Poem inspired by current events, being 63, and Stephen Stills’ song, “Singin’ Call.”
(be back later!!) Ciao
“Help me sweet Jesus, I’m weary from the journey,
I need to tell my brother what I saw…” — Stephen Stills 2, Singin’ Call.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
I need to tell my brother what I saw
July 16, 2017highway haiku
December 18, 2016Driving into Savannah Fri. night, we saw many downed trees that were lying sideways, the tops of them near the highway, as if reaching towards us. They would suddenly appear, whitish-gray trunks of trees against the night, and I wrote this haiku:
Skeletons of trees,
Arms are reaching out to us,
Hurricane remnants.
Fruitcake haiku
December 4, 2016He stirs the batter,
Makes fruitcakes with Great-Grandma,
Building memories.
(This Thanksgiving break, Zakiah our grandson helped AL’s mom make her annual fruitcakes she gives out to all the families. She makes chocolate ones, apricot, ones with white and what flour. She is too weak now to make them by herself and use the electric mixer. Zakiah, age 10, did that and built a relationship with her.)
End of semester
December 3, 2016I sit, at my desk,
after 10 hours’ sleep
where I tossed and turned all night,
my body, settling,
my brain, active,
thoughts of my students raging aloud,
The morning sun streaming,
my coffee, strong,
it comforts me as I take it in,
For the end of a race,
you must save energy
for the final sprint, where you give it all,
Knowing this balance makes all the difference
and determines who wins the race,
My final sprint is a thousand emails,
a hundred papers to grade,
Notebooks filled with assignments
from anxious students on the last day,
… but a crisp, Fall morning beckons
for a leisurely walk around
my favorite park, with trees still standing,
as their beauty falls to the ground.
cfblack, 12-03-2016
Sounds of highway traffic
November 28, 2016I can hear sounds of highway traffic from our front yard. It has become louder as the trees lose their foilage, but it somehow doesn’t bother me. It reminds me that I am home and not out on that highway.
Sounds of highway traffic,
Trucks are rolling swiftly past,
I am safe at home.
cfblack, 11-28-2016
Hotel haiku
November 25, 2016Half conversations
People coming and going
Waffles for breakfast.
Noise
November 16, 2016Noise, I hear noise,
like shattered glass,
I turn on the news,
and hear his name,
his voice saying words
I want to forget,
now enshrined, historic,
their hateful tones repeated,
turn all our frustration into hate for each other,
And I want to tell my daughters
they are never second best,
and my granddaughters, to never let
their hearts be afraid,
I want to tell the people
that our power lies together,
as one voice, rolling down
like a mighty stream,
They will play upon our fears,
they will break up and divide us,
they will plunder what is left
of the beauty of the earth,
for as long as we are blinded,
they will rake up the profits,
and leave us all to fight
for little scraps they leave us,
We need to build connections,
coalitions and alliance
Not another Berlin wall
to separate and divide us,
Holding hands in a vice grip,
supporting one another,
Our fears can never be
what makes us whole,
The earth is one country,
and mankind its citizens,
We are leaves of one branch,
Different flowers of one garden.
cfblack 11-16-2016
The Sun
November 7, 2016This little haiku occurred to me this morning while driving to work at 7:30am:
The Sun pierces night
everywhere sends beams of light
at the horizon.
cfblack, 11-07-2016
South Carolina Hurricane haiku’s
October 8, 2016The wind never stops,
It blows like a fan on high
With no off button.
South Carolina–
Cockroach strolls across the floor
to escape the flood.
His joy is short-lived,
Unfortunately for him,
he has met his match.
— cfblack, 10-08-2016
You have to live in the south to understand the last two.
Matthew Haiku’s
October 8, 2016Unable to sleep
steady blowing of the wind
Matthew overhead.
800 lost souls
mixed with salty ocean waves
swept up to the sky. *
Swirling with the wind
They have traveled many miles
looking for their home.
I have never heard
winds of rain and hurricane
knocking at my door.
It is hard to sleep
knowing a tree may enter
through my bedroom wall.
cfblack 10-08-2016, 4am
* More than 800 died of this hurricane in Haiti this past week. It struck me that this same wind was now above my house, still dropping rain. Some of it may have been ocean drops from Haiti.
Doctor Grandma 