soul of the poet 6
Night Dance on the Lake
Like a swan dancing across the lake
With the wind behind you
Gracefully as you go,
Across the ice not losing on step---
Not one step in time you miss
Gliding across the ice
On winter's wings a flying high
Then, lightly touching the sky upward
Landing gracefully on the ice
Lightly touching the ground
In such beauty and grace.
Like a swan dancing across the lake
I watched you in amazement
And each time you leap in the air
My heart skips beat or two
As amazing you are a sight to see
In grace and beauty.
As the moon shines up above
And the stars shine brightly
Over the lake
Dancing away until morning rising
And will be there to watch you dance with the wind.
17 Nov. 2021
soul of the poet 6
Hero
Courage
Bold
Sacrificing everything
To save or to help everybody.
If I can just help somebody
Along this way and keep the faith
And keep fighting for a cause
Not belonging to me
Then and only my hero
Will come to me.
Not a white shining armor of a
Hunk of a man wearing an “S” on
His chest flying the “friendly skies”
Somewhere to swoop me off my feet---
HELL NO! No way No how!
A hero is not just a sport figurehead
Or powerful individual
Or some guy who saves the day
But a hero is
A hero is not just a sandwich
A hero is being humble
Courageous but forever grateful
For that’s a hero!
Yes, a hero is more than all that
But even more
To me much more.
Much more.
A hero is a builder of dreams
Dreams that go beyond he sees
Now that’s what a hero is to me.
October 2003
Brother Ray
In memory of Ray Charles
The music comes out of you
And shows up every time too,
Because it’s deep in your soul
The music is in coming out so.
Because you got Georgia on Your Mind,
It’s not hard at all to find,
The heart and soul of you,
Deep inside of your soul it’s true.
With your inner sight,
You painted America the Beautiful all right
While your physical sight blinded you so,
But yet you still could just go.
What’d I Say?
I wish you were still here today,
Singing your songs to soothe me,
Giving me that inner sight to see.
Brother Ray, Brother Ray we’ll miss you,
Don’t believe you left but it’s true,
But your instilled voice echoes even more
While your music opened up every door.
The radio plays your songs,
On your Baby Grand of days long gone,
The music we here will live forever
Your voce will be heard and shut never.
Brother Ray we’ll miss you dearly,
And in our hearts, we say sincerely,
Thank you for giving us that untouchable soul
We’ll always have and forever hold so.
Brother Ray play on,
Your beloved songs,
We’ll always have and forever hold so,
That untouchable and unforgettable soul.
14 June 2004
the soul of the poet 6
Untitled
Chasing dreams
Like chasing an endless
Something that goes and goes and goes
Until you can’t chase it no more.
Like a rainbow
With its wonderful colors so bright
Like you want to reach out and touch it.
And until those dreams come true
I will continue
To chase it
Embrace it
One day
One lifetime at a time.
Oct. 2003
Poem: pain
Pain.
The pain is inside of me
I got to let it go and set it free,
Yeah, free it before the pain
Work my nerves and sustain
From hurting me more and more
Until it makes my heart sore,
Deeply inside of me---
I just have to set it free!
And if I don’t let it go
It’s gonna take a hold
Of this man for dear life.
Pain.
It’s inside of me so deep
Until it hurts so low, I pray it will creep
Right out of this body of mine
But until I feel fine
The pain inside of my heart
It must depart
Because it’s too much for me you understand
RELEASE ME NOW……
And the Words Are Like the Sea
It takes one ripple
To make a wave.
A life given that suddenly that one gave
And the words are like the sea.
Flowing from the waves of words can you see?
How wonderful it flows like ripples of waters a flow,
Hear it just trips over my tongue like these words are like so
And the words are like the sea.
Clear and blue is the sea
Calm and wonderful is the sea of blue,
Stormy it can be so true
And the words are like the sea.
Flow on beautiful poetic words like the sea
Flow on, float on I say
And the words are like the sea.
3 Jun. 2004
Mental Poetic Exercise
I keep thinking of you
And thinking of you all day
All night flooding my brains in everyway
I keep thinking of you.
I keep thinking of you,
Of all you’ve been to me
And all the things there is to be
Cause I keep thinking of you.
I keep thinking of you,
And all the good things together
For no matter time, space or the weather,
I will be thinking of you.
The peace and quiet
The hush of morning is heard
With the birds singing
High up in the trees
While the morning creeps by us
Without notice or care
But it pushes in just like that!
Blues skies
It’s going to be a wonderful day indeed….
April 2006
*********
The Voice of the Little Man
Politics as usual.
No one wants to listen to the little man,
As a matter of fact, I don’t think anyone can
Because no one wants to hear
Or even give an ear
To what we are saying to you.
Even the little man is here bustin’ his behind
And you don’t matter as they find,
Because no one wants to hear
Or even give an ear
To what we are saying to you.
If only you will listen to us
Instead of just assuming the worst in disgust.
Give ear to the voice of the little man,
Then you will understand
Our plight we are going through.
Jun 2006
CA
The Voice of the Little Man
Politics as usual.
No one wants to listen to the little man,
As a matter of fact, I don’t think anyone can
Because no one wants to hear
Or even give an ear
To what we are saying to you.
Even the little man is here bustin’ his behind
And you don’t matter as they find,
Because no one wants to hear
Or even give an ear
To what we are saying to you.
If only you will listen to us
Instead of just assuming the worst in disgust.
Give ear to the voice of the little man,
Then you will understand
Our plight we are going through.
Jun 2006
CA
CIRCLE OF LOVE
THE CIRCLE OF LOVE GOING AROUND AND AROUND
UNTIL THE CIRCLE IS COMPLETE ONLY THROUGH LOVE. IT'S THE CIRCLE OF LOVE A LOVE LIKE NO OTHER THE KIND OF LOVE FROM THE CROSS OF CHRIST. GOD GAVE HIS SON TO DIE FOR US AND THAT'S ALL PART OF THE CIRCLE OF LOVE. 4 FEB.'22
Rekindled Hopes
to Vanessa
From my eye I saw you
I wanted to speak
But your eyes told me so
You wanted to say something too
Bringing on rekindled hopes
And wondering we'll see each other again....
3 June 2022
Green Paper
Money, money, money
Give me money, money, money.
Money, money, money
Give me money, money, money.
I would die for my green paper
But they better pay me right with my green paper
Mama needs to buy food with that green paper
Daddy needs to get his kicks with that green paper.
The trick on the corner needs green paper
That gambling man needs his green paper
The dope man needs that green paper.
What about the preacher man?
He needs that green paper.
And the baby mama needs that green paper
But the baby daddy won't give up the green paper.
The rich man lives off the green paper
The poor needs that green paper.
Everybody's going to need that green paper
You know you need that green paper.
Rev. Ike preached about the green paper
To buy more stuff with the green paper
But when he died, he couldn't take it with him
And so, the green paper stays here.
Can you spear one or two of that green paper?
I need to eat
I need it to live
That green, green paper.
There's some who will steal it
Rob somebody for it
That green, green paper.
The Good Book says the love it
Yes, the love it is evil
But there's so many out there
Who will die for that green paper?
Money, money, money
Give me money, money, money
Money, money money----
Money, money, money---
Too late it's over for you---
Click, click boom!
27 May 2021
Listen
Listen---
Our ancestors are calling
The voices are getting loud
And if you look upward
Like stars failing from the heavens
From the air.
Listen----
Our ears swelled
With a heart of wisdom and love
Can you hear it?
Listen----
Can you hear it?
18 June 2022
Voices of an Angel
in memory of Whitney Houston
Can you hear in the air?
Sounds of loveliness divine
That is heard everywhere
No matter where you are.
She was the voice of generations
That goes beyond where we are
A voice for more nations
Just by her voice so divine.
In the air where angels' dwell
Up above my head
That voices so divine ringing like a bell
Rejoicing and singing out in song.
The beauty of voice so divine....
How silent from a distant
We hear no more
Beautiful voice so divine
That once soar
Higher
A voice so divine...
June 2020
The Train Home
soul of the poet 6.
H.B.O. (Harmony Beyond Obstacles)
Listen my people!
The cost of love
Cost your lives
In order to get along
Without somebody.
No excuses
Or taken!
We live in this world
So, get along!
Go beyond race
And race for the common goal of love.
Stop putting guns in each other's hands,
And hand them an olive leaf of peace.
Educate,
Relate,
No hate!
With open arms
Show compassion
Show love.
Let's tear down the wall
And love again....
(C)2000
Hands Off!!!!
To all the women who were sexual abused in the workplace
she smells good and the scent lingers
All over the workplace.
Dressed perfectly and so professional
With a nice body and pretty face.
Then you wonder if she’s single,
Or is she married and the mind wonders on
Then you desire her
For a piece of her even for a song.
You're lurking in the shadows
Just to get close to her from behind
To give her back rubs
To capture her like a hunter trapping
Then she’s yours
But she tells you
To leave her be!
Hands off
Don't get close to me........
A Voice in the Darkness of Time
Every blow of your fist I feel
But in the back of my mind, I can’t believe this real?
Taking out all your frustrations out on me,
You just can’t keep hitting me you see,
Until all my emotions melt away
And the pain just stays
But you bust your ass to the white meat
Of every little thing I’m feeling
And don’t you know with each beat you’re stealing
My sanity slowly and slowly
Until I cannot be free
Yes, I said free from this pain
Free from this stain
That's placed upon my heart.
I’m your post
The one you hate most
Because I’m just a human being
But that’s not what you’re seeing.
You see a child you want to beat my ass
Just see if it would last
Years beyond time.
29 Oct. 2019
Murder!
A social commentary
Say their name!
Say it loud
Say it proud
Let the world hear with no shame.
Killing our people one by one
Violently
Can you just, see?
By violence with a gun.
If it’s not a bullet then, it’s a knee
On the neck of a man
Who's trying to understand
He’s being arrested as the whole world see.
Violently murdered for no reason
Snuffed out like a match burning
Slowly he dies as the world is turning
Faster and faster killing them like killing is out of season.
Murder, the people cry out
A misstep of justice
But not for us
No justice, I really doubt.
Murder, the jury tells us,
Because of someone who wears blue
That really didn’t care less or who
As the people cry for justice.
Murder as the people cry out
As the people wait to hear
The verdict of murder that was clear
And just finally begins.
30 April 2021
Divided
A Social Commentary
Those blues and reds are broken apart
But there’s a river of trouble that is right in the middle
A stream of blood flowing and pouring out from the dust of the earth.
The shedder dreams of what was once there
They are now just photos that are black and white,
Looking bleak for a future that we are looking forward too,
And noises drowning out the sounds we hear now made us deaf
But the darkness is out dancing while the light dims.
Give me your hand and let me lead you
To a better way of living.
Let me touch your soul
As a way of giving
Yourself to the cause of right,
To fight what is wrong
Instead of what’s right.
There’s a grey line in the middle,
There’s a grey line in the middle
Yes, in the middle of the air
Because it is up in the middle of the air
There’s a grey line in the middle of the air.
Can you hear the train coming,
In the station of reality,
Thinking outside of ourselves
Like a circle
Yes, that circle called life.
There are mothers in the streets
Protesting for a wrong turned upside down,
While there’s a force out there
Who wants to tear up and tear down
The very fabric of justice we try to keep
But the nation remains divided.
Hungry people everywhere,
Looking for someone to eat
While the government puts a no vacancy sign
On their ivory towers and those who looks down on them,
Like we don’t belong,
But treat us wrong
While we crawl on our bellies hungry
Looking for something to eat.
Who am I to get an attitude,
When my woman burnt up my food
While the cost of living picks our pockets clean
While there are some who blows their noses with hundred-dollar bills,
Then disregard them for the next sucker to pick it up.
I look above my head,
And this is what I see---
Buzzards flying over me to pick my dry bones
As I lay helpless.
And while a nation is pulled apart,
Torn asunder with no care and no regrets.
Now meanwhile a nation watches Mr. Smith slaps a Rock
For being funny---ha ha
About his lady’s looks,
Then again still torn apart
As a nation rocks and weaves from that punch in the gut.
Those blues and reds are a blur line
But there’s no doubt we are divided,
Separated by race,
Separated by culture
Separated by political affiliation
And now separated to be separated to be separated
But yet divided.
16 Oct.2022
poem: mountains
there are mountains we climb
no matter how high
the mountain but if you do
and reach the top with faith
with hope, with knowing
that there is hope in spite of
no matter what
climb that mountain
the summit of life’s all mountains.
may 2002
keepers of the night
although they sleep
slumber is not a way of life for them
but they keep up with the night
as night lingers onward
but seems like forever
and on night means forever with them.
May2002
Urban Life
As the heart beat of the city
Beats like a drum,
As the heat rises i air
And surrounds the city.
Listen to the heartbeat
As the city grows
And expands more and more,
WELCOME TO URBAN LIFE!
Smoke stacks fills the air
And the city begins a journey like no other.
WELCOME TO THE URBAN LIFE!
Crime
Has no friends
But nothing what's it good for
TROUBLE!
WELCOME
TO
URBAN
LIFE!
When the Silence is Deafening
The children cry in the night
And all the world is sleeping,
And the gangs are fighting
Over turf that that does not belong to them---
That’s when the silence is heard.
When a leader slips the country in half
And violence and blood hit the streets
And there’s no clear path of freedom---
That’s when the silence is heard.
When freedom is like a punchline,
And when you’re on the streets
But it’s questioned at anytime
Where you’ll live or die
Because that’s when the silence is deafen.
Silence is heard when a gun goes off
Another life down in a sea of blood
Just another life taken from the hood,
Where you’ll live or die
And you hear the silence is heard.
The silence of death heard loud
The panic of lives is heard,
And the lurking of the sworn to kill proudly
Then no one hears it
That’s when the silence is still heard.
When we stop the violence in our streets
When we stop killing one another
Taken the lives of our sisters and brothers
When leaders wake up from their sleep
When justice takes off its blindfold
And sees the injustice in front of them.
When the flooding of blood stops,
When the children can play once more,
When the elderly gets their respect and honor
When our soldiers study war no more
And that’s when the silence can be heard
But when?
Sept. 2017
I Am the Poem
Lines becomes words
And words turned into rhymes
And words sprung forward at me
Stringed together like hanging a Christmas tree
Like treats on each branch.
The pen’s ink never dried
But like a long line
As for miles and miles with no direction
And for miles and miles going nowhere.
I am the poem
That's read far and near
Backwards and forward
Black ink glides across the page
As if it’s a glider in the skies.
Black pen glides across the page
Upward in the distant skies.
2 March 2020
Where is the Love?
Question to you
An answer you can give
But be straight with me now,
And please be true,
From the heart and soul
Dig deep inside.
Questions I place before you now,
That answer please and give,
Don't turn on me
Live and let live
Dig a little deeper.
I guess you are wondering what’s going on
Why so much talk yet even now
There's no singing of a song
But a question in mind
That's addressed to you--
Where is the love? Sept. 2017
America Home of the Free
Standing----
On the shoulders before us
Trailing roads that are so far
And memories of ships that sailed
From lands beyond our reach
Across oceans and oceans
And lands far off and beyond.
People---
From other lands and cultures
Languages, creeds and customs
Bringing forth a new hope
Even in times as rough as these.
This is America home of the free.
Land---
Of the people who lived proudly
From sea to shining seas
Where the mountains reach the sky
Like a mirror
Because this is America home of the free.
Can you see me?
Skin dark,
Eyes brown,
Blood Red
Anger shown.
I am someone's
Son, nephew, grandchild
Even in a world so cruel
Where violence is everywhere.
Can you see me?
A man with a heart
Not my skin color
Or my class
But see me as a human being.
2017
Enchanted Night
The night is filled with stars
With the bright round moon shines
Brightly up above
On this enchanted night.
The frogs are begging for rain
While the grasshoppers
And other creepers have a night concert
Playing a tune for all to hear
On this enchanted night.
I swore I heard
Cats singing their tune,
While dogs howl at the moon,
How wonderful and sweet the sound
On this enchanted night.
While the world is sleeping the night away,
Those night owls,
Out to play throughout the night,
A wonderful night
On this enchanted night.
Soon it will be time for the moon,
All those night creatures go in for the night
Making way for morning,
All those night creatures go in for the night
A daylight peaks,
Until next time
One enchanted night.
5 Aug. 2022
Copyright (C) 2022 Kenneth R. Jenkins