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Best Poems Written by Dr Richard A Martin Jr

Below are the all-time best Dr Richard A Martin Jr poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

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We Went On the Boat - a Sonnet For David

It was our pride and joy, that boat...our prize.
We'd sail to Key West every year in fall,
After summer downpours left the noon.
We made our pact there as we both had suffered
from the plague ungluing all our lives.
Now, I'm here next to his pallid body - 
pale blue masque on, jaw aslack, grotesque.
He made the leap; he had escaped, was gone
Upon a journey I could not attend.
He left me all alone to to sail solo.
Yet, he was captain and I his lowly mate.
Who would pull the spinnaker to catch the breeze?
Or talk with me as a person, unaffected?
Now, I was all alone just cast upon the water...

I sold that boat...

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When Ned Came To the Island With His Dog

When Ned came to the island with his dog
greeted by the men in bulging Speedos, 
some he knew and many that he didn't
he saw the tip of an enormous iceberg
the submerged of which would quickly be revealed
men and women would die in agony and pain.
Ned wanted to rise and rail and shout
...urine on the steps up to the Capitol
never silent...always loud and angry
in counterpoint to their deafening silence.
And that accomplished his and their agenda
so that in these days the trigger has become
accepted, resigned to, complacent
as if everything has now been put aright.
The problem is that many still are suffering...
but now the kettle's taken off the boil.
And all that's left is us to brew the tea
.
© Richard A. Martin, Jr., MD, CPC, 2016

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Hope

Hope

By ROSTI

When the days were dark
With illness and death all around,
Hope lay dormant - 
A lamp hidden under a bushel
Of despair.

But it still gave it’s light
To allow the man to go on.
How this happened
Was that the man was certain
There was meaning in the meaningless.

He often created his own meaning,
Certain of that hidden light.
The light waiting to be uncovered,
Placed on a lamp stand
To light the room of his life.

There was a certainty that the light was there
Just unseen - like a tree might make a sound 
As it fell in a forest
Although no one was there to hear.
A light of potential.

Love removed the bushel.
Time and blessings upon blessings
Acted as that lamp stand.
Faith kept the feet of his life
Plodding one step ahead of the last.

And when that light shone
All of those blessings
Culminated in a cacophony of grace
Abundantly poured out
Flowing like honey

Into every crack…

© Richard A. Martin, Jr., MD, CPC, 2017

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They Said Wonderful Things

We sat at the Rehearsal Dinner for my Son and his beautiful bride-to-be.
After the food and desserts and coffee,
It came time to raise our glasses.

We had already gone through the awkwardness
Of special accommodations
Of meetings with people who had been at odds with us over the years.

But when it came time to toast the groom
They said wonderful things.
I was silent, in listening mode.

I had my toast in my heart.
A toast of thanksgiving for all the mercy he had shown me
Over the years.

I hadn’t been the best father
Treading water just to keep myself
Afloat - above water.

But…that mewling, pink, naked person
That I was the first to hold
Was always someone I would have taken a bullet for.

Despite my ineffectiveness
He’d grown into a fine man
With talent and a spirit of fire.

There were many remembrances that I heard
In other tongues than my own
But bearing resemblances to my own experiences.

My heart soared like an Eagle
I took some credit for the “him” he had become.
They said wonderful things.

© Richard A. Martin, Jr., MD, CPC, 2017

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Son

Across the miles
A man moves in space
To reunite with his link…
To the future.

The child struggles against the specter of sleep.
He feels the excitement of being reunited, almost succumbing to the dark cloak of slumber…
He makes it, tho.

The father, with a curious combination scent of sweat, Lagerfeld, smoke and fabric softener
Enters the room.

The child, eyelids heavier than lead,
Rushes forward.
He grabs his DNA link
At the knees…hugging hard…hugging long.

“I love you Dad”, his tiny voice said.
“I stayed up late just to see you!”
The father grabbed him by the armpits,
And pressed the child’s face against his wiry beard.

And a kiss sealed the transaction.
A pure and essential show of love…
A love that transcends all love…
The love between this father and son…

And the child slept the sleep of peace.

© Richard A. Martin, Jr. MD CPC, 1996

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Can You Fix Anything-Anything At All

by ROSTI

Can you fix anything?
That would assume
You had some ability to change the past
And as we know
That is not possible.

Or is it?
Can we create a meaning for the meaningless?
Can we work to conform a given story
Into something
We find more palatable?

What about finding meaning
In the meaningless?
Is there such a thing as “meaning”?
I think I know that answer
But, life, sometimes, in my experience,

Is a cacophony of noise and furor
Signifying nothing
It is true, though
That I still try
To wrestle a story into a frame,

Like a painting…

_________________________________

Can you fix anything?
That would suggest
That we can alter
Immutable facts and happenings
Which we cannot.

Or is there a way?
Perhaps our lives are about
Creating a meaning
Out of the meaningless
In order to present it in a frame

_________________________________

Can You Fix Anything? Anything At All?

The short answer
No, but you can fix
A thing’s
Meaning…

© Richard A. Martin, Jr., MD, CPC, 2016