Long Dinah Poems

December 14, 1965           

"Mr. Samuel Cooke. Sam Cooke??
You been in that casket for three days..
You a long way from Chicago, son?"

And Sam said, "What happened
Where...

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I lived at a time, in my personal opinion, when the men in my culture were not the brightest. They preferred boys over girls but used the females to give birth to their pride and...

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For Ian Diddams and my Dad

So what’s the crack with rugby?
My father used to play
He’d come home with an injury
Every other day
My mother used to worry
He was quite deaf to her fears
Her futile protestations fell
On...

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Imagination
( you are never too young or too old to put your imagination to use)


                 Imagine the concert

 ...

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Momma's in the kitchen frying chicken
Daddy's got the game on the old TV
Two brother's playing and fighting in the parlor
It's just the way things used to be

Momma stayed home and raised us kids
Never had much...

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Anyone who has lived through them as I have,
Knows the Forties were the most memorial of all
Of the decades of the Twentieth Century
And surely the most vivid in recall.

Personally, they were the greatest of my...

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“As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night” John 13:30

He took your bread and didn’t wait for the drink

He went out

And it was night

…yet he betrayed you…

Dear Lord,...

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On the first day of Christmas,
my eldest brother Reuben said to me:
“Let us all serve Jesus Christ only”

On the second day of Christmas,
my older sibling Simeon said to me:
“To the LORD, let us send our...

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Old School 

Remember the old boom box boogey down to the socks
 Reggie Jackson chewy bars & Tommy's pop rocks
 Parachutte pants with the hair high fade
 Wake up late in a purple haze saying...

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Automotive experts clearly agree
Driverless cars are the thing for you and me

How did they arrive at this brilliant conclusion?
Perhaps by illusion or via delusion
Perhaps by a bit of Malthusian confusion
  --All I know is...

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Ya know baby you're usually right
Center cut, intherace, that's your place
On target, red carpet, gotomarket
Hittin' the bull's eye, 'n baby, I'm your guy
Smack-Dab babe
Like the Nile, you flow the right way
Like Carlyle, know what ta...

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On the Seventh Day,
 it is often written,
often said,
that the creator rested....... 
I BEG TO DIFFER!!!!

Fore I believe that on the seventh day,
that he set at the helm of his creation called mother earth,
thinking humm...

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I reckon I'm showing my age and am pretty well set in my ways,
But I have zero tolerance for the 'noise' called music nowadays!
The metal bands and rap are loathsome to my sensitive ears.
I haven't...

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In a small town not too distant from an enchanted forest 
 lived a little orphan girl named Dinah. She was attired in raggedy clothes and 
 her shoes had holes in them. One day...

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(best when sung)

Shechem’s in the kitchen with Dinah
He’s in trouble, don’t you know? oh oh oh
Shechem’s in the kitchen with Dinah 
Simeon’s about to blow

See, Dinah was Jacob’s daughter 
Shechem wanted for a wife 
He...

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Singing
(With thanks to John Miles.)

Singing was my first love,
And it may be my last,
Singing in the future,
Came from singing in the past...

First was singing at school,
Happy songs and ditties,
And a solo first verse
Of 'Royal David's...

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Growing are the grumbles
By a Gathering of Humbles:
A skyrocketing effort to change an unchanging Dinah,
In figures, now closely chasing the population of China:
The grumbles, a fast succeeding siege against the judge
Now set to hit Justice...

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Francis Thomas Avallone was born in 1939.
This Philadelphian’s lifetime was destined to shine.
At the age of twelve, he appeared on television.
Skilled with a trumpet, he would make a huge impression.
He became popular with classmate Bobby...

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Hi
Dinah-mite!
What a doll you are!
Dressed in your purple outfit
With your long blonde hair, you are pretty!
You play in your beach house, or your ski chalet
You can ride your bike, or drive your car
With many outfits...

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No Alice in Wonderland

Callous
Alice

Sacrificial Lamb

Blame me
Amy

Fan of the Panda Bear

Andie 
Pandie

Miss Hollywood

Star Queen
Arlene

The Trifling One

Petty
Betty

One Gorgeous Redhead

Henna
Brenna

Miss Sophisticated

Classy
Cassie

Not so Sophisticated

Gassy
Cassie

Miss Detective

Police
Clarice

Fragile: Treat with Care

China
Dinah

Miss Flamboyant

Showy
Chloe

The Lesser of the Flamboyant ones

Tawdry
Audrey

The Laggard

Lazy
Daisy

The Imprudent One

Folly
Dolly

Stars in her...

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A tuberculoid South African miner
Was lately turned down by fiancée Dinah;
What shall her decision change to also move Mount Sinai,
Her lover part time book binder
To better forget his trusted Prophetess Regina;
Very unlikely now to be...

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