Respect Poems
The British
by Benjamin Zephaniah
Take some Picts, Celts and Silures
And let them settle,
Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.
Remove the Romans after approximately 400 years
Add lots of Norman French to some
Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously.
Mix some hot Chileans, cool Jamaicans, Dominicans,
Trinidadians and Bajans with some Ethiopians, Chinese,
......
Dis Poetry
by Benjamin Zephaniah
Dis poetry is like a riddim dat drops
De tongue fires a riddim dat shoots like shots
Dis poetry is designed fe rantin
Dance hall style, big mouth chanting,
Dis poetry nar put yu to sleep
Preaching follow me
Like yu is blind sheep,
Dis poetry is not Party Political
Not designed fe dose who are critical.
Dis poetry is wid me when I gu to me bed
......
Discrimination
by Adelaide Rhead
Why do you think you're better
If your culture is not the same?
Yes, maybe you seem different
But deep inside all are the same.
Why do they think they're better?
If one is black and one is white,
If one is man and one is woman.
They are the same, that is their right.
......
Sonnet 85: My Tongue-Tied Muse In Manners Holds Her Still
by William Shakespeare
My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still,
While comments of your praise, richly compiled,
Reserve their character with golden quill,
And precious phrase by all the Muses filed.
I think good thoughts, whilst other write good words,
And like unlettered clerk still cry "Amen"
To every hymn that able spirit affords
In polished form of well-refinèd pen.
Hearing you praised, I say "'Tis so, 'tis true,"
And to the most of praise add something more;
......
Marriage
by Marianne Moore
This institution,
perhaps one should say enterprise
out of respect for which
one says one need not change one's mind
about a thing one has believed in,
requiring public promises
of one's intention
to fulfill a private obligation:
I wonder what Adam and Eve
think of it by this time,
......
The hunter who became the prey
by Saleh Ben Saleh
There was a hunter,
who lived for game.
His mind was strong,
but thoughts were lame.
He met a deer,
who changed his life.
She stabbed his heart,
with a hunting knife.
The mighty hunter,
......
My poem to our defenders of Ukraine (in Ukrainian)
by Slava P, aka Maximus Decimus Meridius
Небо чисте, сонце ясне
День здаеться бути прекрасним
Да щось коробить душу,
Мабудь це війна, що залишае сушу.
Йде Москаль на Неньку
Бодай-тобі здих!
Та наші солдатики
Відстоять свій поріг!
......
Other people’s hands (or, love from the being mode)
by Alex Rose
I’ve done what I can
It’s out of my hands
It sucks that other people have hands
I mean, that’s why we love them
For their hands
We don’t want them to be puppets
At the mercy of ours
And in our deepest moments
......
The Once Mighty Rendered Low
by James Kipp
Oh what spectacle of visage rendered bare before the world to suffer silent ignominious glare
On bended knee in humbled show, head and heart abashed, by how the mighty have been rendered low
Venerated glories of faded past, evanesced long ago. Now, chattel'd bondage to indignations rending soul and bone. The once reverent, now lie ‘neath heel and stone
The once mighty have been rendered low.
Made so by inglourious traitorous deeds, self inflicted upon thine sacred creed. Solely fervent in the certitude. We reap that, in which we sow.
O' how the mighty have been rendered low.
......
The Mighty Have Been Rendered Low
by James Kipp
Oh what spectacle of visage rendered bare before the world to suffer silent ignominious glare.
On bended knee in humbled show, head and heart abashed, by how the mighty have been rendered low
Evanesced venerated glories past, faded long ago. In chattel'd bondage to indignations, rending soul and bone. The once reverent, now lie ‘neath heel and stone.
The once mighty have been rendered low. Made so by inglourious traitorous deeds, self inflicted upon thine sacred creed. Fervent in the certitude, we reap that in which we sow.
O' how the mighty have been rendered low.
In the gloaming remnants of times yet passed, from 'neath shadows aspersions cast. Onerous uncertainties yet persist, can redemptive solace still exist?
......
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Slava P, aka Maximus Decimus Meridius (3 poems about Respect)
October 31st, 1970 - Kyiv, Ukraine and since 1992 - New Jersey, USA -