Perspective

 

“Every cloud has a silver lining”

a saying I don’t imagine

ever really became popular

in Nagasaki

or Hiroshima

(Insert Name Here) Villanelle

 

He made a number of mistakes

though nobody was keeping score

a single one is all it takes

 

with drugs he helped relieve the aches

increasing need for more and more

He made a number of mistakes

 

He wasn’t given any breaks

and did some things he’d soon deplore

a single one is all it takes

 

The price was high, so were the stakes

“things have to change”, is what he swore

He made a number of mistakes

 

fighting off sweats and chills and shakes

relapsed a time or two before

a single one is all it takes

 

despite the progress that he makes

he’s found dead on the bathroom floor

He made a number of mistakes

a single one is all it takes

Night After Night (Triolet)

night after night I sleep alone

it wasn’t always that way though

but through the years the gaps have grown

night after night I sleep alone

time after time it has been shown

the brightest embers lose their glow

night after night I sleep alone

it wasn’t always that way though 

Whose Poems These Are (Interlocking Rubaiyat)

 

Whose poems these are I do not know

I guess I’ll stop and read them though.

They put them on the internet

to watch and see where they might go.

 

I haven’t read them all as yet,

a few I’d just as soon forget.

I found them all by happenstance

and some of them I just don’t get.

 

A few I liked upon first glance

then I took a different stance.

I wasn’t sure just what to feel

so, I gave them a second chance.

 

It’s really not that big a deal.

Say something nice or something real?

I guess my comment did reveal

“ you wrote a poem no one will steal.”

Nine Minutes (Ballade)

 

a possible crime they must enforce

a counterfeit bill, sealed his fate

show of force, par for the course

an effort to intimidate

hard to comply, hard to relate

“Do what they say, what they expect,

just obey and cooperate.”

white man’s knee on a black man’s neck

 

saying it was excessive force

they went to trial, they set a date

no excuses, show no remorse

colleagues testified for the state

nine minutes they applied their weight

handcuffed and face down on the deck

while trying hard to aspirate

white man’s knee on a black man’s neck

 

cite a reference, name a source

the experts all articulate

with methods they do not endorse

but still they do initiate

with outcomes we anticipate

as someone’s life is left a wreck

whose lungs no longer can inflate

white man’s knee on a black man’s neck

 

bystanders yell, “check his heart rate”

but no one stops to do that check

paramedics arrived too late

white man’s knee on a black man’s neck

A Cord of Wood (Interlocking Rubaiyat)

 

we used to drive the gravel roads

while hoping nothing big explodes

delivering a cord of wood

in pickup trucks with heavy loads

 

we drove more quickly than we should

trying not to lose the firewood

taking corners way to fast

the crazy risks of childhood

 

when thinking back about the past

those memories that we’ve amassed

and stories we still tell today

but mostly just the good ones last

 

a little work, a little play

delivered wood for little pay

we would have done it anyway

yes, would have done it anyway

Rob (Villanelle)

 

He lived a life of broken dreams

but found peace within the pieces

Life isn’t always what it seems

 

while sometimes going to extremes

endorphin highs with quick releases

He lived a life of broken dreams

 

with whispers louder than the screams

every day the pain decreases

Life isn’t always what it seems

 

while trying different coping schemes

all the stress those tears unleashes

He lived a life of broken dreams

 

by choosing sides and picking teams

comradery increases

Life isn’t always what it seems

 

through darkest clouds and sunshine beams

I hope he found what peace is

He lived a life of broken dreams

Life isn’t always what it seems

Trail of Tears (Ballade)

 

Pushed off the land that they’ve lived on for years

not wanting to leave their native homelands

Indians forced down a trail of tears

as tribal leaders explain their demands

Courts rule in favor of Indian lands

Executive Branch is not on their side

President Jackson has made other plans

At the end of a rifle, they abide

 

Rounded up like cattle, driven like steers

while Army Generals hand down commands

Army officers advance their careers

Indigenous people try to take stands

but their fate is in somebody else’s hands

Stripped of their dignity, stripped of their pride

marched across rivers and left on the strands

At the end of a rifle, they abide

 

Mothers and children succumb to their fears

as the nation continually expands

Forced to move to unfamiliar frontiers

for reasons only history understands

disputed terrain begins to change hands

they now realize that the government lied

as they walk through unfamiliar sands

At the end of a rifle, they abide

 

Through all of the sorrow a human withstands

on a trail of tears where many have died

they walk as their society disbands

At the end of a rifle, they abide

3:30 am

 

they gently swing, I hear them sing

the wind chimes at the house next door

a gentle breeze that sways the trees

but soon it will be so much more

 

a late March storm is taking form

expected here in the morning

by break of day is what they say

feel it’s best to heed their warning

 

so, I will wait, anticipate

to see what Mother Nature brings

my thoughts run deep and I can’t sleep

I’ll listen as the wind chime rings

Epidemic

  

eulogies have all been given

and the prayers have all been said

words only comfort the living

for nothing can console the dead

 

the epidemic rages on

how to stop it is still unknown

with far too many people gone

as one by one they die alone

 

in every town it’s all the same

the situation doesn’t change

a different face, a different name

another funeral to arrange

The Stonecutter (Rondel)

a migrant from a foreign land

he is a master of his trade

with photos of the art he’d made

arriving with his tools in hand

 

though not the job that he had planned

he used his skills to just get paid

a migrant from a foreign land

he is a master of his trade

 

the foreman hands down his command

for now the sculptor’s dreams delayed

while carving names on stones displayed

on someone’s grave the stone will stand

a migrant from a foreign land

The Crossing (Huitain)

 

like those before who’d made the trip

they came in waves from distant lands

with wooden trunks they boarded ships

with hopes and dreams and well laid plans

worldly possessions in their hands

took their chances and faced their fears

reasons everyone understands

they waved goodbye and held back tears