Society is You and Me

August 24, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

I was away from August 7^th to August 19^th, so for this theme the poems have been divided as follows: The first two poems appeared on August 5^th and 6^th; the last five poems will appear from August 21^st through August 25^th. The theme for this divided week is social issues

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

A philosophical number poem about the communal nature of the self:

Society is you and me.

Everyone's a piece of they.

Very much of what we do

Ends up as words that others say.

No I exists except as we,

Though he and she are part of you;

Each pronoun's only partly true,

Each life becomes another's way.

No one alone can simply be.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/societ.html. For more poems about social issues, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/issuespoems.html .

This week’s theme: Social Issues

8/5: Bullies Like to Pulverize Their Pain

8/6: Cheating Is a Crime Against Oneself

8/21: More Pain Cannot Be Wrung from Those Who Wait

8/22: You Did Not Merely Die, but You Were Murdered

8/23: Raping Me Was Fun for Him

8/24: Society Is You and Me

Raping Me Was Fun for Him

August 23, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

I was away from August 7^th to August 19^th, so for this theme the poems have been divided as follows: The first two poems appeared on August 5^th and 6^th; the last five poems will appear from August 21^st through August 25^th. The theme for this divided week is social issues

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

A poem about rape:

Raping me was fun for him.

After, he asked me how I liked it.

Perhaps he already lived in a cell,

Ex-communicated, soul-deaf.

I told him and he laughed, stroked me.

So? He was boss. On top.

A woman wanted that, no?

Crying, crying, I said nothing.

Rape was a wound across my sky.

I saw blackness beyond the blue.

My life was twisted, like those girders

Earthquakes throw brutally to the ground.

After such helplessness, what hope?

Going on with my life in blackness,

A black sky, black rage in my heart,

In my mind an endless blackness,

Nothing within me but blackness

Screamed at the boy no longer there,

The screams like walls I took with me,

The walls of screams protecting me,

How could I love without seeing?

Even so, the light pierced me,

Shattering the cell of fury,

Opening my heart again

Under a new sun, once more

Laughing in the chill of fear.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/raping.html. For more poems about social issues, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/issuespoems.html .

This week’s theme: Social Issues

8/5: Bullies Like to Pulverize Their Pain

8/6: Cheating Is a Crime Against Oneself

8/21: More Pain Cannot Be Wrung from Those Who Wait

8/22: You Did Not Merely Die, but You Were Murdered

8/23: Raping Me Was Fun for Him

You Did Not Merely Die, but You Were Murdered

August 22, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

I was away from August 7^th to August 19^th, so for this theme the poems have been divided as follows: The first two poems appeared on August 5^th and 6^th; the last five poems will appear from August 21^st through August 25^th. The theme for this divided week is social issues

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

A poem about the emotional aftermath of murder:

You did not merely die, but you were murdered,

And so my anger magnifies my grief.

Love and hate are clean and filthy water

Spilling through my veins like hell unleashed.

I would but mourn, but vengeance clouds my sorrow;

I would but kill, but love finds there no peace;

I would but weep, but weeping is a river

That flows with vast intention to the sea.

I must, I must confess that I have lost you,

And find a place to plant my plucked-out love,

And look to justice, not revenge, to free you

To dance again with joy where you still live.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/youdid.html. For more poems about social issues, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/issuespoems.html .

This week’s theme: Social Issues

8/5: Bullies Like to Pulverize Their Pain

8/6: Cheating Is a Crime Against Oneself

8/21: More Pain Cannot Be Wrung from Those Who Wait

8/22: You Did Not Merely Die, but You Were Murdered

More Pain Cannot Be Wrung from Those Who Wait

August 21, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

I was away from August 7^th to August 19^th, so for this theme the poems have been divided as follows: The first two poems appeared on August 5^th and 6^th; the last five poems will appear from August 21^st through August 25^th. The theme for this divided week is social issues.

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

A poem about missing persons:

More pain cannot be wrung from those who wait

In fear and hope of both the worst and best.

Some day, perhaps, their hearts might find some rest,

Sure in grief or joy of their clear fate.

In the meantime, time is agony;

No second passes but impatiently,

Given the cruel passions of their state.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/morepa.html. For more poems about social issues, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/issuespoems.html .

This week’s theme: Social Issues

8/5: Bullies Like to Pulverize Their Pain

8/6: Cheating Is a Crime Against Oneself

8/21: More Pain Cannot Be Wrung from Those Who Wait

Cheating Is a Crime Against Oneself

August 6, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

I will be away from August 7^th to August 19^th, so for this theme the poems will be divided as follows: The first two poems will appear on August 5^th and 6^th; the last five poems will appear from August 21^st through August 25^th. The theme for this divided week is social issues.

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

A poem about cheating:

Cheating is a crime against oneself,

Hardening the insufficient heart.

Each finds in lies an easy path to pleasure,

Abandoning the way that leads to joy.

The choice is ever open, but the gulf

Increases as the actor plays his part.

No one who cheats can cherish long his treasure,

Given what of self-love lies destroy.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/cheat.html. For more poems about social issues, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/issuespoems.html .

This week’s theme: Social Issues

8/5: Bullies Like to Pulverize Their Pain

8/6: Cheating Is a Crime Against Oneself

Bullies Like to Pulverize Their Pain

August 5, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

I will be away from August 7^th to August 19^th, so for this theme the poems will be divided as follows: The first two poems will appear on August 5^th and 6^th; the last five poems will appear from August 21^st through August 25^th. The theme for this divided week is social issues.

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

A poem about bullying:

Bullies like to pulverize their pain,

Unleashing torrents of humiliation,

Lost in a cruel lust they can’t restrain,

Longing for elusive admiration,

In vicarious hells of their creation

Even as they strike again, again,

Stripped of all but fear of isolation.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/bullie.html. For more poems about social issues, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/issuespoems.html .

This week’s theme: Social Issues

8/5: Bullies Like to Pulverize Their Pain

Somewhere There Are Seraphim

August 4, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem locating seraphim in the human heart:

Somewhere there are seraphim

Singing night and day

Ecstatically, eternally,

In their seraphic way.

Somewhere there are seraphim

Singing songs of praise

To God, Who sits upon His throne

In glory as they gaze.

Somewhere there are seraphim,

Trillions, quintillions strong,

A masterful mass madrigal

Arising from the throng.

Somewhere there are seraphim

Singing each its part.

Where? Why here! Can't you hear?

Deep within the heart.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/somewh.html. For more poems about angels, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/angelpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Angels

7/29: Angels Are Quite Confident

7/30: Even Angels Feel the Pangs of Love

7/31: Even Angels Tire of Ecstasy

8/1: Grateful Angels Sing at Heaven’s Gates

8/2: Here There Are No Angels of Despair

8/3: Lest Angels Prove Too Poignant in Their Pity

8/4: Somewhere There Are Seraphim