Resilience Poems
Double six! (Unstoppable Ascent)
by Franklin Okere
Double six! The dice declare my fate,
A victory sealed, no more debate.
On every front, the battle's mine,
My spirit soars, a force so divine.
No obstacle can block my way,
I seize the triumph of today.
Unstoppable, I rise above,
Fueled by a power, an endless love.
Each challenge met, each fear defied,
......
Philadelphia, 6/25/25
by Michael Banning
This morning, a cardinal
lands on my back fence,
opens its beak.
Nothing.
Even the birds
save their songs
for weather worth singing about.
The papi store thermometer
......
I KNOW MY PEOPLE
by Eric Washington
I know my people.
I've seen their suffering and their tears,
Their anger and their fears.
I've seen them work amongst the mills,
In cotton and sugar fields.
Working with bleeding hands,
And refusing to give up then.
While tortured with whips and ropes,
And they still believe in hope.
I know my people.
......
Mr. Tree
by Rohan Dhulipalla
the sakura tree
in the dusty ol’ dark corner of the failing shop,
(although the owner would beg to disagree)
priced at $7.95
with a cardboard sign fastened with white cable ties
reading “UNLIKELY TO STAY ALIVE”
it appears that it was trying to expand,
to spread its branches,
but expansions weren’t in demand
......
Rubberband Man
by Stewart Watkins
There he is...
On his biz
Unbothered and untethered
After many pernicious pulls and tainty tugs
And so many ghastly grabs and sheisty shrugs
After huge stretches with hopes of breaking
And so much tension, pressure and shaking
Every time!
......
Double six! (Unstoppable Ascent)
by Franklin Okere
Double six! The dice declare my fate,
A victory sealed, no more debate.
On every front, the battle's mine,
My spirit soars, a force so divine.
No obstacle can block my way,
I seize the triumph of today.
Unstoppable, I rise above,
Fueled by a power, an endless love.
Each challenge met, each fear defied,
......
We Are The Weed People
by Jim Kelly
We Are The Weed People
We are the weeds—
rooted deep in resilience.
Dropped here from distant lands,
we rise,
storm after storm,
spirit ever higher.
......
Philadelphia, 6/25/25
by Michael Banning
This morning, a cardinal
lands on my back fence,
opens its beak.
Nothing.
Even the birds
save their songs
for weather worth singing about.
The papi store thermometer
......
I KNOW MY PEOPLE
by Eric Washington
I know my people.
I've seen their suffering and their tears,
Their anger and their fears.
I've seen them work amongst the mills,
In cotton and sugar fields.
Working with bleeding hands,
And refusing to give up then.
While tortured with whips and ropes,
And they still believe in hope.
I know my people.
......
Stranger to Belonging
by Nai'a Safir
I am most at peace when others would break,
Floating above my body after the fall,
Calm in the car that became our home,
Finding stillness in what should destroy.
They ask who I am-as if I should know,
......
