Sheba Shee was the cat who found the prettiest tree
She was given the grand prize from Lonnie and me
The tree was fabulous, we put a tattoo of it on our sleeve
We had to include the stubborn cat, who refused to leave
Shel was a pecksniffian, hypocritical goody-do.
Acted like most people were gum on her size ten shoe.
Her daughter Sue brought home a nice guy named Lonnie Lou
With pharisaical precision Shel lambasted him red and blue
A year later Sue ran off with Lonnie Lou to Kalamazoo
Shel has never met her granddaughters, Laurie Lynn or Linda Lou
She is not likely to ever meet them either, confided Sue
What she did to me, I will never let her do to my two.
Begin with a groove, some delicious, soulful melodies interwoven with genres including jazz, neo-soul, lo-fi hip-hop, jazz sub-genres/
with spoken word tricks in the mix with programmed drums, turntables, looping in Sonny Rollins, Elvin Jones, Hubert Laws, Lonnie Liston Smith/
add some house music word with a vibrant, rhythmic pulse packin' the dance floor/ so hey, whatcha say to the DJ as he's laying down beats, experimenting with melodic hooks and some nasty background heat/
double scratching Rick James Super Freak and pumpin' up the supa dupa bassline from Mary Jane Girls All Night Long to the party hardy dance house crowd/
ethereal pops of sound synergy drops/ man, hit me with a lo-fi boost so I can spit out my word anthem I'm sparking off now the heat be flowin' down to my dancin' feet/
I dig the Crooklyn crew is bringing back Break Dancin' with their signature freestyle/
they even brought their cardboard dance floor/ they be makin' moves and cuttin' grooves/ I hate to go but I'm outta here/
gotta jam into the poetry slam
Big Bottom Gal
Fannie
Annie
Senior Citizen
Oldie
Goldie
The Cleverer One
Sharper
Harper
Loves to Wear Negligees
Lacey
Gracie
Weird-sounding Girl
Nasal
Hazel
Miss Orderly
Tidy
Heidi
Routine Girl
Daily
Hailey
One to Emulate
Be a
Gia
Another One to Emulate
Be a
Mia
So Cute
Bonnie
Lonnie
The Wild One
Crazy
Maisie
Out of Her Weight Class
Puny
Junie
Extra Small
Skinny
Minnie
Those five magic years
From when friendship started
To, friendship still intact,
Life tracks widened and parted,
You off to Manchester
In pursuit of your degree
Me to a military life
And service in Germany.
In those five magic years
We achieved so much
And through passing years
Always stayed in touch.
We discovered skiffle, had our own band,
joys of country music, the lifelong love of
Hank, saw Buddy Holly live, met so many
of our heroes, Lonnie, Sonny and Brownie,
Rambling Jack, chased the same girls,
the pleasure from a pint of beer, grew to a
stage where we both needed change from
days in humdrum office life and chose our
different paths.
And so those years ended
Our common experiences gone
But through subsequent life
That friendship carried on.
I am so sad now dementia
Is destroying you, old friend,
Understand you don’t want
Me to see your tragic end.
I think of you so much,
Often through a film of tears,
Recalling all the joys of
Those first five magic years.
There was a thief, name of Lonnie Lumpkin
Accused of stealing a thousand pumpkins
He put them in trees
They stank in the breeze
Wud-ja expect from a Count-Tree Bumpkin
These are the male names I rhymed.
It has taken some thyme.
Tome-Jerome, Guillaume
Richard- Redford,Clifford,Conuford
Willard-Gerard,Barnard,Cunard
Wilton, Parton, Clayton, Keaton
Wayne- Dwane,Germine,Jermaine
Rolland-Gilbert,Eabert, Delbert, Norbert
Ronnie- Johnny, Lonnie
Jerry- Barry, Gary, Harry, Larry,Geoffery
Derek- Garrick, Eric, Herrick, Fredrick
Raymond- Grimond, Richmond, Osmind
Hearts bleed heavy on a Cold Lonely Night
hurtin' since you walked on out that door
Whiskey jars tumble and I hear a little murmur
as some mighty Bayou Lightning Strikes tonight
Whether You're Using Me or just Wound Up Tight
It's gonna be okay baby you'll be alright
A little down and a little dirty pepper mixed in
you'll shake what ails you and be grooving soon
Back out in our sweet Sweet Home Chicago
Even In The Dark we are livin' in your blues
**A tribute to the late great Lonnie Brooks
who passed Saturday at the age of 83
Ham 'n' Eggs
Lonnie Donegan Races up the UK pop charts 1956
© Harry J Horsman 2015
TOO LATE
By Lonnie L Freeman
Did you my friend know, long before the easterly glow
Of my sleepless plight on this ungodly night
Did you my friend, ever even slightly, understand
That the friendship we once had is what drove me mad
More than Friends, I felt, as my heart away did melt
Until that last day when the sun did melt away
Into the deep blue sea, taking you away from me
I think you never knew of my eternal love for you
You're my friend you know, as the sun sets the east aglow
To shine without a sound upon your cross in the ground
Upon unfettered twinkled mornings
with chortle memories spawned
Lil Lonnie, was sprinkling sculptured sandcastles
with fairy dust !
Copyright McCuen 2009
America claims that all are created equal is the foundation that we’re built on.
Well, if that is true why Americans of African descent only get 28 days.
28 days to tell about great leaders, Such as, Harold Washington, General Colin
Powell, Carol Mosley Braun and others. 28 days to talk about inventors like
Lonnie Johnson the inventor of the Super Soaker, or Dr. Patricia Bath who
invented a better surgery procedure for cataracts. 28 days to talk about writers
and poets such as Dr. Maya Angelou, Rita Dove, Langston Hughes and hopefully
one day soon myself Ronald Smith. 28 days is not nearly enough time to talk
about these and other great American of African descent. Americans of African
descent have fledged their foot prints in the soil of America since this country
have been founded and if America’s foundation is all are created equal then we
need the history of Americans of African descent to be talked about 365 days not
just 28 days.
I’ll tell you a story about a funny, pretty girl.
Her name – Lonnie - was also strange. But listen!
Once she found on the rugged coast a little pearl
That lay close to a lost fluffy black kitten.
Lonnie was not any urchin and was not bad.
She didn’t think the matter over – she was sure
To take the pearl and not to make the kitten sad.
Because our Lonnie’s love to nature was pure.
Lonnie ran quickly across the stony, sandy beach
To show her mum the new precious treasure.
She knew from fairy tales that pearls make rich
And she’d keep the black cat for her own pleasure.
“You’re at last. What do you keep?” - Her mother cries,
Looking at the bundle and her daughter’s little palm -
“Sorry, this is a pearly pebble, but the cat is really nice,
Don’t worry, my child”, but Lonnie didn’t want to be calm.
“Oh, mother, I thought I found a precious thing,
I’d like to be rich like a princess from a fairy tale”
“My dear Lonnie” – said the woman – “I don’t intend to sting
But in life – you’ll find it out - not everything is for sale.”
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.