Trees About to Bloom, in Bloom, Full-Leaved

November 23, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Thanksgiving, which is celebrated today, November 23.

Today’s poem is a Thanksgiving poem with a list of things to be thankful for.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Trees about to bloom, in bloom, full-leaved;

Harrowing escapes, fresh plums and pears;

A cold, gray afternoon, a son long grieved;

Nearing home, the last long flight of stairs;

Kindnesses returned, a glimpse of breast;

Scent of lilac, hunger, tell-tale pain;

Gifts one cannot use, a playful pest;

Illnesses one would not wish again;

Victories, defeats, the urge to dance;

Imitation whipped cream, the real thing;

New thoughts, a lingering death, a brief romance;

Grace to love whatever life may bring.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving

November 20: The Gift of Being Cannot Be a Given

November 21: Tides Return the Favors They Have Taken

November 22: To Thank You Is a Gift One Gives Oneself

November 23: Trees About to Bloom, in Bloom, Full-Leaved

To Thank You Is a Gift One Gives Oneself

November 22, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on November 23.

Today’s poem is a Thanksgiving poem about how gratitude is a gift one gives oneself.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

To thank You is a gift one gives oneself,

Having felt the fullness of one's being.

As You might--or not--be listening,

None knows more than his own gratitude.

Knowledge is beside the point, the gulf

So wide between us there's no hope of seeing.

Gifts require givers, so one sings

In thanks that in oneself some grace might move.

Vast quantities of thanks lie on the shelf

In wait for some fresh faith that might be freeing.

Nor ought one wait for one's own Angelus bell,

Giving one an object for one's love.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving

November 20: The Gift of Being Cannot Be a Given

November 21: Tides Return the Favors They Have Taken

November 22: To Thank You Is a Gift One Gives Oneself

Tides Return the Favors They Have Taken

November 21, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on November 23.

Today’s poem is a Thanksgiving poem about getting more we give.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Tides return the favors they have taken,

Having had sufficient time to turn.

All enjoy more riches than they earn,

Nor need surrender what they have forsaken.

Kindness, like a candle caught in mirrors,

Sees itself in infinite regress,

Giving that keeps giving its largesse,

Imitating what it has been given.

Vast and bountiful, creation shimmers,

Intimate in ways we cannot know.

Nor do we fail to glean more than we sow,

Granted light that glows down to its embers.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving

November 20: The Gift of Being Cannot Be a Given

November 21: Tides Return the Favors They Have Taken

The Gift of Being Cannot Be a Given

November 20, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on November 23.

Today’s poem is a Thanksgiving poem about the implausible experience of free will.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The gift of being cannot be a given:

How many trillion accidents made me?

And yet it seems no accident to be,

Nor seem I less the driver than the driven.

Knowledge cannot penetrate my freedom,

So absolute it seems I am that am.

God may or not exist; I must command

In practice, day-to-day, my tiny me-dom.

Very rarely what to us might seem,

Is what it is: a glimpse of greater glory.

Nor can I be the author of my story,

Graced to witness truths beyond my dreams.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/thegi2.html. For more Thanksgiving poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thanksgivingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving

November 20: The Gift of Being Cannot Be a Given

First Love Is like Playing with Fire

November 19, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is for a first love long gone.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

First love is like playing with fire:

Aglow with pain and glory.

Tell me, my dear first love,

Whether I'm burned into your heart.

The fire in your body,

The glory of your touch:

Ah! my dear first love,

Never, never leave my heart!

Although the fire is distant,

The pain is always near.

My dear first love, please listen:

I hold you in my heart.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Love

November 13: All I Ever Wanted Is in You

November 14: Before You, I Was Just Hanging Out

November 15: Chris and I Went Out Awhile Back

November 16: Do Not Doubt I Love You

November 17: Do You Want Me? What’s the Matter?

November 18: Even Though We Fight a Lot, I Love You

November 19: First Love Is like Playing with Fire

Even Though We Fight a Lot, I Love You

November 18, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is an I’m-sorry love poem about fighting and controlling.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Even though we fight a lot, I love you.

We fight, I think, because the stakes are high.

I sometimes get so mad I cannot stand you,

But underneath my anger I could cry.

I have an uncontrolled need to control you,

To be your only destiny and guide.

I know it isn't fair to try to mold you,

But my poor love's entangled in my pride.

Ah, love! Please love me even in my fury,

Which rises like a tide beneath the moon.

I plead before my only judge and jury:

I want to change, but know change won't come soon.

Love finds it hard to let the loved one be

The person who is loved so passionately.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/event3.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Love

November 13: All I Ever Wanted Is in You

November 14: Before You, I Was Just Hanging Out

November 15: Chris and I Went Out Awhile Back

November 16: Do Not Doubt I Love You

November 17: Do You Want Me? What’s the Matter?

November 18: Even Though We Fight a Lot, I Love You

Do You Want Me? What's the Matter?

November 17, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is from girl to boy about the hypocrisy of wanting both freedom and possession.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Do you want me? What's the matter?

You're afraid some door will close?

You want the scent without the rose?

The moans of love without the chatter?

You think our love might be a tomb,

The only exit through my pain?

You'd rather put things off again

To give your fantasies some room?

You think: she's great, but in a while

I might get bored? Or something better,

Filling out a tighter sweater,

Might flash me a quick come-on smile?

You don't want to be tied just yet

To just one future, just one kiss?

You think about all that you might miss

And hold out for a better bet?

Well, fine! But then why do you haunt

Me like a jackal night and day?

Why, when my interest seems to stray,

Are you so sure of what you want?

Why, when I dare so much as laugh

At some guy's jokes, you go ballistic,

Nasty, borderline sadistic,

As if somebody touched your stuff?

And yet when I hook on to you,

You will not let yourself be mine,

Take out your fears and draw a line

Between what you and I can do?

But freedom must be mutual,

And it takes two for one embrace.

You can't both love and freedom chase,

Unless you would adore a fool.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Love

November 13: All I Ever Wanted Is in You

November 14: Before You, I Was Just Hanging Out

November 15: Chris and I Went Out Awhile Back

November 16: Do Not Doubt I Love You

November 17: Do You Want Me? What’s the Matter?