Page 1 of Nicholas Gordon's writing

1. Heads or Tails: Pantoums I HATE YOU, DAD, FOR WHAT YOU DID I hate you, Dad, for what you did To me when I was just a child, A helpless thing whom you could beat Until the excess bile was drained. To me, when I was just a child, You were God unmerciful Until the excess... (posted by Nicholas 248 days 20 hours ago.)

2. Let Me Be the Bandage for Your Bleeding: Poems About the Importance of Friendship FRIENDS IN HIGH SCHOOL ARE FOREVER YOUNG Friends in high school are forever young. Unchanged, they're where you always will belong. The crowd is never gone, the pleasure stays, The music of the moment always plays, The time remains a field of... (posted by Nicholas 290 days 1 hour ago.)

3. What I Wish Someone Had Told Me when I Was 14 EVIL HAS NO EASY EXPLANATION Evil has no easy explanation. Everyone is evil and is good. Sometimes we watch ourselves do something evil Frozen in a scream that's never heard. We cannot stop ourselves, so we go on, Knowing somewhere else the... (posted by Nicholas 302 days 18 hours ago.)

4. To the Founding Fathers: Poems About Being an American TO THE FOUNDING FATHERS Your light still lingers in our distant morning, A star that we perceive across the void. We chart our passage by your words, still burning Long after your bright core has been destroyed. No longer do we speak of... (posted by Nicholas 332 days 21 hours ago.)

5. And the Child Shivered: Poems About Fathers and Sons AFTER MY FATHER GAVE ME HIS BLESSING After my father gave me his blessing For the first time, saying, "God bless you" As I left him to the darkness, He held me there and kissed my hand. For the first time saying, "God bless you" In all the... (posted by Nicholas 346 days 22 hours ago.)

6. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A Mother's Day Poem and More HINDER NOT THE HAPPINESS Hinder not the happiness Alive within the heart. Perhaps it's only natural, Perhaps it is an art. Yet many rarely feel it, Many do not know Of the eternal music That makes the moment flow. How might one listen to it... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 23 days ago.)

7. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A Number Poem About Fortune and More FORTUNE IS THE CHILD OF WILL AND CHANCE Fortune is the child of will and chance. In seeking cause, one finds a mute regression. For some, life is an incandescent dance, Though others tend to look at it askance, Yearning for what's not in their... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 30 days ago.)

8. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: An Easter Poem and More ENDURING DOES NOT LEAD TO HAPPINESS Enduring does not lead to happiness. A person ought not suffer out of duty. Some choose to sacrifice under duress, Taking as cruel chance what could be beauty. Each ought to give for love, as did the Lord... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 38 days ago.)

9. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A Passover Poem and More PERHAPS A MEAL OUGHT NOT BEAR SO MUCH WEIGHT Perhaps a meal ought not bear so much weight. A dining room is not a synagogue. Sometimes, however, food's a pedagogue. Sometimes one's best text is what one ate. One finds in food the sense in many... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 44 days ago.)

10. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A Name Poem for Adelaide and More ADELAIDE Adelaide is gracious to a fault, Desiring harmony more than desire. Each disagreement threatens to turn dire. Likes and dislikes never leave the vault. A child of war becomes adept at peace. Intuitively, she skirts the hidden mines... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 51 days ago.)

11. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A Poem for British Mother's Day and More MELODIES, LIKE PEOPLE, HAVE A HOME Melodies, like people, have a home. Otherwise, they'd wander aimlessly. They modulate and mutate as they roam, Having held their own quite painlessly, Eventually returning to the heart Reserved for them by... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 58 days ago.)

12. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A St. Patrick's Day Poem and More SING OF THE HOME THAT YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN Sing of the home that you have never seen, The place your ancestors once called their own! Play the music of that island green, And dance the dances dear to those long gone! Time again to fill their... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 72 days ago.)

13. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A Thank You Birthday Poem and More THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING HERE Thank you all for coming here To celebrate my life. But most of all I'd like to thank My lovely, loving wife. One gives up a lot for love In freedom, time, and tears, And makes commitments that must last For... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 79 days ago.)

14. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A Fourth Anniversary Poem and More FOUR YEARS? NO, IT CANNOT BE THAT LONG! Four years? No, it cannot be that long! Only yesterday you two were married! Unplug the sundial! The shadow must be wrong! Rotating somethings somewhere have miscarried! Yet so it is – four years have... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 86 days ago.)

15. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A Philosophical Number Poem for 27 and More THERE IS NO BETTER TIME OF LIFE THAN NOW There is no better time of life than now. Whatever age you are, this time is best. Ever in the prime of life, the soul Needs no source of joy more than the whole, The One, in whom contingent souls are... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 93 days ago.)

16. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A Presidents' Day Poem and More PRESIDENT'S DAY? PRESIDENTS' DAY? OR PRESIDENTS DAY? President's Day? Presidents' Day? Or Presidents Day? Regarding spelling, what's the difference? Even apostrophes must have their say, Subtly shading each rendition's sense. In the first... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 100 days ago.)

17. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A Valentine's Day Poem and More VINTNERS KNOW THE VALUE OF THE SOIL Vintners know the value of the soil. A wine's taste is determined from below. Love, like wine, takes sun and rain and toil. Each may vary; the soil remains just so. Nor can lovers choose the soil their roots... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 107 days ago.)

18. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A Poem for the Year of the Rabbit and More THERE ARE THOSE WHO SHY AWAY FROM BEING There are those who shy away from being, However smart or talented, the leader, Each eagerly behind the scenes, agreeing Yet again to serve all those who need her. Everyone is wary of such tension As... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 114 days ago.)

19. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A Name Poem for Aisha and More AISHA Aisha is a model Muslim woman: Intelligent, loving, faithful, modest, kind; Serving selflessly the words of Islam, Having held them long in heart and mind; A soul that seeks, yet knows what it will find. FOR MOST OF US LIFE PASSES LIKE... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 121 days ago.)

20. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A Poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday and More HATRED HAS NO COLOR, CREED, OR RACE Hatred has no color, creed, or race. All hate, more or less, and thus destroy The fragile ecosystem of the heart, Restoring which requires faith and grace. Each must love for any hope of joy, Disciplining... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 135 days ago.)

21. Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: An Epiphany Poem and More EACH YEAR AGAIN THE GIFTS ARE GIVEN GLADLY Each year again the gifts are given gladly, Perhaps because one wants to be a gift. In goods there can be good, yet sometimes, sadly, People get the thing but not the drift. How could the wise men come... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 142 days ago.)

22. Weekly Poems from Poems for Free: A Seasons Greetings Poem and More SAY WHAT YOU WILL ABOUT THE WINTER GLOOM Say what you will about the winter gloom! Each year the turn towards light's a celebration. And so it is with life: the darkest doom Succeeds in summoning its own salvation. Open, then, your heart to... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 163 days ago.)

23. Weekly Poems from Poems for Free: A Happy Holidays Poem and More HARDINESS IS KIN TO HEARTINESS Hardiness is kin to heartiness. A full-sized laugh can fill an empty heart. Perhaps there is a play in playfulness, Passion honed by skilled and patient art. Yet what one wills will never... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 170 days ago.)

24. Weekly Poems from Poems for Free: A Hanukkah Poem and More CLEARLY THERE WERE JEWS AND THERE WERE JEWS Clearly there were Jews and there were Jews -- Hellenized, not Hellenized, not caring. Assimilation let one pick and choose, Not wedded to the faith that one was wearing. Until a... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 177 days ago.)

25. Weekly Poems from Poems for Free: A Thanksgiving Poem and More TREES ABOUT TO BLOOM, IN BLOOM, FULL-LEAVED Trees about to bloom, in bloom, full-leaved; Harrowing escapes, fresh plums and pears; A cold, gray afternoon, a son long grieved; Nearing home, the last long flight of stairs;... (posted by Nicholas 1 year 184 days ago.)