Long Lanham Poems

When I was just a  little girl, we lived by railroad tracks;
we loved the steamy, smoky stacks, the wheels clickety clack.
On many days we would find, knocking at our door,
a hobo who had jumped...

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Today, alone, and near despair,
my heart nigh crushed by this world's cares,
I stumbled, blinded by hot tears,
through bitter valleys, dark with fear,
my tortured mind the while was wrung
by memories of this I'd done.
or said, or...

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Lord, here I am today;
You already know, perfectly, the many themes
churning in my mind, my heart,
like a child's spinning top they whirl around,
blurring together in one confusing frame
all the old insecurities, the vulnerabilities, the sorrows.
Even...

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I have grown old and twisted with all my living;
my limbs gnarled and arthritic,
my skin rough, sometimes peeling,
turning dark beneath the sun.
Bunions and corns decorate my feet.
What a life I have lived!

In my youth, young...

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I am trying to relate to the strategy of rhyme,
Using words to titillate from the droll to the sublime.
Do I write "a rime that scintillates" to describe a ghost
Of frost? I consult the information highway...

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Forest fairies changing colors,
autumn's patchwork pattern weaving
in the foggy morning stillness
before winter's barren grieving,
up the river on the damp air,
up hollows through the shadowed vales
sounds the mournful, sobbing whistle:
once more memory rides the rails.

Childhood song...

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The Galilean sun smiled down
upon the dusty little town
and lingered o'er one humble spot,
a peasant's home and modest shop.
Long shafts of light fell 'cross the door
to lay bright carpets on the floor
where children played in...

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I stood beside life's thoroughfare
and watched the busy traffic there,
all swiftly passing to and fro
each in his self-made way to go.
Across the crowded road I spied
the lights of home on yonder side:
but how to cross?...

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The breeze a scent of salt and fish			
beneath a wash of puffy cloud--			
soft cotton hung upon a wish--			
the breeze a scent of salt and fish.			
The waves whispered in briny swish		
secrets to girls with heads unbowed;	
the...

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I have a fear of drowning in deep waters, dark and cold;
I dream the waves are parted revealing Death's threshold.

I wonder, trembling in my bed, if another life I've known;
is there a body beneath the...

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I wonder what the people thought
who did not know the prisoner's name;
so many men had staggered by
in public solitude and shame,
what was He more than other men
who had walked outside the walls to die,
and those...

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I've dragged this here bag of gold
it seems a thousand miles,
no rain, no water, no food to eat,
just stagnant pools that look like bile
and a few odd berries . . .

Saw a sign a few...

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Huge hands extracted heavy red clay lumps
gleaned from Edgefield's argil soil,
placing it
upon the whirling wheel.
Fingers roughened,
he formed, shaped, with master skill
vessels fit --
massive stoneware pieces, usable, rare.
Sinuous liquid clay upon black hands
like tortured blood from...

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The beginning of poetry . . .

God created:
light and darkness,
the heavenly bodies paraded down set paths in perfect rhythmic orbit,
pristine waters, propelled by gracious winds, lapped against white sand beaches,
all forms of living creatures filled...

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Poor choices ride piggy back on lies,
holding my trembling frame against shame flaming walls . . .

A million smiles may paint the day,
but deep canyon nights hold no disguise;
a yellow smiley face veneer defies
a taunting...

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Something about you calls to my heart,
pulling and drawing me farther apart
from those I am with; you implore me to see:
what are you saying, twisted old tree?

You chose not the shelter of forest or town,
but...

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Blue-gray the barren mountains of Moab
at dusk . . . a tour bus winds its way
up to Jerusalem, City of God, from Tel Aviv.
How one feels, the emotion, is difficult to convey;
the very mold of...

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Ka-thump-a-loon, my pet raccoon,
sings opera in the woods at noon;
I love so much to hear him croon.
At night he carols to the moon.

If you are lucky you might hear
the songs he sings most loud and...

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Two young lovers in wakeful bed,
Love-talking after they were wed,
His arm a pillow for her head,
Remembered words, poetry said,
     Old tales retold of Camelot.
Learned the artistic jewel
Years before in grammar school;
Unwinding...

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You went for us to keep us free;
you became the killer you don't want to be.
The horrors haunt you in the night,
awful moments, deeds that define the fight.
He waits at home, your little son,
Kissing the...

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Jack and Jane loved to go to good ol' grandma's house.
She always baked delicious things that taste good in your mouth.
Donuts were a specialty and both kids loved the taste
of sweet hot melting goodness...not a...

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Already the leaves are staining red,
Blood, too thin, seeps through taut skin,
Capillaries weak walled and weeping;
Dying Summer bows proud head,
Emptied of green glory;
Filled, fiery cauldrons blaze red-orange,
Golden flamed tongues glowing.
How harsh that she must fly
Into...

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Lying on my back,
the warm sun blanketing,
I watched the cloud stacks drift,
breezily blown across the bluest skies,
imagining, dreaming . . .

Dangling from my lips,
sweet honeysuckle straws dripped nectar candy,
delicious extract for flavoring dreams,
visions of the...

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Far back in the cool green shadows
of the woods in a foreign land,
there blows a rose of thornless stock;
it is thornless by Love's reprimand.
The hunters have fled the battle;
the woodland lies placid and still
with naught...

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She climbed the liquid staircase
just to gaze at gleaming stars;
all she wanted was a wee one
to light up her fair boudoir.

A thousand times she spied them
flash across the midnight sky;
she strained so high to catch...

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