[#RandomPoem 738]
Thank you my allies
When you call me by the name and pronouns I adore
You give
a gentle warm hug
a hand up
a healing balm
a bright Smile in the dark
a heart opening wink
[...]
a tender rose of sweetness
years of my life
a burst of energy
the ability to focus
a nourishing sense of safety and belonging
a happy memory
a warm cup of tea
When you call me by the name and pronouns I adore
you give me
wellness, welcome, and home.
[Keith Silva]
[#RandomPoem 737]
The World Is in Pencil
—not pen. It’s got
that same silken
dust about it, doesn’t it,
that same sense of
having been roughed
onto paper even
as it was planned.
It had to be a labor
of love. It must’ve
taken its author some
time, some shove.
I’ll bet it felt good
in the hand—the o
of the ocean, and
the and and the and
of the land.
[Todd Boss]
[#RandomPoem 736]
A Teacher’s Lament
Don’t tell me the cat ate your math sheet,
And your spelling words went down the drain,
And you couldn’t decipher your homework,
Because it was soaked in the rain.
Don’t tell me you slaved for hours
On the project that’s due today,
And you would have had it finished
If your snake hadn’t run away.
[...]
I’m tired of all your excuses;
They are really a terrible bore.
Besides, I forgot my own work,
At home in my study drawer.
[Kalli Dakos]
[#RandomPoem 735]
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
[...]
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good day unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
[after Shakespeare]
[#RandomPoem 734]
Purple
A pigeon walking dainty in the street;
The morning mist where backyard fences meet;
An old Victoria—and in it, proud,
An old, old woman, ready for her shroud:
These are the purple sights for me,
Not palaces nor pageantry.
[Margaret Steele Anderson]
[#RandomPoem 733]
Cat
The fat cat on the mat
may seem to dream
of nice mice that suffice
for him, or cream;
but he free, maybe,
walks in thought
unbowed, proud, where loud
roared and fought
his kin, [...]
The giant lion with iron
claw in paw,
[...]
the pard dark-starred,
fleet upon feet,
that oft soft from aloft
leaps upon his meat
[...]
far now they be,
fierce and free,
and tamed is he;
but fat cat on the mat
kept as a pet
he does not forget.
[J.R.R. Tolkien]
[#RandomPoem 732]
Poem
The earth said
remember me.
The earth said
don’t let go,
said it one day
when I was
accidentally
listening, I
heard it, I felt it
like temperature,
all said in a
whisper—[...] a
fact a day a
bird that warps the
arithmetic of per-
fection with its
arc, [...] —yr in-
difference is yr
principal beauty
the mind says all the
time—I hear it—I
hear it every-
where. The earth
said remember
me. I am the
earth it said. Re-
member me.
[Jorie Graham]
[#RandomPoem 731]
Leaves fly away,
The tree stands still.
Will my dancing hands
Fly away from me too ?
[Judith Perlzweig]
[#RandomPoem 729]
Making Enchiladas
[...]
I heat the tortillas in manteca
after Crystal dips them in chile ancho
and drains them. Niles carries full plates
of hot tortillas to his father,
who rolls them
[...]
The kids help their father rinse plates and pans.
They don’t know this is the last time.
[...]
The kids stuff their mouths, insult each other,
and laugh. We can’t avoid their eyes
forever. Their father and I stare
at each other across the table.
[Linda Rodriguez]
[#RandomPoem 728]
Intermezzo
Beethoven Bartók Bizet and Bruckner
Delius Debussy Mozart and Mahler
Satie Scarlatti Stravinsky and Wagner
Tchaikovsky Vaughan Williams Varèse and Weber
[...]
Beatles and Beach Boys Bowie and Wham!
Dylan Deep Purple Rod Stewart Steeleye Span
Springsteen Stevie Wonder Sting Elton John
Rollings Stones Elvis The Who Duran Duran.
[Roger McGough]
Reino