Fourth of July

 

With fear for our democracy 

The frail experiment that it was

That boasted Freedom with one hand 

And enslaved with the other 

Oh democracy 

You beautiful lie 

That oppressed hearts 

Have been trying to make true 

Pulling at 

the moral arch of the universe

With all the strength of hope 

Oh democracy 

You ghost 

You phantom 

You pipe dream 

You hallucination 

The truth of you 

Just an apparition 

In men’s hands 

Fly your flags at half-staff today 

You patriots 

Lighting fun sized bombs 

In the streets

To celebrate 

Liberty 

Fly your flags at half-staff 

The democracy 

You barbecue ribs for 

Is on her last breath 

Happy Fourth of July 

#LesléHonoréPoetry #FistAndFire 

#HappyFourth

Again . . .

How many more of these hearbreaking words is Ms. Honoré going to have to write?

From Leslé Honoré

Let me give you a gun 

Because you have the right 

To bear arms 

And mothers continue to 

Come home with bare arms 

Go ahead 

Murder babies 

In Sandy Hook 

And Uvalde 

And teenagers 

In Winder, Georgia 

In Parkland 

And music lovers 

In Vegas 

And Employees

In Aurora

And Grocery Shoppers 

In Buffalo 

And Children on the streets of Chicago 

Let me give you guns 

You don’t have to do much 

Just give me some money 

I don’t care if you are 

Sane 

Or 14 years old 

Just bring me green 

And I’ll give you ammo 

And pay my lobbyist 

To cover your government 

In blood drenched bills 

Here 

Let me give you guns 

Because it’s your American birthright

Like baseball and apple pie 

And racism and genocide 

Like hate and capitalism 

Here 

Let me give you guns 

And when you weep over 

Your 1st graders 

Dead

Bullet holes bigger than golf balls 

And your high school students 

Swimming in the blood of their peers 

Dragging teachers to safety 

Only to watch them die 

And co workers hiding behind desks 

Like they are in battleground trenches 

I’ll give you 

Thoughts and prayers 

This is a war zone 

With 

Very straight lines 

Between lack of gun control 

And 

Hate 

Let me give you a gun

And White Supremacy 

Will continue to make 

America Great 

#ApalacheeHighSchoolShooting

#WinderGeorgia

 #ThoughtsAndPrayers #ProLifeWhere

#GroundHogsDay #OverAndOver #NRA #MAGA #GunControlNow #BansOnGuns #BansOffOurBodies

#numb #IDontEvenHaveToWriteANewPoemJustAddAnotherHashTag

 

International Women's Day

 This is for the women  

With 9 to 5s  

And 7 to 3s 

First shifts  

And graveyard  

With full times  

And part times  

Who have more month left  

Than money  

But still make rent  

With passports 

With no stamps  

With vision boards  

Of destinations  

They are saving to see  

With dreams they tuck away 

Pull out late at night  

Or early in the morning  

While the babies are still sleep 

Turn it over in their hands 

Then shelve it again for safe keep

This is for the women  

Without titles without pensions  

With some college  

A lot of loans  

With late night classrooms  

Online studies  

Who won’t give up  

Who run the world  

On grit and perseverance  

 

This is for the women  

Who are anything but  

Ordinary  

But the world sees as regular  

This is for the magicians 

Who weave spells of hope 

For their children  

While putting their hopes on pause 

This is for the over the counter  

Beauty Queens  

With Wet and Wild Lips  

And Walgreens legs  

And Suave smelling hair  

For the women who look in the mirror  

To see some one familiar  

Because they rarely see reflections 

Any where else 

For the hustlers  

With tired feet  

And tired backs  

With spirits whispering  

Keep moving  

We are almost there  

For the women who know  

Liberation isn’t found in the clothes they wear 

The shoes on their feet  

But the dignity in their souls  

 

This is a song for you 

Resourceful 

And resilient 

Moving mountains for your family 

I see you  

Stunning and Strong 

I see you  

Brilliant and beautiful  

I see you  

Making a life  

Out of thin air  

Today is for you  

An ordinary day  

Unmarked on the calendar  

No decorations at target  

No songs to commemorate 

Just an ordinary day  

Full of promise  

Full of possibilities  

Full of hope 

Full of magic  

Just like you  

You who pushes on  

You who doesn’t give up  

You who bends but doesn’t break  

You 

This is for you  

You with the stars in your hair  

Sun on your lips  

Moonlit cheeks  

This is for you  

You are anything but regular  

You are the 

UNIVERSE  

                 by Leslé Honoré

Another Hero

 I have shared a few of Leslé Honoré's poems here from time to time.  

We can all learn from the inimitable Ms. Honoré and her words of wisdom

Fist & Fire: Poems that Inspire Action and Ignite Passion is available at your favorite bookstore

This poem is one that she posted at Facebook.

It might speak to you, as it did me.

I met with my editor today 

*whispers to my 7 year old self 

“We have an editor”

We looked at the magnificent art for 

My 2nd children’s book 

*whispers to my 17 year old self 

“We have written books

We are an author” 

I met with my team today 

We laughed and learned 

We are growing together 

*whispers to my 27 year old self 

“We have a team”

I sat in my office today 

Looked at pictures of my dragons 

My parents 

At the art on my walls 

*whispers to my 37  year old self 

“We made a life darling. A good life” 

 

Today I met with myself 

7…17…27…37

And my 47 year old self held court 

We talked about love

lost and gained 

Love in abundance 

We talked about pain

Smoldering aches

Reoccurring tenderness 

The heartbreaks that broke us

And rebuilt us 

We talked about our dreams 

The ones came true 

The ones we 

Rewrote 

Reworked 

Redefined 

Remembered 

I met with myself and told her 

how fucking proud i am of her 

Not of the achievements

But the battles won 

The private ones 

The ones that she carried alone 

How proud i am of her heart 

Of how it can love so profoundly 

Even after it has been betrayed and abused 

Proud how she glued it back together with gold 

Her kintsugi soul 

More beautiful than anything that can dangle from her ears

Wrap around her wrist 

Circle around her finger

Sway against her skin  

I met with the me of long ago

The me of yesterday 

We held each other 

In memory, in promise, in thanksgiving

I met with myself today 

And 

It was a very productive meeting 

Dear FTC - i purchased a copy of  Fist & Fire

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

 

Rest now You Giant 

You Warrior 

You Brilliant Brave Soul 

You who gave Us Courage 

And Hope 

Rest now 

More than a Trail Blazer

You didn’t make history 

You changed it 

Reshaped it 

Course corrected 

You who gave Us all of You 

Fought for Us with all of You 

With every moment God gave You 

With every Breath 

Rest now 

It’s Our turn 

To take up Your mantle 

To not lose sight 

To push on 

You taught Us how to fight 

You made Us more than soldiers 

You leave an Army in your wake 

You taught Us what legacy is 

To give more than we take 

Rest now 

You Champion

You Queen  

You Glorious 

Forever #RBG 

Forever Our Hero 

Notorious 

        - - -  Leslé Honoré

Joan Baez, artist

America come get your children

 

Leslé Honoré's poetry always, ALWAYS, go straight to the truth of things, and pierces my heart.

Leslé Honoré Poetry

YesteugdtrfdrSanuyS poaaatns 2:4lhlfuhlgoohirg8 PedM

  · 

America come get your children

The ones you are so proud of

The ones wearing Stars and Stripes

Buying guns like candy

The ones dripping with

White privilege

That you created with

Red blood from brown skin

America come get your children

Come get your kids

The ones flying flags of defeat

Of history long dead

Of a life they wish they had

Of superiority they believe they have

The lies you whispered in their ears

As you rocked them to sleep

“Look away look away look away Dixie land”

America come get your children

The ones terrorizing this country

The ones terrorizing the world

The ones never called a terrorist

Come get

Your rapist

Your misogynistic

Your appropriating

Hating

Bigoted

Offspring

You know...

the apples that didn’t fall far from the tree

America come get your children

The ones running the country

The ones too cowardly to speak up

The ones that shoot into protests

Churches

Light torches

Run cars into peace

Come get your diseased infants

Entitled children in men’s bodies

Jealous girls screaming in women’s voices

Come get this disgusting basket of

Deplorables

That you nurtured on

Manifest destiny

The pale pink faces

In utter disbelief

That even though you put your knee

On every Brown and Black neck you saw

We have fought back and risen

Casting shadows on your children

And they rage when they learn

That being a white mediocre man

Is no longer enough

America come get your children

Before they burn this stolen land down

And you with it

Wake up

Wake up

Make your bed

Shower

Wake the kids

Get dressed

Flip the pancakes

Make the lunches

Brush the hair

Tie a shoe

Pack a backpack

School drop off

Kiss good bye

Say I love you

Go to work

Then a raid

Then chaos

Then nightmare

Then fear

Then agony

Then silence

Mama wakes you

Kisses your face

Makes you pancakes

Peanut butter jelly lunch

Braids your hair

Takes you to school

Kisses your face

Says I love you

School day bliss

Friends

learning

Recess

Lunch

Walking home

No one there

No one there

Alone

Darkness

Chaos

Fear

Last kisses

Lost

Multiply by 680

Multiply by thousands

And count the millions

That the CEO of Koch Foods will make

ICE is Gestapo

trump is hitler

Who will you be

Freedom fighter or nazi

- - - - by Leslé Honoré

Here -

Let me give you a gun 
Because you have the right 
To bear arms 
Go ahead 
Murder babies 
In Sandy Hook 
And teenagers 
In Parkland 
And music lovers 
In Vegas 
And employees
In Aurora
And Shoppers 
In Walmart
And children on the streets of Chicago 
Let me give you guns 
You don’t have to do much 
Just give me some money 
I don’t care if you are 
Sane 
Just bring me green 
And I’ll give you ammo 
And pay my lobbyist 
To cover your government 
In blood drenched bills 
And arrange for the NRA 
To meet your president 
In a hotel 
And make his video of urination on a 
Russian prostitute 
Look like a Disney short 
Here 
Let me give you guns 
Because it’s your American birth right
Like baseball and apple pie 
And racism and genocide 
Like hate and capitalism 
Here 
Let me give you guns 
And when you weep over 
Your 1st graders 
Dead
Bullet holes bigger than golf balls 
And your high school students 
Swimming in the blood of their peers 
And co workers hiding behind desks 
Like they are in battleground trenches 
I’ll give you 
Thoughts and prayers 
This is a war zone 
But the idiot that hate elected 
Calls a national emergency 
For a border crisis that doesn’t exist 
And ignores the chalk outline drawn 
Around this entire country 
Here 
Let me give you a gun

  - - - by Leslé Honoré