Good People – A poem inspired by the actions of State Trooper, Leroy Smith

While You Were Away

Sunday, July 26^th, 2015 – jdj

Inspired by the NY Times article on the black state trooper, Leroy Smith

GOOD PEOPLE

All around us they are there,

The good people

But you have to look hard,

Beyond the clothing, the coiffure

The labels, the shabbiness,

The weariness, the impatience,

The yelling, the crying, the singing, the laughing,

The eating, the sighing, the drunkeness,

The lying

Beyond these symbols of judgement

Lies the good people

Below, underneath, submerged

By that thing called body

Hair, skin, eyes, teeth, mouth

Obvious things to focus on but

Nowhere near the truth

Of who you see before you,

(criminal, misogynist, misandrist, cop, bigot,

stupid old lady, slut, stoner, faggot?)

No,a fellow traveller

Peeling back the façade you see

The good people

It is easier once you glance inside

To the heart of the matter, the soul

The essence of who stands before you

They may be stuck on seeing you

as just a single story as

Clothing, coiffure, labels and shabbiness,

Not as Good People

Oh, wake good people

And see each other

In the light

It isn’t so painful once you try

In fact everything is illuminated

Illuinated in love

Wake up good people

And love each other

In the moment

It is so beautiful once you know

So beautiful life is illuminated

Illuminated, in love

Wake Up good people

You are all one

Right here now

There is no difference once you know

We are only here to love and grow

And all of life from here is illuminated

Illuminated, in Love

So my fellow travellers,

Embrace your Good People

Cherish your Good People

Know your Good People

You, are the Good People

Green, green, flowers and Pelicans July 21st

Green, Green, flowers and Pelicans

How are we here today?

How did we manage this?

Green, green everywhere we look,

People, people everywhere we look,

But if they push and rush, we don’t care

Today I take a day off with you

And decide to stroll, easy, happily

Where ever our feet take us,

Where ever the sun directs us,

Where ever the mood strike us!

Flowers of St. James startled us with color,

Magenta, canary yellow so yellow

I expect to see the little birds eyes peek out

Pinks so rosy, babies cheeks burst out

Blues and hues of reds and bold golds speak out

Victoria’s garden, more subtle in her mood

As trees offer hide aways for office workers

And frisky lovers kissing away their afternoon

We sit above them like curious rooks nesting

They don’t mind us as we delight in their tryst

Pelicans!   Pelicans loll on the rocks

How came you there you big, robust birds?

Aren’t the swans annoyed that you’ve stolen the show

Confused foreigners look for you, we do too

You don’t even lift your beak to show off, so indifferent

Onwards to a square of gold

Tramping along on the street

Cobblestones, cobblestones underneath

No more rushing now, evening calls

Everyone sits on curbs and benches day’s done

Sharing this with you

The best thing of the day

Even bustling teashops entertain

And heaving crosswalks make us laugh

Until we part, you run underground, me above

And for a time

Nothing happened

and everything happened

And isn’t that lovely…

-jdj- 2015

I swim – a poem july 18th

Thoughts on Kate and Osgood

Characters from “Gramercy Park”

GP, July 3^rd, 2015

jdj

I SWIM

Water, water takes me whole

Down I go, down, down,

But legs kick, arms stroke,

Desperate to breathe, desperate to live,

I swim

I swim

The lake, the lake takes me whole

But I dive into her, dive, dive

Down, I go, down, down,

No longer desperate to breathe,

And happy to live in her womb

I swim

I swim

You, you take me whole,

Down I go, down, down,

But hands touch, legs stop

Desperate to live, desperate to be

With you

I swim

I swim

A New Dawn – A poem – Reflections on The Brooklyn Bridge

Stories of a World Gone By

Poem – jdj, july 4th, 2015

Reflections of the past on Independence Day

A NEW DAWN

The Day the Brooklyn Bridge Opened

My 24^th, 1883, New York City

The Queen of the Great East River spreads over the sky

Like an eagle adrift the golden fields on a summer day

As darkness falls on the bridal night of your virgin “flight”

Electric lights are dimmed by the glorious

Colors that explode over your beauty as

Yankee Doodle fills the air and every type of

Boat known to man swims underneath your

Capacious, Angelic arch that welcomes all to come forth

There will be no turning back now

To the time of ferries, row boats, rafts and canoes

Of longing, of looking, of wondering

What exists on the other side of this great

Yawning river that rushes to the sea

In a sudden rush of humanity

Of imagination, steel, grit and dreams

You span before us now in a majesty

Heretofore not seen by man

A call to modernity, to expansion to never

Looking back

Man and woman and child, of all races

Creeds, colors, religions, no religions, or

Trades, skills, nefarious intent or the most

Beatific humanitarian can cross

With equanimity, all at once if they wish

In a wave of hope, excitement and wonder

We are in a different age, an age of change

Change of a nature that we have not seen

Time speeds up and catches us in the zeitgeist

Of machines and canyons of towers and

Hellholes of sweatshops and tenements, of images moving

Before our eyes on paper, the present instantly caught,

already the past, images that fool the eye

So like reality, but not reality

There will be no turning back now

As we cross you, our bridge to the new age

Woman will become her own work in

Progress, Man will be a captain of industry or

A minion sweating away his blood on wheels

And tracks, steel and streets,

Blood that will pour into the drains and

Become water that will wash down upon

The metropolis, which you now bring

To life in a shocking and vital way, blood to

Water, water to once again blood

And Child will be uplifted like a prize or stepped upon

By the heel of the boot of the captains,

And each child’s heart will drain away into the

graves which wait for them with ripe indifference.

Such is the way that you signal for us,

For the march of man must go forward.

You watch us all now with perfect

Benign love, hoping for us to be

Better, best, yet knowing deep into the

Ground that holds you aloft, the truth;

The truth, that even you, in your beauty

And power and purpose cannot bring

Mankind to awe and love,

It is his journey, her journey, but perhaps your beacon

Will ignite in the few a brighter way

And truly announce a new dawn