Poetry
• Among Them - Hillary
Kaye
• Shady Characters - Laura
Hemmer
• A Cannibal in Venice - Sharon
Shapiro Snow
• American Griots (with
substantial history) - Rebecca LaRue
•
Beyond the Boundaries - Rebecca M.
Frey
• The Great Adventure - Jim
Smith
• Thanksgiving The First - John
Haag
THANKSGIVING THE
FIRST
By John
Haag
The Indians, as we called them,
were always
ready for a party
anyway,
so Thanksgiving suited them as well
as
any other giving. Besides, they
thought
maybe we’d come finally with
our
pigtails loose. Fat chance! The
elders
would see to our decorum; but
any
feast is good for the belly, and
surely
doesn’t hurt the disposition
any.
Even the elders might crack a
smile.
So we communicated with our
savage-
looking brothers (in our own
King’s
English, you may be sure)
generously
embroidered with the native
pantomime.
On the day appointed the
whole tribe
came dolled up in such finery as
we’d
never seen before: eagle
feathers,
bead and bone breast-plates and
brightly
painted robes and tunics whose
colors
were new to
us.
The chiefs
led
a glorious procession followed by
braves
with longbows and multi-colored
arrows.
Of course, the women carried the
goodies
and shepherded the children, shy as
deer,
with sudden, sweet smiles and decked
out
as lavishly as their
elders.
Our
own
elders in their black frock coats and
plain black hats stood still as graven
images as the procession
neared.
I wondered if their excessive
stiffness
were not a touch of shock, either
at
the magnificence of the display or
maybe
the irrefutable dignity of our
savages.
Their war chief stalked
directly to our
leader and without words
broke a
decorated war arrow, tossed the
pieces
with disdain upon the ground, then
held
up crossed forearms in their sign
of
friendship. He then made the gestures
meaning, “Welcome to this land!
We
have waited for your coming, to enrich
our lives. May your children and
ours
live together in the arms of the Great
Spirit.”
Our elders later found
all kinds of
fault with these heathen
sentiments,
but at the time I noticed
eyes
glistening with more than the brisk
weather,
and that evening under the harvest
moon
there were joinings between them and
us
that were not spoken of
afterward.
*************
Among
Them
By Hillary
Kaye
among
them
among the
joyful
among the
heartaches
among the blistering
sun
among the cool
stars
among the remains of
ruin
among the young buoyed by
hope
among the old at
peace
among those losing their
way
among musicians and
songs
among poets and
painters
among
them
liars and
thieves
among them
the polite and the
passionate
the
rich
the
poor
the with
it
and without
it
among
them
all knowingly or unknowingly
sitting on the broken
bodies
carrying on to a chorus of
screams
***********
Shady
Characters
By Laura
Hemmer
(re: The trees on 2nd and 4th
streets in Santa Monica)
Chop them
down
chop them down
Now
They are thugs and
gangsters.
It’s shameful how they hang
out
on the street day and
night.
You can’t even be
downtown
without seeing them
everywhere.
A lot of them have
tattoos
The birds sit in their
branches
just waiting to poop on
the
heads of citizens and
visitors.
It is high time the city
cleared
out this major
blight.
***********
A
CANNIBAL IN VENICE
They came like
locusts
Devouring our homes, our hopes and
our dreams...
They never
stopped
To see our
tears
or hear our
screams.
The cannibals came without
warning...
at
Christmastime,
destroying our sacred
sanctuaries
where we had
lived
and
loved
for many
years.
corporate
greed
was the
seed!
– Sharon Shapiro Snow
***********
American
Griots
(with substantial
history)
By
Rebecca LaRue
God Bless
Alleys
Peaks and
Valleys
Everything I
know
And everything that got me
there.
That is America’s
potential.
To remember the past
And look to the
future
And not deem
anyone
More important then the
other
Yet
still
Make them
both
Worthwhile
Special
Sacred.
************
Beyond
the Boundaries
By Rebecca M.
Frey
I was
impressed
by a young friend
yesterday
She told
me
she wants to
be
an
astro-physicist
she’s very
pretty
not the
kind
one would
think
would use her
brain so
big
for such noble
things.
I saw a child
today
wearing skulls on his
shoes.
It was sad to
see
how society
had
already shaped
him.
Too early to look towards
death.
We met a
couple
pregnant and
ready
to bring a pure new
soul
into this intense
world.
They were giddy with
elation,
brave, no
fear.
Of man’s
creation
or the grave times we're
in.
As artists, we
see
beyond the
boundaries
there are no
colors
but the
rainbow.
The music we
play
is for all
ears,
the tears we
cry
are for all the sisters and
brothers,
and the fears we
have
do to all
apply.
An old
woman
came and asked for
help.
She brought her
son
to translate her
need.
Though their
language
was different from
mine,
their hearts were
good,
they seemed
kind.
Some poor homeless
folks
asked for some
change.
I wish I could give
them
the kind they really
need,
the kind of
change
that abolishes
greed.
I heard a white-washed
snob
spouting off some
blasphemy,
prejudiced against
her
own global
family,
and I have to
wonder,
how long will it
be
before people see
clearly
that there are no
real
boundaries.
************
The
Great Adventure
By Jim
Smith
Someday
soon
I’ll be off on the Great
Adventure.
It’ll probably be over
before it starts
But just imagine
that
one-in-a-million
chance
that we can slip out
of
this mortal
coil.
and sail across the
universe
in the wink of an
eye.
I’ll drop in on the purple
people
on Alpha Leon for a
muscatel.
And sit in the center of a
sun
to warm up on a cold winter
day.
I’ll come back to Venice, sure
enough
and relive it’s history in real
time.
And after that, and just for
fun,
I’ll do handstands on the
back
of a brontosaurus
*************
Posted: Thu - November 1, 2007 at 01:55 PM