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Denise Hengeli Poem
YOU’RE AMERICANS
NOT DEMOCTATS OR REPUBLICANS
NOT TEA PARTY MEMBERS
NOT ON THE LEFT OR RIGHT
YOU’RE AMERICANS
YOU’RE NOT JEWISH OR CHRISTIAN
NOT MORMAN OR MUSLEM OR ATHIEST
YOU’RE AMERICANS
YOU MAY BE FEMALE OR MALE
CONSERVATIVE OR LIBERAL
OR INDEPENDENT, BUT
YOU’RE AMERICANS
YOU MAY BE PRESIDENT
OR SENATOR
OR STATE REPRESENTATIVE
OR VICE PRESIDENT, BUT
YOU’RE AMERICANS
SECRETARY OF STATE,
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
SPEAKER OF THE SENATE
MAJORITY WHIP
MINORITY WHIP, BUT
YOU’RE AMERICANS
YOU MAY BE A MEMBER OF THE TUESDAY GROUP
OR A BLUE DOG DEMOCRAT
OR A PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS MEMBER
OR MEMBER OF SENATE CONSERVATIVE FUND
WHATEVER YOUR COLOR OR GROUP
YOU’RE AMERICANS
SO,
BE AMERICANS
BEFORE YOUR SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS
BEFORE YOU SEND TROOPS TO OTHER COUNTRIES
BEFORE YOU MINT USELESS DOLLAR COINS
BEFORE YOU MAINTAIN UNEQUAL TAXING PROGRAMS
BEFORE YOU SUBSIDIZE AGRICULTURAL CONGLOMERATES
BEFORE YOU FINANCIALLY SUPPORT OIL EXPLORATION
BEFORE YOU ALLOW PHARMACUTICAL COMPANYS TO CHARGE AMERICANS MORE FOR DRUGS THAN NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES
BEFORE YOU EVER THINK OF ALLOWING OUR COUNTRY TO DEFAULT ON SALARY FOR OUR MILITARY
OR SOCIAL SECURITY RECIPITANTS
OR MEDICAL CARE FOR AMERICANS, REMEMBER
YOU’RE AMERICANS
YOU MAY BE MEMBERS OF THE 112TH CONGRESS
PUFFED WITH YOUR OWN IMPORTANCE
BENEFITING FROM VOTING YOUR OWN SALARY INCREASES
AND NOT PAYING INTO YOUR OWN RETIREMENT ACCOUNT
AND NOT PAYING FOR YOUR MEDICAL CARE
REPRESENTATIVE OF A SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP
DISLIKING ANYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH YOUR AGENDAS, REMEMBER
YOU’RE AMERICANS
REMEMBER THERE ARE 314 MILLION AMERICANS
AND YOU’RE JUST ONE
WORK FOR THE BEST FOR
ALL AMERICANS!
From An American
Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2012
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Denise Hengeli Poem
Once there was a potato chip
Curled gracefully in a "U"
Glistening with salt particles
Just waiting for a chew
Can you take and eat just one?
I don't believe you can
You'd have to eat the biggest chip
That fits in the slender can
Noooo, keep them neat, and when complete
Lick each side of your thumb
The can is empty 'cause you see
You've eaten every crumb
Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2011
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Denise Hengeli Poem
Waking one day I find silence abounds
I cannot find any people around!
The day before many neighbors were here
Living side-by-side without aging fear.
Living in a condo, the current rage
Sunshine warming bones as they age
Buildings rising four floors from below
We audit our strength, its ebb and its flow
Signs of our presence? Our welcome mat
Silently greet friends, who will chat
Hailing each other, we talk back and forth
Now, I realize with shock! They’ve gone back north!
Who will return to recite their news?
And, who will return to share new views?
Our lives are fragile as our systems slow
Some don’t return with their bright, “hello!”
I will remain here await their return
Continue to mellow, as patience I learn
Perhaps in October their mats re-appear
Announcing return from places not near.
Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2012
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Denise Hengeli Poem
Can you believe? I have Corvette!
Think my wife will be upset?
Bright, golden yellow, like a jet!
You bet, you bet, you bet, you bet!
What’s that she said? “What the heck?”
Passenger seat I will eject
Throw her on her fanny yet,
You see, the Devil I have met!
The muffler rumbles all upset
Roar through streams, but won’t get wet
I'll take my dog -- My favorite pet
Go like the wind –- Our thrills we’ll get!
Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2012
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Denise Hengeli Poem
Walking across a well-lit stage
I command my sequined graduation cap
stay perched up there!
I instruct my feet,
Don’t stumble!
Gripping my Bachelor’s Degree
I recall the gruff,
Bronx-accented voice of my dad
dead now
Forty years ago I received
his high school graduation directive
“daughters ‘ain’t fer college,
‘git a husband, ‘git children.”
Today my father stands on the edge
of a Heavenly cloud,
hands on hips,
grinning at me
I done it anyway dad.
What you ‘tink ‘bout ‘dat?
Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2011
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Denise Hengeli Poem
Raindrops
Sliding, melding
Dribbling to meet
Forming no-place road
Raindrops
Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2012
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Denise Hengeli Poem
There once was a man, a New Yorker
Who was truly a cocky corker
He loved best his wife, and fixing bath pipes
With Bronx accent, a hearty talker
Fifty years he’d labored and toiled
Keeping pipes un-rusted and oiled
When no water drained, the women complained,
“Come fix it! ‘Cause the floor is now soiled!"
With light in hand he crawled under sinks
Slithered and slid among all those chinks
He worked for the money for his honey
No more teasing or joking high-jinks
Water flowed; it’s time to retire
Move South where old people perspire
Riding on 'trikes with high flying flags
With large baskets for folks to admire
He never thought he'd have such sore bones
"Tho he's always been accident prone
Pedaling by his now startled wife
He's riding through three time zones!
Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2012
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Denise Hengeli Poem
I detest bad drivers
They threaten me
They cut me off,
Don’t let me be
I abhor bad drivers
They’ve no regard
Being polite
Is just too hard
I loathe bad drivers
They slam on brakes
They pass me by
And make mistakes
Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2012
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Denise Hengeli Poem
Transitioning from my spiritual home
I resist my entry, fearing unknowns
I’m swaddled and cleaned and scented with foam
My mother whispers, “This now is your home.”
An infant I fuss commencing great cries
Mother soothes and comforts and dries my eyes
She’s tired and wilted but doesn’t give up
Always parenting me from her loving cup
And when she grows old, it’s transitions once more
I protest and struggle as I did before
And although I fear to be left alone
Her heavenly friends greet her, “Welcome home.”
Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2011
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Denise Hengeli Poem
There’s a chemical factory upon my face
I have lines and spots I need to erase
I mix elixirs and daily apply
The aging process I cannot deny
I have marks and wrinkles and sagging skin
The lines increase and I can’t seem to win
Freckles increase and begin to align
Like routes on a map – I’ve lived a long time!
I sunblock, peel, use Oils of Olay
I moisten and cream my parts – every day
I shave and massage, apply hot face oil
It’s my avocation; how hard I toil.
Silicone, botox, collagen from cows
Inject as much as my money allows
I need to move from my face to my legs
My veins mark muscles with little blue pegs
Choices are limited – laser? Saline?
The process somehow is getting obscene
I endure the pain as they inject
I need to recover my self respect!
Copyright © Denise Hengeli | Year Posted 2010
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