Words are swirling.
I want to write them down,
but even in my mind, tears blur the ink.
I think you'd understand.
You, the English professor,
the storyteller,
the Southern Gentleman at heart.
You, the naval officer prone to seasickness
who could talk to anyone,
out loud or on paper, without bias or ill-will.
I miss hearing you whistle as you walk
and the smell of your shaving soap.
I miss your infectious knee-slapping laughs
and your unmitigated love for jam.
I miss your stories, all of them,
about growing up in the South,
about your wise, kind-hearted mother,
and your dog, Scrappy.
I miss your rows and rows of books
and their dust and must and might,
and your love for Blake and Keats
and Alice Munro.
I miss knowing you're around, somewhere,
making the world better just by being there.
I miss the purity, the goodness
of your enormous heart.
I don't think I can describe it quite right,
but I'll try.
With your books on my shelf
and your words on my heart,
I'll try to convey
what an honour and blessing it has been
to call you Grandpa.
In the Serengeti, a leopard meets a gazelle in surprise
A corpulent kori bustard stands nearby, witnessing a neighbor's demise
A black butterfly fluttering its wings in springtime
Alluring scents of jasmine and gardenia are so sublime
Old Man Jack blows his bitter breath on a January New York night
Men and women walk briskly, clutching their coats tight
A waxing gibbous smiling in an African sky
Honey badgers are out and about seeing what's next for them to pry
Sweet, jubilant voices frolic on a playground
Innocent, mirthful energy freely spreading around
A chimp swinging from tree to tree,
Just hanging with unmitigated glee
At night, before I fall fast asleep when the nightingale sings
I lie in my bed and think this is the nature of things
I wish more people were blessed to experience
nature’s gentle side…
the peace and the tranquility
her mountains, trees…her lakes and oceans provide.
Having spent a lot of time in nature
It is my unmitigated belief…
that nature with her quiet beauty
will always help with stress relief.
Can anyone accuse you of pretence?
Are you inflicting pain for pain’s own sake?
So little can be said in your defence –
Unless you have some argument to make,
Apart from spitting venom like a snake.
Less culpable than you are snakes, I swear:
They do their damage, blithely unaware.
You knew precisely when, and where, and whence –
Or if you’d rather, planned the steps to take,
Fomenting consciously this pestilence –
You find my words too grand? You’ve got brain-ache?
Okay, let’s say you knew which bough to shake.
Unmitigated mayhem, deep despair
Results in calm. Today, there’s nothing there.
Considered as a love, it was immense.
Regarded as a person, you’re a fake.
Unusually, passionate, intense?
Exactly. So much bitterer the break.
Love blinded me. The thing was my mistake.
The fault was yours, of course. But, to be fair,
You’re not a psychopath. You just don’t care.
“You got the goldfish interview, as asked?”
“I did, sir, but he lacked the wherewithal
to answer me coherently, I fear.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? The fishing section
is looking pretty thin. You showed up masked?”
“Of course I did. That goldfish flu’s no joke.
He said he’s scared of casual infection.”
“Your killer question, then? Your master stroke?”
“What is the capital of Senegal?
My curver, that one: it’s my knuckle-ball.”
“You got a cogent answer?” “Nowhere near.
He knew, he said, but couldn’t now recall.”
“His love life? Did you ask?” “He yelled, objection!
He said, that’s why he hates newspaper folk.”
“But that’s the very thing with which you’re tasked –
to get the sexy stuff! You think he’s *****?”
“He said he’d tell me after taking coke.
It seemed to me a little circumspection
might do the trick.” “Unmitigated gall
is what I call it. What I want to hear
is, if he’s in that witness thing – protection.”
“I got the feeling he was trying to stall –
I probed him, but he had no recollection.”
Remember me when I'm not here
My love is always yours
Forever I am near
The power of my love for you
My love is always yours
Is hard to misconstrue
Unmitigated love so sheer
My love is always yours
Remained connection clear
Remember me when I'm not here
My love is always yours
Unmitigated love so sheer
Quite far we have traversed, in pursuit of goals we chose,
Through troubles and trepidations of seasons in throes;
Sometimes reveling sunshine, sometime in glum of shadows,
Always together~ on barren terrains, or verdant meadows.
In albums of yore, we ruminate now, turning pages of life,
Banishing anguish of feelings-forlorn, fuming in strife;
Reminiscing in moments passionate, of love sublime,
Treasured in memories-beloved, accumulated over time.
Harboring wisdom, inlaid in life’s waning phase, as we age,
In realms of reflections, insights-sapient, now we engage;
Learning from knowledge gained, from choices we made,
Accepting with grace, laments of secrets, as yet unsaid.
Regrets unmitigated, voice remorse of unuttered sigh,
Seeking empathy from goodwill of repentant goodbye;
As life tallies good versus bad, that introspections confide,
Eying a tranquil state of mind, devoid of hate and pride.
It’s time to reflect, it’s time to mend, it’s time to befriend,
As journey of life, beaming content, approaches its end;
Living final days in covenants revered, humbly we penned,
Elevating self, in peace of bliss, to heavens we shall ascend.
As Earth revolves in time and space,
We meet the future face-to-face.
While every soul tries to have their day,
Their nemeses try to block their way.
This causes decades when nothing significant happens,
Followed by months when panic and violence happen.
As society’s benign merry go ‘round spins faster around,
Its political operatives start stepping up and down.
What seeds of rancor did the radicals sow?
What was their purpose? Where does one go?
If culture binds our carousel’s spokes together,
Then how to these spokes is society tethered?
After our rogue merry go ‘round grinds to a halt,
People will point their fingers and not accept fault.
And then during months of calamitous chaos,
Thousands will ‘be disappeared’, die, or become lost.
Such Maoist days and Bolshevik nights,
Often lead to unmitigated chaos and fright.
Who amongst us will be cursed or blessed
Once this carousel of chaos comes to rest?
Apperceiving such anarchy makes us ponder,
How we’ll keep afloat once society founders.
Who will heal our emotional loss?
And will they do it at great personal cost?
THE CHANGING WORLD
The age of chivalry and bravery has ended
That of sophistry, rivalry, upon us descended
Those with ability, to charm and talk, are commended
They are now indeed enemies, whom we once befriended
Where has all the love gone, hitherto, unlimited
The human greed for wealth remains unsatiated
For money, men unleash violence unabated
The rich and elite are highly ingratiated
The poor and forlorn man’s woes are unmitigated
Never were people so fearful, streets so deserted
Always under threat, somehow their lives will be disrupted
True, in Eve’s drawl and Adam’s fall, we have lamented
But Devil’s devious ways we have inherited
As peace-loving people, we too were once saluted
Today, hatred and revenge have left us demented
10/15/2023
Who ever declared you cannot?
Is a full blown, liar I promise you.
In their lives, they failed at some task.
And now?
The unmitigated gall, to drag you
into heartbreak row?
Do not buy losers' stories!!
To those with fortitude and gall ~
Comes an entirely, different story!
One where there was loss and
then came great glory.
I have experienced this myself
and know the joys of victory.
Odds are many poets are just like me.
Not weeping over lost loves with
a handkerchief under an old tree.
But finding new love, better than
they ever dreamed would be.
Their lives exceeded their original
schemes.
They go on and envision new dreams
Their truest friends stand by them
whilst their phony friends stroll so
casually and heartlessly away.
But, dear friends, know, please.
The dreamers will out do you in every way
With joy and greatest possible ease!
GO DREAMERS!
Treacly sweet is the juice of summer berries,
enervating me to anticipate it upon my lips.
Savoring the confection of melted chocolate
is a delicious flavor to lick from my fingertips.
Intoxicating my palate, is a decadent wine.
Ripened grapes leave me in a euphoric state.
Bacchus would claim, "It's simply divine!"
To slake my thirst, I'd not choose to abate.
But there are other flavors, not so appealing...
salty tears that have coursed from my eyes
or the taste of goodbye from a lover's kiss.
Bitter is the sapidity of a soul's sorrowful cries.
After tasting pure honey of unmitigated love,
there can be no substitute for the syrupy mead.
When sipped from lips, once tenderly kissed,
the desire for more becomes an obsessive need.
The political storm is gathering
Election fever is at its highest pitch
As Nigerians head to the polls
To exercise their franchise
In the mother of all elections
The most crucial ever
Since the birthing of uninterrupted
Democracy in our dear father land
This would be an election like no other
Coming at a time Nigerians
Have their backs to the walls
Victims of unmitigated misery
Kidnapping, banditry and general insecurity
Victims of multi-dimensional poverty
In the midst of affluence
Proverbially living near the river
But washing their hands daily with spittle
The time of reckoning is here
Chickens have finally come home to roost
A Daniel has come to judgment
This is the time for Nigerians
To speak with one voice
That would echo and re-echo
For a long time to come
the all-consuming dread
beneath a veneer
of equanimity,
impenetrable
by eyes of keen observers.
by all appearances,
all is copacetic,
but under his smiling mask,
unmitigated disarray.
a cauldron of caged anguish
simmer
without boiling over.
his screams of helplessness,
muffled;
registering below
a whisper.
he's at his wit's end;
a beast of burden
with his world of troubles
sagging d
o
w
n his shoulders.
a victim of circumstances
beyond his control,
yet treats his helplessness
with utter indifference.
heaven only knows...
why.
You Select Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Brian Strand
Date written: 01/21/2023
I must confess unmitigated disdain
For those allowing jealousy a place,
An emotion from which I abstain
I must confess unmitigated disdain,
My brain simply will not sustain
This drain upon my cerebral space,
I must confess unmitigated disdain
For those allowing jealousy a place.
Written September 2, 2022
Herman heard me,
The howl of a nation.
Scourged! I was usurped,
And I was atomized!
Toivo came, a solemn tide
He contrived the paradiddle
That led to my autonomy.
Toivo, the inexorable current
That ringed a contrasting atoll.
Archracist criminalized him
Yet Herman endured unmitigated,
His heart never inuring to my cry.
His oratorical showers watered
The long rocky road to M21.
A sower of the seeds of hope
Andimba dispersed his ardour
Deep in the hearts of men
Ensuring the brave do not contort.
And when I was amorphous,
His sagacious parlance
Was perceived across oceans.
Toivo extolled my unsung features
And with his bellicose
He lit my torch of sovereignty.
Today, I am the Land of the Brave,
Because Herman heard me.
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