Poem of the Week

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Indians? Just Get a Few

October 10, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is indigenous peoples in honor of Indigenous People’s Day, which was celebrated on October 8.

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

A poem for Indigenous People’s Day about how many indigenous tribes lost their land to speculators:

Indians? Just get a few

Drunk and have them sign the thing.

Any Indians will do,

Though of the right tribe. Then you

Take it to court, to me, and bring

The Indians, just a few --

Chiefs this time, if you can -- to view

The words that will their wandering.

Though any Indians will do.

Then some pleas I’ll get you through

Before we turn to exiling

The Indians, just a few

I’ll quickly rule against, then cue

The troops to start the harrowing.

Any Indians will do,

Until they get the message. You

Can start to buy up land by spring.

So get some Indians -- just a few.

Any Indians will do.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/india3.html. For more poems for Indigenous People’s Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Indigenous Peoples

10/8: Indians Are, of Course, Not Indians

10/9: We Have Become an Endangered Species

10/10: Indians? Just Get a Few

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

We Have Become an Endangered Species

October 9, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is indigenous peoples in honor of Indigenous People’s Day, which was celebrated on October 8.

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

A poem for Indigenous People’s Day about Native Americans as an endangered species:

We have become an endangered species

Dying for lack of habitat,

Like lions, like bison, like elephants, wolves,

Restricted to government reservations.

Dying for lack of habitat,

Many have turned from our ancestors’ ways.

Restricted to government reservations,

We cannot travel the road of the seasons.

Many have turned from our ancestors’ ways

And the land that we sprang from like acorns, like berries.

We cannot travel the road of the seasons,

Cut off from its bounty by barbed-wire fences.

The land that we sprang from like acorns, like berries,

Like lions, like bison, like elephants, wolves,

Cut off from its bounty by barbed-wire fences,

We have become an endangered species.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/wehave.html. For more poems for Indigenous People’s Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Indigenous Peoples

10/8: Indians Are, of Course, Not Indians

10/9: We Have Become an Endangered Species

Monday, October 8, 2018

Indians Are, of Course, Not Indians

October 8, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is indigenous peoples in honor of Indigenous People’s Day, which is celebrated today, October 8.

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

A poem for Indigenous People’s Day about the mislabeling of the American indigenous peoples:

Indians are, of course, not Indians.

Nor were they ever Indians.

Denying their identities,

Inventing labels as we please,

Allows, of course, their genocide.

No word is ever innocent.

So names enable fratricide.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/india2.html. For more poems for Indigenous People’s Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Indigenous Peoples

10/8: Indians Are, of Course, Not Indians

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Seventy-Nine3

October 7, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A number poem for a seventy-nine year old about reaching old age:

Seventy-nine – My God! – is almost eighty!

Eventually, I guess, one does get old.

Vistas of the past engage the mind,

Elegies for what lies far behind,

Now interspliced with scenes just barely cold,

The long ago concurrent with the lately,

Years and decades onto one screen scrolled.

Now one’s state of being is more stately,

In movement and in contour more confined.

Nor could one differ, were one so inclined,

Embracing life’s decrees as life unfolds.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Age

10/1: Three

10/2: Eight

10/3: There Is No Moment When One’s Youth Is Over

10/4: Forty-One

10/5: Fifty

10/6: Sixty-One

10/7: Seventy-Nine