January 23, 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 poem about the misnaming of Native Americans.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Indians are, of course, not Indians.
Nor were they ever Indians.
Denying their identities,
Inventing labels as we please,
Allows, of course, their genocide.
No word is ever innocent.
So names enable fratricide.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/india2.html . For more poems about politics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.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
Jan. 20: Melba
Jan. 21: Love Has Obstacles Enough, They Say
Jan. 22: I’m Married to This Muslim Arab
Jan. 23: Indians Are, of Course, Not Indians

I'm Married to This Muslim Arab

January 22, 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 poem about how love bridges religious as well as racial differences.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I'm married to this Muslim Arab,
A lovely woman who wears the hijab.
Our differences dissolve in love
Of God, of life, of one another.

A lovely woman who wears the hijab
Comes naked to my marriage bed.
Of God, of life, of one another,
We then say not a single word.

Comes naked to my marriage bed,
As naked as we are to God.
We then say not a single word,
But silently I thank the Lord.

As naked as we are to God,
Our differences dissolve in love,
But silently I thank the Lord
I'm married to this Muslim Arab.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/immari.html . For more poems about race, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/racepoems.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
Jan. 20: Melba
Jan. 21: Love Has Obstacles Enough, They Say
Jan. 22: I’m Married to This Muslim Arab

Love Has Obstacles Enough, They Say

January 21, 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 love poem about the beauty and difficulty of interracial love.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Love has obstacles enough, they say:
Why add to them the obstacle of race?
Two backgrounds so diverse can't share one space.
Love can't keep the world's harsh truths at bay.
Ah, love! Let such trite wisdom go its way!
All life is difficult yet full of grace.
All men and women share the same small place.
Nor should we out of fear our love betray.
Love is to daily life a vein of gold
Running through the rock like liquid fire,
Making ordinary moments glow.
May we treasure it as we grow old:
The breath that does our dreary clay inspire,
The touch that transforms everything we know.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/loveha.html . For more poems about race, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/racepoems.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
Jan. 20: Melba
Jan. 21: Love Has Obstacles Enough, They Say

Melba

January 20, 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 about someone who enjoys the richness of a diverse racial and cultural milieu.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Melba mixes cultures like bright colors,
Each of which the dappled whole enhances.
Lavish in her love of life, she dances,
Blessed in years, to the tunes of many others,
A wealth of music as the world advances.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/melba.html . For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.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
Jan. 20: Melba

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