of Plants

The Swiss enshrinement of “plant dignity”
Is a symptom of cultural disease
Infecting Western culture
Bringing critical thinking to its knees

The Judeo-Christian world view
Which upheld the unique nature of man
Has fallen on hard times so now we can sue
We’ve no leg on which we can stand

Animal rights from this poisonous soil
Have crippled our courts, caused tempers to boil
Now flora and fauna have joined the coil
On the Dignity of Plants

If animals and man can feel real pain
As PETA explains and explains and explains
Then plants should be treated exactly the same
That’s the Dignity of Plants

Now some Swiss are saying that plants must come first
That “Man” is the AIDS of our dear Mother Earth
We may have to expel him for he is the curse
On the Dignity of Plants

We live in a time of cornucopian wealth
Yet millions of humans suffer in health
So hiding behind “plants rights” in stealth
Is no Dignity of Man

Me, I’ve got my dignity
Plants equal to man is just foreign to me
Giving plants our rights is immorality
And that is my stance on Plants

 
Mdailey

*   At this point it remains unclear whether this action is condemned because it 
expresses a particular moral stance of the farmer toward other organisms or 
because something bad is being done to the flowers themselves.

This is no HOAX.  The concept of what could be called “plant rights” is being 
seriously debated in the Swiss courts.
Form: Rhyme

Water, Water

‘Water’ seems a fitting title
of this rhyme on something vital
for the beings we take care of
and the others we’re aware of.
 
Life on Earth depends on water,
whether human or sea otter,
fish or fowl, whatever creatures
having some subsistence features.

Water may have been existent
in archaic ages distant
long before we tend to think—
even water that we drink.

Yet when in our galactic history
it was formed has been a mystery…

The researchers have debated
as to if it could be stated
that this liquid can be dated
back to when it’s been related
there was a disk of gas and dust
and molecules that were a must
for water that originated
when our ‘system’ was created
(namely, ‘solar’, where we’re fated)…

Or might it be more antiquated?!

Could we trace to outer space
the genesis that took place
of the water in our glass?
If indeed this came to pass,
it would open up new queries,
not to mention E.T. theories…

But that’s within the jurisdiction
of those who compose science fiction.

Many scientists have avowed
that from the Sun’s parental cloud
of interstellar dust and gas,
from which our star derived its mass,
water, well, to be precise,
water in the form of ice
was inherited there and then,
in that olden where and when… 

Some astronomers theorize
that what we may not realize
is up to half the H2O
within the oceans that we know
right here on Planet Earth could be,
yes, older than the Sun we see
illuminating from on high,
in daylight’s path across the sky,
our frets and frolics down below,
where heedlessly we come and go…

Water and life go hand in hand,
from briny deep to wooded land.

In the mariner’s rhyming tale,
all the winds at sea did fail,
and the sailors lives were lost—
the idle ship was merely tossed
as if on a painted ocean,
painted ship, devoid of motion.

There was water ‘every where’,
Coleridge says, except that there
was none to quench their parching thirst;
so the voyage seemed doubly cursed.

Water is such precious stuff!
Do we value it enough?

Oh, may there never come a time
(as in that famous rhyming rime)
when as to water here on Earth—
where mortals meet their death and birth—
we too will ever need to think
that there is not a drop to drink!


~  Harley White
Form: Rhyme


Antiquated Lady's Bout With a Blizzard

An old lady sat near a window, near a window looking out.
With her radio going she sat there sewing, with an occasional look about.
On her thumb she wore a thimble, as she pulled the thread so nimble, enjoying the 
light,
While the weatherman’s voice was blaring, declaring a storm in sight.

She began to hurry, and to worry about her Sam.
Had he heard the early morning warning from the weatherman?
While she sat there stewing, the storm greater brewing, she thought about her 
man.
“He could work much longer, if only he was stronger— he does the best he can.”

The skies grew darker and her thoughts grew starker in the afternoon.
“Upper air disturbance; expecting turbulence with night coming soon.”
While she debated, the storm accelerated from the north.
With clouds unloading her thoughts grew foreboding, as she paced back and forth,

Qualms of duress she expressed about her Sam.
“Was he wet and freezing? Was he cold and sneezing? Poor old Sam!”
The northern air was gusting as she began thrusting shut the door,
From freezing rain fast falling, while for Sam she was calling as she paced the floor.

Back at the weather station a strange situation was spreading forth.
Not so far away an arctic foray pushed from the north.
It hardly took a wizard to see the shaping blizzard hiding every star,
A whirling cloud formation showed its concentration on the isobar.

Suddenly she started walking, while talking to her Sam.
Once she stopped to listen, ignoring the snow that glistened— then she ran.
She must’ve been unsightly as the lights shown on her brightly from a car,
Driven by her daughter, doing things she taught her, searching near and far.

“Mother! It’s me, Mabel. You know you’re not able to be out in the cold!
Look how hard it’s snowing with the wind so cold and blowing. Forgive me if I scold.
Finding you not there, I looked everywhere up and down the street.
You’ve come too far, so get in the car and dry your feet.”

“Mabel . . . Pa went out this morning . . . but he had no warning the weather would 
be severe.”
“Oh, my mother dear, please come here, come here. Dad’s been gone a year!”
Suddenly the old lady was weary, her eyes old and bleary, her body weak and cold.
She had no coat nor jacket, but in her hand a packet—Sam’s picture she did hold.
© James Tate  Create an image from this poem.
Form: Narrative

Premium Member My Hairied History

Day one out of the womb – had a full crop of hair,
black like my daddy’s (it later went more fair).

Early childhood – Mom kept my brown hair short
because I’d twist it into knots. What a silly sport.

Peanut butter and some gum in my hair might stick.
Never a long hair style could I ever pick.

Pre-teen years – at last I saw my dark hair grow.
Pony tails and pig tails were ways my hair might show.

Junior High, late 60’s, hair piled high like a hive.
A wonder that no bumble bees were seen in there alive.

My hair was also parted always on one side.
I’d wear curlers in a store. Did I have no pride?

High school days – hair longer. In boring math at school,
I sat there pulling off split ends. Must have looked a fool!

College days – used a cheap product from the store.
“Sun-In” gave me reddish-blonde. I used it four times more.

The 80’s – got a perm. The curls were tight. Had oodles.
Now I can have sympathy for cockapoos and poodles.

90’s – used extensions. A lot of folks I fooled.
Strawberry blonde seemed to be the color then that ruled.

New century. New color. My hair was very blonde.
There were two guys in a tram in Rio that I conned.

My friend who looked American knew every word they stated.
About my natural color those guys in Portugese debated.

They finally decided my blonde was natural.
I got a kick out of those young fellows’ folderol.

Later on, my hair got over-bleached. I showered, and
lots of strands of it crumbled right into my hand.

After that, while growing out dark roots about two years,
I wore a wig until uncolored hair went past my ears.

A co-worker , not knowing I wore a wig at school,
told me that my hair had never looked so cool!

By 2010, my hair was in a rut.
Only one side of it grew, so I’d always get it cut.

Turned 60 and got cancer. Ate better to be stronger.
Miraculously my hair AND nails grew a whole lot longer.

Since then till now, my daughter’s been my dear beautician.
She keeps the gray away and my hair in good condition.

Were my hair not dyed, salt and pepper it would be.
I love my gold-like hair, thick, and long and wavy.

Some people think a woman of my age should wear a shorter “do.”
Decades it took to get this look, so NO (and I’ll keep my cute bangs too!)
Form: Other

Premium Member The Unspoken Army

"Poetry is thin, with dark eyes and a hollow face that echoes all the time without distinction. The distinction lies in her breasts that are full of beat under her vague dress that changes colours according to the statements.
She never fails, grows old or dies but simply moves to the next place when it is time to move, to slap, to love, to incorporate the unspoken before it fades away unrecognized." 
(Miranda Cambanis)





"The Unspoken Army"

it came to me this life,
I did not ask for it, 
I was pushed out, not wanting the revisit at all, 
one iota 

as if in a dream the blinds once drawn were slowly sliding wide open; framed,
through doors to a foreign world where no one spoke my language, the light a bitter potion -
nor sensed the feels of me, the unseeing, deaf to this bleeding open wound that spoke of children stolen;

and all the stage my world turned its sunny back on me;

eyes to the ground their feet shuffled like poetic shackled legions leading towards the unleading,
best to follow the masters they could clearly see and listen like soulless puppets, vacuous and easy,
manouvred senselessly into agreement, contracting the poisonous words trusting falsehoods reverently;

faith had diminished, drowned in faithless cups of erstwhile parish tea,
the conversation took turns ripping to shreds the core of what was left of me, muted,
“...another piece of this delicious dark fruit cake dear?” this suggested patronisingly, 
I shook my head sincerely, without saying one word, I smiled thin and grimly

inside my mind was forming a different kind of unspoken army,
leagues beyond the server, somewhere under my drowned sea
the bends were kicking in, it was debated would I make it to the surface 
before oxygen took over the blood and water of me;

such unwanted urgency.



Candide Diderot. ‘25






"(Dancing around a shooting star)
(And every cell remembers what has taken us this far)
Feed me sunlight, feed me air
(I see images of killer whales)
Feed me truth and feed me prayers
(Sleeping in a desert trail)
(Dreaming of a parallel world where nothing ever hurts)
(Dreaming of a parallel world where nothing ever hurts)".

Net Neutrality

inalienable, inimitable,
     and inviolable sacrosanct
contentiously debated enshrined Constitution 
     ratified June 21, 1788

     preceding hallmark Bill of Rights 
     (adopted effective December 15, 1791) rank 
despite British Monarchy exerting, sans lanced 
     strong arm tactics in response to "FAKE prank

asserting original fledgling NON GMO, 
gluten and msg free 
     thirteen American colonies 
     (with a great hee hoe)

severely itching for 
     (and declared) autonomy 
     from Britain with mojo
memorialized On July 2, 1776, 

     when Second Continental Congress, 
     (with more yes votes then no)
met in Philadelphia voting 
     unanimously, where  this poe

whit notates historical 
     declaration of independence, 
yet since Information Technology Revolution 
     trumps Founding Fathers (well nigh
 
     almost two hundred 
     and fifty (CCL) year status quo
as into uncharted figurative waters 
     American Democracy doth row,

especially problematic to adapt 
     couched freedoms show
cased within storied 
     novel innovative though

now confounding, frustrating, 
     and immobilizing supposed call
ling on learned scholars 
     adept doctors at law,

     resistant to brickbats 
     heaved by protesters with gall 
or perhaps consulting 
     entertainers at Faneuil Hall,  

how in tarnation can the tenets, rubric, 
     and precepts, sans seven score
     and four plus orbitz ago
 before advent of tele

     communications companies 
     exhibited fiercely greedily 
     hungry indomitable up pall
ling monopolistic control, 
     via erecting a unscalable fire wall  

authorized with an A okay by the FCC
Federal Communications Committee to glee
fully relinquish control 
     (blood) letting "Big Cable", thus 

     allowing, enabling, and promoting key
purrs of the Internet remain 
     under jurisdiction me
ning all content and applications
     can willy nilly nee  

i.e. be deliberately blocked as well  
     particular products or websites pre
venting unfettered access to thus re
choir ring every man, woman and child even three
yar olds to voice objection, 
     and take prescient action NOW!

Rumination On the Ruination of Water

Rumination on the ruination of water

A pleasant clearing with lots of grains
but only a touch of water,
the trickle trailed through transparently
and so the migrating chickens stayed,
but as the flock expanded there emerged 
the problem of the water flow 
both quantity and quality
To waste means want, to change or to clamber on 
the chickens debated cluck-ed and scold-ed.
Two sided and entrenched they were,
what option did they have, to move was foolish, 
would cost resources the time invested to purify 
much more worth a look, but studies said 
categorically, that nothing was amiss, 
while the trickle trailed through translucently.
They washed and scraped and pooed some more
and the trickle it did change, it now trailed through turgidly
and the chickens scolded and sickened.
Desperation enforced decision and debate resulted in action.
Powder was bought to make clean water but, there was no mixer
…and the costing was extorting… time for emergency measures!
Hang the cost  and go for broke, debt for future generations.
Dig and scrape and make a lake! …well at least a puny pool or pond…
providing clean and clear; crystal and ethereal,
surley this would be achieved. 
But before the water could reach the middle it passed
through mire deep and dense, there was no clause
in the contract to clean it and so;
the crystal water became a beautiful emerald. That it was a 
pulchritude, a positive feature the chickens were assured
by all of economic sense and ability. No one wanted to argue 
because they weren’t quite sure what it was they were told.
But still more scolding and sickening.
entrepreneurs began to stock their medicines and cures
the chickens bought them and rather than shift stayed in their rift.
That place downstream that plants had cleaned, lay green 
and fresh and forsaken. When this was raised they were horrified!
¨We would die!¨, the chickens did cry,  
rather than drink downstream of this mess.
So they did.
Except for the rooster who retired downstream, still visits above
to scrape and to scratch. The grains grow huge with their liquid food 
and, with a mist in his eye, he transcends the loss of his friends.   

©T.Arnold
© Tim Arnold  Create an image from this poem.

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