Be composed—be at ease with me—I am Walt Whitman, liberal and ***** as Nature;
Not till the sun excludes you, do I exclude you;
Not till the waters refuse to glisten for you, and the leaves to rustle for you,
do my words refuse to glisten and rustle for you.

My girl, I appoint with you an appointment—and I charge you that you make
preparation to be worthy to meet me,
And I charge you that you be patient and perfect till I come.

Till then, I salute you with a significant look, that you do not forget me.

Keep poetry
In the clouds above your head
Write poetry
Across the world to make peoples
Think that you are a poet
Love poetry
When u are having good habits
Or compassion
Express poetry
About your feelings happening now
Show poetry
What u are able to do with it
Telling others that
                           POETRY
                                 IS
                       EVERYTHING
  But keeping poetry is what we do today.

                         By K-mari ©2016

Sara L Russell  29th August 2016

Time to retire now, ladies,
the drawing room awaits
as the gentlemen go to smoke
and drink brandy
or tell ribald stories
unsuitable for a lady's delicate ears.
Time to work on our embroidery
or retire to bed.
The men shall retire whenever they wish,
and the stars are too many for us to count.
Now we must lie abed
dreaming of Mr. Darcy
or perhaps a future career,
If only one's gender
might permit such a thing.


Time to adjourn now, ladies,
Mrs. Pankhurst has said her piece
and the rozzers are coming
to break up our meeting of like minds.
I heard that she was in prison for a time,
and went on hunger strike!
oh yes, my dear,
I heard they beat her,
force-fed her
then left her to cry alone in her cell.
Only she didn't cry. She never cries.
They say one day we women
will be able to vote!
Yes, of course it could happen.
We deserve it, after all.


Time to adjourn now, people,
it's been a long session
and even ministers need a lunch break.
Mrs. Thatcher no doubt will carry on
making notes for yet another meeting,
I don't think that woman ever sleeps.
Even if she never does,
she has razor-sharp concentration
and a sharper mind.
You don't want to get
on the wrong side of that one.
Funny, years ago,
they never dreamed we'd have
a woman Prime Minister.
Not everyone agrees with her
yet few dare to disagree.


Time to retire now, ladies.
The men have important things
to discuss, too serious for our lowly ears.
Theirs is the sun and the daylight;
ours are the shadows that herald the dusk.
Gather your prayer beads
and lower your gaze.
Do not look into the eyes
of the Imam as you pass by
on the way to your rooms.
Do not let any breeze from the window
displace your veil.
Guard your modesty
at all times;
protect your respectability,
for it is all you have in the world.

I see that you're struggling
I acknowledge your pain
One can't appreciate the sunshine
Without experiencing a little rain

I know you feel broken
As you count down seconds on the clock
Just know that when you need someone
I'll be your rock

Standing by you through the storms
Without pause I take on this task
You can cry, scream, or cuss me out
As we wait for them to pass

I understand that you're tired
But you mustn't stop fighting
When the darkness surrounds you
I'll shine a light, just keep climbing
  
You're not alone in your feelings
Though at times it may seem
We've all felt ourselves drowning,
Gasping, struggling to breathe

You are only human
You do what you can
Don't ever be ashamed
To need a helping hand

You're not without flaws
But that's indeed my favorite part
The realest person I've ever known;
A true work of art

The day you write a poem
is like no other!
It's like running through a dark corridor
and then you open a door
to this room full of light
that shines through you!
And you find yourself
conjuring words of hope and joy
fascinated in front of the endless
*beauty of life

when Whitman wrote, "I sing the body electric"

I know what he
meant
I know what he
wanted:

to be completely alive every moment
in spite of the inevitable.

we can't cheat death but we can make it
work so hard
that when it does take
us

it will have known a victory just as
perfect as
ours.