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8/14/2019 20 Poems an Original Compendium of Poetry
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20 Poems
An Original Compendium of PoetryBy Curt Smothers
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All Material contained in this collection is copyright 2010
Permission to use all or part of this collection is given so long as the author is
given credit.
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Table of Contents
1. The Bird From New Delhi ............................................................................................................... 3
2. The American Revolution ............................................................................................................... 5
3. Aging ....................................................................................................................................................... 6
4. Footprints .............................................................................................................................................. 7
5. Last Will ................................................................................................................................................. 8
6. Losing Love ........................................................................................................................................... 9
7. Those We Love Dont Listen........................................................................................................ 10
8. Nights Small Deaths ...................................................................................................................... 11
9. Insane Fire ......................................................................................................................................... 12
10. Walking in Fog ............................................................................................................................... 13
11. Writers Block................................................................................................................................ 14
12. Spring in the Rockies ................................................................................................................... 15
13. Soldiers ............................................................................................................................................. 16
14. Civil War Soldiers ......................................................................................................................... 17
15. Forgiveness ..................................................................................................................................... 18
16. Tunnel Vision ................................................................................................................................. 19
17. Life is .............................................................................................................................................. 20
18. Love Expressed .............................................................................................................................. 21
19. Christmas Shopping ..................................................................................................................... 22
20. When Autumn Leaves ................................................................................................................. 23
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1. The Bird From New Delhi
The parrot was perched in New DelhiOn a sizzling hot summer's day.He said, "Sahib, will you please buy me?"
I was stunned, didn't know what to say.
Said the parrot, "I speak more than one language."Spanish and a bunch of fran-say."Italian, Hindi, Afghani"And a touch of Swahili, they say."
"Why, certainly!" said I, offering rupees(The sale made the shopkeeper's day.)The parrot he preened and he strutted
And accents he mimicked this way:
"Do youse like my accent from Brooklyn"or mah drawl from down neah Savannah?Y yo puedo hablar en la lenguaDe Cuba y La Vieja Habana! *
"But one thing I'll tell you," he confided"Please don't expect me to sing"I never took one singing lesson"I can't carry a tune, that's the thing."
Then he started to sing some PuciniClearly the worst I have heard"Stop, please, and I promise I'll buy you!"But don't sing another harsh word."
Undaunted I went to the FedExAnd boxed up the parrot to send it"You're going to Montana!" I told him."So say nothing 'til your journey is ended."
"My old mother will certainly love you
"You'll fill up her sad, empty time"So be quiet, don't chatter or flutter"Pretend you're a mute and a mime."
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The next week I sent Mom a short e-mail."Say, Mom, did you enjoy the strange bird?""Why, yes, it was simply delicious!"Came back her answer (absurd!).
"Say what?" I wrote back most insulted"You ate that one-of-a-kind bird?"Did you know that it spoke more than one language?"A more shocking thing I never heard!
"Calm down," wrote my mother, "Don't sweat it."The bird arrived practically dead."You shouldn't have shipped it by FedEx"And besides, there was nothing he said
"...to let me know he was so clever
"He never said one single thing!""But it seemed to like mimicking accents"But I cooked it when I heard it sing."
______________________________ _________* And I can speak in the languageOf Cuba and old Havana
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2. The American Revolution
We were those winter soldiers
Who stood in Britain's way"Disperse, ye rebels!" cried the King"You're in the empire's way!"
We stood our ground at LexingtonWho fired that fateful shot?But the lobsterbacks retreatedA battle not forgot!
Defeated at Long IslandWe fought another day
We surprised the Hessian soldiersOn that Trenton Christmas day
We froze in camps at Valley ForgeTwo thousand of us diedBut winter thawed, von Steuben cameHe drilled us 'till we cried.
And then the Brits outflanked usTook Phil-a-del-faye-ayBut we chased them back to old New York
And that is where they'd stay.
Up in SaratogaWe thrashed the British stillThey surrendered all their armyAt the foot of Bemis Hill
And when the Frenchies finally cameWe marched south to old YorktownAnd bottled up CornwallisAnd he threw his weapons down
We Continental soldiersThrew out the British CrownWe gave the gift of libertyAnd rest on freedom's ground
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3. Aging
My stallion days
Are but a hazeReflections of the flesh
Where women knewMy prowess grewRejuvenated, fresh
Alas, with ageBereft, but sageI cannot but remember
Those ladies thinkWith age I shrinkAnd June becomes December
My one-eyed pacedIs now replacedWith longing memories
Of days gone byWhen pleasures, ISometimes returned to rue
My sea-borne daysAnd racy waysAnd women I did sport
Are memories nowMy ship did prowTo life's once-beckoned port
My lusty stallionAnd sea-borne galleon
Now tethered to the dock
Time's rule obeyedI'm now stayedBy the crowing of the clock
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4. Footprints
Tyrannosaurus, mastodon,
You left the stuff that we move on.Fossil fuels of giant truckOur good commerce, your bad luck.
Rubber trees in jungles growYou give your sap so we can goO'er asphalt roads that stretch our sightWith Vulcan's work to commerce bright.
The diesel fumes are memories.The blown tire shards are rubber trees.
The smells and sights of modern timesAre dinosaurs in jungle climes.
18-wheelers come and go.You roll our goods so we can knowThat tyrannosaurus, mastodonLived not in vain but now live on.
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5. Last Will
When I come to die
Don't bury meBut throw my ashTo the ocean sea
Where the wind blows wavesAnd the sea birds screech.And both greetings fallOn some far off beach
Where my daughter sailsAs the white surf churns
From the Gulf Stream flowTo where the monsoon turns
As the ships burn byTo where she wants to beAnd their dark ash throwsTo the ocean sea
Where my daughter looksThat's where I'll beWaving up to her
From the ocean sea.
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6. Losing Love
Losing love
Comes on the backOf time-wrought changeLife's windward tack
To sail the pathOf comforts knownAnd run and hideFrom changes blown
Into our livesThe struggle sneaks
When growth or ageSprouts restless piques
But strong love's strengthIs that we knowTime-wrought changeCan come and sow
And grow lost loveIn stormy climesOur compass
In changing times
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7. Those We Love Dont Listen
Last night I dreamt
I had wing-ed shoesAnd could step into the air
And hover nearBut unobservedTo loved ones in my care
I also hadA hold on timeAnd I could now traverse
So when I sawTheir foolish actsI could put them in reverse
Then I awokeAgain a slaveTo earth and time's dominion
And those I loveStill look up to meAnd value my opinion
Their foolish actsI seek to to stopOccur despite my warning
For every dayOur life beginsWith God's great gift, this morning
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8. Nights Small Deaths
If days are shallow
Then nights are deepWhere we practice deathEach night we sleep
With fits of dreamsWe see a lifeWhere reason fleesReplaced by strife
We toss and turnAnd feel our core
Our world we startTo one day more
To greet the dawnWith sudden feelNight's practiced deathIs somehow real
With day's new sparkAnd caffeine's breathWe jolt our day
Until night's new death
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9. Insane Fire
From ember's sleep I rise and lick
That which is dry and prone to meI smoke and rise to kindling's stickAnd turn to char, to blacken free
That which I consume and change its formAll in my path my own life's fuelI burn and roar with windy stormLascivious bent, unfeeling cruel
To those would stay my windward soundI roar, defy, devour, renounce
For once alive I'm free, unboundI jump, I spark, their efforts trounce
...'Till lack of fuel or water's spoutKills me black and find me deadIn ember's sleep I peer withoutTo rise again and sweep ahead
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10. Walking in Fog
Walking in fog
We grope through our daysNot seeing the signsTo feel through the haze
The fog is unnervingWe lose our own bearingsThat frosty gray coverThose signs red herrings
The point of our journeyIs not to walk straight
Not every road's forkLeads to a gate
Walking in fogWe grope for each otherInside our lost tethersWe're sister and brother
The point of our journeyIs not that we fallBut that for each stumble
The signs we recall
For when the fog liftsFor others behindThose signs that we leaveWill to others remind
That we can't see the futureThe past is not pleasantThe best we can doIs grope through the present
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14. Civil War Soldiers
We are the ghosts of ShilohTwenty thousand of us dead
Some were killedIn the hornets nestSome in the surgeon's bed
Now we fly as eaglesOver lines of blue and grayWe hear the shouts"They're comin' boys!"As dead spirits float our way
The Minnie balls and grape shot
Rake those human ranks so cleanThey fall like wheatBefore the scytheRed fields no longer green
And thousands died at VicksburgAntietam, GettysburgWe fell in drovesAt Marrye's HillMowed down at Fredricksburg
Our bodies lie in unmarked gravesOur families know not whereThey wouldn't know us anywayFor the dirt and worms we share
We are the ghosts of Malvern HillThe war's last battle foughtIf we could have lasted one more weekWe'd share that peace they bought
Looking back to '61
When we gave that warlike shoutThe Rebel Yell and Yankee cryLike our youth is now bled out
Why did we fight our countrymen?We dead can tell you whyBut you know we ain't a tellingTo know you've got to die
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15. Forgiveness
I know about forgiveness
For I have wronged as wellIt's the nature of withholdingThat gives wrongs leave to dwell
As I have asked forgivenessI learned to grant it, tooFor in ways that we touch othersLove's openings are few
We tend to bank forgivenessLike some priceless, hoarded treasure
It's the stuff resentment feeds onSelf-pity's harmful pleasure
I have sought forgivenessOf sins beyond redemptionAnd those who loved me granted itWith love, without exemption
As I withheld forgivenessFor wrongs against me givenI have wallowed in the hatred
Tormented, soul unshriven
When I learned to grant forgivenessI began to see designTo wrong is wholly humanBut forgiveness is divine
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17. Life is
Life is the dust
That came from the sparkThat came from God's sneezeWhen light became dark
The dark roiling soupWith churning flagellaTickled first lifeThough blind a Capella
From single-celled swimmersTo tadpoles in motion
Light's draw to amphibiansWho walked from the ocean
From the first fish who walkedTo the first leaf was eatenTo that link we find missing'Twixt us and God's Eden
Is life in God's Nature?Is Nature in God?Is life just primordial
Like a small clump of sod?
Or is it a gift?To use as we might?If so, whose gift is it?Is it darkness or light?
And when light becomes darknessWhen we relinquish the prizeWill we just sleep forever?Or see through God's Eyes?
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18. Love Expressed
Love expressed
Is love possessedBut never tossed awayBecause to liveIt has to giveTo be alive and stay
Love expressedIs put to testBy every action provedIt must be seenIn its lustrous sheen
Of the very person loved
Love possessedIs love expressedThat grows in its returnAnd in that givingIt still is livingAnd radiates its burn
Love's main testIs love expressed
And given back as pureIt glows and heatsIn measured beatsThe mended heart's own cure
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19. Christmas Shopping
Shoppers we, from both near and far
Seeking gifts from Famous and BarrWallets fleeting, credit cards bleedingFollowing greed's north star
Christmas comes like the snow every yearMerchants quake and talking heads fearThat impending recession will take possessionAnd the red ink will sear
Oh wondrous shoppers, consumers benignWould that your buying could somehow align
Exceed inflation to give our nationThose positive numbers assign
The gifting started in CE minus oneWhen kings and shepherds sought God's only SonThe star that led them nurtured and fed themShining, a sentinel alone
Alas, but those kings from Orient farLeft Pandora's gift box ajarSpoiled children's pleading, income's exceeding
What shallow descendants we are!
Oh, I'd love to see the gift giving goneBinge buying and stress and worrying doneInstead of gift finding, we should be mindingLove's ember bequeathed by that Son
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20. When Autumn Leaves
When autumn leaves
And winter callsIt leaves its leavesIn frigid thralls
Before they freezeThose autumn leavesThey stack and layIn withered sheaves
The winter comesWrapped cold and dread
In crunchy brownAnd orange and red
Splenetic greensOf summer's spewMemories nowIn autumn's hue
From branch to groundThey face the rakeThey lay in piles
Like souls to take
The autumn pyresRelieves the freezeAs denuded branchAnd grieving trees
And rising smokeCatches breezeLike incense fineTo memories
Reminding allThat autumn leavesAnd winter comesTo strip the trees