HOTAND COLD Perhaps 100million years To rise from naught, then disappear Above the Hot Spot in the Earth That to Hawaiian Chain gave birth. The oldest now perhaps just stumps, Once mountains proud, now merely bumps Long passed from magma cauldron where They first broke through the surface there. The youngest rise majestically For miles above […]
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IN WILLIAMSBURG In Williamsburg we learn How freedom ours was earned, At least for lucky born Of alabaster skin. Their independence claimed By declaration famed That Founding Fathers framed, Though was still had to win. But if from continent Of African descent, Whatever effort spent Was not for likes of you. Four score and seven years Still had to bear […]
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INTER ARMA SILENT LEGES* (Based on the movie “The Conspirator,” about the trial and execution of Mary Surratt, one of the convicted conspirators of the Lincoln assassination) “In war, the law falls silent,” As Cicero first said, For when the times are violent Emotions trump the head. No “habeas” of “corpus” Or “sparing of the rod” Can […]
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ANCESTOR WORSHIP The Gothic doors beckon me in. I enter. The nave is dim Though from the vaults the lights suspend And through the glass the colors blend. I forward step into the past Where medieval shadows cast. Distracted. What’s that I hear? The chant of monks praying near? Where columns rise, the open sky Appears […]
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HERO OR ZERO? To die on the battlefield leading a charge, Your body upon a shield, burned in a barge – An image heroic of Viking portrayal Approvingly stoic, quite worthy of hail. The fireman rushing pall-mall into blaze As on 9-11, the last of his days. No body recovered from building’s collapse. Just wife, children, mother to […]
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ON PORPOISE Am I watching the dolphins Or are they watching me, Somersaulting on backfins, While I swim clumsily? At the junction of our worlds Where the land meets the sea, Somewhat shallow for their twirls, I can stand awkwardly. I’m not native to water; They’re not native to land. Still each other we ought to […]
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DAWN It shuffled across the savannah Toward shade from the rising sun. In each hand it carried banana Held firm by opposing thumb. An ape by all rights of appearance, Yet upright its ambling gait. To primate behavior adherence Except little quirk of late. Whenever would pass by some water, It often would stop to stare. […]
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FLIPPING OUT Every seven-fifty grand Earth performs a sleight of hand When magnetic north and south Make a total turnabout. Sun does same each dozen years Minus one, when sunspots clear. Relatively quick event Due to plasma turbulent. Earth contains no plasma hot, Just a core of molten rock. But this has the same effect, Quite […]
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WHO AM I? WHY AM I HERE? If we’ve a purpose to be on earth, Then I must wonder: Why such a dearth Of time elapsed during which we’ve been Around supposedly since “The Sin?” If we’re the reason the world exists, Explain the many misguided twists From one-celled creatures till we evolved. Why took the puzzle […]
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GALILEO’S GHOST With Earth at the Center, Ptolemy ruled. Mathematically sound, for centuries fooled Who then passed as scientists to proclaim, “We know all the Universe; don’t defame!” When Copernicus proved the Sun’s the Hub, Those of Catholic persuasion wouldn’t budge. “Since the Bible’s declared, ’The Earth is It,’ Therefore anything new must therein fit.” When […]
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