RAUCOUS CAWING
by Robin Shwedo
©: Robin Shwedo, 1995
The raucous cawing of sea gulls
as they dive and swoop through the cold air
resounds, rebounds off the walls of nearby stores,
half-echoing.
The sounds bouncing back
are covered half the time by the
continuous cries of the gulls
as they chase one another
away from scraps of food
left for various reasons
on the ground.
The air is crisp, cold,
and carries the sound
unmuffled,
so that it feels as
crackly as small shards of icicles,
broken off and crunched.
The grey and white birds
screech and scream
over the dredges of someone’s leftovers,
picking,
plucking,
swooping down to
grab small pieces of breakfast
while the sun glints and glitters
off nearby panes of glass,
from which sound bounces,
tossing back the raucous cawing of the gulls.
I wrote this while watching sea gulls diving around a dumpster in a parking log. It's part of my book Revolutionary Broads and Other Nightmares, which is looking for a publishing home.
Thursday, October 4, 2018
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Where's the Sense, Lord?
Where's the Sense, Lord?
by Robin Shwedo
©: Robin Shwedo, 1988
Where's the sense, Lord?
The news is on:
Tornadoes have devastated a town,
killing adults, old people, children, babies.
An avalanche in Colorado has buried a section of road,
leaving people wondering if their cars are to be their tombs.
And then, a child, 12, missing since Friday
when she got off the school bus.
It's Monday now.
The police suspect foul play.
Where's the sense, Lord?
This was a group of poem/prayers written while I was trying to finish up at St. Petersburg (Florida) College during the mid- to late- 1980s. Most of the poem/prayers were written in the main campus's cafeteria over cups of coffee.
There was several TVs around the divided cafeteria, frequently with the news on. This was written after seeing several depressing news stories.
This is from the Prayers from an Average Person section of Poetry Unassigned, currently looking for a publishing home.
by Robin Shwedo
©: Robin Shwedo, 1988
Where's the sense, Lord?
The news is on:
Tornadoes have devastated a town,
killing adults, old people, children, babies.
An avalanche in Colorado has buried a section of road,
leaving people wondering if their cars are to be their tombs.
And then, a child, 12, missing since Friday
when she got off the school bus.
It's Monday now.
The police suspect foul play.
Where's the sense, Lord?
This was a group of poem/prayers written while I was trying to finish up at St. Petersburg (Florida) College during the mid- to late- 1980s. Most of the poem/prayers were written in the main campus's cafeteria over cups of coffee.
There was several TVs around the divided cafeteria, frequently with the news on. This was written after seeing several depressing news stories.
This is from the Prayers from an Average Person section of Poetry Unassigned, currently looking for a publishing home.
Monday, October 1, 2018
“THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT REVOLVE AROUND YOU”
“THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT REVOLVE AROUND YOU”
by Robin Shwedo
©: Robin Shwedo, 1995
The Revolution will not revolve around you.
It revolves around
people without jobs who want to work
who need to work
who strive to work
who’ve given up trying to work
within a system that strives to keep them down
while saying “no more safety net”
while letting children go hungry
while giving themselves humungous raises
and building more bombs and guns
to keep the underclass under them
but
The Revolution will not revolve around you.
It revolves around
the child who cries herself to sleep after a day
of abuse and neglect
while the child lovingly corrected cries
after being removed from home
and the child who hears “justice” but sees “injustice”,
who questions what he sees,
who questions the system,
who questions the questions,
who questions why,
and when and where and what and who
but
The revolution will not revolve around you.
It revolves around
those who’ll fight those whose ideas of profits and losses
don’t buy into what their
children and grandchildren will breath,
drink or eat in the years to come,
who feel that money is
more important than air,
more important that water,
more important than the future,
more important than anything else
including the fact that
The Revolution will not revolve around you.
Instead,
it revolves around those brave enough
to take on the system,
who strive to prove that justice for some
should be justice for all
and help to make that possible;
around those who see a need and try to
honestly and with courage
and passion
and compassion
try to solve it,
around those who see those
whom life has dealt harshly with
and who still struggle to stand up and fight
and who help them with a hand “up” not “out”,
around those who see the hunger
and strive to feed;
who see the abuse
and try to end it;
who see the hurt
and try to heal it;
and then, only then,
if you have the courage
to instigate this revolution,
then and only then will
the revolution involve and revolve around you.
This was written during the mid-1990s and is part of my book Revolutionary Broads and Other Nightmares which is looking for a publishing home.
by Robin Shwedo
©: Robin Shwedo, 1995
The Revolution will not revolve around you.
It revolves around
people without jobs who want to work
who need to work
who strive to work
who’ve given up trying to work
within a system that strives to keep them down
while saying “no more safety net”
while letting children go hungry
while giving themselves humungous raises
and building more bombs and guns
to keep the underclass under them
but
The Revolution will not revolve around you.
It revolves around
the child who cries herself to sleep after a day
of abuse and neglect
while the child lovingly corrected cries
after being removed from home
and the child who hears “justice” but sees “injustice”,
who questions what he sees,
who questions the system,
who questions the questions,
who questions why,
and when and where and what and who
but
The revolution will not revolve around you.
It revolves around
those who’ll fight those whose ideas of profits and losses
don’t buy into what their
children and grandchildren will breath,
drink or eat in the years to come,
who feel that money is
more important than air,
more important that water,
more important than the future,
more important than anything else
including the fact that
The Revolution will not revolve around you.
Instead,
it revolves around those brave enough
to take on the system,
who strive to prove that justice for some
should be justice for all
and help to make that possible;
around those who see a need and try to
honestly and with courage
and passion
and compassion
try to solve it,
around those who see those
whom life has dealt harshly with
and who still struggle to stand up and fight
and who help them with a hand “up” not “out”,
around those who see the hunger
and strive to feed;
who see the abuse
and try to end it;
who see the hurt
and try to heal it;
and then, only then,
if you have the courage
to instigate this revolution,
then and only then will
the revolution involve and revolve around you.
This was written during the mid-1990s and is part of my book Revolutionary Broads and Other Nightmares which is looking for a publishing home.
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