{"id":96869,"date":"2012-09-25T20:00:36","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T00:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/96869\/cpc-pick-apart-poetry-celebrates-vote\/"},"modified":"2012-09-25T20:00:36","modified_gmt":"2012-09-26T00:00:36","slug":"cpc-pick-apart-poetry-celebrates-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/96869\/cpc-pick-apart-poetry-celebrates-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"CPC Pick-Apart Poetry Celebrates Our Right to Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Welcome to the September 2012 Edition of Pick-Apart Poetry as we welcome and look forward to the cooler days of Autumn.<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

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And this time of year also has us looking forward to November elections which are just around the corner and to exercising our rights and responsibilities as citizens.\u00a0\u00a0 As this year is a presidential election year, we bring some patriotism-inspired poetry for our inspiration.\u00a0 Thanks to Cherie for this month’s theme and for finding these wonderful pieces.<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n


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It is always a joy to see what each of us can create with only 25 words as a base, keeping in mind that our poems can certainly be more than 25 words in total length.<\/p>\n

While our theme today is a patriotic one, the poetry we bring back to share is not limited to elections or politics or patriotism, but can reflect any theme of your choosing.<\/p>\n

Please choose your 25 words from any one of or all of the following pieces.\u00a0\u00a0 The words are certainly timeless.<\/p>\n

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AND THEY OBEY<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Smash down the cities.
\nKnock the walls to pieces.
\nBreak the factories and cathedrals, warehouses
\nand homes
\nInto loose piles of stone and lumber and black
\nburnt wood:
\nYou are the soldiers and we command you.<\/p>\n

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Build up the cities.
\nSet up the walls again.
\nPut together once more the factories and cathedrals,
\nwarehouses and homes
\nInto buildings for life and labor:
\nYou are workmen and citizens all: We
\ncommand you.<\/p>\n

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~ Carl Sandburg ~<\/p>\n

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**********<\/p>\n

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SONGS FOR THE PEOPLE<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Let me make the songs for the people,
\nSongs for the old and young;
\nSongs to stir like a battle-cry
\nWherever they are sung.<\/p>\n

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Not for the clashing of sabres,
\nFor carnage nor for strife;
\nBut songs to thrill the hearts of men
\nWith more abundant life.<\/p>\n

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Let me make the songs for the weary,
\nAmid life’s fever and fret,
\nTill hearts shall relax their tension,
\nAnd careworn brows forget.<\/p>\n

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Let me sing for little children,
\nBefore their footsteps stray,
\nSweet anthems of love and duty,
\nTo float o’er life’s highway.<\/p>\n

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I would sing for the poor and aged,
\nWhen shadows dim their sight;
\nOf the bright and restful mansions,
\nWhere there shall be no night.<\/p>\n

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Our world, so warn and weary,
\nNeeds music, pure and strong,
\nTo hush the jangle and discords
\nOf sorrow, pain, and wrong.<\/p>\n

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Music to soothe all its sorrow,
\nTill war and crime shall cease;
\nAnd the hearts of men grown tender
\nGirdle the world with peace.<\/p>\n

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~ Frances E. W. Harper ~<\/p>\n

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CAGED BIRD<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A free bird leaps
\non the back of the wind
\nand floats downstream
\ntill the current ends
\nand dips his wing
\nin the orange sun rays
\nand dares to claim the sky.<\/p>\n

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But a bird that stalks
\ndown his narrow cage
\ncan seldom see through
\nhis bars of rage
\nhis wings are clipped and
\nhis feet are tied
\nso he opens his throat to sing.<\/p>\n

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The caged bird sings
\nwith a fearful trill
\nof things unknown
\nbut longed for still
\nand his tune is heard
\non the distant hill
\nfor the caged bird
\nsings of freedom.<\/p>\n

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The free bird thinks of another breeze
\nand the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
\nand the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
\nand he names the sky his own.<\/p>\n

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But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
\nhis shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
\nhis wings are clipped and his feet are tied
\nso he opens his throat to sing.<\/p>\n

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The caged bird sings
\nwith a fearful trill
\nof things unknown
\nbut longed for still
\nand his tune is heard
\non the distant hill
\nfor the caged bird
\nsings of freedom.<\/p>\n

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~ Maya Angelou ~<\/p>\n

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THE LAST ELECTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Suppose there are no returns,
\nand the candidates, one
\nby one, drop off in the polls,
\nas the voters turn away,
\neach to his inner persuasion.<\/p>\n

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The frontrunners, the dark horses,
\nbegin to look elsewhere,
\nand even the President admits
\nhe has nothing new to say;
\nit is best to be silent now.<\/p>\n

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No more conventions, no donors,
\nno more hats in the ring;
\nno ghost-written speeches,
\nno promises we always knew
\nwere never meant to be kept.<\/p>\n

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And something like the truth,
\nor what we knew by that name-
\nthat for which no corporate
\nsponsor was ever offered-
\ntakes hold in the public mind.<\/p>\n

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Each subdued and thoughtful
\ncitizen closes his door, turns
\noff the news. He opens a book,
\nspeaks quietly to his children,
\nbegins to live once more.<\/p>\n

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~ John Haines ~<\/p>\n

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PATRIOTISM<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Breathes there the man with soul so dead,
\nWho never to himself hath said,
\n‘This is my own, my native land!’
\nWhose heart hath ne’er within him burn’d
\nAs home his footsteps he hath turn’d
\nFrom wandering on a foreign strand?
\nIf such there breathe, go, mark him well;
\nFor him no Minstrel raptures swell;
\nHigh though his titles, proud his name,
\nBoundless his wealth as wish can claim;
\nDespite those titles, power, and pelf,
\nThe wretch, concentred all in self,
\nLiving, shall forfeit fair renown,
\nAnd, doubly dying, shall go down
\nTo the vile dust from whence he sprung,
\nUnwept, unhonour’d, and unsung.<\/p>\n

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~ Sir Walter Scott ~<\/p>\n

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We look forward to what these words inspire as we come back and share.\u00a0 And don’t hesitate to post as many Pick-Apart poems as you’d like, especially since we have so many words to choose from.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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And, most of all, have fun.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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We always so very much look forward to spending this time together each month.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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~ Barb and Cherie ~<\/strong><\/p>\n

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P.S.\u00a0 A note from Barb . . . .\u00a0 By the time this posts, I will be house-sitting in Oahu and, with the time change, six hours behind the East Coast.\u00a0\u00a0 So please do be patient and bear with me as I will try my best to be mindful of the clock for the next two and a half weeks or so.\u00a0 Aloha and Big Hugs.<\/strong>
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Welcome to the September 2012 Edition of Pick-Apart Poetry as we welcome and look forward to the cooler days of Autumn. And this time of year also has us looking forward to November elections which are just around the corner and to exercising our rights and responsibilities as citizens.\u00a0\u00a0 As this year is a presidential […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,14,10,19,21,26,11,29],"tags":[159,3751],"class_list":["post-96869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","category-family","category-life","category-lifestyles","category-literature","category-news","category-people","category-poems","tag-cpc","tag-pick-apart-poetry-challenge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}