Family Poems
Father Son And Holy Ghost
by Audre Lorde
I have not ever seen my father's grave.
Not that his judgment eyes
have been forgotten
nor his great hands' print
on our evening doorknobs
one half turn each night
and he would come
drabbled with the world's business
massive and silent
......
Poem
by Elizabeth Bishop
About the size of an old-style dollar bill,
American or Canadian,
mostly the same whites, gray greens, and steel grays
-this little painting (a sketch for a larger one?)
has never earned any money in its life.
Useless and free., it has spent seventy years
as a minor family relic handed along collaterally to owners
who looked at it sometimes, or didn't bother to.
It must be Nova Scotia; only there
......
We Refugees
by Benjamin Zephaniah
I come from a musical place
Where they shoot me for my song
And my brother has been tortured
By my brother in my land.
I come from a beautiful place
Where they hate my shade of skin
They don't like the way I pray
And they ban free poetry.
......
Dysfunctional
by Nathaniel Phillips
Feeling like I’m expendable and mocked if I should say so
Suppress me
Till the silence invites the comfort my honesty interferes with
I’m no one of consequence and faking a sense of belonging
Just a work horse and a lost cause
Cash the checks without the bill of attention
Lost affections left on an unpaid tab
Drink from me till you get your fill
Then tuck me away when I’m just a tool at your convenience
......
The home I grew up in
by Carter Botham
You missed it when you walked in,
The tiles in the bathroom that looked like an ogre,
That had captured my imagination as a child.
You missed that the bottom stair was harder,
The leak in the upstairs bathroom that was neglected and left to the care of a bowl,
Emptied weekly as if this chore was less than fixing it.
You missed the dent in the paint from the arguments,
Doors slammed haphazardly into walls,
The stain on the carpet from way back when,
......
Dysfunctional
by Nathaniel Phillips
Feeling like I’m expendable and mocked if I should say so
Suppress me
Till the silence invites the comfort my honesty interferes with
I’m no one of consequence and faking a sense of belonging
Just a work horse and a lost cause
Cash the checks without the bill of attention
Lost affections left on an unpaid tab
Drink from me till you get your fill
Then tuck me away when I’m just a tool at your convenience
......
Trembling
by Lee-Ann Azzopardi
I'm trembling
The coldness in the house
Isn't the reason
I'm trembling because
I miss yr arms around me
Wiping my tears
As I mourn the loss
You're gone too
There's nothing to say
No one's embrace to keep me warm
......
Memory Revisiting
by Evelyn Judy Buehler
black cherry dusk skies
and moon rose, it was silver
butterfly quivers
the gemmed stars were out
and Mom tending blooms, singing
clematis clinging
jade dragonfly lake
comes again in memory
......
Houthem,waar de tijd zacht zingt
by Mario Odekerken
In 't dal waar Geul haar liedjes vlecht,
ligt houthem,stil en trouw gehecht
aan heuvels,bomen,eeuwen oud,
waar zonlicht gouden dromen houdt.
Een dorp van klokken, traag van gang,
waar ochtendmist de velden lang
omhult in zachte,zilvren glans,
een plek geboren uit balans.
......
De Esdoornlaan
by Mario Odekerken
In Mariadorp ligt een laan,
waar de bomen zich buigen over verhalen
die niemand nog hardop vertelt.
Hier werd mijn moeder geboren,
in een huis waar het ochtendlicht
langs de vensterbank gleed
alsof het haar naam kende.
De zon streek over de rode dakpannen,
......
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Slava P, aka Maximus Decimus Meridius (3 poems about Family)
October 31st, 1970 - Kyiv, Ukraine and since 1992 - New Jersey, USA -
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