Poem: Let Them Go

Let them go to war
Those who call for more money
To feed their addiction
Let they who dream
Of victory won
Let them
Be first to take up arms.

Poem: Inhumanosity

The barbarosity of inhumanosity
Wait is that really a word?
Just like cold-hearted cruelty
The looking glass turned absurd.

Where lies benevolent compassion
When savagery rears its head
What of virtuous humanity
Why must the fire be fed?

On Satan’s wings and a southern drawl
On the fiery scepters sway
Come hence the maniacal monster
And rabbit go away.

The winding road and ticking clocks
The hearts with dancing spears
Fill in the hole – quick shovel strong
And quash a nation’s fears.

Poem: Physics

Point, line, plane, cube
A dimension on the tip of a pin
Quantum, Einstein, relativity
Gravity weak and thin.

Speculation not perfection
A particle model flip
Dimension defined by science
Heaven now in our grip.

Poem: Perhaps it is Just Missing

I don’t believe that yesterday
Was any better
Than today

I don’t believe my mother
Or my father
When they say

That days gone by were brighter
That the future’s dried and gone
That hope is all forgotten
That somewhere
Someone
Went wrong.

I don’t believe that hope
Is a misty dream gone by
I don’t believe
Tomorrow
Is a stream
That’s all but dry

I don’t believe
That all hope in the world
Is gone

Perhaps it’s just missing

Poem: Under the Bridge

Under the bridge
Isolated
Under the bridge
A newspaper and a tin can cup
Under the bridge
Medication in a brown paper bag
Under the bridge
Forgotten
Under the bridge
Cars fly by
On top of the bridge
Never stopping to look
Under the bridge.

Poem: Times

Promise Stay

Aragon dreams
Knights in the wind
Begotten now
Reprise the sin

Self proclaimed land
A kingdom anew
Back to the world
Final debut

Fiefdom rings out
Long, strong and near
Vacated hope
Nay pioneer

Silent the words
Promises stay
Evil be gone
Please go away.

Bread Basket

Gold capped mountains
Set with the sun
As day is devoured
By night’s darkness

The same sun
Casts shadows of dawn
On the endless
Desert horizon

Noontime’s blaze
Triggers hunger’s pangs
In houses of
Wood and cloth and stone

Only under this sun
Or encapsulated
In this blackness
Few will feed
On enough.

I Don't

I don’t put sugar on my oatmeal to bridge the gap
I don’t butter my buns to stop the disparity
I don’t watch cable on Fridays so we are equal
I don’t buy Kona when Columbian’s on sale

And sometimes
When it’s really cold
I don’t put on my coat before I go outside
To make us equal you know

I don’t talk on my cell phone when I step over you
I don’t sip on my soda to bring parity
I don’t use my electric blanket so we feel the same
I don’t listen too loudly to the noise that I make

And sometimes
When I bother to look
I don’t think that we’re not alike
But then sometimesI don’t.

Suppression

Outshine the mighty porcupine
That lives by the river below
Decline the lax supine opine
That set the valley aglow

Stickly…
Prickly…
Dangerous
Settle down and think.

Ickity
Rickety
Scrupulous?
A nod, a flip, a wink.

Outshine the mighty porcupine
That rules with fists of ore
Confine the blackened carbine shrine
Close tight and lock the door.

Wash the Rain

Wash the rain
before the sun
falls prey
to the clouds
that threaten
encumbrance
of a city.

Scrub the hail
that falls to earth
before the sky
opens up
devouring
a matterless town.

Nothing That We Know

Rooftop hop
Eagle’s drop
Wings on high
Soldier’s cry
Coming home
Nar to roam again.

Children gone
Forgotten song
Legal barely
Trodden warily
Yet to vote
For those to send
Again

Tweedle Dee
And Tweedle Dum
Were left to run the world
Said Tweedle Dee to Tweedle Dum
Should we our plan unfurl?

Said Tweedle Dee to Tweedle Dum
Our hand how can we show
When we, my Tweedle Deedle Dee
Know nothing that we know.

defcon four

What is the equivalent
To defcon four
When the enemy rides horses
And fights with fire
And the long cold blade of the machete?

What happens
If neither the fire
Nor the blade can
Disturb our sleep
Without the reality of piercing our skin?

Wait…
What happens is…
We’ll go to the box store
And purchase a toy or two
From the country whose funds
Help sponsor the “conflict”
And cast away thoughts unpretty
On the backs of those
Whose skin can be pierced
In the reality of their own defcon four.

Homeless in America

She came with a backpack that used to be pink
And ribbons in her hair and a fresh smile to
Match her clean but stubbornly stained dress.
She was eager, friendly and foreign
She held her grandmother’s hand tightly
Until it was time to let go and be with the rest.
She was different in all the ways that mattered
And the same in all the ways that mattered
And neither of those things would ever be noticed
If they weren’t pointed out
By well meaning adults
Who don’t mean so well at all.

Poetry Lessons for Teachers

Poetry is a great way to engage students of all ages in both reading and writing. Below are links for excellent poetry lessons for all ages:

• Poetry Chapbook Template -- Grades 4 and up. I have personnal used this in grades 4, 8 and 11. This was created as an enrichment project for Gifted students and then modified to meet the needs of all students.
• Link to a List of Poetry Lessons

Remember

Remember

Do you fear the bumps deep in the night
When you sleep in my neighborhood?
Is the glow from the moon all but dimmed
From the window in my room where you stood?

Do you, on your pedestal, mighty and tall
Look down upon me and the rest
Who sheltered from the cold night air
And offered your first sweet caress?

Do you forget from whence you came
From whom your loins were born
Falter not and don’t look back
But what when comes the storm?

Remember when your back is turned
And your eyes will not meet mine
Remember that I remember much more
And won’t be burned a second time.

Tranquility?

Pacify not the conflict
Contention and discord be gone
Dissidence and strife breed warfare
Broken backs, bended knees, sorrow’s song.

Blot upheaval, turmoil, unrest
Nay for accord and serenity now
Find peace and blissful concord
Look beyond politics to show us how.

Tranquility not for freedom
Battle cries to flicker and fade
Scream not from silent proving ground
Sans victory our time allayed.