Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Justice Isn't Only in a Courtroom

January 18, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is justice, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, which falls on January 16.

Today’s poem is about the many aspects of justice.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Justice isn’t only in a courtroom.
It has to do with wages, healthcare, schools.
It has to do with races more than rules.
It has to do with class as well as classrooms.
It has to do with the reward for labor.
The market is efficient but not just.
A just State sets some limits on its lust,
And ameliorates the brunt of its behavior.
It has to do with prejudice and hate,
With opening crucial doors to one’s own kind
And leaving those with differences behind,
Then blaming their condition for their fate.
It has to do with hearts as well as laws,
And with how many would take up its cause.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/justi3.html. For more poems about justice and other political topics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Justice
January 18: Justice Isn’t Only in a Courtroom

Justice Is as Justice Does

January 17, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is justice, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, which falls on January 16.

Today’s poem is about how history affects justice.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Justice is as justice does.
Under is, is always was,
Singing songs that shape the mind,
That render justice less than blind.
If justice could be bias free,
Courts would work inhumanly.
Each judge responds to history.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/justi2.html. For more poems about justice and other political topics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Justice
January 17: Justice Is as Justice Does

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

January 16, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is justice, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, which falls on January 16.

Today’s poem compares the political movement for justice to waves breaking on the shore.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Movements are like waves upon the shore
As they break across the yielding sand,
Rushing ravenously up, and then withdraw,
Though not before remodeling the land.
If change awaits high tide, so let it be.
Nor will waves cease to break when tides are low.
Let us fight for justice ceaselessly,
Uplifted by the seaward undertow.
There is no disappointment in my song,
However much injustice still remains.
Each generation needs to come on strong,
Reckoning the incremental gains.
Know that I am proud of what we’ve won
In spite of all the lives and labor lost.
No cause well worth one’s love is ever done.
Good is good regardless of the cost.
Justice is a wave that breaks, and then
Returns, returns, again, again, again.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/moveme.html. For more poems about justice and other political topics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Justice
January 16: Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Marriage Is a Letting Go

January 15, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is about the need for married couples to surrender to marriage.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Marriage is a letting go,
A plunge into the deep.
No one need the currents fear
Nor hesitate to leap.
You may your spirits keep.

More is gained by giving up
And less by taking in.
Remember that to dwell in joy
You must make room within.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/marri4.html. For more poems about marriage, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/marriagepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Marriage
January 9: Jody and Blue
January 15: Marriage Is a Letting Go

Friday, January 13, 2017

Marriage, as a Choice, Requires Choices

January 14, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is from wife to husband vowing to overcome marital difficulties.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Marriage, as a choice, requires choices.
One must choose not once, but every day.
Life offers us a hundred thousand voices,
Yet those we fail to hear fast fade away.
I choose you with all my wounded heart:
You and our two children. All the rest
Lies in the distance, charming, but apart
From the circle of the ones with whom I'm blessed.
Our marriage isn't easy, but our love
Is still the force that shapes my daily life.
I want us to be happy, and will move
Wherever I must be to be your wife.
I'm yours, and I want you to be mine.
We'll find a way our wishes to combine.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/marri2.html. For more poems about marriage, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/marriagepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Marriage
January 9: Jody and Blue
January 14: Marriage, as a Choice, RequiresChoices

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Love Returns on Saturdays

January 13, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is about love on the weekend.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Love returns on Saturdays,
Having been away
To labor in the labyrinth
That underlies our joy.

How dark the days of abstinence,
Of sleep too dire to stay,
Of mornings mere mechanical
And flesh no hands employ!

But then--Ah, then!--on Saturdays
Love finally has its way,
Coming into crevices
Whose cravings passions buoy.

How beautiful, the love that can
Such soporifics sway!
No wasteland world of weekdays shall
Our dalliance destroy.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/lover2.html. For more poems about marriage, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/marriagepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Marriage
January 9: Jody and Blue
January 13: Love Returns on Saturdays

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Love Finds Little Latitude

January 12, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem compares marriage to leaving the sea for a safe harbor.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Love finds little latitude
Once it leaves the sea
And sails between the rocky heads
That guard its proper berth.

Precise in pitch and attitude,
It must turn perfectly
To miss the sharp-edged coral beds
Garlanding its girth.

The wind still blows, the waves still roll
Out where the water's deep,
But here within, a tidal peace
Reverses with the moon.

Here is the elusive goal,
Too permanent to keep,
That sits in small print on the lease
Of those who dock at noon.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/lovefi.html. For more poems about marriage, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/marriagepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Marriage
January 9: Jody and Blue
January 12: Love Finds Little Latitude