Cherished Poetry

Poetry is love drifting through the sky
as birds do, when they glide up high.

Poetry floats on the pillowy clouds
not just quiet, sometimes loud.

Poetry opens like a flower on a bright, sunny day.
Feel the deep sadness as poetry fades away.

You can’t imagine that? Funny…neither can I.
Poetry’s hot cocoa when snow’s thrown in my eye.

Poetry’s a cushion when I’ve fallen down.
Poetry’s a presence I need when no one’s around.

Finally

Around the globe,
three times and back,
to pursue my love
but I realize I lack

patience and faith
that God will provide
all I desire and need
in this world to survive.

On a planet that's filled
with mystery and revelation,
all I ever wanted was
a little love and dedication

from a man with a heart
that's pure and tender
alas, I have found him
all my love I now surrender.

I am a queen
who has found her king
I sit back and enjoy
all the love you bring
into my life...

Featured in the Poetry of Marriage anthology, a trademarked series of books.

Jeremiah's Hands

Your hands are warm and clammy
scarless and wrinkle-free
they reek of apple-flavored lollipops
but I still hold them close to me
for as long as you can stand it
I know this moment's going to end
with the blink of a teary eye
your hands will transform and expand
ignoring my pleas for slow motion
life's fast forward plagues us one-by-one
So for now, I enjoy the sticky,
apple-scented sensation
between my fingers with my son.

Slums of New York

From the streets of New York
Lets get down to the nitty gritty
It’s called the projects, the ghetto
Ever been to the big city?

Dilapidated neighborhoods
No streets paved with gold
Barefoot versus $400 shoes
“That’s life,” is what I’m told

Product of my environment?
Prostitution, violence, and gangs
No. I fight to stay positive
Combating severe hunger pangs

Some say I’m a failure
Many tell me I won’t make it
Their words are excoriating
At times I just can’t take it

I’m just trying to live…survive
and make the most of my life
but the streets of New York
vomit fire flames -- grief…strife.

Rhyming Poetry

What's the difference between poetry and prose? One of the differences is line length. Another is the use of poetic devices that heighten the use of language and sound. Rhyme is one of those poetic devices.

Using end rhyme is the most common form of writing rhyming poetry. End rhyme is the use of rhyming words at the ends of the lines of a poem. The use of end rhyme creates what is called a rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming words in a poem. If you have a stanza of four lines (known as a quatrain) and the words at the end of the first and the third lines rhyme, and the words at the end of the second and the fourth line rhyme, you have a rhyme scheme of abab. It will look like this:

The sky is blue (a)
The grass is green (b)
My heart's anew (a)
My life's serene (b)

There are other possible rhyme schemes, many of which often sound more sophisticated and more complex or more satisfying, such as abab, cdcd, efef, or abba, cddc, effe. There are even some quite intricate rhyme schemes that are pretty amazing, like Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven." Check out a few lines:

1) While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door
...
2) Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor
...
3) Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore
...
4) So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
'Tis some visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door
...
5) But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, 'Lenore!'
...
6) 'Surely,' said I, 'surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore
...
7) Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door
...
8) Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, 'art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore

You'll notice many of the pairs of lines have internal rhyming between a middle word and the end word, with those words then rhyming with the middle word of the next line as well. Pretty impressive if you ask me!