Long North side Poems

These 2 different versions are separated by nine years

Part 1

MUST BE SPRING

Small speckles of wild grass 
Looking like tiny green drops 
That had fallen to the earth 
Were the very first sign 

Waving in the...

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I once invested a year
as Board President.
Indeed, I was often a bored resident
of our State Affordable Housing Coalition.

My platform,
to speak grandly
of what was more of a healthy whim,
was for safe and beautiful affordable housing

Habitat is...

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SUMMER

-----------------------
It was one of the warmer summer days
Not a breeze or cloud in the sky
The humidity so high
I could almost reach out
And pluck it from the air

I watched the sunlight
Hitting the north side of my...

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Are you sitting comfortably, children?
Because it's a long tale.....
Then I shall begin.

Arthur was a Mason, which in case you hadn't known
is a man who sands and chisels, making shapes from out of stone.
From animals to...

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We have tree traditions,
still accessible in diverse backward
and forward
reforesting cultures,
of planting a commemorative tree
when a great and portentous series of loving events
comes to its untimely rest.

Recently
my middle son's lifetime friend
decided it was time to travel...

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1. Winter

A peaceful realm, time itself almost frozen
	We play mind games indoors,
		Our joy more in fellowship than fresh air,
	Rubbing one moment against another,
		The friction creating warmth in our hearts.
Yesterday's fireplace ashes, wires to roast marshmallows,
	Always...

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IV.
When Reth walked back down to his battered friends,
he said,”I knew not that he was such a fool.
If I’d had known, I’d have led you myself,
but there is still time, and much we can do.

“Every...

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The first years of my ruling I was 20 years in the earth. The people were of the first races. There was no famine or death cause the age was renewal. The rainbow shown 40...

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It was the summer of ‘70 when we first met in Chicago land.
By the summer of ‘71, I had asked for your hand in marriage,
and YOU SAID YES.

In the summer of ‘72, we said, “I...

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I recall it, and my eyes pump water from deep within my soul;                      ...

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This poem was written after I took a tour of the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Wyoming, the site of Custer's Last Stand.

It was the year eighteen sixty-eight.
The U.S. government signed the Fort Laramie...

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"W,w,w,why are the two of you doing this 
to me".  "Because it's fun Timothy and 
people like you make me sick".  Walking 
over to Linda, Rusty took the scalpel out of 
Linda's hand...

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The Snowflake

Sit quietly
And pretend 
There's a roaring fire 
In the fireplace

The snow
Silently builds 
Against the north side
Of the house. 

Smell 
The smoke? 
Listen
To the wind howl?

And maybe 
In the cold night
Hear a barn door
Banging away?...

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My footfalls echo; touching down before my shadow,

City of souls passing on crowded sidewalks; drowning in self

Deathly cacophony of indifference engulfs our ranks like a silent murderer

 Will you hear their lingering cries, amongst the...

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All ye,
All ye,
Everyone, every where;
Be strong, Be strong;
Be encouraged;

Be strong in the Lord, Our God;
For He has the power to over come;

Be strong in the Lord, Our God;
For He has the power to over come;

Be...

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"We got trouble.  Violet has been murdered.  An organization by the name of the 
Green Nation is trying to step on our toes.  They murdered Violet and left a note".
"Malik why am...

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Rusty went and put the trash bags with 
Timothy's remains onto the back of his 
1990 black ram truck.  Rusty drove 
throughout the city of Green Haven and 
dumped Timothy's body parts in 
dumpsters...

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Holy
Holy
Rats coming from under my bed;
With the pieces of dried out day old bread;
Near North side poorly holy, holy and poorly 
In the ghetto tho, there’s beatings within;
Vandalism's, burglaries, drug use and gambling;
Everyone fishy, everyone...

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I sat on the beach sifting time through my hands.
I felt like a slot machine whore.
The ocean was preaching her Siren’s demand
I abandon my past at the shore.
So, I shook off the sand, turned my...

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Life`s stage a play written by some one who`s seen it all from eyes of gray, 
blackened through eyes of red some one who lives,
Based on a true story about the struggles in life, love,...

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"You have to find the next victim" said 
Linda as she turned towards her husband.  
"I already got one picked out.  She's a pill 
popping junkie whore".  Getting down on her 
knees...

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82571 lima echo alfa juliet please respond.82571 lima echo alfa juliet are you there?
This is Harry who's this? Its Tom Mansfield. Tom you realize its 11:30 P.M. Sorry we have 5 climbers missing on the...

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Above the roller-coaster rain clouds, 
there's a moment when the wing tip of the plane 
cuts seamlessly into serene blue as it banks 
over Chicago. It's a layover in the sunlit limbo 
of the hope...

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Rusty went and put the trash bags with Timothy's remains onto
the back of his black 1990 Ram truck.  He drove throughout the
city of Green Haven and dumped Timothy's body parts in dumpsters
on the north...

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My son is out fixing up the shed.
Winter is coming on. Needed doing he said.
He had the time and the bound-to’s.
I’m not used to this thought process, I’m not. Not from a child.

I watch him...

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