Poem of the Week

December 2, 2010 #610
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Chanukah poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Clearly there were Jews and there were Jews --
Hellenized, not Hellenized, not caring.
Assimilation let one pick and choose,
Not wedded to the faith that one was wearing.
Until a king sought Judaism's end,
Kindling a flame that burned inside,
A miracle that would the faith defend --
Here for us, a faith that else had died.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

November 25, 2010 #609
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Thanksgiving Day poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Trees about to bloom, in bloom, full-leaved;
Harrowing escapes, fresh plums and pears;
A cold, gray afternoon, a son long grieved;
Nearing home, the last long flight of stairs;
Kindnesses returned, a glimpse of breast;
Scent of lilac, hunger, tell-tale pain;
Gifts one cannot use, a playful pest;
Illnesses one would not wish again;
Victories, defeats, the urge to dance;
Imitation whipped cream, the real thing;
New thoughts, a lingering death, a brief romance;
Grace to love whatever life may bring. 
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

November 18, 2010 #608
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a set of proverbs.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
SELFISHNESS AND SELFLESSNESS
 
1. The last vestige of egotism is the desire to sacrifice oneself for others.
2. The reward for self-sacrifice is self-adulation.
3. The desire to “make a difference” is a desire for personal significance, the cause of much evil, error, and pain.
4. True selflessness requires one to relinquish the desire for power.
5. The motivations for action ought always to be joy and love.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

November 11, 2010 #607
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Veterans Day poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Victories are never victories.
Every battle waged is a defeat.
The end contains the seeds of the repeat.
Even heroes will take liberties.
Remember this, then, when you go to war:
Although the cause be just, the means is not.
None can write in blood without a blot
Seeping back beneath the bedroom door.
Death cries for vengeance; destruction for destruction.
A battle plan is always a reduction:
You kill your foe yet murder so much more.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

November 4, 2010 #606
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Generations are like streams
Fed by storms in paradise,
Leaping down in waterfalls
That smash upon the rocks below.
 
More placid now, they bear the weight
Of barges on their oily breasts,
And cool the coils of power plants,
And make of love a sacrifice.
 
Near the sea they flatten out
And drop their rage among the reeds,
A swamp of toxic testament
Filtered through the mangrove roots.
 
They start and end with love. Between,
They pick up silt and carry it
Through life, up to the delta's edge,
Where, washed by fear, they join the sea.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 28, 2010 #605
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Election Day (USA)..
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Politics brings out the worst in us.
One is more vile the more there is at stake.
Leveraging a little animus,
It turns mere opposition into hate.
The lava bubbling underneath each heart,
Inhibited by guilt or love or fear,
Comes bursting forth, by scribes with subtle art
Stoked vigorously as new elections near.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 21, 2010 #604
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a number poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Fifty-one is entering the fall,
In which the colors of her life will brighten.
For her the painted world is but a wall
That shields a void no passion can enlighten.
Yet one can mime its mystery in all.
 
O season of remembrance! A shawl
Now covers the dark branches that will whiten,
Each laden with a dream none will recall.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon