Maybe Dreams Cannot Come True, but They

January 19, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is racism and race in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.

Today’s poem is a name poem for Martin Luther King, Jr. about pursuing the dream of justice.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe dreams cannot come true, but they
Are mountains that give shape to the horizon,
Reference points to guide us on the way
Towards lands long promised us in distant Zion.
If we never get that far, we'll be
Nearer for the journey we have taken,
Letting the next generation see
Up close the dreams they else might have forsaken.
The dreamer lives a bit beyond what is,
Having had the courage to say no,
Existing in a future wholly his,
Revealing through his grace where we must go.
Knowing well this world of lust and greed
In which the dream but rarely marks the deed,
None could bear to dream but for the soul
Great enough to bear it for the whole.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/maybed.html . For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Racism and Race.
Jan. 18: Might Not Racism Cut Both Ways
Jan. 19: Maybe Dreams Cannot Come True, but They

Might Not Racism Cut Both Ways

January 18, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is racism and race in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.

Today’s poem is a name poem for Martin Luther King, Jr. about the dangers of racial hatred.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Might not racism cut both ways?
All are crippled equally by hatred.
Racist rage consumes the darkest days,
Taking with it all one sees as sacred.
In all of us that ancient fire still smolders,
Needing but a bit of breeze to flare.
Let Atlas bear the world upon his shoulders:
Under all that love, the hate's still there.
Then what is one to do but know one's heart,
Hating hatred in a wash of tears,
Even as one's world is torn apart,
Rage raging all around one, stoked by fears?
Know that, white or black, your rage is wrong,
Incinerating all that you desire.
Nor will that rage light up your days for long,
Given the proclivities of fire.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/mightn.html . For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Racism and Race.
Jan. 18: Might Not Racism Cut Both Ways

Names Are Little Labels

January 17, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is names – what they mean, what they are not capable of meaning, and how well the meaning of the name fits the personality of the person who bears the name.

Today’s poem is a philosophical poem about names and souls.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Names are little labels that
We paste upon a sea.
Are Jack and Jill and Pat and Bill
Really you and me?

You may be Ruth or Jennifer
Or Ghali or Ahmed,
But you are more, much more than any
Word that might be said.

You are the moon and stars, the Earth,
The Universe, and more.
You dance across eternities
And sail beyond all shores.

You have within you all that is
And that shall ever be.
And yet you also are, of course,
Reiko, Ralph, and Bree.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/namesa.html . For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Names.
Jan. 11: It Was Pure Chance You Got the Name Irene
Jan. 12: Audree
Jan. 13: Dakota
Jan. 14: Patricia
Jan. 15: Gemma
Jan. 16: Raven Marie and Ivey Briana
Jan. 17: Names Are Little Labels

Raven Marie and Ivey Briana

January 16, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is names – what they mean, what they are not capable of meaning, and how well the meaning of the name fits the personality of the person who bears the name.

Today’s poem is a name poem for two sisters who are about to choose husbands.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Raven Marie and Ivey Briana
Are sisters with dynamite names,
Vanquishing all with their elegant manners,
Even while choosing their chains.
No life without love in the heart of its longing,
As long as sweet passion has life;
No soul but is whole with the grace of belonging,
Due honor as husband or wife.
Ivey Briana and Raven Marie
Very soon will come down to a kiss;
Each eventually, with a large family,
Yearning still yet quite happy with this.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/ravenm.html . For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Names.
Jan. 11: It Was Pure Chance You Got the Name Irene
Jan. 12: Audree
Jan. 13: Dakota
Jan. 14: Patricia
Jan. 15: Gemma>
Jan. 16: Raven Marie and Ivey Briana

Gemma

January 15, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is names – what they mean, what they are not capable of meaning, and how well the meaning of the name fits the personality of the person who bears the name.

Today’s poem is a name poem and love poem for Gemma, who is, of course, a gem.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Gemma is a--should I say it?--gem.
Even apart, she sparkles in my mind,
More brilliant than all other jewels combined,
Making all the rest of life go dim.
After her, no smile will seem the same.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/gemma.html . For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Names.
Jan. 11: It Was Pure Chance You Got the Name Irene
Jan. 12: Audree
Jan. 13: Dakota
Jan. 14: Patricia
Jan. 15: Gemma

Patricia

January 14, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is names – what they mean, what they are not capable of meaning, and how well the meaning of the name fits the personality of the person who bears the name.

Today’s poem is a name poem for a feminist whose name, ironically, is taken from the Latin patrician, or noble, which comes from pater, the Latin word for father.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Patricia is a gentlewoman’s name:
A name that’s rooted in the world of men.
The modern version’s not what you’d call tame,
Rough on shoes and words. But she knows when
It pays to shift her voice to feminine charm,
Choosing to take weakness off the shelf,
Intimate in order to disarm
A passing lover--and, perhaps, herself?

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/patric.html . For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html . For more poems about feminism, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/feminismpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Names.
Jan. 11: It Was Pure Chance You Got the Name Irene
Jan. 12: Audree
Jan. 13: Dakota
Jan. 14: Patricia

Dakota

January 13, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is names – what they mean, what they are not capable of meaning, and how well the meaning of the name fits the personality of the person who bears the name.

Today’s poem is a place-name poem for a person whose personality fits the place.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Dakota is a vast and fertile plain,
Absolute and open to the wind.
Knowledge in this air is crystal clear;
Only those few things one needs are near;
Though merciless, the sun is also kind.
All is sharp and spare, yet rich in grain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/dakota.html . For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Names.
Jan. 11: It Was Pure Chance You Got the Name Irene
Jan. 12: Audree
Jan. 13: Dakota