Poem: Ode to the New Year

Ode to the New Year

Here’s to the sound of popping bottles

And loud intoxication.

Here’s to kisses and laughter

And tears and wailing.

Here’s a toast to all that can be hoped,

And to naïve blindness.

Here’s to the fathers and mothers

Whose prayers a stork might answer.

Here’s to the unlovable,

May your heart be nurtured.

Here’s to the sinner,

A clean slate to flout.

Here’s to the hops and barley

And all the other good things.

Here’s to you and me,

May we be more than we are slated to become.

"SAKABAKA"

New Poem: Grateful Profession

I wrote this poem a few days ago and it's dedicated to my former co-workers at the International Community School in Decatur, Georgia. I had lots of fun there and I miss it greatly. Here's to those brave souls that give so much of themselves so the future is a little brighter for some child.

 Grateful Profession

Sing a hmyn to joy,
Let its course weave through
Lips as airy an autumn breath.
Hail the brave
And their work
As shining souls skimp, elated
Through halls devoid of character
but filled with grateful shrills.
Leave the hive
and prepare honey
for them that seek the journey forward
with hopes of setting hearts free
in a world criminally discriminant.
My hat I tip
For unabashed love
of years of nurture bearing meager wealth
but great personal reward
to them that make children laugh in life.


This is the first draft, I will edit it and figure out what to do with it later, but I wanted to include it here for reasons listed above. The title "Grateful Profession" does not match, but that's all I can come up with at the moment.
Enjoy and visit the school website for more info here.

A Poem::: A Reign of Joy

I started Exile Calling in hopes of eliminating posting my work on this site or on Facebook, but I have so much material now that if I keep releasing one poem of mine in the monthly Exile Calling, I would go years before I would run out. The good news, however, is that I'm compiling a list of poems chronicling my journey in exile. So far, I have selected 32 of which I'm very confident and have edited a few time already- at least for most of them.
In the meantime, here's one I came up with and hope you like. It will not make it into this particular compilation, but I will need to edit it a few times before I can think of doing anything with it.

A Reign of Joy

From the wispiest breath

Is born the gayest of laughter

When the brightest light

Of an ebony sky is borne

By a dejected firefly.

A lover’s caress bears

To fruition the skipping of a heart

Tender and longing for a return

On its investment of kind.

The laughter and light;

The breath and the fiery fly;

The lovers and the night: All

Join in harmony as joy

Reigns for a moment in time.