The Poetry Playground

The Blessing

Barefoot daringto walk
amidthe thrashing eye-glitterof what remains
when the tideretreatswe ask ourselveswhy did it matterso muchto have the lastword?Or anyword?
Here, please–take what remains,
It is yours.
~ Joyce Carol Oates

Come. And Be My Baby
The highway is full of big carsgoing nowhere fastAnd folks is smoking anything that’ll burnSome people wrap their lives around a cocktail glassAnd you sit wonderingwhere you’re going to turn.I got it.Come. And be my baby.
Some prophets say the world is gonna end tomorrowBut others say we’ve got a week or twoThe paper is full of every kind of blooming horrorAnd you sit wonderingWhat you’re gonna do.I got it.Come. And be my baby.
~ Maya Angelou

Poems
I am hardly ever ableto sort through my memoriesand come away wholeor untroubled.It is difficultto sift through the stones,the weighty moments and knowwhich is rare gem,which raw coal,which worthless shale or slate.So, one by one,I drag them across the pageand when one cuts into the white,leaves a trail of blood,no matter how narrow the stream,then I knowI’ve found the real thing,the diamond,one of the priceless gemsmy pain produced.”There! There,” I say,”is a memory worth keeping.”
~ Nikki Grimes

Being Boring
“May you live in interesting times.”           – Chinese Curse
If you ask me “What’s new?”, I have nothing to sayExcept that the garden is growing.I had a slight cold but it’s better today.I’m content with the way things are going.Yes, he is the same as he usually is.Still eating and sleeping and snoring.I get on with my work. He gets on with his.I know this is all very boring.
There was drama enough in my turbulent past:Tears and passion — I’ve used up a tankful.No news is good news, and long may it last,If nothing much happens, I’m thankful.A happier cabbage you never did see,My vegetable spirits are soaring.If you’re after excitement, steer well clear of me.I want to go on being boring.
I don’t go to parties. Well, what are they for,If you don’t need to find a new lover?You drink and you listen and drink a bit moreAnd you take the next day to recover.Someone to stay home with was all my desireAnd, now I’ve found a safe mooring,I’ve just one ambition in life: I aspireTo go on and on being boring.
~ Wendy Cope

White Towels

I have been studying the differencebetween solitude and loneliness,telling the story of my lifeto the clean white towels taken warm from the dryier.I carry them through the houseas though they were my childrenasleep in my arms.
~ Richard Jones

Habit

Last night when my work was done,
And my estranged hands
Were becoming mutually interested
In such forgotten things as pulses,
I looked out of a window
Into a glittering night sky.
And instantly
I began to feather-stitch a ring around the moon
~ Hazel Hall