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Thread: We Were: What? Answer in a poem.

  1. #1
    Not politically correct Pendragon's Avatar
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    Exclamation We Were: What? Answer in a poem.

    We Were Poets

    The world may or may not remember our names.
    That which they call “fame” is like the flame on a candle,
    It can give a light in the darkness, but it flickers at its best.
    The time we spent together here,
    Will one day be just another file in the computer of our memories.
    And a grandchild may ask me somewhen,
    What we were, and what it was all about—

    We were poets.
    We were fledglings trying out new wings,
    Older poets learning different ways to dramatize our lines,
    And now and then there would be a masterpiece from each of us
    That the rest could appreciate and idolize.

    We were poets.
    We were songs that made the world sing,
    Contests that challenged us to go beyond anything before,
    Imagery that painted the pictures within the reader’s head,
    Forms, and rhymes, free verse long and short—

    Never be ashamed to just stand up proud and say:
    “You want to know how we spent our days?—
    We were poets…

    Dale Harris
    © 8/7/07
    Some of us laugh
    Some of us cry
    Some of us smoke
    Some of us lie
    But it's all just the way
    that we cope with our lives...

  2. #2
    Vincit Qui Se Vincit Virgil's Avatar
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    Pen, this is absolutely excellent! I loved these lines:
    That which they call “fame” is like the flame on a candle,
    It can give a light in the darkness, but it flickers at its best.
    And of course your concluding stanza is to be pinned on a board for constant reminder:
    Never be ashamed to just stand up proud and say:
    “You want to know how we spent our days?—
    We were poets…
    Loved it.
    LET THERE BE LIGHT

    "Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena

    My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/

  3. #3
    Flying against the wind CdnReader's Avatar
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    .

    we were children

    peanut butter and jelly on sticky fingers
    silent giggles behind mom's back
    tickle fights, rolling around the livingroom floor
    irrepressible

    we loved Lassie and Mighty Mouse
    we kicked stones to the curb
    and we made blood pacts with friends
    whose names we can no longer remember

    we built treehouses in the summer
    ice forts in the winter
    we chewed gum and passed notes in class
    and we couldn't wait for the bell

    we rode our bikes everywhere we could
    we put hockey cards in the spokes
    because we loved the "click-click-click"
    we traded comic books for
    five-cent bottles of root beer
    and fragrant ropes of red licorice

    the wind blew us wherever
    it would
    and we let it take us

    we were free

    .
    cdn/07aug07
    .
    *

    "Courage is not the absence of fear but the judgment that something else is more important than fear." -- Ambrose Redmoon

    CR: Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert
    JF: Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. My review is here.

  4. #4
    Not politically correct Pendragon's Avatar
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    Exclamation

    the wind blew us wherever
    it would
    and we let it take us

    we were free
    We did and we were, were we not, Cdn? Beautiful.
    Some of us laugh
    Some of us cry
    Some of us smoke
    Some of us lie
    But it's all just the way
    that we cope with our lives...

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by CdnReader View Post
    .

    we were children

    peanut butter and jelly on sticky fingers
    silent giggles behind mom's back
    tickle fights, rolling around the livingroom floor
    irrepressible

    we loved Lassie and Mighty Mouse
    we kicked stones to the curb
    and we made blood pacts with friends
    whose names we can no longer remember

    we built treehouses in the summer
    ice forts in the winter
    we chewed gum and passed notes in class
    and we couldn't wait for the bell

    we rode our bikes everywhere we could
    we put hockey cards in the spokes
    because we loved the "click-click-click"
    we traded comic books for
    five-cent bottles of root beer
    and fragrant ropes of red licorice

    the wind blew us wherever
    it would
    and we let it take us

    we were free

    .
    cdn/07aug07
    .
    Wow, beautifully presented the memories of childhood ! I enjoyed this poem a lot.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pendragon View Post
    We Were Poets

    The world may or may not remember our names.
    That which they call “fame” is like the flame on a candle,
    It can give a light in the darkness, but it flickers at its best.
    The time we spent together here,
    Will one day be just another file in the computer of our memories.
    And a grandchild may ask me somewhen,
    What we were, and what it was all about—

    We were poets.
    We were fledglings trying out new wings,
    Older poets learning different ways to dramatize our lines,
    And now and then there would be a masterpiece from each of us
    That the rest could appreciate and idolize.

    We were poets.
    We were songs that made the world sing,
    Contests that challenged us to go beyond anything before,
    Imagery that painted the pictures within the reader’s head,
    Forms, and rhymes, free verse long and short—

    Never be ashamed to just stand up proud and say:
    “You want to know how we spent our days?—
    We were poets…

    Dale Harris
    © 8/7/07
    Very impressing poem Dale. You're a great poet. I'm very much inspired by your poem and wishing to put my poem here soon.

  7. #7
    Something's gotta give PrinceMyshkin's Avatar
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    We were constantly at war
    with that pursuing past tense
    that kept taking bites
    out of the present.

    We were desperate
    for the future
    which might, of course,
    turn out to be a house on fire.

    We were somewhere
    lost in the fun-house.

  8. #8
    Registered User Granny5's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CdnReader View Post
    .

    we were children

    peanut butter and jelly on sticky fingers
    silent giggles behind mom's back
    tickle fights, rolling around the livingroom floor
    irrepressible

    we loved Lassie and Mighty Mouse
    we kicked stones to the curb
    and we made blood pacts with friends
    whose names we can no longer remember

    we built treehouses in the summer
    ice forts in the winter
    we chewed gum and passed notes in class
    and we couldn't wait for the bell

    we rode our bikes everywhere we could
    we put hockey cards in the spokes
    because we loved the "click-click-click"
    we traded comic books for
    five-cent bottles of root beer
    and fragrant ropes of red licorice

    the wind blew us wherever
    it would
    and we let it take us

    we were free

    .
    cdn/07aug07
    .
    Cdn, I'm your fan. Did we grow up together? My husband asks the same question!! This so brings back memories. You've hit just about everything we did, except we called our friends out with Tarzan yells and played hide and seek in the cotton fields after dark. I really enjoy reading and re-reading this one.
    Avatar by Pendragon
    "All we are saying is give PEACE a chance." Beatles[/SIZE]
    Granny5's Blog
    http://www.online-literature.com/for...p?userid=35805

  9. #9
    Ruadh gu brath ampoule's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pendragon View Post
    We Were Poets

    The world may or may not remember our names.
    That which they call “fame” is like the flame on a candle,
    It can give a light in the darkness, but it flickers at its best.
    The time we spent together here,
    Will one day be just another file in the computer of our memories.
    And a grandchild may ask me somewhen,
    What we were, and what it was all about—

    We were poets.
    We were fledglings trying out new wings,
    Older poets learning different ways to dramatize our lines,
    And now and then there would be a masterpiece from each of us
    That the rest could appreciate and idolize.

    We were poets.
    We were songs that made the world sing,
    Contests that challenged us to go beyond anything before,
    Imagery that painted the pictures within the reader’s head,
    Forms, and rhymes, free verse long and short—

    Never be ashamed to just stand up proud and say:
    “You want to know how we spent our days?—
    We were poets…

    Dale Harris
    © 8/7/07
    Yes, oh yes, and yes.
    And though I wrote this for a poet friend of mine, it could speak for either gender.

    My Poet

    Deep within himself he knows
    How it goes with someone's soul.
    He sees lives with his words
    And gently gives us clues.
    Anxious to be understood
    He longs to share his heart,
    Even through the hurt and pain
    That has been cast by others.
    Noble are his thoughts and deeds
    And the way he leads his life.
    A wonderful, peaceful, pensive man,
    The friend I need so much.
    Needing his past and watching his future
    Help soften his present day.
    A day he carefully guards
    Who may enter it.
    Yielding to what life gave him
    And knowing he's been blessed
    My poet, my shining knight stands
    Protecting honor and love.

    AMP~December First TwoThousand

    ..
    I'm in love with The Vinegar Man and Mr. Tanner, but be careful, it could just as easily be you.

    "If you're going to write you better have somewhere to come from." Flannery O'Connor

  10. #10
    Not politically correct Pendragon's Avatar
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    Exclamation

    Quote Originally Posted by PrinceMyshkin View Post
    We were constantly at war
    with that pursuing past tense
    that kept taking bites
    out of the present.

    We were desperate
    for the future
    which might, of course,
    turn out to be a house on fire.

    We were somewhere
    lost in the fun-house.
    But survivors somehow, n'est c'est pas? Thanks, Jerry!

    Quote Originally Posted by ampoule View Post
    Yes, oh yes, and yes.
    And though I wrote this for a poet friend of mine, it could speak for either gender.

    My Poet

    Deep within himself he knows
    How it goes with someone's soul.
    He sees lives with his words
    And gently gives us clues.
    Anxious to be understood
    He longs to share his heart,
    Even through the hurt and pain
    That has been cast by others.
    Noble are his thoughts and deeds
    And the way he leads his life.
    A wonderful, peaceful, pensive man,
    The friend I need so much.
    Needing his past and watching his future
    Help soften his present day.
    A day he carefully guards
    Who may enter it.
    Yielding to what life gave him
    And knowing he's been blessed
    My poet, my shining knight stands
    Protecting honor and love.

    AMP~December First TwoThousand

    ..
    A most lovely poem. I hope your friend realized how truly blessed he was to be imortalized by this poem...

    Pen

    Who We Were

    I was born in 1960 in a Nation fighting problems,
    We had the war in Vietnam going like no mercy,
    And the taint of segregation fouled us still.
    Lost my daddy to that all that insanity—
    And he was one of the ones who came back to America,
    He just never came back home.
    So among all of this madness and this bloodshed,
    When a President was assassinated,
    And a man who spoke only of peace would follow suit—
    Then this President’s own brother, and other innocents not so famous;
    We who were born had to grow up…

    Who were we?

    We were those who dared to make a stand on what we chose to believe,
    Never backing down one inch if someone else did not agree—

    We were those who dared to chase a dream until we could become what we wanted,
    Shutting out every voice that declared, “You cannot do it!” We pressed on undaunted!

    We were those that dared to ask the questions others feared might cause disturbance,
    For it was not enough to know what had happened, we needed to know why the occurrence—

    We were those who found a place in Faith that went somewhere other than the norm,
    And those who dared to question if God existed at all in any form—

    We were the poets, songwriters, and the singers, changing the world with written rhyme,
    It may be we were successful, but the only answer lies with time—

    We were the world…

    Pendragon
    © 8/8/07
    Some of us laugh
    Some of us cry
    Some of us smoke
    Some of us lie
    But it's all just the way
    that we cope with our lives...

  11. #11
    Thinking...thinking! dramasnot6's Avatar
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    You just capture the soul of poetry Pen, your beautiful poem resonates with all us aspiring writers
    I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.


    Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

  12. #12
    Not politically correct Pendragon's Avatar
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    Exclamation

    Quote Originally Posted by dramasnot6 View Post
    You just capture the soul of poetry Pen, your beautiful poem resonates with all us aspiring writers
    Well, Drama, I count myself as one of the aspiring if that is where you place yourself... No, there are no masters and apprentices here... we are poets, one and all!

    Pen

    Some of us laugh
    Some of us cry
    Some of us smoke
    Some of us lie
    But it's all just the way
    that we cope with our lives...

  13. #13
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    We were Strangers

    We were strangers once.
    Unknown faces in a swelling
    human sea.
    We moved with the rush of
    the tide; flotsam and jetsam
    floating aimlessly amongst
    the crowds.
    A sudden eddy slipped you
    into my current. We spin,
    caught in a whirlpool
    that brings us closer
    and closer.
    Sometimes we touch,
    briefly, when the ebb
    and flow allows.
    It won’t last, this love.
    It is a force of nature
    beyond our control.
    And so we wait
    for the day when
    the sea will part, and
    we will be strangers again.

  14. #14
    Something's gotta give PrinceMyshkin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bii View Post
    We were Strangers

    We were strangers once.
    Unknown faces in a swelling
    human sea.
    We moved with the rush of
    the tide; flotsam and jetsam
    floating aimlessly amongst
    the crowds.
    A sudden eddy slipped you
    into my current. We spin,
    caught in a whirlpool
    that brings us closer
    and closer.
    Sometimes we touch,
    briefly, when the ebb
    and flow allows.
    It won’t last, this love.
    It is a force of nature
    beyond our control.
    And so we wait
    for the day when
    the sea will part, and
    we will be strangers again.
    What extraordinary power in this, and what drama when the beautifully maintained decorum gives way to that quietly acquiescent sad end, a re-enactment of "this is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper."

  15. #15
    A ist der Affe NickAdams's Avatar
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