from YouTube You never know who might drop in on Springfield, Ill. Thanks to Obama and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, Springfield has slowly become a name on the tip of America’s tongue, and a small-city or large-town destination for the curious. Springfield Poets and Writers board member Liz Huck was listening to WUIS radio […]
poems
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oomphalos poem #1
oomphalos poem #1 when my dad was sixty-seven he was in the hospital a couple months he was a terrible patient he wouldn’t eat the food wouldn’t drink the water “it tastes better in my horse trough!” and the coffee was strained through an irishman’s sock mother had to bring him oyster stew in a […]
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My gift
This poem was written by my mother,Vera Wardner Dougan, to my father,for their first Christmas together, 1924. I’m repeating it here, for it is so simple, appropriate and tender. JDJ If I could give to you one only gift To hold forever, in remembrance of meT’would be the peace that enters in the heartWhen love comes there […]
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storypoem #16
nellie needham a spinster schoolteachermy grampa’s second cousin loaned himmoney in 1911 to build the round barn itwas paid back very slowly over the yearsduring the depression she lowered theinterest to match the federal land bankwouldn’t take no for an answer my dadinherited the debt told nellie he’d payinterest and some principle every duedate but […]
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thanksgiving poem #7
thanksgiving poem #7 one of the happiest events at our university has occurred yearly since ’77 the international festival last week was no exception colorful native dress and design tasty native foods familiar and unfamiliar tongues the variety of games music and oh the dancing cheered on by the appreciative crowd irish scottish with bagpipes […]
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from a great-grandkid poem #1
one hears family stories that arerevealed quite late sometimes onlyas conjecture for instance my friend’spaternal great-grandmother when themen in black pulled up in their blackhearse-like cars she shoved all herchildren under the dining room tableits cloth to the floor the men wentdown to her basement came up leftshe lifted her long skirt rolled a wadof […]
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irony poem I guess # 2
irony poem I guess # 2 with the world deteriorating in almost any area you think of consider farmland gobbled up oceans dying ditto the humanities I hesitate to mention that as a kid I found the crackerjack prize was worth ripping open the box to get at now they’re just paper bits maybe a […]
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north fifth street poem #17
every weekday morning I hear the pledge of allegiance it’s broadcast all over the neighborhood by the school next door, no I don’t stop what I’m doing composting the garbage or wiping up a spill to stand with my hand on my heart facing the flag the only flag here is a small one atop […]
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weedseed poem #1
weedseed poem #1 going through old farm stuff I finda folder called wis crop improvementass’n it holds a 1965 program for anarea meet that includes a workshop on weed seed identification and ends BE SURE TO BRING YOUR GLASSESSINCE WE WILL BE LOOKING ATWEED SEEDS there follows a list and descriptions starting with quackgrass: “about […]
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Listen to the music
A recently posted article by Austen Rosenfeld, “Why Billy Collins is America’s Most Popular Poet,” points out pertinent thoughts about poetry today. Mainly, has academia hijacked the art of poetry or is it alive and well but mutilated in the public sector? But we’re missing the point. The poetry world has never provided much direction […]
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prayerpoem #4
today’s prayers were in lugandamukama tukwebaza, olwobulamubwafte era tukwebazza olwabantubonna abali wano embanjawuloabakazi abassajja aberu nabadugavulord we thank you for our lives andwe thank you for everyone who ishere whether man woman black whiteI heard about a school in ugandaand two orphanages one filled withchildren who have lost both parentsto the aids virus the other […]
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farmer letter poem #16
farmer letter poem #16 thursday we had the universitydown harvesting their corn yieldtest plots then yesterday we madesixty-five cows happy by tellingthem the extent of their pregnancy ©2013 Jacqueline Jackson
