Long Kathleen Poems

L'Assimilation – Non! Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s “Assimilation – No !” by T. Wignesan

Born Kathleen Jean Mary RUSKA on November 3, 1920, in the North Stradbroke Island, off Queensland, she was deemed as an aboriginal...

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She crossed a wide ocean, during war times, in danger
A life of adventure, of courage, of fear
Yet, nothing reveals the hint of the years
that have chiseled her wrinkles, but not dampened her cheer

She pours me...

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C'est bientôt l’aube – Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s “The Dawn is at Hand” by T. Wignesan

(Note : In this poem - the title poem of her second collection - Oodgeroo has come full circle, la...

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Psychopath definition: A mentally ill or unstable person. A person who engages in antisocial behavior and exhibits a pervasive disregard for the rights, and feelings, and safety of others.
 Serial killer: Performing a series of...

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Prescribed blood tests
present no qualms,
unlikely nothing askew i.e.
ticking time bombs
nor prone to catastrophization,

albeit anticipatory anxiety
plus demeanor of poetically titled
medical practitioner allays, calms
alleviates agitation exhibited
by dad's and/or mom's

panic minimizes si? no sweaty palms,
nonetheless precautionary measure taken
thumbing...

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* For Mary Kathleen Lessard Caithness *

                            ...

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Mass of red and gold plumage
blood of supreme incessant immortality flows within
Only I alone can reign stronger
a fortiori
than the army of any man or beast
Symbolic of Christ, ressurection, afterlife
In death redeemed
consumed by fire
only to be...

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The emergency call reached the paramedic. A baby was about to be born.
He could hardly see through his windshield, as he battled the raging storm.
A 3 year old girl greeted him at the doorway and...

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Here alone, sitting at my desk thinking "why?"
After all the things we went through, yet you still did it
Knowing the pain, anger and disappointment it would bring me
You the last person I thought, who'd do...

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He sat down with a pen and paper,
   to write a letter in the heats vapor.

His wife at home tending to the kids,
   fighting a war the UN forbids.

His convoy was...

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Sometimes I take material that is not a poem
and then I rewrite it and make it my own.
Below is a FWD that I once reveived.
What follows after is how I turned it to poetry.
*
Due to...

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i become a stone,
   still a leader,
but translation
transforms me,
   as i learn
      “le crayon est rouge.”

“Je m’appelle Chantal.”
enchanted by my “nom français.”
a shy child, changed by...

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The day was brilliant--Sol spreading diamonds in the sky-- 
When Kathleen and her father faced the slope, 
He with trepidation, she with hope.

They scanned the rise and watched like country rubes
As sliders paused atop the...

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                                  ...

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When I was young and vibrant I had so many friends - Some of them told me they'd be with 
me til the end - Now I'm old and feeble - My hair is full...

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I know what's it's like to be me,
it's not the greatest, but I manage to survive,
I'm an average teenage girl who just happens to not be liked or loved,
I know that I'm not pretty like...

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In the spring of '92
I got the best of gifts it's true.
A gift that gave my mind a twirl,
my daughter, my youngest, my little girl.
Beautiful blue eyes that twinkle.
Gorgeous blonde hair that curls.
Her name is...

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                                  ...

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We have that moment in our life
where love comes down into one's heart
the desire from deep within explodes
hits one there pierces like a love dart

Kathleen and Joe were so apart
in real life but electronically so...

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Ethereal, fleeting, incandescent
I grasp loosely at the airiness
So vibrant on the escarpment
X-rays pass through bone and flesh
Leaving no mark
I hold emptiness

Where are the diamonds?
Filling my fingertips?
Brushing my lips?
Tickling my tongue?
Lingering within my heart?
Eternity breaks open
Inverting...

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Family doesn't mean you have to be related,
Or having a mom or dad, 
Family are the people who stay with you,
Through the good times and the bad ones,
Their the people that give you their shoulder...

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I met her when I was sixteen or seventeen
One old mean vicious queen called Josephine 
Her skin the texture of a tangerine
And its color plasticine aquamarine
Obsessed with her aging beauty hardly pristine
Deeply tormented by the...

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When I was young and vibrant I had so many friends
Some of them told me they'd be with me to the end
Now I'm old and feeble; my hair is full of gray
How I could use...

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She was a beauty my sweet Kathleen 
With auburn hair and eyes of emerald green 
 I can see her there waiting for me 
Back at our home in Kentucky 
She didn’t want me to...

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Multicolored tears
For one gone too soon
And one who’s denied her hand to hold
Halfway through his journey towards manhood 

“Life’s not fair.”
She told him so
Mothers do
When teachers play favorites
Or party invitations never come
Or Christmas budgets aren’t...

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