On caffeine nights when I study late
And drink for concentration,
I lie awake with open eyes
Dreaming of peaceful sleep.
It’s quiet here now
Except for the cars in the street
Zooming back and forth;
Lions chasing a pack of gazelles.
When the cars don’t zoom past my window,
And the gazelles are silent,
I hear a different sort of quiet,
And can hear myself think.
I lie awake, and my thoughts turn to you,
Images of running with you in fields of heather
Or wet sand between our toes as the tide rolls over our feet.
I listen for your heart and your breathing.
But you are not here.
I think of lying in bed holding you in my arms
Sharing love to Quincy Jones.
The gazelles return – I lose my focus on you.
Sometimes we cry for sleep
Where we can be alone in our beds
Without companionship we don’t know if we want,
But we know we sometimes need.
Poem originally published in All Your Poems Anthology Magazine Summer 2026, The Writers Publishing Company 2026 all rights reserved, ISSN 2977-3822
Mother was always honest with me
But I wasn't, open to school
Sceard boys don't play with lies
It's a secret sacreard to all
Where is she?
Home with me and others
Then why won't she write
Read, or come up with another
Child, because we are her only
Me & my brother, write Alice, read Alice
Make another answer for those teachers
Andre can't hide you no more
Neither can Quincy, read Alice, write Alice
Go home with them and do as I told you
To do!
Please don't ask why, ask how could they,
In there school, do her like that.
42 Mirrors
By Lucien Quincy Senna
Mirror, mirror
tell me all,
Who I am
Who I was,
painted seagreen with vanity
or socketed modesty.
Pride and pain
my old pretenders.
I am full of dead men's bones,
their advance over me.
I trashed and trotted
other people's causes,
statecraft of the most
sinister skull-duggery.
Mirror, mirror
see me now,
my strawberry leaves
for I am no longer twenty-four.
Pinking the raw edge of silk,
trusting it all.
Then that Ramshackle Empire
came clattering for me
a penal code
institutions for troubled women
"Pull your bellies between your knees!" said the nurse.
The hours pass upon the eastern turn
my faith anew while I was interred there,
until I somersaulted
out of the deep waters.
An ocean greyhound
who was simply considered
a whited sepulchre.
A mask for women over forty.
The Kennedy Center is known to the world
For honoring those in the arts –
From Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Astaire,
Whose talents top all of the charts.
Sinatra, Gene Kelly, L. Bernstein, Kazan
And Benny and Lena and Merce,
Ray Charles, Lucille Ball, Isaac Stern and George Burns,
The list both profound and diverse.
Belafonte and Ailey and Hepburn and Peck,
Gillespie and Sondheim, the Who;
Aretha and Dylan and Kander and Ebb,
Judith Jamison, Chuck Berry, too.
Baryshnikov, Quincy, Paul Simon and Cash,
Warren Beatty, James Taylor and Cher;
Tina Turner and Spielberg and Barbra and Tharp,
Yo Yo Ma, Dustin Hoffman – all there.
Al Pacino and Elton, De Niro and Streep,
Lily Tomlin, Santana and Sting;
LL Cool J and Reba and Joni, Mel Brooks,
Lionel, Dick Van Dyke, Carole King.
There are more I’ve not mentioned, but going ahead,
It is going to be quite a shock
When the Kennedy Center will honor, perhaps,
Village People or maybe Kid Rock.
Oh, I fear for this country in so many ways
And it feels we’ve been stabbed in our hearts
With the Kennedy Center now being run
By a man with no stake in the arts.
With only twelve keys
the music commands
Some white and some black
their harmony grand
Scoring the melody
eternal and free
Whether Quincy or Frank,
Prince, Peggy, or me
Heaven the audience
Angels out front
Truth for a drummer
Sandalphon conducts
All time in abeyance
the chorus in song
Both gates swinging open
—the silence is gone
(The New Room: April, 2023)
Do you recall?
Felix the cat,
Or Taxi and Kojak.
Fantasy Island and
Starsky and Hutch.
Monty Python and
The Brady bunch.
Saturday cartoons and
Mission impossible.
Batman and The Streets
of San Francisco.
Cling and Clang on H R
Puff n stuff.
All in the family and
Eight is enough.
The Osmonds and
Sonny and Cher.
Quickdraw Mc Draw and
Yogi Bear.
Josie and the Pussycats
And the jetsons.
Green acres and
Petticoat junction.
Mel's Diner and
Dick van dyke.
Columbo and
McMillan and wife.
Police woman and
Hawaii 5.0.
Soul Train and
the Cosby show.
Underdog and
Scooby doo.
Dragnet and
Kung fu.
Dr Marcus Welby
M.D.
A radio station named
WKRP.
Chips and
Quincy M.E.
Flip Wilson and
The Partridge family.
Sweat hogs on welcome
Back Kotter.
The Hulk, and the
Courtship of Eddie's father.
The facts of life and
Bob Newhart.
Chico and the man and
Get smart.
Nova and the Rockford
Files.
Dallas and love American
Style.
Turbo1904?
With only twelve keys
the music commands
Some white and some black
their harmony grand
Scoring the melody
eternal and free
Whether Quincy or Frank,
Prince, Peggy, or me
Heaven the audience
Angels out front
Truth for a drummer
Sandalphon conducts
All time in abeyance
the chorus in song
Both gates swinging open
—the silence is gone
(The New Room: April, 2023)
A staid old art collector in Quincy
dotes on cats but with people is chintzy
He willed old shoes to his wife
and to his son a jackknife
His tabby got a Monet and Da Vinci
Written 2/13/22
We once had a miniature poodle
Quincy Adams his registered name
We were quite proud of our small pet
As part of the family he became
While walking Quincy one spring day
We met a man who worked with us
Obviously taken with Quincy
He couldn't raise enough of a fuss
He said he'd love to have a dog
But when teaching them was the goal
They would hike their leg every time
He couldn't teach them proper control
I told him, "Poodles are really smart,"
"Teaching them is not hard to do!"
He said, "Maybe, but I have to wonder,"
"Because he is peeing on your shoe!"
John Quincy Adams, our Sixth President,
to meet with Mole People, planned a descent
down to the center of Earth where they stayed.
Left office too soon...expedition not made.
January 23, 2019
For: Educate Me With Humor - Leader Clerihew Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Andrea Dietrich
"John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) American diplomat and
Sixth President of the United States of America 1825-1829.
No doubt U.S. presidents use their position of power to do
some strange things, but John Quincy Adams just may win
the award for the weirdest appropriation of tax dollars.
Believe it or not, John Quincy Adams, our Sixth President,
authorized an expedition to the center of the Earth to search
for the mole people who he believed inhabited the bowels
of the planet."
Link: https://historydaily.org/the-president-and-the-mole-people
Is Parcae Crimsom, Thy Newly Found Treasure
( In Tribute to Thomas De Quincy, Suspiria de Profundis)
Why hast thee sojourned in Kingdom of Sorrows
rejected hope and promises of tomorrows?
Eyes happily closed, to life's future offers
instead choosing bitter gems from dark coffers.
Does thy joy reside in deep grief and despair
love became bad and ill winds suddenly fair?
Why seek Levana and her tribulations
over that of beauty and love relations?
Is Parcae crimsom, thy newly found treasure
soul blinded, heart so cut it can not measure?
Dare not cry, the Graces have abandoned thee
when mortal life yet breathes and thy will still free!
Hope and Love existed, when Muses where but three
both were sailing as one, as are ships to sea.
Each one gaily playing trumpet, harp or lute
sure of man's learning and Neptune's salute.
Bow not, to kingdoms from unworldly caverns
nor embrace darkness, its chaotic patterns.
Return intact, with faith in mortal living
walk away from epic pain and misgivings.
Robert J. Lindley, 6-14-2017
NOTES: ( In Tribute to Thomas De Quincy, "Suspiria de Profundis")
In the manner of President John Quincy Adams
My inmost soul will serve my God.
He is my sure defense.
He's my salvation and my rock.
I'll not be greatly moved.
Those men who plot for my demise
Are like a leaning wall.
They tumble as a tott'ring fence.
My God will slay them all.
Some men conspire to overthrow;
No words they say are true.
They bless me, speaking to my face,
But in their hearts, they curse.
My inmost soul will serve my God,
My future is with Him.
My savior, rock and sure defense,
I'll not be greatly moved.
(Can be sung to the tune AMAZING GRACE or AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL.)
Schools are closed, there is no mail
And stores hold special sales.
To honor our first president,
That’s what this day entails.
Though technically, our 16th prez
Is celebrated, too.
To make a Monday holiday,
That’s what they chose to do.
The 40-something other men
Who served the USA
As presidents were not awarded
Their own special day.
So sorry Adams, Jefferson,
James Madison, Monroe,
John Quincy Adams, Jackson
And Van Buren – all are no.
Poor Harrison and Tyler,
Polk and Taylor, Pierce and Grant,
Fillmore, Johnson and Buchanan,
Hayes and Garfield – no, you can’t.
Arthur, Cleveland and McKinley,
Harrison and Teddy R.,
Taft and Wilson, Harding, Coolidge,
Hoover, also FDR…
Truman, Eisenhower, JFK,
LBJ and Nixon, Ford,
Carter, Reagan, both the Bushes
And Bill Clinton – not on board.
Last, no day off for Obama.
As to he who’s right now serving,
I can’t think of anyone who might
Be any less deserving.
Mysterious,
he was
with much
to give,
The proof
change
is possible
while torment
and tradgidies
show their
negative face,
That's our reality
as we spin
through space
experiencing
a common plain,
All these words
giving perception
to our experience
spiraling
and colliding
inside our head,
Spirit, the soul and our intellect,
Detecting Ancient Wise Knowledge,
Consciousness communicating
through thought
having much to say,
Discovering Art,
Hand gesture,
Symbols
and numerical digits,
Information legit?
A generation
with knowledge
at our finger tips
but most
don't choose
this path,
Wasted time by design
manufactured from concepts
concieved from
cause
and effect,
Study this
and have it become
part of your being,
Also used by evil
bringing negative
interactions
so be aware,
Come up
with new ideas,
Positive with
productive growth
the imagination
is a funny thing...
Quincy Mac
Date Written: 20.1.2017
When clarity visits
go with it,
Write quick
and don't twist it,
As you already know,
Our minds
are like the wind,
Conditioned knowing failure,
Easily blown away,
In many ways...
Modern distractions
distracting almost everyone,
So many settle,
Stagnant
like raw metal,
Till that day
you stand up tall,
Focusing on
cause
and effects,
The path
of crafting
ya craft,
Let's try this...
Why not?
Quincy Mac
Date Written: 15.1.2017
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