Long Pittsburgh Poems

Pittsburgh, hammertown, Chuck Knoll and his boys
established the best Superbowl Era dynasty
with the "Steel Curtain" defense and the "Blonde Bomber" Bradshaw,
a defense disciplined on shrapnel and elite ego,
"Mean Joe Greene" and Jack Lambert, a compulsive...

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MY BUCKET LIST

Years and years ago, I made a bucket list.
I looked everywhere and could not find it.
I don’t remember everything I listed,
so it’s time for a new one to be created
or just to go...

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Cry me a river  cry me a river

The change has arrived

Where are all the heroes

Heroes like jolting Joe D

Hit the ball to outer space

Running from first to Homeplate

Kids cheering kids jumping

Popcorn all over the...

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“the last of the funerals”

today “the last of the funerals”
takes place &
the killings in CT get placed on the
shelf,
alongside the deaths at Columbine,
Virginia Tech...

those were the “big ones” right?

well, now, Aurora was a “big one,”...

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Headline News Hypocrisy 


"If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, 
at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. 
You push back on them. Tell...

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TYPICAL 30 - The Start of the 2013-2014 NHL Season
30 of them began their battle with hopeful beginnings
But 14 of them will have their early exit...

As for the 16 teams, their Stanley Cup Playoffs dream...

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Poem To My Dad 
In Memory 04/17/2018
By:  RobertBenThoughts.blogspot.com

It has been almost a year
Since you left us here,
For the heavenly relm
Your reward is clear.
I miss you.

Mom is doing better than before
She thinks of you daily,
She...

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TRAIN – 1958

On a warm summer evening
at North Philadelphia Station
the 6:19 on track three, the "Spirit
of Saint Louis-Limited" from Penn Station
New York, Newark and Trenton bound for
Thirtieth Street, Paoli, Lancaster, Harrisburg
Altoona, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Cincinnati
Indianapolis and...

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We dragged the slopes to our feet.
On the summit, we burnt our clothes
for wood and there shuffled our feet
in the hush of the falling snow.
 
We had come out of the scuffed grass.
 
With one...

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INSIDE D DAY
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS


The weather is really lousy rained all day
I’m so nervous and edgy, I’m learning to pray
We are prepped and ready to complete our tasks
Now’s the moment, the hour, for the invasion...

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•	
I’m of Slovakian descent,
I can barely afford my rent,
Now I’ve run out of time,
And my very last dime,
I need to reach,
My time to teach,
To mold the minds and sculpt the dreams,
To reserve the tears and...

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Swaying and shuffling to the bathroom,
		once again,
			I hoped this time that I’d summon the wherewithal 
		to finally start my Saturday.
  	But my visit was bookended by
		my usual return to bed.
The previous night’s tequila and...

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Every Wednesday he held a healing service for the sick
since Betty's cancer had spread to a point of no return 
Fr. N was the only one she followed, with faith unbroken;  
He stood at...

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This is the first in a trilogy of poems that comprise the first 2 years of big bens career as the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback so sit back and enjoy.

I was at my favorite sports bar
Rooting...

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Roger’s waist was the linchpin 
when we launched “The Rose”
off Garrison’s Cove on Bailey Island.

He let out the rope around his belt
as she slid off the trailer
at high tide.  We weren’t young back 

then,...

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Black face preacher boy smiling, Pittsburgh black boy
Come snow white all my sins away
Come ladle and spoon the church Jehovah's joy
Come altar me to kneel and pray
Black face boy, jumping up and down in glory
From...

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'Tis purty easy to size up a feller by the cap he wears,
By glancin' at the message that on his cap he shares.
Boldy emblazoned is a logo bright and clear,
Revealin' his dubious tastes and facts...

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From Andover to Anaheim
Bangor to Boise
People speak up
Come on, get noisy

From Carteret in Jersey
To Cameroon far away
Speak up everyone
If just for one day

From Detroit to Dallas
Eaton to Ecuador
Come on everyone
Speak up some more

From France and...

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I’m in downtown Pittsburgh
at 3:45.	
This boy has pushed this
girl into a
wall. His hood
has fallen heavily over his face
and she is jerking
her head to see if anyone is 
watching.
She soon spots mon amis et moi.
He is...

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my parents came to America with 60 dollars,
clutched between their anxious fingers-
 the same ones they used to build me my future.

their memories-
comprised of a tattered wedding picture and decaying postcards-
cling to the walls of...

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I’ve traded my final smiles for a rock and a rush..
Shooting my veins for death at thirty five.  
last chance to steal a detox from the county cause 
Everyone knows government checks don’t bounce.

Instead...

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DEATH
(IT)

                             Brought to us by living corpses
Every...

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One of the best entertainers of the last century,
this man’s collection of hit records is something to see!
His recording career commenced in nineteen thirty-three
He came from a small Pennsylvania town called Canonsburg.
This place is located...

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" I'm a bum,"  he said
on a hazy evening.
Standing on the corner
of East Carson Street,
South Side of Pittsburgh.

" Everyone has the potential
for genius!"

His words echo of the cracked
conglomerate of sidewalks
bearing the daily burden of...

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I trip to the O, 
For grease monkey fries and a 40oz,
Scaling the Cathedral of Learning,
This is Oakland.

A roll of the die,
Stadium of choice,
Clemente Bridge connects us,
This is North Shore.

Fat Heads,
Tattoo parlors,
A thrift shop heaven,
This...

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