Twenty-Eight6

April 22, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the environment in honor of Earth Day, which is celebrated today, April 22.

Today’s poem is a number poem about the need to include all of nature in our social contract.

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

Yours

Nick Gordon

Twenty-eight would change the social contract,
Writing in provisions for the Earth.
Even as one cedes one’s sovereignty,
Needing to be governed to be free
To live unharmed, each soul of equal worth,
Yet now we must include the spiritual Outback.

Early on we knew what we forgot:
Individuals are parts, not wholes,
Granted a communal mystery
Here within a universe of souls
That equally includes each wren, each rock.

© by Nicholas Gordon



Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/28f.html. For more poems about the environment, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/environmentalpoems.html.

This week’s theme: The Environment
April 17: From Desert to Forest, from Sun to Shade
April 18: Twenty-Eight5
April 19: Thirty-Five8
April 20: Twenty-Six4
April 21: Thirty-Six7
April 22: Twenty-Eight6

Thirty-Six7

April 21, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the environment in honor of Earth Day, which falls on April 22.

Today’s poem is a number poem for someone who is devoted to preserving wilderness.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Thirty-six is helping to restore

Habitats hit hard by civilization.

In wilderness there is exquisite art,

Relegating humans to a part

That humbles the reclaimed imagination,

Yet whets an avid appetite for more.

So do we glimpse the glory of creation,

Insignificant enough for awe,

Xerophytes who'd quench a thirsty heart.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/36g.html. For more poems about the environment, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/environmentalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: The Environment

April 17: From Desert to Forest, from Sun to Shade

April 18: Twenty-Eight5

April 19: Thirty-Five8

April 20: Twenty-Six4

April 21: Thirty-Six7

Twenty-Six4

April 20, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the environment in honor of Earth Day, which falls on April 22.

Today’s poem is a number poem about the wilderness as our natural home.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Twenty-six enjoys the wilderness,

Which was, until quite recently, our home.

Even now, with craft, we can survive,

Needing nothing more to stay alive,

Though there is not much wilderness to roam.

Yet what there is, is touched by holiness.

So we live in towns in deep distress,

Instinctively at odds with all we've known,

Xerophytes pure waters would revive.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/26d.html. For more poems about the environment, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/environmentalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: The Environment

April 17: From Desert to Forest, from Sun to Shade

April 18: Twenty-Eight5

April 19: Thirty-Five8

April 20: Twenty-Six4

Thirty-Five8

April 19, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the environment in honor of Earth Day, which falls on April 22.

Today’s poem is a number poem about how nature reflects the deepest inner experience.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Thirty-five is on a long plateau,

Hiking through deep woods and sun-drenched fields.

It is a lovely path he follows well,

Reading signs no alphabet can spell,

The wordless whispers that his woodcraft yields.

Yet he knows he still has far to go.

For him, the journey is the only end,

Intense and vivid, mystically at peace,

Vistas of the heart at every bend,

Echoes of the soul that never cease.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/35h.html. For more poems about the environment, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/environmentalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: The Environment

April 17: From Desert to Forest, from Sun to Shade

April 18: Twenty-Eight5

April 19: Thirty-Five8

Twenty-Eight5

April 18, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the environment in honor of Earth Day, which falls on April 22.

Today’s poem is a number poem for someone who advocates going back to a healthier past.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Twenty-eight commands a following

With passion, wit, intelligence, and style.

Even as he uses modern means,

Needing the technology awhile,

The past remains the future of his dreams,

Yielding days that dance and nights that sing.

Earth lies wounded, wincing, shuddering,

Injured every moment we defile

Gifts that once poured forth like spring-fed streams,

Heart beneath a breast once nurturing

Tumultuously pumping filth and bile.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/28e.html. For more poems about the environment, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/environmentalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: The Environment

April 17: From Desert to Forest, from Sun to Shade

April 18: Twenty-Eight5

From Desert to Forest, from Sun to Shade

April 17, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the environment in honor of Earth Day, which falls on April 22.

Today’s poem is a number poem about the beauty of all of Earth’s environments.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

From desert to forest, from sun to shade,

Open to sheltered, gravel to green,

Revel in beauty, delight in the land,

The grace and the glory of all you have seen,

Yearning for joy that no fortune can jade.

 

Of desire and awe are all creatures made,

Not living one moment but with gratitude keen,

Embracing with passion both gift and command.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: The Environment

April 17: From Desert to Forest, from Sun to Shade

God, if There Is One, Looks Down upon the World

April 16, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The twin themes for this week are Passover, the first night of which falls on April 10, and Easter, which falls on April 16.

Today’s poem is about the beauty of religious diversity.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

God, if there is one, looks down upon the world

And sees its religions squabbling beneath Him.

What does He think of our parsings of His word

And the many ways His worshipers perceive Him?

How beautiful! He thinks. How like a garden!

Delightful! Such a perfect panoply!

A spiritual version of My Eden,

Each faith a flowering, fruit-bearing tree!

Why can’t they see their complementary beauty,

Enjoying the impressionistic view,

And dwell in peace and love, as is their duty,

Giving every kind of grace its due?

Don’t they know I love them equally,

As they must love, if they would love Me?

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Easter and Passover

April 10: Religions Live in a Crowded Neighborhood

April 11: Easter and Pesach, Eternally Linked

April 12: Every Religion Has Blood on Its Hands

April 13: Easter and Passover Go Together

April 14: Perhaps Christ Rose from the Dead; Perhaps HeDidn’t

April 15: Praised Be Those Who Marry Out of Love

April 16: God, if There Is One, Looks Down upon the World