School Verse Poems

When I was a kid,
I only knew the sea from a distance—
from the deck of a ship,
sailing from Manila to Bacolod.
I’d lean against the railings,
watching...

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My high school reunion:
old classmates, 
old friends, 
old adversaries, 
old strangers
meet after decades
trying to discern
who's who,
who's lived,
who's passed,
who's disappeared...
lost youth commemorated...
survival celebrated....

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He came into the world without a sound.
No hands reached out to hold his fragile head.
The nurse just wrote his name and walked away-
A child...

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strength they call her fondly
she's courage to some
i hold her hand, let her in
let her show me who i shall be
i hold her hand, let...

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The home where Chella grew up, in the ghetto of Liberty City Florida, had beige carpets so old that pieces of the tuft and twirl...

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what's that?
who's this?
what am i doing?
why am i here?

i have so many questions
about, well, everything.
i'm expected to know so much
but i feel like i don't...

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I want slow mornings,
bread rising in the oven,
little feet padding across the floor,
a Bible open beside my coffee.

I want to home school my children
at the...

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Life has an odd habit 
of making you miss 
old street curbs and 
stop signs. 

The street I miss 
the most, though, 
has to be...

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If God were a Woman
But, He ain’t
The Bible tells me so
He wouldn’t abandon His children
Like a deadbeat Dad
Create stars to foster kin
Use child labor to...

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My master’s degree's a senior’s cruise - most of the other students are thirty and even forty-somethings. Good for them, for making the (75K) investment,...

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   They took my money again!
   When will it end?
   Lunch money is gone.
   Even the milk...

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(a series of micro vignettes)

Chella and I are reading our analysis assignments together because that’s how we link and build.
We read out loud too, because...

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The flashing lights grow closer,
but the cries of my 6-year-old sister
have quieted. 

To my left, I see the car driver, my brother, 
lying motionless in...

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Our journey began like a joke in 2016,
Things seemed to be moving upside down,
We had miss on to complete before 2019,
We are glad to be...

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You see. 
Pops is deep blue collar 
mixed with old school honesty...
he's no drama queen
He recently told me he's had 
a chain of strange- opaque...

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