Preventable Epidemic?

Inspired by and dedicated to the Youth
(especially Adam Smith of the Unitarian Church of Norfolk,
Unitarian Universalist).

Yes, education is the remedy
   To cure the malady called ignorance;
But hatred and deep-seated bigotry
   Can build rock-hard impregnable defense
Against known facts as mighty as the sea.

So racism and fears of difference,
   And festering, phobic longtime bigotry
Surround the hater with a shield that's dense
   Enough to render vain the pounding sea
Breaking in vain against the rocks of ignorance.

Education grows vast like the ocean,
   With ideas coming in with every tide;
Facts and attitudes, even emotions
   Expand and grow, becoming deep and wide;
But bigotry arrests all growth, all motion.

Therefore, it behooves the School of Light
   To shine its beacon beams upon the youth,
And teach them to seek out the good and right,
   To explore various routes toward the truth
that makes us free to fight the righteous fight.

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By William "Bill" Carroll
First published in Songs, Scenes, and Sentiments, 2003.
Subsequently published in The New Journal and Guide, 2003.

Copyright 2002 by Bill Carroll.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry 360 with permission of the author.

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Sowing Seeds to Succeed

(The Garden Sonnet)

A serious gardener, I like to think that I
   Have faith enough to trust in Power Divine
To bring a fruitful end to most of my
   Attempts to grow a veggie, tree or vine.

Likewise, I tell myself that through my years
   Of teaching, writing, mentoring and speaking,
I have assisted person, lives, careers,
   And helped some students reach some goals worth seeking.

I plant the seed, with hope that it will grow,
   Producing fruit that's wonderful to see;
I plan with faith, and faithfully I know
   The sweetest fruit is called Sweet Charity.

The harvest that comes forth from class or sod
Is all the proof I need that there's a God.

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By William "Bill" Carroll
First published in The Virginian Pilot, 09/14/2003.
Subsequently published in The New Journal and Guide, 2004.

Copyright 2003 by Bill Carroll.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry 360 with permission of the author.

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Catch On The Fly

Full barrel up 53 north,
heading to Lake Zurich, IL,
Christian talk radio 1660
on the radio dial,
crisp winter day
sunbeams dancing down
on the pavement like midgets.
85 mph in a 65 mph zone,
just to aggravate the police,
black Chevy S10 pick up,
shows what a deviant I am
in dark colors.
Running late for a client appointment,
creating poems on a small hand held recorder
knowing there is not payment for this madness
in this little captured taped area of words.
Headlights down the highway for a legacy
into the future, day dreaming like a fool obsessed.
Working out the layout of this poem or getting my ego in place,
I will catch up with the imagery when I get back home.
This is my life, a poem in the middle of the highway.
Scampering, no one catches me when I'm speeding
like this.

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By Michael Lee Johnson

Copyright 2007 by Michael Lee Johnson.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry 360 with permission of the author.

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Norwich

You and I walked arm in arm through
Yawning streets-- warm evening light
Reflected off sale signs and dowsed us both.
Light like the heater I kept turning off and
You kept switching on. I pulled at your arm
Interlocked with mine.

You moved in that loose limbed way
Like unformed bones.

What is this thing the English
Have for tea? The teapot steeping, the thimble
Cups staining like teeth. From all this tea,

From all this coffee, from all these cigarettes,
There's no wonder why teeth here remind me
Of little gold pips.

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By Chris Abraham

Copyright 1994 by Chris Abraham.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry 360 with permission of the author.

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