Long Thanksgivings Poems

As I look back across more musical times
of rhythmic reflections,
ceremonies and commemorations
of each dawn and dusk eremitic liturgy,
if that is not an oxymoron
of sound and sight,
song and dance,
tragically sad, yet also bilaterally bound with happier...

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I awoke to the familiar sound of dishes rattling in Mother’s kitchen and to the thick scent of coffee wafting through the air. I glanced out my bedroom window; the neighborhood was lit by the...

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You can feel it spinning
                              ...

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What are these days of mourning stories
I choose not to tell about myself,
my emotion-driven journeys
to windy hot imagined future
and remembered warm wet green
and impossibly resilient blue past
pre-historic paradise,
before people
and our mosquito
and cockroach
and locust
and indoor rats...

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There you are
face to face with me on Skype
thousands of miles away.
A grown man, but still my son,
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army;
Iraq War, February 2004...
You are there.

You tell me you are safe– 
after all, you are...

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to all who know and love,
      and who may not know at all,
i have told tales of adoring loss
and romance utterly grand-
building walls with broken sills, 
falling apart at the...

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The past Thanksgivings,                                ...

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(For Contest: Foreign War)

There you are...face to face with me...on Skype...
thousands of miles away.  A soldier, but still my son;
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army, Iraq War, February 2004.
   
You tell me you are...

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My mind draws a blank when referring to Thanksgiving Day
as I was growing up as a child.  I only remember the season            ...

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Henry’s Rust Bucket

He had managed the steep rise from a valley to his home and sat on the small 

stoep. Another koppie towering ahead, he looked straight forward and counted 

his blessings. One, by one...

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Kitty Fluffy and her Thanksgiving plate
Invited us to dine, yelling “Don’t be late!”
Kitty was welcoming, her plate was absurd.
We are having a twenty pound turkey, a hideous bird!

That plate is annoying said my cousin Tom.
But...

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Lombard Street Memories       
                           San Francisco, 1975   
                 ~~~~~~
     I felt totally stupid cooking my first turkey, as I...

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Holidays can put a lot of miles
on the gastronomical tread ...
That last slice of cake
will have you wobbling to bed
So you better hope you’re at home,
and not somewhere else instead
Because now you’re starting to feel...

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My dearest troubled humans,

This is the bitter voice of Appreciation of old that

You are hearing

The one that, once upon a time, people much revered

But

The younger generations seem not even to know

My name.

-
I remember

When all of...

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A nature's change cycle:

Some noted trees are of these: cypress, cedar, chestnut, cottonwood; 
the hawthorn, hazel, hickory, honeysuckle and holly
These are a few of the color guards of this time filled governed season 
The balancing...

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Grandma, you are loved so much
And words cannot express
The ways in which you’ve brought me joy
For, through you I’ve been blessed

But I will try in my own way
To share your legacy
And let those who come...

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To all wo crave turkey...good appetite and good health!
Utilize your skills in creating charm in a bright dining room. 
Round up the best ideas for success, ask if you need help.
Kidding yourself is absurd, get...

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LET  IFAA DECIDE.
Thick  smoke  erupts  directly  from  hell’s
Shell, his  not  casting  a  spell.
Instead  moves  to  blind  many  health’s.
You  can’t...

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Me without you is a motionless sail boat,
A kid being out doors in the winter without a coat.
A basketball star without ever having any coach.
Can you picture trying to fly a plane with no engine?
A...

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Spin Now an Angel’s Gown

Dedicated to Father Johnnie E. Ross


     When a tree so desires to sing and dance,
It becomes a home for the fabric of angels’ gowns.
   ...

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Cinnamon, sage and chili powder please
Not together certainly, but these are the spices in my cupboard
Chili powder is needed once or twice a week
because this is what my husband likes to eat. 
I confess, I...

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There are so many me’s inside my head,
there is no room for flight or fancy.
The souls swirl around leaving imagination an outcast.

I shed myself every day,
minute by moment a new me is born.
I’ve let go...

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Do you remember being an optimistic fifth-grader, selling door to door?
Flower seeds?  Candy bars?  Potato chips? House plants?  Tickets to the fifth-grade Thanksgivings feast?
Adding up the prizes in your head.
If we sell...

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“Thanksgiving’s Substance” (Internal rhyme)
 
T-hanks my soul for everlasting life, I am freed from mind’s strife,
H-eavenly Godly material, Love’s faith ethereal,
A-ngels  appear as human flowers,  they are of God’s powers 
N-ever a thanksgiving...

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Ibrahim’s Broken Dream
by 
Rick Folker

His withered hand sifts through the sand,

“My descendants, Isaac-Ishmael are like
stars that have fallen, sand scattering into a
nameless lake ...
Something causes him to wake
some voices whispering,
"Remember Isaac, Remember the Knife.

Lillith-like women...

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