2 CATS, 2 DOGS AND A 5 YEAR OLD
The orange cat has orange eyes
Orion lost two teeth
dogs bark at every care
but Alura scared off the bear
Tag Archives: Children
A Poem Before Holland
A POEM BEFORE HOLLAND
I travel to Holland
on wings of a childhood story
silver skates and finger in a dike
To lands wrestled from an angry sea
a sea that dearly wants them back
Unceasing vigilance to keep the prize
a dark line drawn across their eyes
I see windmills chop the salt wet air
Art and flowers leaping up in faith
behind thin walls
Back to the little boy and the dike again
legal drugs and red lights in the rain
These are a fair and sturdy people
I like them now, and I like how
In a land where children must
so often act as men
They do not pass acts that treat
their men as children
THE PELICAN PROJECT
THE PELICAN PROJECT
In July 2000 New Dance Horizons in Regina
Saskatchewan put together a presentation for
“Dance and the Child International”
It consisted of dance, song and poetry
performed by about thirty young people
many from Canada’s “First Nations”
I had the privilege of coaching and guiding
them as they wrote their own poems
Following are some poems that I wrote
for samples of metaphor, and for the awe and
respect I felt for their talent and their courage
Also, I was totally star struck by the grace and
beauty of Robin, the director and dance
instructor who goes around quoting Neruda
and holds my disowned love of movement
so wrote poems for and about her as well
ROBERTA’S WEDDING
ROBERTA’S WEDDING
When I returned from anywhere by air
Roberta would run
full out across the crowded floor
take a gymnast’s leap ten feet away
and fly through the air into my arms
So pure a show it was of joy and love
so affirming of the goodness of all life
so full of youth’s unquestioned faith
she would be safely caught and held
that travelers all around
would stand in awe
Today she runs across a crowded floor
and leaps with equal joy
into the arms of another man with
equal trust she will be safely caught and held
And now I see what all those others saw
and I stand back in awe
OUT OF THE NEST
OUT OF THE NEST
(for Carolyn going away to college)
You have the soul of a bird
It’s so joyful, light and fair
and now it’s flying to a world
that the frightened people share
And I pray you safe
when they see you there
Drawing water from mirages
For the flowers
round your castles in the air