D’liberate Ramblings
Poetry
D’liberate Ramblings
Poetry
Leo Shelton
A Tugson Press project
D’liberate Ramblings – Poetry
All Rights Reserved 2009 by United States Copyright Office—Library of Congress
No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher. Inquires should be addressed to Permissions, Tugson Press, Attn: Leo Shelton, P.O. Box 429, Temple Hills, MD, 20757
Published by:
Tugson Press
P.O. Box 429
Temple Hills, MD 20757
Shelton, Leo.
Deliberate Ramblings – Poetry/ Leo Shelton.
ISBN: 0-9791786-3-0
Poetry, American. 2. Afro-Americans – Poetry.
Printed in the United States of America
1st Printing
Cover design by Aaron Shelton
Pardon me
If I tended to ramble
And ramble on
Deliberately
Whether purposefully
Or not;
It is my flow
My words
And what I know,
That is not totally mine
Or yours
But a combination
Of this life dance
That I am choreographing
In my mind
And trust that you will hear the beat
And dance with me
In my mind
And connect with it
At least
Once
The Author
To Dwight,
The exemplification of love and peace searched,
Friendship and brotherhood defined,
Joy and acceptance and imperfect perfection obtained,
My anchor, my rod, my yang, forever!
Ramblings
Words and why…1…
Change and things…2…
Me and Moms…3…
Love addiction…4…
Passion shared….5…
Because of love…6…
Birth blankets…7…
Exclaim…8…
Proclaim…9…
Saturday nights…10…
Loving again…11…
That kind of love…12…
To know…13…
Colored…14…
Dwellings…15…
Indulge…16…
Lustful rides…17…
Occupation…18…
Acutely Aware…19…
Lost in gratitude…20…
In memoriam…21…
Delicious cravings…22…
Audacity…23…
Pass it on …24…
Phobic…25…
Bound…26…
A song free…27…
Growth of seasons…28…
Power of time…29…
Thing called love…30…
Summation…31…
Conclusions…32…
Of a somber soul…33…
Of great results…34…
In an imperfect world…35…
Definitions…36…
In anticipation…37…
Of cures…38…
Relief…39…
Clarity…40…
In youth…41…
Mature Breaths…42…
Nativity…43…
Like dancing…44…
One of those days…45…
Self-loathing…46…
Breathing deeply…47…
Rules of engagement…48…
Rising up…49…
Dancing naked…50…
Get mad…51…
Gamble…52…
Engage…53…
Jazz it up…54…
Lighten up hues…55…
Be you…56…
You true…57…
And ramble on…58…
Deliberate Ramblings
Poetry
Words and Why
What I know for sure
Is that I am nothing without words
Without their connections, the flow of their perusal
The intended but unintentional creativity
Merger meanings and non-meanings
Parallels and ideas
Juxtaposed on what is
Forming the new what is
From what was, and the possibilities
Of what could be
There is music in the syllables
High and lows in the context
Individuality; an explosion of possibility
In the author of sentences, constructor of paragraphs
The novels of life quests and challenges
And unspoken poems
Masked intentions
And comedic prose
And political musing;
A connectedness to potentialities
And visits to places unknown, unseen, un-felt
And sometimes unbelievably identical
And even when emotions appear to run amuck
Or intended messages and noise
And articulation seems to weigh
The message becomes clear
That words…
Carefully connected words
Must join and explain and question
And resolve and heal
Or else,
There would be
NOTHING
Change and Things
Change a thing!
Never…, not one single thing!
Okay, maybe one,
To live each moment with passion
With a deliberate and unapologetic
An exacting confidence
In self
In life
Even in my inability to perfectly connect the two
To love self
And each moment I create
And that creates me
Unabashed, unquestionably
And I would never convert
Never assimilate
Never be anything but my true
And complete self
On my own terms
Outside my own self
And inside this world
I would never complain
Never assume anything
And learn more about self
Than I know about this world
I would love enough
So that my own happiness never depended on anyone else’s
And care enough
That everyone knew my heart
But not enough
That they could literally
Rip it out
Toss it aside
Or even carry it for me
Change a thing or two?
Yeah, maybe I would.
Me and Moms
I see it in your eyes,
Strong and obvious reflections of me
Not perfectly mirrored
Not perfectly explained
Not even always clear
But it’s here
Like the same honey dew
Running from the same flowers
Sprouted from the same ground
But in different locales
Different bees buzzing
Different weathers and seasons
In the midst of different loves
And bounties and beauties
And God’s creation
Same expectations
Sane realities
Connected
Through virtues and values
Invisible umbilical cords
As bright as yellow roses
Long stemmed
Thorn-ed and brilliant
In a mixed bouquet
With wild lily’s
And kind of silly
Sometimes strange
Yet never strained
Flowing like water
Through Cumberland’s trajectory
Unaffected
Cumulatively netted
Phenomenally pronounced
Even when unannounced
But all love
All wonderful
All the time…
Me and moms!
Love Addiction
It’s not what I saw or didn’t see
Nor what I felt and didn’t realize
It was more of what I knew
And didn’t care enough
To reconcile
But how was I to know that it would call my name
Seize my body
Rapture my mind
Even if I didn’t let it capture my spirit
How was I to know?
That it would in fact
Come after me
Claim me
As another statistic
Try to remove my existence
Lump me into yet another
Stereotype
Question my self-love
And respect
And challenge my kid-like
Resolve
To be
To live
To exist
As invincible
And trusting
And loving
For after all
I was conceived
In that type of love!
But I should have listened
Been less trusting
Seen, and realized
Reconciled
And felt less
Now, it is my spirit that must be
FREE!
Passion Shared
Wordsmith chilled
Hard to swallow like pills
Rhyme, flow, muse
The words I chose
Actually chose me
Dropping truths
Heavy like roofs
Bringing down broken structures
Making sense of broken promises
Lust filled lies
Love-like highs and truths
Penetrating he-arts
Breaking them apart
Building them up, and letting them down…hard
Playing the game
Without shame
And without apologies
Spitting words
Flow like pills for the head and heart ills
Penning words that paint pictures
Redecorate and Redirect life links
Heart sinks
Only to be hugged, tugged
Pulled together
Wrapped in a line
Described but not…Defined!
Wordsmith
Chilled
Hard to swallow
Like pills
Rhyme, flow, muse
The words I chose
Actually chose me
And now chose you
Too
Because of Love
It meant possibility
A place familiar
A womb outside
The inner-workings of
Of every day life
A safe place, a warm place
A place to call mine
It meant potential
To grow together
And individually
As one, as two, together
It meant that the sun would rise
And the moon would set
And that after the seas roared, and the waves settled
And another day turned to night, and the darkness to light
That it would be more than alright
Vilification, justification
And yes, validation
Of a love not so different than any other love
Not so strange, so wicked
And yet on the surface
Not so imaginable
After all, it too was love
And although it came once, came fast
Engulfing every breath and defined a time and space
Not even dreamed of,
Lifted life itself to new levels
And ultimately cycled doubts to new levels
Exiting as it entered with the same type of fan fare,
I am better because of its visit
Stronger for its presence…
ALIVE
Because it was…
ALIVE
Because of LOVE
Birth Blankets
Sweet
Magnificent one
So young hearted
And old spirited
Wise
Beyond Time
And Money
And every sweet
And bitter
Envy of lust
Whose radiance
Transcends
Diversity
And class
And swollen
Clan decency
And warm rescue
Resolves
Like waters
Of waves
Reach out
And form welcoming
Birth blankets
To flocks
Full
And say welcome
And
“Return Home”
Brave one
Indivisible One
One
One
And
ALL
Exclaim
The world tomorrow today…
Shall I say?