Power Poems
The City Planners
by Margaret Atwood
Cruising these residential Sunday
streets in dry August sunlight:
what offends us is
the sanities:
the houses in pedantic rows, the planted
sanitary trees, assert
levelness of surface like a rebuke
to the dent in our car door.
No shouting here, or
shatter of glass; nothing more abrupt
......
London, 1802
by William Wordsworth
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour;
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
......
Dejection: An Ode
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Late, late yestreen I saw the new Moon,
With the old Moon in her arms ;
And I fear, I fear, My Master dear !
We shall have a deadly storm.
Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence
--------------------------------------- ------------------------------------
I
......
A Zacinto
by Ugo Foscolo
I'll never step ashore and feel your beach
the way I felt it as a barefoot child,
or see you waver in the windy reach
of goddess-bearing sea. You were the island
Venus made with her first smile,
Zakynthos, the moment she was born.
No song embraced your leafy sky,
not even his who sang the fatal storm
and how Ulysses, his misfortunes past
and beautiful with fame, sailed home at last.
......
Tithonus
by Alfred Lord Tennyson
The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,
The vapours weep their burthen to the ground,
Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath,
And after many a summer dies the swan.
Me only cruel immortality
Consumes; I wither slowly in thine arms,
Here at the quiet limit of the world,
A white-hair'd shadow roaming like a dream
The ever-silent spaces of the East,
Far-folded mists, and gleaming halls of morn.
......
sword or pen?
by Rikske Kessner
When a poet takes up arms
their quill is orphaned quick
though the pen is mightier
the sword some bards will pick
however just the cause may be
forsake their weapon true
to lose what makes them free
sad the day when all is through
An Ode to Aphrodite
by Taryn G
the next time you see him
you will look as if there is a splendid sun
burning under your skin.
you will smoulder
like the goddesses that came before you.
you will not be cold
or vengeful
or bitter or weak.
your laugh will sound like rain on the window pain
your words will be soft
......
Navigating Insecurity Safely
by Christen Kuikoua
Embrace your insecurities with grace,
Yet, don't let them dictate your pace.
They're shadows that may come and go,
But never allow them to diminish your glow.
It's fine not always to be on the peak,
Cool and collected, a demeanor unique.
Value the journey, not just the goal,
Secure your insecurities, make them your soul.
......
World Famous Actress
by Frangipani Rhett
Oh, I might be a world famous actress
But I'm still powerless
Oh, I'm still powerless
Can't mold my destiny
I can try but its not my call if I fly
Oh, it's all up in the air
I'll glue on wings but I'm not guaranteed a ride
......
There Was A Boy
by Pijush Biswas
There was a boy, Bilu
I knew him since 1998
Who did never fight
And learned to swim too.
One day he asked me to tell
'How the stars fly in skies? '
For, in great enthusiasm he fell.
I said, 'Just like the pies'.
......
