Gaelic: it was my mother's native tongue,
and her grandmother’s elder tongue.
Grandfather was a Romani gypsy,
horses naturally understood his voice.
My lips follow English,
a tangled language with too many roots,
tuberosities awkwardly clumped together,
like hard and lumpy potato soup -
a dish My Irish mother made
with an inattentive gusto...
her pink tongue licking the corners of her mouth,
as she slopped the part-cooked pottage out
into thick porcelain bowls.
She had quite forgotten her mother tongue,
or how to respect the potato,
and its historical significance to all in exile.
My own tongue was young and tender,
and too hungry to care. Already I instinctively knew
how to take my lumps.
Some languages are fluently translatable
but only by how the mouth
utters and shapes them,
they are too musical to be not sung,
like Gaelic; it was my mother’s tongue
and her grandmother’s elder tongue.
Romani is acoustically spell-binding,
Grandfather was a gypsy
horses naturally understood his voice;
it’s an Indo-Aryan root language
like Yiddish, a colloquial melodia
in Ashkenazi/Aramaic.
My own genetically challenged branch
of a familial tree of tongues
is half-Jewish – the wrong half.
These lips follow only English,
a language with too many roots,
its tongues are all blended into
a raucous silence.
There are many multilingual wounds
and they all bleed like dark treacle
out of a hide-bound dictionary.
It happened we know it did,
One culture virtually annihilated,
Why??????
For being different that's why,
One man blamed everything on them,
Thought of them as sub human,
Something to get rid off,
Spouting evil his tenticles reaching far and wide,
Others started to believe his evil,
They where shoved into ghettos,
Made to wear a yellow star,
It was not enough he wanted them dead,
Walked to pits and shot dead,
Shoved into cattle cars going to camps,
Left or right ment life or death,
Gas chambers at the ready,
Romani gypsies, homosexuals those physically and mentally disabled murdered too,
God why????
His name is well known,
Those murdered their names forgotten,
Prey to all the gods of the world ..... never again.
Open your mouth
Myopic eyes will dim as time goes by
and promises missed as you watch them fly
open your eyes and meander as rain
an aimless plight to capture again
and recall the desolate times of yore
on planning a theme to further your core
renew your theme to set up a date
good times await you and you must tempt fate
garner your thoughts twixt fortune or pain
open your eyes and pursue again
and update your time to alter your brain
improve your mood in an intrepid vein
just open your mouth facing north or south,
“For a fly does not enter a closed mouth”
Romani Proverb Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Julia Ward
September 3, 2019
Wading in the river, shining hook wrapped, the flyfisherman casts
but the fish just stare at his lure, for a fly does not enter a closed mouth.
At the breakfast table everyone passes the pitcher of cream.
Mother puts a napkin over the top, for a fly does not enter a closed mouth.
Flying down the freeway, motorcycle roaring
we have our helmets on, for a fly doesn’t enter a closed mouth.
Daddy puts his sons before him asking about the mess.
The brothers just look at each other, for a fly doesn’t enter a closed mouth.
The bridesmaid isn’t smiling for the bride, when they say ‘I do’;
she’s stifling a giggle, for a fly does not enter a closed mouth.
He loved his motorcycle, riding all day
When he rode it, all she could do was pray
He knew she was frightened by the machine
Yet he knew she was on the fence between
Finally, she agreed to take a ride on his bike
Although her talking told him what she was like
He knew she’d regret the ride as he turned south,
For a fly does not enter a closed mouth
September 6, 2019
Romani Proverb Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Julia Ward
Who is going to tell her we asked each other,
Your sister, your aunt, married to your brother.
Tell her in a nice way we cautioned the loser,
Sandra glared at us, the worst straw chooser.
She sat and stared but did not talk at all.
Supposed to tell her today, not next fall.
We knew this could quickly go south,
for a fly does not enter a closed mouth…
Written: 7-02-2019
Contest: Romani Proverb
Sponsor: Julia Ward
Clean and minty
Plump pink or receding
Capped, implanted, or real
A whistle through gaps
Metal brackets and stretchy rubber bands
Drool on a white cotton pillow case in the dead of night
Twitchy lies and storied gossip, save,
For a fly does not enter a closed mouth.
It's like a zipper
opened then closed
when foolish words express
the errors of a random guess.
It's like a button
a spew of words reveling
searching for the hole
in things we barely know.
It's the mouth speaking
and the exasperation expelled
without the input of the brain
when there is nothing to gain.
It's the lessons that we learn in youth
that every word be kind or else unsaid
to speak no lies, only honesty and truths ahead,
for a fly does not enter a closed mouth.
for Julia Ward' Romani contest
8/29/19
Table approved, opposes lounge counter.
They are renown for their Seafood Chowder.
Richly creamed, dark and light meats encountered.
Anticipate fish swam and not floundered.
Skilled stir unleashed alluring aroma,
ambition perceives an observed coma.
Goal craves a sterile setting, yet, a pest
amidst its flight, a snarled unwelcomed guest.
A fly urged, near the soup, now, it is out,
for a fly does not enter a closed mouth.
Date: 08/14/2019
Romani Proverb Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Julia Ward
Heavenly exuberance of faith’s might
Cheers the heart that testifies truth and right.
Humbling exposure thanking God above
Fills the spirit sharing His joy with love.
Honourable exhortation grips soul
To encourage others as helping goal.
Honest* expression … minus flattery
Reveals character midst sincere story.
Humiliating experience shuts gossip-scouth,
"For a fly does not enter a closed mouth."**
*1Peter 2:12 Having your conversation honest… that, … they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
**Romani Proverb
August 14, 2019
5th place, "Writing Prompt - Take the Dagger Out" Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Dear Heart; judged on 2/19/2020.
Look up, my son, and thrill to the sight
of geese in formation, flying south
Just make sure your lips are shut tight,
for a fly does not enter a closed mouth
August 11, 2019
Romani Proverb Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Julia Ward
I stuck a needle in my eye- I cried,
the soldier stuck a sword, in my heart nearly died.
Our fencing duo, our battle stride,
Each step I countered I led in pride.
I stuck a needle in my eye- I'm blind.
Falling to the ground wounded I bled,
I died where I lay.
dismembered decayed Private 1st Class Daniel Ostrogoth,
dead frozen…"For a fly does not enter a closed mouth".
8/7/2019
For Romani Proverb Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Julia Ward
The fool does not think to kick your behind,
when there is no ink of pen as-sign-ed.
No tree will disquiet the forest of your ears,
if you relinquish the hot-iron gabble that sears.
You will find it superfluous to dig up a chest,
if your trove relies on what’s heaven’s best.
Preserve your pearly-charm, child of youth,
for “a fly does not enter a closed mouth.”
8/7/2019
Romani Proverb Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Julia Ward
*The final line per the sponsor’s request.
at nightfall flamboyant
nomad fortune tellers
midst their migration
in colours and flair
romani gypsies gathered
outside their caravan
around a bonfire ablaze
they’d play their fiddles
guitars and cimbalom
singing in unwonted dialects
dancing under moonlight
beneath a dome of stars
in legendary brazen flurry
freedom tossed to the wind
AP: 1st place 2020, Honorable Mention 2020
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