false 0 0 0 true 5914838 read 0 true 2937264 currently-reading 0 true 2937263 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/222901-please-post-your-poem-for-the-november-goodreads-contest Barry made a comment in the ¡ POETRY ! group:

What a site! Now the self-righteous and very,very pious, in long diatribes, are attacking the attackers before they are even proven guilty, he,he. How abusive, unfair and unconstitutional! Who has appointed any of them as this site's moral keeper? And, what is more disgusting than the self-righteous? Are they not the ones we see most often involved in kinky sex scandals? Oh my!!

Indeed;a good subject for the poet.Please!- someone take it up. How about a title like, "Goodread's Holier Than Thou". ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/210001-please-post-your-poem-for-the-october-goodreads-contest Barry made a comment in the ¡ POETRY ! group:

AMERICA, AMERICA
America, America, god, how I love you! How can I ever begin to express my many diverse feelings about you?

Perhaps your true loveliness is seen most poignantly in your constant struggle with your corporate sins.In your many investigations into scandal, your smoke-filled Congressional hearings. In the revelations of your newspaper reporters.

Your Constitution protects the infamous Ku Klux Klan, yet you throw open your sea-rusted portals to foreign merchant ships carrying precious cargoes of blacks, yellows, and browns.

How lovely is the freedom torch of Lady Liberty silhouetted against a dark moonless New York skyline! How sweet and secure is her maternal embrace!

You burned colonial witches and then opted for religious tolerance. You brutally enslaved a million blacks in the torturing hot sun of your Southern cotton fields and then shed your blood to set them free.

During the Second World War you disgraced the Bill of Rights by
imprisoning Japanese-Americans in desert camps. Then, you confessed your wrongs and sought to make reparation.

Always you struggle to be more civilized! How often, though, have you clothed your national interests in the red, white, and blue guise of patriotism and then violated the rights of other nations. But when you conquered Japan you were magnanimous in your victory.

You are one of the wealthiest nations on earth yet thousands of homeless walk your streets and millions more live in your squalid slums and go hungry.The Communists call American social injustice a disgrace, and they are right. But let private industry bid on social programs, and let Presidents negotiate peace to free resources, and American capitalism will surely be vindicated.

Your high taxes and budget deficits are a serious threat to freedom and a heavy burden on the backs of men and women and your thousands of computer files invade every citizen’s privacy, yet you struggle on to preserve your tradition of freedom.

My dear sweet Lady Liberty, I often wonder if you will survive the technological onslaught. What will become of personal freedom when all payments must be made with plastic cards? When the government will know where every person is, at all times. When a simple computer command could shut off anyone’s ability to survive.

No government, not even a democratically elected one, should have such concentrated central power! Lady, how is your vision? Do you see these dangers? For sweet freedom’s sake I pray that you do!

by Barry W ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/179770-please-post-your-poem-for-the-august-goodreads-newsletter-contest-now Barry made a comment in the ¡ POETRY ! group:

From Barry W-

Gregory pathetic! You need help. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/193301-please-post-your-poem-for-september-s-goodreads-contest Barry made a comment in the ¡ POETRY ! group:

THE GULF
A lone Mexican fisherman slowly paddled his two-ended dory out into the early morning fog. Azure blue, Sea of Cortez water, hurriedly dripped off the ends of his grained, sun-bleached oars making small circles on the mirror-like surface. Somewhere out in the mist a fish broke the surface with a splash—a sea
bird cried urgently.

Last night Juan had drank deeply of Maria’s dark loving eyes. The barren desert landscape had been lit by a thousand shooting stars and the rich staccato
sounds of a Spanish guitar had strut across the soft velvet Baja night. He rowed in the afterglow of last night’s ecstasy, the cool sea mist felt good
on his warm face.

Far away in Mexico City people were already fighting their way through the morning traffic. They had houses, cars and urban stress—Juan had a shack, a
dory, and Maria. His sensuous imagery was suddenly interrupted—a fish had hit the troll line.

He smiled gratefully at God. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/157489-please-post-your-poem-for-the-july-goodreads-newsletter-contest-now Barry made a comment in the ¡ POETRY ! group:

TIME WARP

My body is aging but my heart lies helplessly in an eternal time warp.
When I close my eyes I see Walt Disney’s Tinker Bell, flying across an
ebony black night sky.Her sparkling wand spews brilliant stars in every direction.
I am young forever, it’s magic!

My body is aging but my heart swims in the warm Gulf Stream. It lives on an island in the Gulf with a beautiful young girl. At night sweet trade winds blow from the south, the moon is always full and coconut star dust falls from the night sky.

Clear azure blue waters lap gently on the shore as we walk hand and hand on moon lit nights. Soft romantic music floats gently on the moist night air from the patio of a restaurant on the beach. Later, her hair falls and her body rises to meet mine. We are one.

Impossible you say?

I think not! For deep in my heart it knows a place like this outside of time. A place where I am one with who I love. Where love is a thousand lovely dawnings’ and never dies. Where the waters of the Gulf are always warm and the trade winds always sweet!

Barry Walshe

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