Poems
Original Poetry by Warren GastonAncient Languages
When you speak, the words you speak are very old. Even the new words in your vocabulary are ancient. constructed as they are from bits of much older words. The halves of the 1975 microchip date back eight millennia. All words belong to a family of primordial sounds....
COUNTDOWN: 8 minutes and 46 seconds
May 25, 2020 Memorial Day Minneapolis, Minnesota There are times police officers must make split-second consequential decisions without the benefit of time to reflect. But for 8 minutes, 46 seconds officer Chauvin had plenty of time to reflect. For 8 minutes, 46...
Jet
The plane zips cloudward, nose-thumbs earth, rises in collusion with the sky, flies high, shaking off gravity like water off a dog, its sleek metal skin repelling sunshine, sucking clouds through twin funnels like bright cola through a straw.
Displacement
The ship Titanic, heavy with hubris, enfeebled by fire and ice, lost its capacity for displacement and was itself displaced. ________________________________________ hubris = from Greek excessive pride exaggerated self-confidence
The Encounter of Black with Blue
“Don’t rush to judgment," my neighbor said, "There’s a lot we don’t know.” “But there’s enough we do know,” I replied. “We’ve witnessed the videoed facts: A handcuffed man is dead. A policeman paid to protect knelt on George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes 46 seconds.” The...
An Unwelcome Gratitude
I am a very nice white man. I don’t hate black people. I'm cordial and polite. In fact, I have several black friends. I prefer Lester Holt to the other two anchors. I have marched for racial justice. I’m admire the courage of Kaepernick for taking a national knee. I...
Photo Op: Washington D.C., June 1, 2020
On the afternoon of June 1, 2020 we witnessed four hundred years of oppression against Blacks telescoped into a microscopically moral man. After his eyes adjusted to the light returning from the dark below ground, After holding his breath to avoid the fumes of...
Expectancy
We live in a time of expectancy, like the anticipation one feels the split second a hammer is hurled in a room full of windows.
Sun and Earth
The sun burns yellow into corn, brown into walnuts, red into tomatoes, purple into grapes as deep roots suck up the wet dark earth.