George Does Not Admit to Telling Lies

February 19, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics in honor of Presidents Day, which this year is celebrated on February 15.

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

A name poem for George Washington’s Birthday about the myth that he never told a lie:

George does not admit to telling lies,
Even though he tells them every day.
One lives in a perpetual disguise,
Reduced to a self-marketed display.
Great men wear life well, for they are wise
Enough to know the things that none need say.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/georg2.html. For more poems for Presidents Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics.
February 15: President’s Day? Presidents’ Day? Or Presidents Day?
February 16: What Might Make a Person Want to Lead
February 17: Praised Be Those Who Would Distribute Power
February 18: Andrew Was a Soldier of the Faith
February 19: George Does Not Admit to Telling Lies

Andrew Was a Soldier of the Faith

February 18, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics in honor of Presidents Day, which this year is celebrated on February 15.

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

A political name poem about someone who was blinded by a political ideology and now regrets it:

Andrew was a soldier of the faith:
No one was more loyal or more true.
Despite the hard, rich texture of illusion,
Reality insisted on confusion,
Eviscerating much that Andrew knew.
What remains stalks him like a wraith.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/andrew.html. For more poems about politics, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics.
February 15: President’s Day? Presidents’ Day? Or Presidents Day?
February 16: What Might Make a Person Want to Lead
February 17: Praised Be Those Who Would Distribute Power
February 18: Andrew Was a Soldier of the Faith

Praised Be Those Who Would Distribute Power

February 17, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics in honor of Presidents Day, which this year is celebrated on February 15.

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

A political poem for Presidents Day about the virtues of the separation of powers:

Praised be those who would distribute power,
Reconciled to bickering and waste,
Enduring, even in the darkest hour,
Such hacks as pander to the popular taste.
In such a system, life can be frustrating,
Demanding patient tolerance to rule.
Everyone has blessings worth berating,
Nor need one much at stake to be a fool.
The president is forced to be a leader
Since all are free to follow or oppose;
'Mid maelstroms, both captain and conceder,
Deftly tacking when a headwind blows.
All know divided power leads to strife,
Yet few would yield to one vain will their life.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/praise4.html. For more poems for Presidents Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics.
February 15: President’s Day? Presidents’ Day? Or Presidents Day?
February 16: What Might Make a Person Want to Lead
February 17: Praised Be Those Who Would Distribute Power

What Might Make a Person Want to Lead

February 16, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics in honor of Presidents Day, which this year is celebrated on February 15.

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

A political poem for Presidents Day on the motivations and dangers of pursuing political power:

What might make a person want to lead,
To bear the brutal burden of a state?
Power is for some a noble need
That only shaping history can sate.
One wishes to do good, but on what scale?
The wounded world lies heavy on one's heart.
One's gaudiest ambitions tend to pale
Upon the stage on which one plays one's part.
So there are just a few who would ascend
To where one's choices change the way things are,
And over many years to one's will bend
The iron bolts that one's bright visions bar.
And yet such power corrupts, unless one sees
The need to search one's soul upon on one's knees.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/whatmi.html. For more poems for Presidents Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics.
February 15: President’s Day? Presidents’ Day? Or Presidents Day?
February 16: What Might Make a Person Want to Lead

President's Day? Presidents' Day? Or Presidents Day?

February 15, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics in honor of Presidents Day, which this year is celebrated on February 15.

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

A poem for Presidents Day on how to spell the holiday’s name:

President's Day? Presidents' Day? Or Presidents Day?
Regarding spelling, what's the difference?
Even apostrophes must have their say,
Subtly shading each rendition's sense.
In the first, Washington alone
Deserves the day, the only president
Every state has honored on its own.
Nor does the change of name change what is meant.*
The second rendition suggests that Lincoln, too,
Should share the honor, combining holidays
'Tween their birthdays, giving both their due,
Depending on which state such honor pays.
All presidents, too, the second could convey,
Yet the third one must be read that way.

*Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays used to be celebrated separately, though not all states recognized Lincoln's Birthday as a holiday.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presid.html. For more poems for Presidents Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Politics.
February 15: President’s Day? Presidents’ Day? Or Presidents Day?

A Valentine Is Nothing Like

February 14, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Valentine’s Day, which is celebrated on February 14.

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

A Valentine’s Day poem about what a Valentine is, and is not, like:

A Valentine is nothing like
A chocolate or a rose.
For in a week these shall be gone,
But Valentines remain.

If love were always sweet to tongue
Or fragrant to the nose,
Each day would be like Valentine's,
And we would go insane.

A Valentine just hangs around
Waiting to be kissed
Long after special days have passed
And every days are here.

So one is wise to choose one well
And chocolates to resist.
For in the midst of mania
It's nice to have one near.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/avalen.html. For more Valentine’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/valentinesdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Valentine’s Day.
February 8: Hunger Is an Organ Tone
February 9: Although Our Love Is Over, It Remains
February 10: Be with Us in the Circle of Our Love
February 11: Blessed Are Those Who Cherish Well Their Loves
February 12: Carrie Is My Valentine
February 13: From a Secret Admirer
February 14: A Valentine Is Nothing Like

From a Secret Admirer

February 13, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Valentine’s Day, which is celebrated on February 14.

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

A Valentine’s Day poem from a secret admirer that is a humorous version of a much more famous poem:

From a Secret Admirer

(After Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”)

Whose gift this is you cannot know.
My heart is in your keeping though.
You will not mind my writing here
To tell you that I love you so.

I know that you must think it queer
For me to love and not come near
But linger by some frozen lake
This most romantic time of year.

I sometimes give my head a shake
And ask if there is some mistake.
It's lonely out here 'mid the sweep
Of bitter wind and icy flake.

My love for you is dark and deep,
But it's a promise I will keep
As from afar I watch and weep,
As from afar I watch and weep.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/frost.html. For more Valentine’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/valentinesdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Valentine’s Day.
February 8: Hunger Is an Organ Tone
February 9: Although Our Love Is Over, It Remains
February 10: Be with Us in the Circle of Our Love
February 11: Blessed Are Those Who Cherish Well Their Loves
February 12: Carrie Is My Valentine
February 13: From a Secret Admirer