Rhetoric Race and Religion: From the Dream to the Mountain Top and Beyond: Mar...

Rhetoric Race and Religion: From the Dream to the Mountain Top and Beyond: Mar...: by Andre E. Johnson R3 Editor *This is part of the keynote speech I gave at Viterbo University on King Day , J anuary 21, 201...

Boo Radley's Blues

I'm the neighbor
that everyone keeps
talkin' bout,
but no one wants
to know;
the one your good book
tells you,
you're supposed to love;

I don't mean no harm,
nor do I try to
cause trouble;
I lurk in the shadows
sometimes;
mostly,
I just keep to myself.

But,
if you allow me,
I can be a good friend;
maybe even,
come to your rescue
when the timing's right;

for if I've learned anything
in all my years,
is that we're all
lurking in the shadows,
waiting to be recognized,
waiting to be rescued.

© 2013 Joseph Powell

A Kiss, Just

It was just a kiss--
like the song says,
a kiss is still a kiss;
but there's a reason why
fairy tales attribute
great power to it--

princesses are awakened;
spells are broken;

for me,
it opened up
a new chapter;
made real
a new possibility.

Sometimes,
it's the simplest things
that can bring down mountains,
or awaken
a dead and broken heart.

© 2013 Joseph Powell

A Few, Short Declarative Sentences On This Particular Day In January

you can’t stop me
I am,
I am,
I am
a man;

you can’t stop me
I am
gay
and I deserve
to be here;

you can’t stop me
I am
an undocumented immigrant
trying to make
a better life
for my family;

you can’t stop me
I am a woman,
responsible
for my own body
and accountable
only to God;

you can’t stop me
I am a poet,
and my words
are my weapons,
which, like you,
I also have
the right to bear.

© 2013 Joseph Powell

Miss Wonder

I miss a caress;
fingertips and palm,
alighting upon
my bald head;
a soft, wet kiss
that lasts more
than three days;
eyes that peer through
to the soul
that is the only one
that matters;

I wonder,
to the God
who created love,
to the soulmate
I guess I
supposedly
haven’t found yet,
if there is a one
who possesses
this caress,
this kiss,
those eyes;

I miss,
wondering,
and go on
living...
go on...
living...
go on...
go.

© 2013 Joseph Powell