I am a hard, darkest charcoal born from the brightest flames that have named our continent.
I grew up breathing in the history of colonialism and slavery, breathing out the smoke of pain and suffering.
The rain that washes us comes from the smoke we breathe, and yes, just the faces, not the body.
Our roots moved many rivers and mountains; now our seedlings lack all they need to grow.
Our leaves were falling without new buds as our stems stood bare with paintings of our past, roots barely holding the shrinking infertile ground.
I grew up through this flame and became the only stem redder and hotter than all.
The sour water that washed my parents to my roots made me the hardest to be fallen.
I did not remain fresh; I had to shrink, dry, and burn, releasing the fumes that chase every ogre and beast.
I speak and act from the roots, so now our seedlings will grow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then, Janis Joplin’s vinyl tunes sparked a revolution,
Haight-Ashbury, hippie hub, and grass-roots counterculture
buzzed with societal change~
Today, algorithms and funded resistance~
secretly funded, fabricated revolutions
unfolding with merely a thumb scroll.
'Likes' accumulate like manifestos, mostly unread.
Then draft cards burned in courageous hands
sit-ins at Woolworth’s counters,
acts of interracial courage,
swallowed by journalists’ flashbulbs.
Now, hashtags appear like bruises,
justice fading into trending threads.
Then the moon hung like a promise~
we touched it with slide rules and hope.
Now, the sky’s a graveyard of satellites,
and Mars glows redder than the forgotten button.
The times? Still a ‘Changin~
just faster and louder,
yet somehow quieter.
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Shows herself more agreeable
As at peace in
The softening effects of
One who cools down.
If still, though now from behind
Bush, unminding
Eyeballed. And redder; fiercer!
Wider what's grown!
I felt your breath against my cheek
Like this exact day last week
Hand runs softly through my hair
You tell me that I look so fair
Our love ages like a phoenix
“Do you even really mean this?”
But I cannot ever deny
Those butterflies I feel deep inside
Cheeks are redder than cranberries
Made me feel horribly merry
When you placed kisses on my forehead
Before I went to bed
Hold me underneath the skies
On these dark cold nights
My sweet boy, I’m always here
As long as your heart holds me dear
My Adonis, arms soft like velvet
Those giggles, I can’t help it
Love you more than soft blue skies
And fluttering monarch butterflies
Pensee form poetry....
sunrise
another one
allowed to see, redder now
will disaster come or a storm
my God knows the future
Palindrome Limerick Poetry Contest
Sponsor-Joseph May
Sally's face turns REDDER when she drinks rum
She DID drink more and more and now feels numb
From NOON to night she was lit
Now MADAM fruity a bit
The booze LEVEL left her face a red plumb
At noon, I heard what sounded like a pop
It continued all eve, and wouldn't stop
Now, it sounds like a peep
Aha! More like a beep
I am not a kook! In my eye there's a drop.
Mom thought it was someone playing a gag
I turned redder than a Japanese flag
"On the level," I cry!
I refer and imply
Who did the dirty deed... the scallywag?
HANNAH
A palindromatic young "Hannah"
Bought a curry for just one "anna".
She consumed it at "noon"
And turned "redder" quite soon
So her "mom" and "dad" had to fan her
EVE DAMNED EDEN, MAD EVE
Madam, I’m Adam, to which Eve then replied
You’re just a mere man, not to be deified
I am not born from any bird rib
Evil, a sin, is alive - no fib
Ignore dogma: I am God, the serpent lied
God, so angry with Adam and Eve, felt raw
Said, No, it is opposition to my law
Eve’s face got redder and she knew why
The sagas will say I did, did I?
Live not on evil, it’s a tenet for sure
Dad was going to repaper the wall.
Mum held the ladder, so he did not fall.
Will it be done by noon?
Dad smiled and did say "soon".
Speaking loud “keep it level” Dad did call.
Mum unhappy - planned it red all along.
Dad "asked what made you sad, Wow what is wrong?"
He completed the deed.
It's a rest he did need.
"Pink?" said Mum"I want it redder, so strong!"
My heart pounds faster and faster.
So, I squeeze harder and harder.
With my hands around my neck,
my face turns redder and redder.
For these feelings are ones I would rather feel no longer.
And these thoughts are ones I would rather think no longer.
So, this air I would rather breathe no longer.
Which is why my hands are around my neck,
and I'm squeezing harder and harder.
But if I wanted I could let go.
Oh yes, I could let go.
Yet it doesn't matter because in the end it is not my hands that will take my breath away.
It is the drowning in the pain that has already stolen the air from my lungs.
For I am drowning and He will not come save me.
He is not aware that I am drowning in an ocean that only gets deeper
with waves that only get rougher.
So, my heart pounds faster and faster.
Was I blind...
Or had I willful blindness?
I was surely not ignorant,
Neither was I acquainted.
Heart was in gale,
Mind did acquiesce.
I was always a coward,
Who never confronted.
I saw those flags,
Brightest and limpid.
Red in qualms,
Redder in distrust,
Reddest in name callings,
You were my dear,
DOMINEERING IN EVERYTHING.
You were preeminent,
That is why I capitulated.
But that was show,
I never calculated.
Yes I did a mistake,
Yes I am admitting,
You tought me a lot,
a lot destructing,
I am now back,
See here my dear,
Here is my audacity.
RED MOON RISING
Red Moon rising
on a total lunar Eclipse!
Reddish tinge ! A glimpse.
not surprising !
Bubbling bloody Moon !
Mellow mystic maroon.
Science announcing :
Raleigh Scattering .
Under umbrella
of the umbra
Moon catching reddish hue
displays red shade on view.
More cloud, more dust
in Earth's atmosphere
The more redder
Moon to appear.
as eclipse to last.
Poet feels lunatic passion,
blazing fiery fusion.
igniting dormant desires to burst.
Entwined emotive urge and lust.
Red Moon Rising above,
enchanting, surprising couple , in love.
Each of her babe's cheek's
Enlivened feature
Redder dawning sky's; more bright .
Sky's at summer's height.
Whilst all her babe's crawl's
Excited leisure
O'ertakes butterfly's! Who one
Sprung spell to the next
Of the more fanciful made
Bloom, prairied, invade.
Wilted by long walk under raging sun,
I sought the cool shelter of a large tree.
As I felt fresh, as if from far heaven
A sombre voice seemed to admonish me:
Till ye stop not grounding such gracious trees,
Nor learn to walk soft upon fallen leaves,
Be kind enough to share your lucky breeze,
Not be a thankless man that just receives.
O ponder whilst ye cool under this shade,
Be not so ingrate that ye have long been,
Nor spoiled by free favours of all these green,
Feel beholden to them ye breathe, eat bread.
Beware, with this sun raging redder still
You’ll have no more shade on this earth to chill.
__________________________________________
Sonnets | 03.08.2015, revised March 2023 |
Poet’s note: The animal world, even lowly insects take ample clues from Nature, and tailor their lives in tune with the changed environment. Alas, not man. Perhaps, for no other reason than the fact that he is intelligent. Intelligent sure, but not wise. This sonnet tries to warn him— a voice perhaps in wilderness.
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