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ravenswingpoetry — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:16:32 +0000

This was written off of prompt #16 on Scott Woods’ Live Journal:

“Write a poem about an aspect of a national tragedy that contains:

- no statistics
- no references to other national tragedies
- no newspaper headline references
- no mention of the media, or lack thereof
- a focus on some aspect of the tragedy that no one else talks about much, if at all”.

I wrote about a second-hand story told to me about an act of kindness in the wake of 9/11. This is written in chained lunes. Enjoy.

-Nicole

————————————
clean wet lines
left by the tear tracks
on her face

film of soot
covers her, casting gray dullness
in the sunlight

she is wandering
aimlessly while fires rage on
Manhattan is shaking

a man wandering
finds her, panicked and speechless
he offers help

the one thing
he can do, he does -
call her parents

they now know
she is still alive, thanks
to his call

Written 6/13/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved

Stumble It!

Senryu #1, 6/12/08

ravenswingpoetry — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:51:56 +0000

tale of two rivers:
orange cream shake flows next to
the Olentangy

Written 6/12/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

Stumble It!

Haiku #1, 6/12/08

ravenswingpoetry — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:55:52 +0000

heavy white blanket:
new snow covers the graveyard -
the dead are sleeping

Written 6/12/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

Stumble It!

Middletown, Ohio

ravenswingpoetry — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:23:28 +0000

It happened in Middletown.
It could happen in any steel mill town.
Strike.
Men and women
Strike,
And money flies out the window.
Honorable hands that did honorable work
Must find something else honorable
To do.
The town teeters on a paper’s edge
As a second wave sure thing -
ARMCO jobs, my man -
Is poised to be buried under a
Third wave tsunami
That could take out
A small town
Like Middletown.

Written 4/29/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

Tibet

ravenswingpoetry — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:23:41 +0000

Mountains blanketed in mist,
The stillness of another world;
A dazzling gem, clutched in tight fingers;
A sublime poetic line,
Poised and shivering underneath
An eraser thumb;
And a land’s native son
Can never go home again.

Written 4/17/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

El Dorado

ravenswingpoetry — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:45:20 +0000

If all you care about
Is multiplying
Then you stand to keep
Dividing
The flesh from feeling
While your women and children are reeling
From the split
And the pain of it.
Echoes of this pain
Bounce from those sterile
Walls
Inside their
Small,
Small,
World
Which you’ve constructed
While their spirits you’ve obstructed.
God cannot be mocked -
Why did you even try
While making hundreds cry
Out for a tunnel
Out from their
El
Dorado Hell?
The ranks of the horrified swell
While the reporters tell
How you reduced precious souls
To nothing
Over something
Called religion.

Written 4/9/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

Haiku 4/5/08: #1

ravenswingpoetry — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:24:54 +0000

Unlit “Open” sign,
“For Lease” screams from the window -
Someone’s dream has died.

Written 4/5/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

Gethsemane

ravenswingpoetry — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 20:09:57 +0000

I am posting this poem because Good Friday approaches. I tried to capture an image of Jesus, and what he might have been thinking and feeling in those final moments in Gethsemane before he was arrested. Presumptuous, perhaps, but I still tried.

-Nicole

————————————
“Gethsemane”

I wrestle the cross out of my heart
So I can carry it on my back
For you. For all of you.
This painful extrication caused the blood
To flow from my forehead and pool
On the ground before me.
For a brief moment, I wish for
Angels, for uninhibited beauty –
But the cup sits ever before me,
Demanding that I put my lips
To it and drink deeply – the thorns,
The curses, the bitterness, and
Carry them in my belly with a
Cross tied to my back.
Peter, draw not your sword. Don’t try
To stop this all from happening.
For our greatest victory is yet to come,
A victory of ages that will surely be won
Once I wrestle this cross out of my heart
And carry it on my back.

Stumble It!

Arizona, Remembered

ravenswingpoetry — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 02:02:04 +0000

Red rocks stand in regiment lines
Against God’s painted skies;
For desert beauty my mind’s eye pines,
For canyons wrinkled like the wise
And grand rouge stands in childhood eyes.
His paintbrush dances on rocky faces -
I yearn for those exquisite places.

Beholder’s eye seeks beauty ‘round
And I spy God’s creation grand -
Within me, wonder, and joy profound,
For He holds all in His Hands.
Spilt rainbows wash through Arizona land
From pale peach sand to green scrub trees -
Such beauty brings me to my knees.

Now, years are stamped upon my face;
In my hair, silver veins rise.
In memory solid, a photograph’s placed -
I don’t forget those clear blue skies
Nor the love of parents in childhood eyes.
Fond memory dances on sepia faces -
My mind journeys to exquisite places.

Good Morning

ravenswingpoetry — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 01:57:07 +0000

Fog floats gray in morning skies
Barely have strength to open my eyes
Coffee’s aroma bids me to rise
Good morning

Walk through dew-soaked grassy fields
While tires on roadways past me peal
I subsist by inward spark of zeal
Good morning

Key-clanks sound through empty halls
Push back the doors and meet white walls
Tedium’s weight upon me falls
Good morning

Sink into chair and survey the room
While sleepy fog lifts up its gloom
Pray for silence, for mental bloom
Good morning

Looking back in memory’s gaze
I journey pass those student ways
But I know for best, gone are those days
Good morning