Long Grader Poems

Dad hit me only once, an upper cut to the solar plexus. It nearly lifted me off my feet. I was 17 then and already fairly tall, 6’1.” He was 48 and of medium height,...

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It may have been the devil himself who prompted the kids in my schoolyard back in 1947 to chant "Patsy Foley's roly-poly from eating too much ravioli."

At first, no one could remember who started the...

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Note to Readers of Previous Versions:
There are so many new vignettes scattered throughout the poem that I hope you will reread the whole thing! There are new GEMS, improvements to previous verses and improved footnotes...

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His wise council and kind patience bolstered my resolve
to overcome my youthful woes and nightmarish troubles solve.
His humanity may have saved my life. His memory I hold dear.
But whenever the name Mister James arose—
Other kids...

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Times and Protests

Times and protests are troubling
All of our problems started doubling
In minds Trumps seeds are planted
With him as President are disenchanter
White House water has stopped bubbling.

For hours at poles we waited
Can this election be invalidated
Due...

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among the countless thugs
   that teased and taunted myself as a boy
who exhibited blatant characteristics
   of being painfully shy and coy
attempting to remain like a statue as a decoy
which tactic nada...

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Hey there, uh hey
hey there Sorceress
hey there Sarah
How have you been
How have you been holding up
I've been alright
I've been okay
Why I choose now since last November
Why I choose now since last Thanksgiving
to say a word...

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I stood before the mirror
in my violet cotton shirt
and jeans from the Gap,
with combed brown hair 
falling just below my shoulders,
my backpack in tow.
Small but mighty,
there I was,
ready to be one of 
the big kids...

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Hush little baby, dont cry now, 
I know your scared and just want to go home,
this storm will pass, this storm will go,
but little child, dont ever give up hope,

be good angel, i know you...

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I used to steal to make a living
Now I catch those with horrible upbringings 

I was a legend in my neighborhood until high school 
Then I was taught that stealing and mischief was not cool...

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...Only children still believe in friends, and only stupid children at that...

We come off the same tree like berries 
Who would've thought we would grow to become adversaries
Out friendship didn't last
Maybe because we grew too...

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Making my way through the Dollar General hoping to get an economy pack of Thank You cards to send out to all the people who had just given me expensive gifts  

(Not really; I...

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It is a Wednesday afternoon during the school year.
That means sixth-grader Sallee Jacobs will be walking home today.
Sallee's mother works in the emergency room on Wednesdays,
Otherwise she picks Sallee up at the school that is...

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It was kind of nice having money all the
		Time.
	Looking back when I was seventeen,
		I looked forward to going to work.
	It is unlike what I feel about work now.
		I did a lot of reading as a...

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COME ON DOWN TO THE GILDED AGE
By Roy Merritt

Come on down to the Gilded Age 
We’ve crawled our way back
And we’re coming hard and heavy this time
So brace for the attack

Come on down to the...

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A Demanding Steed

Once upon a crisp Winter morning, while the cardinals so lively, announced the awakening of a new day. 
I sprang out of bed, pressed play on the radio, and begin to dress for...

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I had a seventh grader tell me, when I was in 5th grade, that things go downhill after 5th grade - that life doesn’t get better, it just gets more complicated. I’ve had years to...

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Most people notice my sunny disposition,
 one that can cause blindness & irreparable skin damage.
They remark on the fact that all of my poetry
 is so cheerful and positive,
 wonder how a person who finds...

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The eraser belonged to me; it was saved by my mother and returned along with many other 
childhood items when I became middle aged. I was curious as to why she would save a 
stubby...

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Has anyone seen my sister out there?

She's the little girl with the dark brown hair.

I am eight and she is three and we like to play hide and seek, you see.

This time she hid much...

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You say you don't like him
But I already know
You like him much more than you're willing to show
I was there when you liked that baseball guy
But you got too close so you said goodbye 
And...

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It’s easy for them not to try
when their love shines as bright as the Northern Star.
I’m thinking about you and I can’t stop
wishing you were right next to me all the time.
But you’re just too...

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I, Thurgood Marshall, am here to represent
my race. I am here to represent these
thirteen parents and twenty children whose
rights have been so egregiously
violated. I don't know how anyone
can believe that quote unquote Separate but
Equal is...

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I was seven ~ war coming on
living with aunts, uncles ~ parents divorced anon
the church I walked to ~ the road seemed long
in Minnesota ~ not woe be gone!

A Catholic school, name of Saint, nuns...

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I love to stay involed with my community.One of the ways I do that is by playing 
sports. Playing sports is a great way to meet new people. It’s fun because when I 
go to...

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