Take Me, for Example: I'm Pretty Attractive, No

January 28, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, which falls on January 28. This year is The Year of the Rooster.

Today’s poem is a Chinese, or Lunar New Year poem for this year’s Chinese New Year, The Year of the Rooster, from the rooster’s point of view.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Take me, for example: I’m pretty attractive, no?

How can people say I shouldn’t flaunt it?

Every woman everywhere I go

Yearns for me. I cannot help but want it.

Even so, they say I am conceited,

Arrogant, and too full of myself.

Rest assured, they’re jealous and feel cheated,

Or they would take their own goods off the shelf!

For me there is no shame in showing off

The beauty of my body and my voice,

Having enough ego to put forth

Each morning some fine fanfare of my choice.

Revealing what I have to give the world

Ought not be a cause for disapproval.

One should keep one’s majesties unfurled,

Singing as one is through glory hurled

Towards one’s curt and ultimate removal.

Exuberance in life cannot be wrong.

Remember well my loud, well-crafted song.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/takem2.html. For more poems about the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chinesenewyearpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Chinese, or Lunar New Year

January 23: Luck Is like a Tide Pulled by the Moon

January 24: The World Is Not Sufficiently in Order

January 25: There Are Those Who Shy Away from Being

January 26: Tolerance Is Hard to Tolerate

January 27: There Is No Point in Being Merely Clever

January 28: Take Me, for Example: I’m PrettyAttractive, No

There Is No Point in Being Merely Clever

January 27, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, which falls on January 28. This year is The Year of the Rooster.

Today’s poem is a Chinese, or Lunar New Year poem for The Year of the Monkey, from the monkey’s point of view.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is no point in being merely clever,

However much one likes to call the tune.

Each bit of insight leads one to forever,

Yielding thoughts that make the moment bloom.

Even so, some prostitute the mind

As they exchange intelligence for things,

Rewarded more than amply, but resigned

Over time to living without wings.

For me the mind is for perceiving beauty,

The glory and the radiance of being.

However cleverly one does one’s duty,

Each labor won is leisure lost for seeing.

Maybe one should use one’s mind for good,

Obliged by conscience to serve others’ needs.

No doubt. But while doing as one should,

Know where such self-sacrificing leads.

Each life’s a light that is for moments lit.

Yet one can spend them in the infinite.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/ther38.html. For more poems about the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chinesenewyearpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Chinese, or Lunar New Year

January 23: Luck Is like a Tide Pulled by the Moon

January 24: The World Is Not Sufficiently in Order

January 25: There Are Those Who Shy Away from Being

January 26: Tolerance Is Hard to Tolerate

January 27: There Is No Point in Being Merely Clever

Tolerance Is Hard to Tolerate

January 26, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, which falls on January 28. This year is The Year of the Rooster.

Today’s poem is a Chinese, or Lunar New Year poem for The Year of the Boar, from the boar’s point of view.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Tolerance is hard to tolerate,

Hinting, as it can, of condescension.

Even so, it has a good intention,

Yielding an alternative to hate.

Embracing difference truly can create

An overwhelming love for all expression,

Resulting in a singular impression

Open to all sides of a debate.

For me, the truth's a wilderness of stars,

The universe revealed in all its glory.

How can one choose just one small bit of sky,

Estranged by one's beliefs from all the rest?

Being isn't bounded by one's bars;

Oceans aren't summed up in one story.

All that is will inundate one's why,

Removing walls long laid across one's quest.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/tolera.html. For more poems about the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chinesenewyearpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Chinese, or Lunar New Year

January 23: Luck Is like a Tide Pulled by the Moon

January 24: The World Is Not Sufficiently in Order

January 25: There Are Those Who Shy Away from Being

January 26: Tolerance Is Hard to Tolerate

There Are Those Who Shy Away from Being

January 25, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, which falls on January 28. This year is The Year of the Rooster.

Today’s poem is a Chinese, or Lunar New Year poem for The Year of the Rabbit, from the rabbit’s point of view.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There are those who shy away from being,

However smart or talented, the leader,

Each eagerly behind the scenes, agreeing

Yet again to serve all those who need her.

Everyone is wary of such tension

As being in the spotlight must entail,

Reigning over chaos and dissension,

One who takes the blame when others fail.

For me it is impossible to think

That I for just one moment might be there --

Head of something headed for some brink,

Etched frozen in the flashbulb's frigid glare.

Rabbits tend to run -- that's what they do,

Acting well only when well hidden.

Best if you know best what's best for you --

Better off the bidder or the bidden.

I know myself, and so am satisfied

To be the one backstage, where I can hide.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/ther28.html. For more poems about the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chinesenewyearpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Chinese, or Lunar New Year

January 23: Luck Is like a Tide Pulled by the Moon

January 24: The World Is Not Sufficiently in Order

January 25: There Are Those Who Shy Away from Being

The World Is Not Sufficiently in Order

January 24, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, which falls on January 28. This year is The Year of the Rooster.

Today’s poem is a Chinese, or Lunar New Year poem for The Year of the Dog, from the dog’s point of view.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The world is not sufficiently in order,

However much one wishes it were so.

Everyone likes to think that they are loyal,

Yet find that there are times they cannot be,

Even as I’m loyal by design.

All I want and do is by design,

Reducing what disorder there might be,

Offering the hope that, if I'm loyal,

Fortune will be fair, and what I sow

Today I'll reap in time and proper order.

Heroes are the sentinels of order,

Ever vigilant to live just so:

Dependable, consistent, honest, loyal

Overseers of what ought to be,

Given the chaos deep in the design.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/thewo4.html. For more poems about the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chinesenewyearpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Chinese, or Lunar New Year

January 23: Luck Is like a Tide Pulled by the Moon

January 24: The World Is not Sufficiently inOrder

Luck Is like a Tide Pulled by the Moon

January 23, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, which falls on January 28. This year is The Year of the Rooster.

Today’s poem is about luck and fate, and what a person might do about them.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Luck is like a tide pulled by the moon,

Undulating through the undertow.

None can tell how far that tide might go,

Afloat upon the wash's wind-blown spume.

Remember, then, each year to celebrate

New turnings of the tide that bears us all,

Each to ends no flailing can forestall,

Whether good or ill, the choice of fate.

Yet knowing well one's wishes face the wind,

Even so, one does what one can do,

Alert to rituals that spirits woo,

Rendering what renders them benign.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/luckis.html. For more poems about the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chinesenewyearpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Chinese, or Lunar New Year

January 23: Luck Is like a Tide Pulled by theMoon

Seventy-Five

January 22, 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 a number poem about someone who devotes his life to justice.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Seventy-five sustains an active life,

Engaging in the turmoil of his time.

Voices must be raised in speech and song

Embracing right, excoriating wrong,

Needed to cut through the mental grime

That veils one's vision of systemic strife.

Yet power comes to those whose will is strong.

For him the fight continues hard and long

In every vale where suffering is rife,

Vested in beliefs that make life shine

Even as he walks the picket line.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/75.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

January 17: Justice Is as Justice Does

January 18: Justice Isn’t Only in a Courtroom

January 19: Justice Is the Antidote for Vengeance

January 20: Make of Me a Hero

January 21: Even So, We Did What We Believed In

January 22: Seventy-Five