Seventy-Three Suspends Her Animation

Dear Reader,

I have decided to resurrect my former blog, Poem of the Day, as Poem of the Week, publishing each week a different poem from my website, Poems for Free (https://www.poemsforfree.com).

This week, the Poem of the Week is a number poem for a woman who both embraces her feminine role and at the same time dreams of one less self-sacrificing:

Seventy-three suspends her animation,
Eloping for a moment with a dream,
Vividly devouring each sensation,
Each image that means more than it can mean.
Nor can her love reality redeem.
Time moves on, and she comes back to life,
Yearning for the woman in the wife.

The love of husband, children, grandchildren,
Has been a garden long and faithfully tended,
Resulting in a peaceful, well-earned beauty,
Enduring pleasure she would not want ended,
Embrace she chooses out of more than duty.

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/73susp.html. For more poems about feminism, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/feminismpoems.html .

Seventy-Three Refocuses on Love

May 16, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is religion.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A religious number poem about a love that blesses all equally at any age:

Seventy-three refocuses on love
Even as she now must live alone.
Very little waits behind the door.
Every day is like the day before.
Nestled in her heart are sleeves of stone.
Time hangs like a fog no sun will soon remove.
Yet there is much that makes her yearn for more.

To be is to be loved and blessed with grace,
However one might live or soon might die.
Revelations come like words long known,
Each an invitation to embrace
Ecstasy that needs no reason why.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/73.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Religion.
May 10: The Wave Without Becomes a Wave Within
May11: How Might One Untie the Knot
May 12: Each Fast Is like a Cleansing of the Soul
May 13: Eid Is Bittersweet
May 14: Little Do You Know How Much You Love Me
May15: Recently I Dreamed I Talked to You
May 16: Seventy-Three Refocuses on Love

Note: Google has decided to discontinue Feedburner, the free service that sends you this daily email. At the age of 80, I have decided that this would be a good time for me to discontinue the Poem of the Day. The last Poem of the Day email will be sent out on May 23rd.

I will still be posting a new Poem of the Week each week at my Web site (https://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html), as well as regularly adding new poems, drama, and fiction to the site. And you are welcome to follow me on:
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/PoemsbyNicholasGordon)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/poems_for_free)
YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyyixnna5SPO5EIe4IAKkXQ)
and Twitter (https://twitter.com/poemsforfree).

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

The Sun Was Salmon on Water

March 10, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is philosophy.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A philosophical number poem about the desire of youth to escape into an open mind:

The sun was salmon on water;
We watched with blood-red eyes.
Each day dies in splendor;
Night blooms with boisterous friends.
Today we lied with silence;
Yesterday, with words.

For ourselves, we ask only
Open sea on which to think,
Unfastening points of worship,
Removing what seems firm.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thesu4.html. For more philosophical poems about , go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Philosophy.
March 8: A Life in Six Movements
March 9: Life Can Be Quite Ravenous
March 10: The Sun Was Salmon on Water

Fifty-Nine Takes Pleasure in Exposing

February 21, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics in honor of Presidents Day, which this year is celebrated on February 15.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A political number poem about a political activist who sees the evil of merely accepting everyday oppression:

Fifty-nine takes pleasure in exposing
Instruments of everyday oppression,
Fantasies of normalcy sustaining
The brutal oligarchy of possession.
Yet what she does is more than mere expression.

Nor does she care what fat she might be frying
In bold pursuit of media attention,
Nemesis of all who show discretion
Even as they see so many dying.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/59b.html. For more poems about politics, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics.
February 15: President’s Day? Presidents’ Day? Or Presidents Day?
February 16: What Might Make a Person Want to Lead
February 17: Praised Be Those Who Would Distribute Power
February 18: Andrew Was a Soldier of the Faith
February 19: George Does Not Admit to Telling Lies
February 20: Fifty-Eight Comes Often to the Table
February 21: Fifty-Nine Takes Pleasure in Exposing

Fifty-Eight Comes Often to the Table

February 20, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics in honor of Presidents Day, which this year is celebrated on February 15.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A political and philosophical number poem about a political activist who delights in life:

Fifty-eight comes often to the table,
Intent on the conundrums of the day.
For her the chance that there she might be able
To shape the world for good in some small way
Yields pleasure that no hunger can allay.

Even as she yearns for peace and justice,
In her the simple moment brings delight,
Gift of being, palpable and lustrous,
However strewn upon the field of night,
The reason and the rage for doing right.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/58b.html. For more poems about politics, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics.
February 15: President’s Day? Presidents’ Day? Or Presidents Day?
February 16: What Might Make a Person Want to Lead
February 17: Praised Be Those Who Would Distribute Power
February 18: Andrew Was a Soldier of the Faith
February 19: George Does Not Admit to Telling Lies
February 20: Fifty-Eight Comes Often to the Table

January 31, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is music.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A philosophical number poem about the desire to share beauty:

Thirty-four sings softly in the moonlight,
Hoping to disturb a passing soul.
In beauty only does one see God's face,
Reckoning the power by the grace,
Touching so the sunlight in the coal.
Years of song are swallowed by the night.

Fear not, for the miracle of sight
Opens up a window on the whole,
Unveiling a glimpse of time and place
Resplendent as the song one sings alone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/34b.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Music.
January 25: Now Is Just the Time for Non-Stop Jazz
January 26: Thirty-Seven Is Immersed in Beauty
January 27: Isabella Loves the Sound of Music
January 28: Forty-Seven Listens to Her Music
January 29: Sixty-Five Suspends Her Animation
January 30: Thirty-Five Has All the Joy He Needs
January 31: Thirty-Four Sings Softly in the Moonlight

Thirty-Five Has All the Joy He Needs

January 30, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is music.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A philosophical number poem for a youth-orchestra conductor whose glorious visions will never be realized:

Thirty-five has all the joy he needs,
Having memorized the sacred score.
Infinite beauty rests within his hands,
Rising from a sea of music stands,
The sound mere presence to the silent core,
Yet far from the rendition that he reads.

For now, the faint allusion that he leads
Intensifies his avarice for more,
Visioning the glory he demands
Even though but life can lie in store.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/35d.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Music.
January 25: Now Is Just the Time for Non-Stop Jazz
January 26: Thirty-Seven Is Immersed in Beauty
January 27: Isabella Loves the Sound of Music
January 28: Forty-Seven Listens to Her Music
January 29: Sixty-Five Suspends Her Animation
January 30: Thirty-Five Has All the Joy He Needs

Sixty-Five Suspends Her Animation

January 29, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is music.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A philosophical number poem for a singer-songwriter who uses her past as the soil for her creation:

Sixty-five suspends her animation,
Immersed within a wistful melody.
Xylophones accompany her song,
The wave of wonder rising from her sea,
Yearning overwhelming all sensation.

For her the past is neither right nor wrong.
Instead it is the soil for her creation,
Vast fields of darkness sown by memory,
Ever yielding tunes she must pass on.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/65c.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Music.
January 25: Now Is Just the Time for Non-Stop Jazz
January 26: Thirty-Seven Is Immersed in Beauty
January 27: Isabella Loves the Sound of Music
January 28: Forty-Seven Listens to Her Music
January 29: Sixty-Five Suspends Her Animation

Forty-Seven Listens to Her Music

January 28, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is music.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A philosophical number poem for someone who listens to her inner music:

Forty-seven listens to her music,
Open to the melody within.
Rich with revelation, she remains
The dancer, ever ready to begin,
Yielding to the moment's unchanged magic.

So is music ever an alembic,
Ethereal beneath one's tell-tale skin,
Viscerally abstract, the sea in chains,
Embassy of some angelic twin,
Not you, but you, elusive, endless, tantric.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/47b.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Music.
January 25: Now Is Just the Time for Non-Stop Jazz
January 26: Thirty-Seven Is Immersed in Beauty
January 27: Isabella Loves the Sound of Music
January 28: Forty-Seven Listens to Her Music

Thirty-Seven Is Immersed in Beauty

January 26, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is music.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A number poem about the rewards of a career in music:

Thirty-seven is immersed in beauty,
Having served it since he was quite young.
If such a choice demands some sacrifice,
Refusing with regret the merely nice,
To live with the sublime cannot be wrong,
Yearning for it with a sense of duty.

So the moment flows, nor plain nor pretty,
Even as the time, nor short nor long,
Vale of voices passionate, precise,
Eases into clarity, a song
Nor more nor less than perfect, priceless, plenty.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/37f.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Music.
January 25: Now Is Just the Time for Non-Stop Jazz
January 26: Thirty-Seven Is Immersed in Beauty

Now Is Just the Time for Non-Stop Jazz

January 25, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is music.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A number poem for a ninety-five-year-old jazz critic and aficionado:

Now is just the time for non-stop jazz,
Is just the perfect time to bop one's beep!
Ninety-five's the time for razzmatazz,
Enduring syncopation, life offbeat,
The music wailing, as it always has,
Years and years more life on old Beale Street.

Forget the rap, the punk, the rock and roll!
If the legs give way, the mind still swings,
Vividly in sync with funky soul,
Easing on down songs the moment sings.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/nowisj.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Music.
January 25: Now Is Just the Time for Non-Stop Jazz

Clara Sings with Undiminished Passion

January 17, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is song.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A name poem for an elderly woman who continues to sing with undiminished passion:

Clara sings with undiminished passion,
Leaning all her strength into the wind.
A soul need not such lifelong pleasures ration,
Relishing what grace she still can fashion,
A labor that she would not leave behind.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/connor.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Song
January 11: Everyone Finds Comfort in a Song
January 12: For You, May Every Moment Sing
January 13: Sing of Dreams, Those Blueprints of the Future
January 14: Silence Never Was a Long-Term Option
January 15: There Is No Threnody for Utter Darkness
January 16: Connor Sings a Classic Irish Tune
January 17: Clara Sings with Undiminished Passion

Silence Never Was a Long-Term Option

January 14, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is song.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A political number poem for someone who uses song to follow the family tradition of political activism:

Silence never was a long-term option,
Even in the years not fit for song.
Vested in your heart a legacy
Endures of a humane morality,
Not bound to faith or tribe, but to a long
Tradition of family in the ranks of reason,
Years and generations deep and strong.

Then sing, sing of love and peace with passion,
With all the beauty, wisdom, clarity
One voice can yield to the winds of right and wrong.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/silen3.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Song
January 11: Everyone Finds Comfort in a Song
January 12: For You, May Every Moment Sing
January 13: Sing of Dreams, Those Blueprints of the Future
January 14: Silence Never Was a Long-Term Option

Sing of Dreams, Those Blueprints of the Future

January 13, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is song.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A number and teen poem about how a choir of dreams might help an adolescent grow into an adult:

Sing of dreams, those blueprints of the future,
Images hovering in the western sky,
XXX's on the chalkboard of one's choices!
Then listen to that choir of many voices!
Embrace them all for now, that by and by
Each might share the grace of its illusion,
Needed to enrich one's reasons why.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/sing19.html. For more teen poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/teenpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Song
January 11: Everyone Finds Comfort in a Song
January 12: For You, May Every Moment Sing
January 13: Sing of Dreams, Those Blueprints of the Future

For You, May Every Moment Sing

January 12, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is song.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A philosophical love and number poem about rejoicing in the beauty of song:

For you, may every moment sing
Of love and beauty. May your heart
Rejoice with melodies that bring --
Though cold wind wail and hard rain sting --
You grace to serve with wit and art.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fory17.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Song
January 11: Everyone Finds Comfort in a Song
January 12: For You, May Every Moment Sing

Everyone Finds Comfort in a Song

January 11, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is song.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A philosophical number poem about the significance of song:

Everyone finds comfort in a song,
In the sweetness of a well-wrought tune,
Grace resounding through a mundane room,
Held by beauty as one sings along,
The ecstasy that turns the heart from wrong,
Yearning like a flower in full bloom.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ever10.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Song
January 11: Everyone Finds Comfort in a Song

Sixty-Eight Sings Silently of Light

January 9, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is visions of truth, or epiphanies, in honor of Epiphany, which is celebrated on January 6.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A philosophical number poem for someone immersed in the beauty of the moment:

Sixty-eight sings silently of light,
Inner song reflecting inner grace.
Xylophones send messages by wind:
Tapestries no hand can hope to trace;
Yearnings no beatitude can blight.

Even in the fortress of the mind,
Intimations of the coming night
Give way to what no fortune can rescind:
Here, and only here, is paradise,
The moment that gives beauty time and place.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/68b.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Visions of Truth
January 4: Fifty-Seven’s Not Afraid of Silence
January 5: Forty-Three Finds Happiness in Being
January 6: I Know I Cannot Satisfy the Sun
January 7: Lewis Is a Symphony of Pleasures
January 8: Robert Is a Light unto His Friends
January 9: Sixty-Eight Sings Silently of Light

Forty-Three Finds Happiness in Being

January 5, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is visions of truth, or epiphanies, in honor of Epiphany, which is celebrated on January 6.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A philosophical number poem about someone who has learned that losses in one area of life can result in gains in another, and vice versa:

Forty-three finds happiness in being
Open to the unreflective wind.
Reason would reduce the untrimmed sail,
Though love would run full speed ahead, and blind,
Yearning for what there's no hope of seeing.

The beauty of the run itself is freeing,
Having left safe harbor far behind.
Remember: One does not succeed or fail,
Ever losing what one wins in kind,
Ever granted grace without agreeing.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/43b.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Visions of Truth
January 4: Fifty-Seven’s Not Afraid of Silence
January 5: Forty-Three Finds Happiness in Being

Fifty-Seven's Not Afraid of Silence

January 4, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is visions of truth, or epiphanies, in honor of Epiphany, which is celebrated on January 6.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A philosophical number poem about a woman who visits the altar of her soul:

Fifty-seven's not afraid of silence,
In which the self can take a well-earned breath.
For her there is no urgency to time,
There being an eternity till death.
Years are but the borders of remembrance.

So does she find the doorway to her presence,
Entrance to which needs no shibboleth,
Visiting an oft-neglected shrine.
Even as she walks her length and breadth,
Not moving, she beholds her radiance.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/57.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Visions of Truth
January 4: Fifty-Seven’s Not Afraid of Silence

Single Life Is Hard for Those Who've Shared

January 3, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the new year is new beginnings.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A number poem for someone who has lost his or her spouse and must begin a new life alone:

Single life is hard for those who've shared
Each day with someone whom they've deeply loved.
Valuing the quiet loneliness,
Even pain and everyday distress,
Needs a joy in life that's unimpaired.
There's no secret way to happiness,
Yet love is known to have great sadness moved.

For you I wish a garden of bright days
In which you stroll among sweet-scented flowers.
Vistas of great peace must fill your hours,
Even as your sad-tinged music plays.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/single.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Beginnings
December 28: To Be Thirteen Is to Be, Well, a Teen
December 29: Revel in the Moment! It’s Well Earned
December 30: Congratulations on Your Retirement
December 31: Out of Who We Are Comes Where We Live
January 1: Midnight Is a Purely Human Thing
January 2: Here’s to Chey and Corey
January 3: Single Life Is Hard for Those Who’ve Shared