Maybe More than Love Was Needed

January 16, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, which was celebrated on January 15^th.

In today’s poem, Martin Luther King, Jr., reflects on what he was unable to accomplish.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe more than love was needed.

All my love was not enough.

Reason is but rarely heeded.

Talk means little at the trough.

Icons look good on the wall.

Nothing changes but the names.

Love is merely protocol.

Undiluted fear remains.

The life is fast, the changes slow.

Hope must be its own reward.

Eventually, the undertow

Returns, returns towards times untoward.

Kings build castles in the sand.

Infinity awaits the tide.

None can settle on the strand.

Grace must live with fratricide.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/maybem.html. For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday

January 15: Maybe It’s a Little Strange that I

January 16: Maybe More than Love Was Needed

Maybe It's a Little Strange that I

January 15, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, which is celebrated today, January 15^th.

In today’s poem, Martin Luther King, Jr., wonders why his birthday is still celebrated and not Washington’s or Lincoln’s.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe it's a little strange that I

Am now the only one whose day of birth

Remains a holiday. I don't know why

That honor should be mine alone. My worth

Is certainly no more than Washington's,

Nor do I more than Lincoln days deserve.

Let me then suggest a change: Once

Unmoored from my name, let the holiday serve

To honor not the person but the cause,

Healing racial wounds, pursuing justice,

Examining the morals of our mores,

Revisiting the pain of prejudice.

Kings require homage; this king would

Instead be an occasion for remembrance:

Not of me, but of all who fought for good,

Giving “Freedom Day” its proper sense.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/maybe9.html. For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday

January 15: Maybe It’s a Little Strange that I

There Is No Greater Passion than for Beauty2

January 14, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is for a singer/songwriter.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is no greater passion than for beauty --

Ecstasy distilled into a song --

Nor calling more exquisite than the duty

To make our own the truths for which we long.

Here's to you, then! And for what you've done

To be the muse who mirrors well our hearts,

Restoring the lone many to the one

Common love that underlies all arts.

O love of being, bearer of our pain!

Well might we praise the gardeners who bring

Our passions into bloom, that we again

Might hear the sunlit bird within us sing.

Long may you ply what practices you've learned,

Profiting all by artistry you've earned.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/ther27.html. For more poems about professions, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Performing Arts

January 8: Feelings Are Not Easily Counterfeited

January 9: Actors Wear a Special Mask

January 10: So You Want to Make Your Living in the Theater

January 11: Hrithik

January 12: Charles

January 13: For You, Life Has Its Own Internal Music

January 14: There Is No Greater Passion than for Beauty

For You, Life Has Its Own Internal Music

January 13, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a number poem about a composer’s inner music.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

For you, life has its own internal music,

One symphony with many variations.

Remember, then, to listen and to hear

The melody, resistant to notation,

Yearning with such grace you can’t refuse it.

Emotions are its subtly blended colors,

Intended to be more than you can bear,

Glory draped in pain, delight in fear.

How beautiful! Too delicate to share,

Though bits and pieces may be heard by others.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/foryo8.html. For more poems about professions, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Performing Arts

January 8: Feelings Are Not Easily Counterfeited

January 9: Actors Wear a Special Mask

January 10: So You Want to Make Your Living in the Theater

January 11: Hrithik

January 12: Charles

January 13: For You, Life Has Its Own Internal Music

Charles

January 12, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a humorous, philosophical name poem about the common error of thinking you are in control.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Charles undoes his silver studs.

He then rolls up his sleeves

And waves his arms as honking swans

Rejoice at his decrees.

Long may he wave, the swamp frogs rave,

Each joining in the din,

Singing just for him!

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Performing Arts

January 8: Feelings Are Not Easily Counterfeited

January 9: Actors Wear a Special Mask

January 10: So You Want to Make Your Living in the Theater

January 11: Hrithik

January 12: Charles

Hrithik

January 11, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a name poem for a superstar.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hrithik lives inside a superstar,

Resolutely relishing his role.

Intensity pours out from every pore,

The screaming fans demanding ever more.

Habit turns charisma into gold.

In every moment Hrithik plants a bar,

Knowing well what goods ought not be sold.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Performing Arts

January 8: Feelings Are Not Easily Counterfeited

January 9: Actors Wear a Special Mask

January 10: So You Want to Make Your Living in the Theater

January 11: Hrithik

So You Want to Make Your Living in the Theater

January 10, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a Hanukkah and name poem about making one’s living in the theater.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

So you want to make your living in the theater!

Easier to burn without oil for eight days!

The point of Hanukkah is that God has his ways.

However ...

And what kind of miracle are you looking for, anyway?

No miracle is going to give you back your life:

Days of dreams, days and nights of despair, years and years

and years of hope...

Living at the heart of creation;

Of all the dry movement, flakes of dead talk,

Retakes, rituals, favors for the files,

Rendering one perfect, sparkling scream ...

A miracle takes a lot of rehearsal.

In between, one works and wonders, wonders and counts the days.

Nodding from exhaustion, one says yes, yes, yes,

Even this, yes, even this ...

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Performing Arts

January 8: Feelings Are Not Easily Counterfeited

January 9: Actors Wear a Special Mask

January 10: So You Want to Make Your Living in the Theater