america err-roars over
the play ground
again
to any...
willing psycho-path hic to
show their claws-tear-
bombs
stans sand
Categories:
schoolyard, abuse, anxiety, childhood,
Form: Free verse
Breathing in Winter at 10
David J Walker
The man on or clock radio
Said
The high will be 32 and the low
Will be 10 below
There was a chance of a blizzard
And maybe a foot of snow
As I remember
That middle day of
A cold December
Descending on the grey of a
Wednesday morning
And the voice from the radio
Warning
of the changes to come
I would dress my best to
Protect me from
The cold
as the quiet snow
Fell on us as foretold
Like a million silk parachutes
Dropping from the sky
And there in the cold
Of a schoolyard playground
Stood I
Breathing it all in
The crisp, cold air of a
Snowy winter morning at
The age of 10
Knowing I would remember
This winter day
Again
And again
Categories:
schoolyard, nostalgia,
Form: Rhyme
Today, we don’t campaign for school president.
Today, it’s a fist-fight at the far side of the soccer field.
Today, there’s a field of it waiting for the victor.
Today, the loser won’t be healed.
Today, there’s another girl worth attention.
Today, we don’t campaign for school president.
Today, they’ll walk out with eyes like her shadow.
Today, they’re giving a hundred percent.
Today, another pipe was thrown out of the bus.
Today, another shot was taken up an arm.
Today, we don’t campaign for school president.
Today, we want Molly to sound her alarm.
Today, there are two reasons to live, girls and heights.
Today, we’ll shoot them up to die for love already spent.
Today, it’s a fist-fight at the far side of the soccer field.
Today, we don’t campaign for school president.
Categories:
schoolyard, death, drug, girl, love,
Form: Quatrain
Schoolyard Politics
Schoolyard politics' basic training began in grade school,
Escalated in middle, and by high school reigned supreme.
What should have been a pruning ground for civility and
Respect, now clutters "the road less traveled" with rhetoric,
Dehumanization, and narcissism. No honour.
No exhibition of professed love for, "...God's own image...",
(Of which all humans were made, regardless of their beliefs,
Or skin colour). Would it not be better to find something
Positive...something good, and truthful about another,
Rather than to continue the bullying cycle of
Childhood, grade school mentality, where love was first strangled?
Life's not: "all about me". It's us. And we, can "change our stars"!
3.24.2017©deborah burch
Form: Blank Verse
Notes:
1- "the road less traveled" ---from Robert Frost's poem of same title
2- "...God's own image..." ---Holy Bible
Genesis 1:26-27
3-"...change our stars..." ---" A Knight's Tale- starring Heath Ledger
(about changing one's destiny regardless of circumstances)
Categories:
schoolyard, allegory, metaphor, political,
Form: Blank verse
A spindly girl one far-off year
With both knees scabbed and flouncing skirt,
She kicked the ball and ran to first
And I felt glad to watch her sprint
Or catch her smile, just hear her laugh,
And when she neared, my heart, it raced,
My throat went tight and head grew light,
My first true clue that life’s pursuit
Is winning love and female grace.
Categories:
schoolyard, first love, growing up,
Form: Blank verse
Oh ya ,well my mom makes better apple pie
Really,well my mom makes brownies
With peacans and chocolate icing
Thats nothing, my mom sewed me this new sweater from scratch
Well my Dad can fix my bike anytime it breaks,
My Dad sells bikes and got mine for free
A hush,
My Dad left when i was 3, no bike for me.
Categories:
schoolyard, childhood, mom, dad, dad,
Form: Free verse
At lunchtime all the boys would gather round
Tell us another story, they would say
And I would wonder, why they wanted me
With nothing in my head, nothing today
Still I’d start and before I knew it, hey
Out the tale would come, so easy you see.
Arms clasped on their knees, sitting on the ground
Looking at me to start ; words to foray.
Sentences begin to flow, follow me
Their eyes locked, their ears cocked, all in dismay.
Well into the story, the more I’d play
With their imagination, let run free.
I wonder what was in their heads, as I
Contrived, I so shy, epics, my oh my!
Categories:
schoolyard, childhood
Form: Sonnet
.
Brisk wind brushes over grass and
sets the playground swing into motion
...............................................................
for Brian's "A Couple of Lines" contest
Categories:
schoolyard, places
Form: Crystalline
Lined up like third-graders
on the fence of a deserted ballfield
after a week of Indian summer –
cast-off sweaters, mittens, coats.
From a treetop, birds recite
the morning lesson.
Categories:
schoolyard, childhood
Form: Free verse