Friends Go In and Out of People's Lives

August 15, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is divorce.

Today’s poem is a number and divorce poem about the difficulty of removing a former spouse from one’s heart.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Friends go in and out of people’s lives,

Old and new, near and far, and yet

Removing former husbands, former wives,

Takes years of anger, sorrow, and regret,

Years of rage not easy to forget.

Still, one must remove them from one’s heart

Even while sharing what’s most dear,

Vanquishing one’s pain with all one’s art,

Embracing what one else could never bear.

Nor will one ever be completely clear.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/frien4.html. For more divorce poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/divorcepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Divorce

August 14: We’ll Go On, After You

August 15: Friends Go In and Out of People’s Lives

We'll Go On, After You

August 14, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is divorce.

Today’s poem is a divorce poem to the spouse who has left the family.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

We'll go on, after you,

Without you we'll go on,

Though something beautiful inside

Us all has turned to stone.

We'll go on, after you,

Without you through the years

Of pain and raw bewilderment

And brutal, angry tears.

We'll go on, after you,

Without you we will heal,

Though love may labor in the heart

And joy the loss conceal.

We'll go on, after you,

Without you we will grow

Together as a family

That you will never know.

We'll go on, after you,

Without you life goes on,

But neither hope nor happiness

Undoes what you have done.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/wellgo.html. For more divorce poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/divorcepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Divorce

August 14: We’ll Go On, After You

Composers Aren't Poseurs, One May Hope

August 13, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is artistic creativity.

Today’s poem is about the purpose of musical composition.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Composers aren't poseurs, one may hope,

Offering the sounds that shape the heart,

Making us turn inward towards beauty,

Portrait of the sheer, ecstatic soul.

Of course, your music may help people cope,

Sell stuff, perhaps, or grace some graphic art.

Even so, there is always your duty

Resting underneath the lesser goal:

Sing, then, to make yourself serene and whole.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Artistic Creativity

August 7: Songs Lend Thought the Persuasive Force of Beauty

August 8: For You There Will Be Always Gifts of Beauty

August 9: Sing of Passions Greater than the Self

August 10: For Every Moment You’re Immersed in Beauty

August 11: Sing of the Sweet Urge to Capture Beauty

August 12: Bridges Are a Sign of Separation

August 13: Composers Aren’t Poseurs, One May Hope

Bridges Are a Sign of Separation

August 12, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is artistic creativity.

Today’s poem is about how separation provides the occasion for unity and grace.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Bridges are a sign of separation

Requiring ingenuity to span.

Inherent in the scheme of time and space,

Divisions are an opening to grace,

Granting an occasion for creation.

Each unity of purpose, plan, or place

Suggests a work meticulous and grand.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Artistic Creativity

August 7: Songs Lend Thought the Persuasive Force of Beauty

August 8: For You There Will Be Always Gifts of Beauty

August 9: Sing of Passions Greater than the Self

August 10: For Every Moment You’re Immersed in Beauty

August 11: Sing of the Sweet Urge to Capture Beauty

August 12: Bridges Are a Sign of Separation

Sing of the Sweet Urge to Capture Beauty

August 11, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is artistic creativity.

Today’s poem is a number poem about art as a lasting imitation of a fleeting reality.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Sing of the sweet urge to capture beauty,

Endeavoring to pluck it from the stream.

Vivid though the moment might appear,

Embrace it and it is no longer here,

No less remote than a remembered dream.

The artist, though, creates a lasting copy.

Years pass, and yet the grace retains its gleam.

Each work of art gives form to a perception,

Imitating what the artist sees,

Granting lasting life to a conception,

Having caught the moment as it flees,

Then framed it to fence off its finities.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/sing10.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Artistic Creativity

August 7: Songs Lend Thought the Persuasive Force of Beauty

August 8: For You There Will Be Always Gifts of Beauty

August 9: Sing of Passions Greater than the Self

August 10: For Every Moment You’re Immersed in Beauty

August 11: Sing of the Sweet Urge to Capture Beauty

For Every Moment You're Immersed in Beauty

August 10, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is artistic creativity.

Today’s poem is a number poem about the joy of being able to make a living from art.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

For every moment you’re immersed in beauty,

In opening the curtains of the heart,

Forgetting that your pleasure is your duty,

That you have made a living from your art,

You feel the joy of God at the Creation,

The stepping back to see that it is good,

While in the golden grip of an elation

Out of which you will what worlds you would.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/forev7.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Artistic Creativity

August 7: Songs Lend Thought the Persuasive Force of Beauty

August 8: For You There Will Be Always Gifts of Beauty

August 9: Sing of Passions Greater than the Self

August 10: For Every Moment You’re Immersed in Beauty

Sing of Passions Greater than the Self

August 9, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is artistic creativity.

Today’s poem is a number poem about how creative inspiration seems to come from beyond the self.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Sing of passions greater than the self,

Intimations turned to words and music,

X’s on eternity, revealing

The genius of one’s muse, if one would use it,

Yielding to a voice beyond the gulf.

Even so, one is forced to wander

In search of that sweet touch of inspiration,

Grace that does not come without one’s calling,

Hours, days, weeks of fierce frustration,

Then the gift to which one would surrender.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/singo9.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Artistic Creativity

August 7: Songs Lend Thought the Persuasive Force of Beauty

August 8: For You There Will Be Always Gifts of Beauty

August 9: Sing of Passions Greater than the Self