The brits most popular surname
Is varying each year
In 50s popular was Jones
Our time it is Patel
Nguen will soon take over Alabama
New Jersey represents Odessa Mama
Adolf exaggerating slightly bit
But humor this implies you learn Ivrit
Ivrit is Hebrew transliteration
All this the studies serves the healthying the NATION
System and Nature balance demands
If we attacked by ANT the servers
SO they are tasked
What do we task them with
Preservation of cultures important
Diasporas, gardens,
INDEPENDENCE at least
Teaches us dropping black white BIPOLAR
And solve problem
BUMPING OUR CYBER FIST
If you felt joyful
Your LIMIT would be met
The cyber is more clever
Do and
TAKE PART in OUR INIT
Visiting my father
I met my brother in the town where he was
on his way to see our father and wanted
me to tag along
He, our dad, lived in an old house and
surprised to see his youngest son also
He brought beer from the kitchen and
my brother and he spoke about labor
politics
I was at the time a communist and had
contempt for those not sharing my faith
After all, I had spent several days at
a hospital in Odessa, where doctors wore
tall white hats, a chef would envy
My father avoided looking my way
I sat reading a newspaper, looking him over
He was of middle height and still had dark
hair, slim, I wondered if he was a kven
The first time I saw him in 1948, he was
drunk gave me a bar of chocolate with
photo of a female film star inside the wrapper
He was much older now, rolled hand-made
cigarettes and had a cough
That was the last time I met my father
when he died at seventy-five, I was as
usual absent
Coloured Putin
Shoot her full of rainbows
Scythes from heaven
Souls down in Hell
Hundred thousand dead
Mamushka I miss you
Our Leader sent us there
Not an Odessa holiday
Opposite of that mama
Forgive them all
It's Putin's orders
Hundred thou casualties
Bullet ridden rainbows
Her essence is black
SELL OUT
Nick Armbrister
out in 23
A ship’s last voyage
The tank ship that looked like a schooner finally
made it from the black sea to Reykjavik in Iceland
The ship dry as the dust of the Sahara surrounded
by undrinkable water, the crew was eager to go
ashore and find a watering- hole selling beer.
Back then, Reykjavik was a dark town with few
streetlights and in the throes of temperance
There was no booze or wine, only watery beer that
was awful but in our situation better than nil.
The first café we came to was full of individuals
reading books in silence; we didn’t know Iceland
is a literate place everyone reads or write
books when not talking about literature but for
us it was a boring café we wanted fun and light.
We found a café selling beer, and the crew got
hold a bottle of homemade booze; in a country
where alcohol intake is restricted, people make
their own wine or liquor.
The voyage had been long and arduous; the ship
and her captain had survived the war and hoped
their voyage would last forever; it didn’t last
Of all ironies, the ship returned to Odessa and sold
as scrap iron.
Russians are clumsy, a fact that's well known
Mistook a lone beach for the battle zone
Odessa was out of reach
So hit a loo on the beach
I hope there was no one sat on the throne...
Written on 22 May 2022
The bungling Russian navy fired a $5 million dollar misslle at Odessa claiming to hit a military target, it hit a target of high value alright , a toilet on a deserted beach.
Premiered at Midland Motor Speedway, Odessa, TX – 6/26/1998
ACT 1
Das Lied für Alma
Still Life Instrumental
First Nights
Pain Hurts
Violet
Dancing with the Blues
The Reckoning
No One’s Going Home
ACT 2
Brickyard Informal
Beneath the Wheel
Eyes of a Miner
Here She Was
Halfway to My Knees
The Last Time We Made Love
ACT 3
I Quit
Never Be Too Far Away
Yesterday’s Coffee
Stale Green Light
It was dusty, dry and endless
Stretched beneath an empty sky
From horizon to horizon
Where the turkey buzzards fly,
Like a landscape meant to warn you
Just how far a man can fall.
Except for Ruby in El Paso,
Hell, it weren’t worth Texas at all.
Took a powder in Fort Stockton.
Crossed the Pecos makin’ time.
San Antone gave way to Austin
On the Travis County line.
Shot a rattlesnake in Waco
With my back against the wall.
Except for Bobbi-Jo in Beaumont,
Hell, it weren’t worth Texas at all.
I’ve seen Lubbock and Laredo,
Seen Odessa/Midland, too.
Met a sweet young thing in Brownsville,
Just another déjà vu.
Didn’t tell her I was leaving,
But I promised her I’d call.
Except for Emmylou in Houston,
Hell, it weren’t worth Texas at all.
Learned to do the Stockdale two-step
In the local Lone Star style.
Danced a Galveston fandango
With a Corpus Christi smile.
Set a sucker up in Dallas,
But my partner dropped the ball.
Except for Jill in Amarillo,
Hell, it weren’t worth Texas at all.
"In the Deep Azure Skies"...
Is a hidden sea in disguise
Swimming through are fish birds
"Mermaids Glide Backwards"...
"Smooth Art in Pastels"...
The clouds share their trails
To the creatures secret Sky Odessa
"Lucent's Oceana"...
When I was Seven,
Six of us piled in to a shiny
New Buick.
“A quick errand across town”
It was hot
I fell asleep.
I was awoken
By the screams.
A dump truck had eaten
us up and spit out our core
A heavy blow
Against my head
Made everything go dark.
I wake up to silence.
The screaming had
stopped but the blood
From my nose
was resilient.
I slink from under
My aunt’s unconscious body.
I can’t get the door open.
My little brother cries.
I find the strength to open
The broken door that trapped us.
I pull his tiny arm from the front seat
He cries out I’m hurting him
But I’ve seen too many movies
Where cars blow up,
And all I can do is keep pulling
Till I fall back with him
In my grip.
I look at everyone mangled
And unresponsive
Inside the tiny car.
I’d never seen
So much blood.
I hug my little brother,
His head, full of glass.
He points at my nose.
But I care more
about my shoe,
it’s missing and
People have begun to stare.
Spain, France, Turkey or Athens, Greece
Where can he travel where they will not fleece
A Yankee who knows not one single tongue
Save the English they defile, as they serve him filet of dung
Libya, Jordan, Egypt or Baghdad, Iraq
Is there a country in that region that'll cut him some slack
A place where he can be himself, just "be who I am"
Where vendors won't endlessly hound him with petty scams
Poland, Moldava, Belarus or Odessa, Ukraine
Does anyone there think he has half a brain
In his head to differentiate right from wrong
The capacity to resist a painted strumpet's siren song
He's traveled the world from Pole to Pole, from East to West,
A Yank seeking a country, besides his, that with decency is blessed.
MY FONDEST MEMORY
("MY HOMETOWN - ODESSA, UKRAINE/MY FAVORITE PLACE")
I wake up to the crispness of the air
Nature is still
Outside the snow has formed into perfectly shaped mounds
The frost has framed the windows into decorative designs
Branches sway in a rhythmic pattern
There’s a stillness inside
My grandma is preparing bouillon and hearty beef stew
I look outside and catch the smiling rays of the sun dancing on the snow banks
Trees scrape the sky as they stand like an army line receiving its orders
There’s a comfort and familiarity in the air as the day is beckoning to start
Nature smiles
Winds sway in unison moving to the undulating rhythm of the atmosphere
I marvel at the tranquil scene as I immerse myself in a novel
The story takes me away to a far-away destination
I feel safe and content as I wrap myself in a cushion of comfort
I am at peace….
December 7, 2016
Until I Met You
Steve L. Siegel
August, 2015
~:~
I remember the day when you walked into my life
Then knocked on my broken hearts door
I never dreamed that you held a key
To unlocking the world of love and more.
:
Then once you stepped into it
I'd be writing you a poem
Of the love that we'll share
It seems like forever for a real love to come home.
:
My heart melts when I see your warm smiles
You're what I dream of when I go to bed sleepily
I give to you, all my hopes and dreams
My love, your love fills me so very deeply.
;
Through the years we shared our heart and souls
In a near world of perfect harmony's
Laughs and the tears we have known
But, that's have been the sweetest of melody's.
:
Now the years have brought us here to Odessa
Across to this desert and the sands of time
So hand in hand we'll walk till the very end
Together you’ll always be a dear wife of mine...
~:~
To my wife Sally who at times I still
Cannot believe she actually married me.
There are many of those with whom you can go to bed,
There are so a few with whom you’d like to wake up,
And in the morning to greet the day that’s ahead,
With a smile to ask your love if it’s already a sunup.
There are many of those with whom you can just live,
Drink in the morning coffee, talk and argue or debate,
But … there are just a few to whom you can believe
And in every moments of life to be always straight.
There are so a few with whom you’d like to dream,
To watch the stars in the darkness of the night,
To be with your loved one in the same stream,
And never think who was really wrong or right.
There are so a few with whom you can keep silent,
Who understands you with a semi glance or a word,
Who knows that each heard word is just brilliant
As from the mouth of your darling it was said.
You so easily meet and… without pain you part,
With ease on the heart, just because…, and it is sad that…
There are so many of those with whom you can go to bed,
There are so a few with whom you would like to wake up.
©Larisa Rzhepishevska (Odessa, Ukraine)
It seems I wanted too much:
or may be just a touch.
May be a little bit more:
happiness with the one I adore.
May be a good morning kiss,
or sweet words: “My honey I miss”.
It seems I wanted too much:
to be happy as such,
to fly in the sky like a bird,
to be understood without a second word,
to listen to the songs of my Lord,
to give a smile and behave like a child.
It seems I wanted too much:
to live without any mistakes,
without any heart breaks.
I wanted my soul not to be cold,
to live without any storms,
to feel your heart warmth.
It seems I wanted too much:
to turn into a dove,
to swim on the waves of love,
to meet with you every dawn,
to have the wings of a swan
and never be alone.
It seems I wanted too much...
Larisa Rzhepishevska (Odessa, Ukraine)
Teach me to understand the fineness!
Wean me from boredom and laziness!
Manifest to me many times kindness!
I am your slave, but… please…
Don’t put me on my knees!
I love you, I love you my father and mother,
I strongly believe in the great mystery of yours,
Only you can forgive me as I am a sinner,
Only you can understand me and do not curse.
I am infinitely tired on the sinful earth.
Can’t find the right words, but… Do you need them?
At any case you know my feelings and thoughts.
I am your prodigal daughter, for you was a problem.
Caring, tenderness, worries… There were lots.
But a family tree happened to be the rots.
I must say: Do not curse me my father!
I am the only one to blame for my guilt.
I prostrate myself in front of my mother
With her help the strong family was built.
She was my warmest quilt.
Teach me to understand the fineness!
Wean me from boredom and laziness!
Manifest to me many times the kindness!
I am your slave, but… please…
Don’t put me on my knees!
I was drowning without water,
I was burning without fire.
Allow me to stand on my knees!
Now it’s my greatest desire.
Tomorrow I will retire.
©Larisa Rzhepishevska (Odessa, Ukraine)
The 13th of May, 2013
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