Found Poems Quickly Posted

Vanity
By C.K. Armistead
December 2014

Vanity
Suffering for fashion
Yet most of the time
There is no pain
And I feel so good
About myself
The extra time
And slight pain
Become very much worth it.

Exercise
Working hard
Sweating
Challenging my body
Pulls the excess pounds off
Makes me stronger
Helps my singing
Makes me feel good
AND look good.


Passing Time
By C.K. Armistead

Once, time seemed endless
So many, many years
Spread out before me.
Time enough to dream
And make dreams come true.
Now, days seem far too shrot
TIme has collapsed
Dreams are a luxury
The ones realized
A tremendous gift.
So many things still to do
Books to read,
Poems to write,
Places to explore,
People to meet.
I fear my idle nature
Has left me
With too little time
And too few resources
To get it all done...

A Poem That Begged to Be Written

By C.K Armistead 12/4/2014

What year is it?
And how is it that
Young black men still die
For no good reason
At the hands of those
Whose authority
We are supposed to trust?
Why is it that no one
Is brought to account
For breaking that trust?
Is this the Old South,
The age of Jim Crow
Come again to mock
Our assertions of Liberty
And Justice for ALL?
It cannot be so.
Laws abolished that
Abomination.
And yet...
The shame that should be
Behind us
Appears to face us again.
The ugliness of hate
Dares show itself
Among us.
Old wounds ripped open
And salt rubbed on them.
What of those like
Rosa Parks, Dr. King,
President Kennedy,
Robert Kennedy,
And many others
Who fought the injustice
And brought the changes
We had seen?
Were their sacrifices,
Their very lives,
In vain?
Shouldn't Justice now
Be something ALL
Can count on?
Shouldn't EVERYONE
Be free
To walk about without
Fear?
For if ANY are denied Justice,
If ANY are treated
With disdain and
Subjected to such
Terrors
We ALL are.
NONE are safe.
And those of us who still dare
To dream of this land
As free and fair
Weep for that dream
Still deferred.