Long Rhodes Poems

_ a symphonic, folk rock, blues song
1.
I'm an old man looking
For the lost, best parts of me.
I'm an old man looking
For the lost, best parts of me.
I'm looking in the places
Where the people say love...

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I’m not saying my father hated the English, God forbid. If he were still alive, he’d hate to hear me say that. He’d correct me right away and say he didn’t hate the English. Truth...

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Interview with The Most Beautiful Suicide -Evelyn Francis McHale - May 1, 1947

So Evelyn, yours is one of the most famous of suicides, since you chose to jump from the Empire State Building in 1947,...

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A Mutual Enemy
By Reg Rhodes



My friend and I have a dangerous and mutual enemy. It is called alcohol, and 
it is killing her. 

Masquerading as her best friend, the alcohol is cunning.  Repeatedly, it...

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The Power of Forgiveness
By Reg Rhodes





Today, I found a key to set myself free from the nightmares of my own 
shattered reality.  

Today, with the key known as forgiveness;
I will cease to languish in...

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In 1920, my father, 16, was a guest of the British government. He was a prisoner of their forces occupying Ireland at the time, a group called the Black and Tans.

One day he and seven...

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 [Poem read at Sekoto’s inhumation ceremony at the Neuilly-sur-Marne-93 Cemetery, near Paris. Channel 4 in London recorded the reading as they did the funeral rites in the presence of his close relatives come from...

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When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said “I have a dream,” we all nodded and shouted sharing our feelings because his dream was the same as all those who lived under oppression. When...

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Of a distant land I ponder.
Of a country torn asunder.
Of Zimbabwe ne'er forgotten -
Where the life has turned so rotten.
Ah it tugs my heartstrings so -
This much loved land so full of woe.

In my dreams...

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Spoken Word Poetry: A Groove Through Time
 Man, you’re just a real gone cat/breaking the habit and diggin’  something new/
 Your world spins fast with the beat/ your music collection—a limited edition on the...

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Its the last minute of the 11th hour
I have seen a demon wondering searching for a soul
A priest coveting the ass of another man's woman at church
Convince people you have a speed dial to God's...

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to cut down tridents of false truths that men gather ......they peace and plan for 
tomorrow,  but I can't understand why they have such a nothing plan
in power  the rich....they control us all....but...

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Figures of immense reputation and popularity they were
Attracting public attention and admiration in the pursuit of their great works
Leaving behind them a legacy of some kind
But going with them their unique characters.

Wasn’t the explosion of...

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Flight of the Ptarmigan
By Reg Rhodes



The Ptarmigan emerges from his snow nest; and takes flight. 
It's wings quietly fluttering; carrying him into the silent night.

He carries his message of inner peace on his angelic wings;...

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Providence rode,
I land
On the island
To learn its code
Of conduct, as
taught by Mr. Rhodes,
emeritus professor of jazz,
etiquette & odes

He says it's like an
Amorphous Z,
a
venomous ignominy
that obfuscates your
vexilology
& depletes its logic,
tantalizing a tarantula
with ubiquitous uppity.
It's the maximum...

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Number of Man
(Webster’s Ninth)

Money trail reveals factor
To assemble humans follow layout
Swat down charges with linguistic racket
Sticks more effective than carrot dangle
Arguments sustained by pundits' jangle
Beached on shallow force Fed truths we paddle

Pedantic pets get paddle
First...

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When I was only just school age,  
My dad became very serious once, 
As he was a fundamentalist Christian, 
And wanted to know how I was forming my words. 

When he asked how I...

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1,316 DAYS
 
Marvelous Roman, reigning strong, sturdy and supreme,
Swathed in gold, a glorious, gleaming wrestling dream.
Champion for ages, Unconquerable, resolute,
From ringside to rumble, his valor absolute.4

One thousand three hundred sixteen days he did hold,
The championship...

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           TV SHOPPING MADNESS

           The mad Christmas shopping on
TV has begun.

    ...

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The skull had been opened as you would a coconut
To sip the sweet sap. Tsal's blood skips with his fear
At the thoughts hitting his head, but his fears are proven fact
When he sees a silver...

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Mirthful memories of stitches and axel grease,
Kennel Clubs and snicker doodles.

Memories like colors, collected on an artist’s palette,
Stirred with southpaw patience,
Finding her backward child upright,
On a cycle’s seat; in a hopeful heart.
She sprinkled her son...

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“Four dollars a shot,” 
marched from the bartender’s mouth - 
each syllable carried the clanks
of Herbie’s Rhodes – jutting like 
glacier crags in swells of desert-base. 
They carried the smoke curling like 
a silver chain...

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First Frost of the Season
By Reg Rhodes




September 1st; the first frost of the season.
The coolness in the air inspires my imagination.

What new adventures will the Rocky Mountain winter bring?
How much snow will fall before spring?

350...

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We are going to Corfu, what a great thing,
Come on its booked, let’s go and buy everything.

‘Hang on,’ say’s hubby, 'In Corfu it rains a lot'.
'I want more sun, not the rain, we have already...

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Holiday Paradise

is burning Rhodes is surrounded by invading fires and blue sea
no modern weaponry can stop this brutal onslaught.
The Med is far from here, where the Atlantic breeze is cooling
we who do not travel watch...

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