Betty
She disagrees with me
She shows me
She lets me see
She believes in me
She knows me
She sees thru me
What she hides
She shows only me
And I know
And I can see
The woman
Nobody knows
Betty
Lives to be free
By: Roger Harkness
Before This
I once walked in another place
A place of security
A place I did not want to leave
My head looked down
I was afraid of what I seen down there
No, I can’t go down there
I cried
I pleaded
He put his hand on my shoulder
Everything will be okay
It’s time for you to go
Now
I look up to the sky
Pray and receive no direct answer
But I know he’s looking down
Hoping I’m doing my best
I fight everyday
Every lesson is a battle field
Learning is a victory
A bit of security I can hold onto
Everything is okay
But whoever you were
I will never like it here
By: Roger Harkness
Be
How do the trees grow
Nobody seems to know
The flowers die
Nobody knows why
As the bricks are laid
People are paid
Nothing is ever made
It is said we’re playing in a pool of blood
The flowers are gone
It’s going to flood
We have become the mud
This can’t be
I’ve got to get out and see
Have to be the good in me
I’ve got to get myself free
I have to be me
By: Roger Harkness
*****************
I wrote this poem when I was a teenager
Be What You Are
Be good where you’re at
People will love you at that
But don’t say
If I were
Or if it was
Then you’re on the shelf
Fooling yourself
Wherever you’re at
Be good at that
You are not what that other person it
Cannot be good
At something you’re not
Be who you are
And be good at it
By: Roger Harkness
******************
I wrote this poem a long time ago.
Be Humble My Friend
Millions of us stand upon the face of this earth
From this earth we were born
To this earth we all return
Be careful not to put yourself up high
Becoming blind to your origination
Just a creation
That ’s all we are
Don’t become blind
Expecting others to pay homage to you
I tell you
The greatest man
on the face of this earth
Washed the feet of his disciples
Who told us
The great shall serve
and in the balance
The high shall be put down low
The low shall be put up high
All of us will be equal
None of us will think differently
It will hurt the ego of the high
Bring surprised astonishment to the low
Be careful
In all the things you do
Not to forget your place
Making another person loose face
This is the law
That must be obeyed
We were all created equal
By: Roger Harkness
*****************
There is another poem I wrote about equality that I think is better than this poem.
From:
Across the country — from the halls of Congress to state capitols to Coal River Mountain — people are coming together to stop mountaintop removal coal mining and to work towards a clean energy future for America.
Some stories we wanted you to know about:
You can become part of the story by joining us for 4th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington, taking place the March 14th-19th.
By joining us in Washington, you’ll get to meet and work with other passionate Appalachian activists from around the country; develop and hone your outreach skills in our outreach workshops; and meet face to face with legislators to help inspire and educate them to pass legislation to end mountaintop removal coal mining in 2009.
Attitude
If positive feelings are allowed to flourish
Negative feelings will not
If negative feelings are allowed to flourish
Positive feelings will not
We are the creators of our own attitudes
By: Roger Harkness
*****************
Another one of my little lazy poems. I probably wrote this in Antarctica in the late 80s when I was writing three to five poems a day.
As A Child
This is a great big world
So much to feel
So much to learn
All I want to do is have fun
A rainbow is magnificent
A dark pit has something to be feared
I just want to explore
Learning to dance
I love to sing
Wishing everyone was my friend
Everybody can’t have everything
Toys aren’t for free
But if you cant have everything
You can learn everything
Before you lies life’s lesson plan
Explore it like a child
By: Roger Harkness
********************
I wrote this in Antarctica about 1988.
Are We Sure
I know
You know
So what do we say
Lets talk about the weather
Because we’re really not sure
Whether or not
We know
If we’re not sure
Why do we believe
I say no
I don’t know
But will listen to perceive
Leaves fall from the tall
From a wind above
And love
Do you
You say so
But who told you
By: Roger Harkness
****************
This is a mystery poem, I don’t remember when or why I wrote this, but basically love is an overly abused word. We throw it around like it was nothing and we don’t even know what it is.
We really should not be so hung up on breast feeding, I mean, we really shouldn’t, there is no logic to it.
We allow children to play violent games where they pretend to shoot and kill others and think nothing of it, yet breast feeding a most beautiful with such great holistic potential and so many shun with shame, I’m like, what the hell.
From Care2 Woman’s Causes
Salma Hayek’s breasts are in the news again, but not for what you might think. Famous for being “busty,” Hayek was filmed breastfeeding a sick child in Sierra Leone by ABC News. Hayek was in Sierra Leone to support a tetanus-vaccination project and had this to say during her interview about her action:
“I thought about it, am I being disloyal to my child by giving your milk away? And I actually think that my baby would be very proud to share her milk. And when she grows up, I’m going to make sure that she continues to be a generous, caring person. And I think that’s the best thing I can give her as a mother.”
Hayek then recounts a family story in which her great grandmother breastfed a stranger’s child in the street of her small village because the baby’s mother had no milk, and how affected she was by that story.
According to the Time article, men discourage women from breastfeeding because they believe women cannot have sex if they are still nursing. Hayek was consciously trying to promote breastfeeding in Africa through her actions because breastfeeding is the single most important strategy to lower infant mortality rates in Africa.
We’ll see if Hayek’s actions have any effect on attitudes about breastfeeding in Sierra Leone. In the United States, Hayek’s public “cross-feeding” of another woman’s child sparked all kinds of debate from unconditional support to concerns over the class and race implications. Yes, and yes. However, what seems most important is that at that moment, a hungry child was fed.
As Hayek says during the interview: “I was able to feed a baby who was very hungry”
Sometimes it can be that simple.
