Poems For Humanity
Trigger Man; (who is like unto thee?)
(Dedicated to those having lost loved ones to gun violence)
Some bearers of gifts, some bearers of news
Trigger man, he the bearer of blues
Snuffin' out life of youth and adult
Trigger man he got cold, cold, heart
Stop chance for job, quit chance for school
Trigger man what you did ain't cool
Trigger man rough when he got that gat ( gat meaning gun)
Trigger man make you take long nap
Ole' Trigger quite handy there with that gun
Polish it up, shine like the sun
Draw with the right, twirl with the left
Shoot 'hind his back, Ole' Trigger's deft ( deft meaning clever)
And everybody sing :
“ Trigger man guilty from his head to his feet
Oh Trigger man who is like unto thee
Boy say, "Trigger, you kill my dad?
Ma died last year, he all I had."
Daddy say, "Trigger, you kill my boy?
Why'd you steal this family's joy?"
Trigger man what you thinkin' now
Could' a made your point some other how?
Trigger man know he layin' low
Hope nobody seen, pray nobody know
And everybody sing:
"Trigger man guilty from his head to his feet
Oh Trigger man who is like unto thee?"
Trigger man time to go to work
Count one, three, five, six feet of dirt
Trigger got caught- he’s now in court
Strangest thing this new report
"Evidence tainted", judge threw it out ( due to a technicality)
Trigger was smiling, "Going out tonight"
Ole' Trigger back out and livin' large
Music, n ladies, Mercedes and cars
And everybody sing:
"Trigger man guilty from his head to his feet
Oh Trigger man who is like unto thee?"
Trigger man partied and doped around town
Felt a pain in his chest, laid him deep in the ground
Time passed on, many months, many years
Time dried up the family's tears
T'was a day, who knows, Trigger rose to his feet
"Hey Trigger, got someone we want you to meet! "
Walking unsteady his eyes seeing double
Trigger man knew he was in boss trouble
Trigger man balked when he read on the door
"Final Court-there ain'tno more!"
Eyes clearing up, he read on the table
"Evidence tainted", Trigger near 'bout fainted
Site of the murders zoomed in on the map
Then replay of bullets comin' outa’ the gat ( gun)
As the day lingered on, Trigger thought it quite odd
Twas just he, the victims, the gat, and GOD!
And everybody sing:
“Trigger man guilty, ain't 'bout to go free
Oh Trigger man, WHO is like unto thee!"
Also refer to the aforenoted section in table of contents, “ The Rebellious Son”.
Written June 27, 2008 Kelsie Wicks
slightly edited May 14, 2013; 1/14/17
Trigger Man , Part 2; Put The Gun Down!
Lenny's memory clear and vivid
His problem not an all and all
Financial woes pressed to the limit
Seemed no answers, nor resolve
Cash was needed here and now
T'would bring an end to this dilemma
Borrow, pawn, would not bestow
Nor in sight was one benevolent ( meaning giving)
"Who has cash", the thought occurred
Grocer, business, people banking?
The means was gun and threatening word
Decided mark would be a taxi ( mark meaning victim)
Would pay the bills and some to spare
Surplus would buy shoes for children
Wife would fancy nails and hair
She need not know how came the money
Stickup planned for early morning
Driver having lion's share
From night before with hustle/charming
Would pad sweet tips along with fares
A cigarette and shot of gin
Calmed his senses, steeled his nerves
Gat ( gun) in waste, eyes now transfixed
On taxi slowing next to curve
A lightning bolt and thunder clap
Made Lenny trip a step and then
Before he knew, was on his back
Head hit a stone, and then was spinning
He was not sure if he was conscious
Were these faces just a dream?
For each face had familiar voice
At first were shouts, then came screams
He knew these faces long ago
Boyhood chums (friends) now since long past
Who'd met their fates too young to know
Gun crimes would make that day their
Rising now immersed in sweat
Thinking this a revelation
His heart reversed within his chest
He would not carry out this mission
Now back home across the street
A long time staring up at window
Where his family ate and slept
Oh how relieved he was not stupid!
Suddenly he sensed a feeling
Only known to those long gone
Contented warmth of one belonging
Coupled with, “ no place like home"
Dinner warm inside the oven
Wife arose to " private room"
Then placed his hand upon her stomach
"What be its name, Junior-June?"
"A letter came for you today"
Len showed no interest, just a shirk
" You'd better read", her words prophetic
The letter read, "Return To Work"
Gazing at his children sleeping
Sky tint orange with the dawn
"Could any man sow such a reaping!"
Their sleep was sweet, wife in his arms.
End
Written July, 2008; slightly edited 6/11/12
Kelsie Wicks
Come To Me My Love
A Love Poem For Those In Love ;( For lovers always).
Come to me my love , my dream
My heart now beats but does not live
Release your love, this endless stream
I ask no more of you to give
Except:
To wake each morning, you close by
Day by day I promise this
To fill your heart with wings to fly
Soft stroke your brow, then plant a kiss
Days of gray and hanging fog
Mist and rains against the window
Mount the steeds of joy and love
Fly away to an unknown venue
In falling snow and bitter cold
Running late and rush in haste
I'll watch the masterpiece unfold
The mirrors while you make your face
Pleasant days we'll stroll and play
Run barefoot through the warming sands
Tired, hungry, find some quaint place
Now, let me taste food from your hand
Evenings snuggle way up close
Am I that special one you choose?
Please tell me that you love me most
“Of course I do, you silly goose”
Whisper me to sleep my love
With thanks to HIM and such like things
Our love was made from up above
We'll see each other in our dreams
With the rising face of dawn
Let's reminisce of life's unfolding
That placed us in each other’s arms
With blissful nights that find me holding
_ you so tenderly and wanting_
End
Written by Kelsie Wicks, approximately 2009.; slightly edited 1/14/17
What Is A Mountain?
(The word "mountain" as used in the context of this poem, is meant to convey our burdens, problems.)
The mountain's symbolic (symbolic meaning representing something else)
Of the struggles of life
For the poor alcoholic
The battered bruised wife
What is a mountain?
When marriage goes sour
Remember first love (How he or she used to make you laugh)
Romance will flower
What is a mountain?
Eyes are now dim
Pain-ache our companion
Just one of two limbs
What is a mountain?
But a block to our sun
No, No
Our hopes can still hurdle
Our joy can still run
What is a mountain?
But reminder of death
We can still triumph
Before that last breath (See John 3:16)
Does GOD know my struggles?
When I cry, when I pray?
For my problems last night
Are the same one’s today
What is a mountain?
Enter questions and doubt
And then, even then
GOD left a way out
Words still majestic
Still source for our needs
Solution still epic (epic meaning huge, sprawling, magnificent)
Brassicaceae, (common name - Mustard Seed) see bottom note
* Note The last sentence of the poem referring to " Mustard Seed", is in reference to Jesus' "faith" exhortation to us found in biblical Matthew chapter 17 and verse 20:
"... I say unto you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed,
ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you".
Written byKelsie Wicks August 16, 2008. Edited December 2008; 1/14/17
Hair and Hope
The little ones, they look and stare
In "pj’s" sitting upon their beds
At once I notice shortened hair
So short the hair upon their heads
The sun ascends into the sky
O what a beautiful sunny day!
The innocents do not know why
This day they can't go out and play
No evil done to cause their plight
No misdeed done for which to answer
Who will lift their banner to fight?
For little bodies plagued with cancer.
Written by Kelsie Wicks 2012
End
Written 11/4/11 Kelsie Wicks edited November 19, 2011 to ask for donations to fund research to end cancer. Donated to the St.Jude Children’s Hospital, Memphis, Tenn.
An Ocean's Journey
(A Poem for the victims of Hurricane Sandy- 2012)
Hurricane season was near to an end
Good news to those on islands, coasts
We'd soon be free from threatening winds
Oceans would be still and hush
But waters began to stir and build
Given the handle, "Hurricane Sandy "
We hoped it would weaken, sputter and quit
She gained momentum to far away land
The dreaded nightmare now confirmed
Eastern shore in "Sandy's" sight
Tis' now time to ready, hurry
Wind and water would flail and smite
Sewers backed, lights flickered out
Mailbox floating read, " Mrs.”, “Mr."
Be gone nasty Sandy and do it now!
( But how could we know right behind was Noreaster)
(*** Noreaster is a winter storm)
End
written 12/15/12, Kelsie Wicks slightly edited 07/13/15; `1/14/17
Short poem for nations whose destitute and hungry people experience daily survival that is dependent upon hours and minutes).
The networks revealed a destitute throng
A country starving we are told
Stomachs growling all day long
Babies looking as if they're old
Poor and hungry, eyes wide in their sockets
Directly behind comes nasty disease
Let's open up our purses wallets
Where once there were legs are now bony knees.
(When a hungry baby cries, another baby cries in protest).
Written August 13, 2011 Kelsie Wicks slightly edited 1/14/page 90
Doctors Orders and Borders ( Poem For Doctors Without Borders)
They're "Globetrotters", not the basketball team
Traveling the world, giving healing and hope
Their uniforms, "scrubs" and some jeans ( scrubs-typically the loose fitting hospital clothes)
And the ever present stethoscope
Sickness in Africa from the tsetse fly ( tset-see)
Severed limbs from the world's earthquakes
Street children, many countries, left waiting to die
Doctors hurry, lives at stake!
No spotlight for these warriors of healing
Doing their duty while we sleep and such
Their reward," Thank you Doctor" and a joyful knowing
They've done proud the "Hippocratic oath" ( an oath
taken by doctors when entering the medical profession)
Written; Kelsie Wicks 8-10-12; slightly edited 6/29/15; 1/14/17
End
From Afar
"From afar looks like a simple smile
'Tis a palate and a lip that's cleft
Come closer and just look awhile
Appears his tooth's lodged in his lip
We're just like other boys and girls
We sing and dance and wrestle rough
The difference rests upon our faces-
Our smiles hijacked from lips that’s cleft
The HUG Times; Journal Entry 5/4/12
Today’s poem"From Afar", short poem for children and youth with cleft palate and lip : Kelsie Wicks ;written 5/4/12; edited 8/17/12; 1/14/17
End
Tears In Russia (A Poem For Holocaust Survivors), and the Hanukkah Poem)
The land where I live is far away
At night the wind chills, howls, and blows
To get a sense of where I live,
The movie’s called Dr. Zhivago (pronounced Sha-vah-go)
For some home brings to mind a place
Of family friends down through the years
For us it was “run, hide, escape!”
Our laughs were choked and turned to tears
Years ago when just a girl
I still recall the deadly day
Upside down was turned our world
Dead bodies on the gallows swayed
Dogs and soldiers, shrieks, and cries
Mama snatched me to her bosom
Old man struck between the eyes
Knocked down again when he had risen
Jews shoved, herded onto a train
My parents, siblings, neighbors, Hannah
I haven’t seen them since that day
Until a letter came from Russia
Hannah’s old and wrinkled now
A sullen look, her body stooped
Scar tissue shows across her brow
But she’s alive, somehow pulled through!
Both too old, too sick to travel
So we write near every week
I think I hear my mailbox jostle
I read, I cry, her letters speak
Hannah somehow escaped the camps ( Auschwitz, Dachau, Treblinka, etc.)
Then from one town on to the next
She met Ezra, raised up a family
Parents, siblings, not so blessed
This letter Hannah made me laugh
A day I did not feel so good
She writes:
The smell and taste is half my meal
I have no teeth to chew my food!"
My neighbor Josef would like to say a few words:
"I heard my friends romp, play with joy
When just a youth, I lost my sight
No clock, nor rooster to tell time
My stomach growls then I get up
"Remember me always," Hannah writes
When we were girls out on the farm
Not of the dogs, uncertain nights
Nor branded numbers on our arms".
End
Poem written by Kelsie Wicks June 27, 2008 edited 1/14/17
The Edenic Struggle, Then and Now".( a poem)
'Condition of the heart is such
Compared to mind, more than a match
For..."out of the heart"...The Master taught (Jesus @ Mark 7:21)
Is where the good and evil bout
A heart transplant will not convert
The mind of one who loves to hurt
For good is locked within the soul
Of one who chose the good their goal
A plotting heart may pave the way
An upright heart says, “ not today!"
And Oh!, I'd really like to say,
A heart's reviewed on Judgement Day!
Though mind is where the process starts
Our thoughts soon filter through the heart
So goes the struggle 'tween’ think and do
First mind your buddy, the heart your "boo" ( street slang for
sweetheart)
End
Written by Kelsie Wicks around 2010
Some Pennies For Benny (a poem for those who are homeless).
The sparkle in their eyes is gone
They've come to terms with little, lack
These are those who have no home
GOD wants to know whose got their back
I'm going to share a thought with you
For as I write I hold back tears
Undoubtedly you've seen it too
Homeless shame born out of
Not long ago one blistery night
I refuged in a homeless shelter ( confusion with my account and I was out of town and cold).
I felt my good poised for a fight
I knew I’d try to make things better
As long as there is day and night
And as the sky retains its blue
The problem of the homeless plight
Upon us thrusts cause to undo
I search for words to stir this cause
She slowly walks into my mind
Modest, saintly, I see her now
A woman from the ancient times!
What is this place where I now stand
One thing for sure, it is not home
This is some kind of foreign land
WHO is that leaning on that wall?
While others rush and do commerce
HIS eyes roam freely ‘til they find
A woman, poor, and in her purse
This woman from the ancient times!
Head turned slightly as HE'S speaking
Eyes still focused on the lady
Moving closer, I hear a bit
"...she has given all she had" ( Jesus @ Luke chapter 21; verses 1-4)
Deciphering this revelation
Struggling to define it's meaning
At long last, interpretation
"pennies will assist the many"
Needing the night wind to unwind
I set upon a course unknown
An object lies in distance 'yond
No rug, nor crate, but one, no home.
End
Written April 20, 2011 ( slightly edited 10/2/12;) Kelsie Wicks
Where Went The Meadows?
( Dedicated to those who have suffered broken relationships due to alcoholism and drugs. The person you once knew-that fun, loving, good person, fell victim to the monster of drug and alcohol addiction. Take a journey with me to relocate the good heart this person once had, it may have been your wife, fiance', or your girl).
Face, shape, beauty, all were there
Yet, pound for pound, part for part
Even with the stunning hair
Were miniscule, I saw her heart
A heart as vast as oceans, plains
Deep within an ember glowin"
A heart as soft as gentle rains
A stoke I'm sure would cause a flowin'
Of waterfalls of love unleashed
Pouring down into a canyon
To whom will she this love bequeath
This love not known by mortal man
So huge a heart, from whence the source?
I’ll dig inside this place , this mine (as in gold mine)
To tap her motherlode of love
I’m sure that’s not all that I’ll find
A cloak, a staff, I need no hat
As I embark upon this journey
I’ll set no course, nor take a map
While mining days of few or many
I come upon a fragrant field
Flowers dazzling in their colors
Heart-shaped roses, mint daffodils
What wonders will I yet discover?
With meadows reaching far and wide
I settle down beneath dark skies
Pink stars surround a heart-shaped moon
I struggle not to shut my eyes
I bathe in waters clear and cold
Heart-shaped rocks upon the bottom
What message does this journey hold?
I set upon the road again
I feel a chill within the air
Bumps arise upon my flesh
Where went the meadows-what is this sphere? (drugs, alcohol abuse, etc )
That thus has caused this barrenness?
I will not faint, I will pursue
The “heart” will make me forge ahead
There must be something to undo
An evil has worked out this deed ( See Matthew 13:24-28)
My spirit crushed, I sojourn ‘till
The rising sun removes the shadows
The warmth returns, look at the fields! (Recovery from drugs,alcohol )
Of vegetables, fruits, all kinds of melons!
Soon the butterflies abound
Up in the sky, two eagles soar ( You two are in love again)
The heart” t’was lost, has now been found
Please escort evil out the door.
Old and new lovers, always remember what made you first fall in love.
Written by Kelsie Wicks October 5, 2009 edited December 19, 2009
page 102
Hurricane Katrina; The Aftermath, The Trick!
(Dedicated to the city of New Orleans, I lived there 2008-2010.
For purposes of this poem, New Orleans is pronounced "Or'linz")
It started out above the ocean
Wind a' gaining, building force
Before you knew, there was momentum
New Orleans sat upon the coast
City rising from a'sleepin'
Warning stern from weather man
“Cane” broke loose, no longer creepin’
Cries were heard throughout the land
“Get out now!” rang out the words
The hordes now fleeing best they could
Some by car, some not all
“ Cane” spared not the young nor old
Since yesterday, all now has changed
Eyes fixed on their new surroundings
Young one clinging Mama’s dress
She has no answer to this wandering
Hordes displaced and there would tarry
Carolina, some to Memphis
Those who’d somehow borne the wrath
Katrina made some move to Texas
The hordes now trickle back from whence
They greet old neighbors, some still gone
“My house still stands, but needs a fence””
“This house is where my gramps was born”
A white stone church, now sits in silence
Oaks in front, and buckled floors
Arc windows seems as if a gapin’
Lenora says she misses bingo
Nail is driven, a ladder there
And yes, the city will renew
Construction crews are everywhere
Torn lives are what one cannot glue
Betsy, Rita, now Katrina (all hurricanes that hit New Orleans)
Infamous “canes” as ever were
May find the trick was played on them
For they unite in common cause! Hah!
written June 25, 2008 Kelsie Wicks , slightly edited June 7, 2013
Youth Of Poverty
The sun rises slowly. by midday they scorch
In a land that is barren, where food is quite scarce
At a distance she looks like old woman on cane
Tis’ a skinny young girl if you look again
Young tree hides her body, her shadow barely cast
Her stomach is empty, her face careless mask
The joints of her body reveals bony knobs
Her hunger has caused her temples to throb
Flies swarm her face, she cannot shoo
Her arms are too weak to address such tadoo
"I'm poverty girl, of my sisters I'm third
Food for our people is mystique and byword
Our youth has been stripped of vigor and zest
From birth our dexterity was put to the test
By the thousands we die, graves atop of the earth
Birds peck our flesh placed in rows on the dirt
Midwife who helped Momma when she was in labor
Fought Ma yesterday in the streets for potatoes
Our lives so simple, t'would seem we should flourish
Death stalks our abode from disease and malnourish
The soldiers bring food with trucks and guns
Or our warriors will pillage and steal from their own
One soldier told children at a feeding today
" No Need to steal food",
“ Is there some other way?”
Written by Kelsie Wicks 1998
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