Poem of the Week

Thursday, January 31, 2019

Jayaur

January 31, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for Jayaur, who has performed one heroic deed:

Jayaur is the hero of the hour,

A man whose courage equaled the event.

Yet he knows the moment soon will sour

As his sweet celebrity is spent.

Underneath the fame so briefly won

Remains for good the good that he has done.

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/jayaur.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Men

1/28: Riley

1/29: Alistair

1/30: Nathan

1/31: Jayaur

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Nathan

January 30, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for Nathan, a sad child who is very much beloved:

Nathan is a child much beloved

Although too often he seems very sad.

Through all the many things we'll never know,

Hope and love can make a child grow

As tall and green as oak in sunshine clad.

Nor should one's heart from patient faith be moved.

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/nathan.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Men

1/28: Riley

1/29: Alistair

1/30: Nathan

Alistair

January 29, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for Alistair, a man who likes to show off how much he knows:

Alistair exudes sophistication,

Leaning on his learning as though lame.

Intelligence in him is like a curtain,

Shutting off the windows to his heart.

There is with him no chance for conversation,

As though each point were counted in some game.

Intent on winning, prepped and always certain,

Rest assured he'll flaunt his range and art.

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/alista.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Men

1/28: Riley

1/29: Alistair

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Riley

January 28, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for Riley, a boy who is popular with the girls:

Riley is a boy with auburn hair,

Immensely popular with all the girls.

Love comes easily to one whose curls

Entice the hearts that harbor dreams to spare.

Yet Riley will not soon his young heart share.

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/rilely.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Men

1/28: Riley

Melba

January 27, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is nationality and race in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, which this year is celebrated on January 21.

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

A name poem for a multicultural woman:

Melba mixes cultures like bright colors,

Each of which the dappled whole enhances.

Lavish in her love of life, she dances,

Blessed in years, to the tunes of many others,

A wealth of music as the world advances.

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/melba.html. For more poems about race, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/racepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Nationality and Race

1/21: Moses Never Reached the Promised Land

1/22: Love’s a Stream That Knows No Borders

1/23: Love Has Obstacles Enough, They Say

1/24: I’m Married to This Muslim Arab

1/25: Mugabe and Mandela

1/26: Beneath the Canopy of Moon and Stars

1/27: Melba

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Beneath the Canopy of Moon and Stars

January 26, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

A poem about a love between two hostile races:

Beneath the canopy of moon and stars

Two tiny people sit, for now together.

Love binds them, they would like to hope, forever;

But there is much that such a union bars.

Heaven is so vast; the Earth so small,

Yet large enough to stretch a great love thin.

For love to flourish, it must turn within:

To the single soul that unifies us all.

Within this soul the walls of fear dissolve:

Distance, difference, history are no more.

The holy silence stills the sounds of war.

We love as round us miracles revolve.

We know we cannot stay within this shell

Of heaven. We must live back down below.

Day by every day the world we know

Will guarantee we recognize it well.

Yet there are truths far greater than the sun,

Beyond the blanket blue of every day.

In love's dark longings, we will find a way

To make our separate, hostile races one.

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/beneat.html. For more poems about race, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/racepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Nationality and Race

1/21: Moses Never Reached the Promised Land

1/22: Love’s a Stream That Knows No Borders

1/23: Love Has Obstacles Enough, They Say

1/24: I’m Married to This Muslim Arab

1/25: Mugabe and Mandela

1/26: Beneath the Canopy of Moon and Stars

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Mugabe and Mandela

January 25, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

A poem contrasting the ways in which two newly-liberated African countries treated their white minorities:

Mugabe and Mandela,

Two strategies for change:

One would whites include;

One would whites estrange.

Murder begets murder;

White murder begets black.

Once one goes for blood,

There's no exit back.

Power unrestrained

By wisdom, love, or law

Leads to even greater

Horrors than before.

Yet letting whites retain

The property they stole

Leaves blacks still dispossessed,

Though equal at the poll.

For wealth is ever power,

Wont to have its way

With those of any color

Who happen to hold sway.

And so the pot still boils

With anger finely honed.

Was violence avoided?

Or was it just postponed?

Mugabe and Mandela,

Two ways to found a state:

One through storms still sailing;

The other drowned in hate.

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/mugabe.html. For more poems about race, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/racepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Nationality and Race

1/21: Moses Never Reached the Promised Land

1/22: Love’s a Stream That Knows No Borders

1/23: Love Has Obstacles Enough, They Say

1/24: I’m Married to This Muslim Arab

1/25: Mugabe and Mandela