Work Poems
Woman Work
by Maya Angelou
I've got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor to mop
The food to shop
Then the chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I got company to feed
The garden to weed
I've got shirts to press
The tots to dress
......
Radio, Radio
by Ben Doyle
In the middle of every field,
obscured from the side by grass
or cornhusks, is a clearing where
she works burying swans alive
into the black earth. She only
buries their bodies, their wings.
She packs the dirt tight around
their noodle necks & they shake
like long eyelashes in a hurricane.
She makes me feed them by hand
......
Meditations Upon A Candle
by John Bunyan
Man's like a candle in a candlestick,
Made up of tallow and a little wick;
And as the candle when it is not lighted,
So is he who is in his sins benighted.
Nor can a man his soul with grace inspire,
More than can candles set themselves on fire.
Candles receive their light from what they are not;
Men grace from Him for whom at first they care not.
We manage candles when they take the fire;
God men, when he with grace doth them inspire.
......
Palme
by Paul Valéry
Veiling, barely, his dread
Beauty and its blaze,
An angel sets warm bread
and cool milk at my place.
His eyelids make the sign
Of prayer; I lower mine,
Words interleaving vision:
--Calm, calm, be ever calm!
Feel the whole weight a palm
Bears upright in profusion.
......
Four Songs Of Four Seasons
by Algernon Charl Swinburne
I. WINTER IN NORTHUMBERLAND
OUTSIDE the garden
The wet skies harden;
The gates are barred on
The summer side:
"Shut out the flower-time,
Sunbeam and shower-time;
Make way for our time,"
Wild winds have cried.
Green once and cheery,
......
The Robbery
by Lee-Ann Azzopardi
When you held the flashlight to my face
I was blinded wondering
What the Hell!
Trying to get yr loot--Ha!
But all I wanted was my pay
So, I can get the hell out of here
The Goodbye Days
by Evelyn Judy Buehler
Lisa Clark and husband, Joe, lived alone, like heavy, pink morning mist, pausing.
They were friends with the Coles next door, like noon sun on shadows, accosting.
The families were seen together often, like amethyst stars, amassed in clusters;
And the Cole's sons would play, until obsidian darkness, closed its cool shutters.
Lisa had gotten a new whistling teapot, a sweet birthday gift from dear sister;
So pretty with flowers! It took on a life of its own, whistling fading to whisper.
The young families loved backyard cookouts, like blooms by the friendly fence;
......
The Miners' Psalm
by Darris van-Hoxen
Let it be known:
On this ground, soil beneath our feet,
we stand brightly—
unshaped by mana, unburdened by darkness.
Gavreck speaks, unadorned and unmolded,
no bearer of lowly wreaths,
or one whose legs bent to adversary,
Rather with, rending and sending.
......
Sweet Sorrow
by Evelyn Judy Buehler
Bonnie Brown was in love with Charles, like black pearl clings to night,
So young and engaged to be married, like myriad stars, shining white.
They were active professionals, dwelling in a charming, bustling town;
As warbling charms orange noon, after pink mist clears, with no sound.
They had dreams of future and a family, like purple nights of fantasy;
And they were already making plans, like butterflies flitting frantically.
Fellowship of friends made fabulous Fridays, when they met after hours,
......
Bridging the Gap
by Evelyn Judy Buehler
Mary Fletcher was prime minister in olde England, like fondest memory,
Of days when the twilight stood still, with silver moon, floating on sea.
Mary Fletcher was capable and caring, to the country's great benefit;
Like spring rains of green benevolence, trailing the fragrant evidence.
Andrew was Mary's loving husband. Their lives were so happy together!
Like allurng, violet future, that recalls moments in lush, green heather.
Scarlet summer was all in a fever, as faceted friends called, flustered;
......
