Smile every day like you have it all
Smile even when big trouble calls.
Put on your Sunday's best, have a ball,
Smile at life and scale trouble's walls.

Smile through your times of trials,
Adorn your armor and stand very tall.
Smile even when thick darkness falls,
It's the light that illuminates the hall.

A Smile doesn't mean you have it all
It's just a sign that you are contented.
Smile with people, say come on Y'all,
Show sadness we're not yet defeated.

Smile even though you lost everything
Yet smile like you haven't lost a thing.
Do it each morning and every evening,
Smile to show that life is worth living.

Smile through your troubles
Don't let the devil see your tears.
A smile is the antidotes against hurdles
And the mosquito in the devil's ears.

  #IvanBrooksPoetry©
07/26/2018

The kitten moved very slowly
She was a motherless lost kitten.
Again and again,she fumbled blindly,
Like everything was hidden.
She searched everywhere
And cried From dawn to dusk
But her mother was nowhere!
She dug into the earth's crust,
And tried to climb the olive tree,
She scaled the neighbor's wall
And wondered where could mom be.
So she began the desperate call;
"Mother,mother,where at thou?
Are you somewhere looking for me,
Are you trying but don't know how?
Mother,you I search but I can't see,
From me the world is hidden!
Why don't I see anything at all?
Mama,mama help for I haven't eaten!"

#IvanBrooksPoetry
7/22/2018

How can the world find
Everlasting peace for mankind?
Some think we can achieve this
By using our muscles and fists
Nations have tried using bombs
That billows like mushrooms,
Obliterating everything in its path
And giving the earth an atomic bath.
What has all of this brought,
What lessons has war taught?
If peace hasn't been realized
It's because love hasn't been exercised.

The world can't move
Without the power of love.
So let's be kind to one another,
And be our brothers keeper.
I don't care if it happens today
Or tomorrow or someday,
The world needs peace
And a dose of God's grace.
Not wars,it brings destruction.
Not any kind of confussion,
For it causes perpetual division.

For peace we saw the dissolution of the League Of Nations,
And the formation of the United Nations.
Yet still the world can't find a solution
To all the deaths and destruction.
If to our issues we can't find the resolutions ,
What kind of world will we leave our future generations?

#IvanBrooksPoetry©
7/22/2018

I think Poetry found me very early,
From somewhere in mama's womb.
Hooked to her umbilical cord firmly.
I heard something like a tiny bomb.
It was the sound of the talking drum,
Heralding the arrival of another grio.
So with gratitude, I said thanks mom,
And to the world, I said a very big hello.
Of course, I used the language of babies,
I cried and breathed in my very first air.
This was my first sight of the ladies
They smiled as they washed my hair.

My very first poem was a sad prayer.
It was written when I was very hungry
I was hopeless, I had only one dollar,
And no real prospect of ever making it.
So I took out my old used notepad,
UnfortunateIy, I had no pen to write with.
I wrote with a charcoal found in the yard,
And I wrote many long lines on my wall.
I wrote everything I had to tell God
Sadly, I couldn't write them all.
I cried in anguish to the Lord,
Asking If He had forgotten me.
Of Course, I got no immediate answer,
But years later my answer came.
It came in the form of a letter.
Addressed to me, ten years later
It came later but it felt better,
Instantly my struggle was all over!

The first love letter I wrote was poetry,
It was childish, unstructured and ugly.
It was written to a girl, she was pretty,
She read it and smiled, I wasn't so lucky.
Crushed, yet I pretended to be strong
I walked away but ran all the way home.
I cried in anguish and wrote a love song.
The lines were very sad, I felt all alone.
But I knew it was my first real rejection.
So I tried writing again, this time to me.
I was very focused, I was on a mission.
Finally, it finished and I wrote my name.
Unfortunately, the answer was the same,
There and then I knew I had no game,
So I reconciled and just took the blame.
Fast forward,and many years later,
I found the subject of my love letter.
I wrote a note to her on messenger.
I was optimistic because I wrote better.
I was emboldened by my poetic power.
Once again,the reply came to me later,
This time it was a resounding yes!
It felt so wonderful, thanks to poetry
And the universe I didn't make a mess.

  #IvanBrooksPoetry©
7/22/2018

Love is a blind *****
And a wicked witch.
She's like a bill collector
And a heartbreaker.

Love is a light
Sometimes she's bright,
Sometimes she's dangerous
And very mysterious.

Love is contentious
Like a strange virus,
She kills at times
At times, she saves.

What's this phenomenon
That moves like the moon?
Love eludes some people
And for her, some will struggle.

To some, she's a white dove
Sent for them from above.
To those not lucky like us,
Love is just like a bad curse.

Love is the bedrock of life
Yet she hurts like a knife.
To few, she works like a lawn mower
And too few she's a lawn blower.

Love to some is like a quick shower
In no time it's all over.
The mystery of love
Is the tale of the black dove.

Love's seed was planted in Heaven
And blossomed in the garden of Eden
A long time ago on this earth,
It was the caveat for Romeo's death.

#IvanBrooksPoetry©
7/22/2018