You Say, Columbus with His Argosies

You say, Columbus with his argosies
Who rash and greedy took the screaming main
And vanished out before the hurricane
Into the sunset after merchandise,
Then under western palms with simple eyes
Trafficked and robbed and triumphed home again:
You say this is the glory of the brain
And human life no other use than this?
I then do answering say to you: The line
Of wizards and of saviours, keeping trust
In that which made them pensive and divine,
Passes before us like a cloud of dust.
What were they? Actors, ill and mad with wine,
And all their language babble and disgust.

poem by Trumbull Stickney
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Wittgenstein, Elizabeth Taylor, Bertrand Russell, Thomas Merton, Yogi Berra, Allen Ginsberg, Harry Wolfson, Thoreau, Casey Stengel, The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Picasso, Moses, Einstein, Hugh Hefner, Socrates, Henry Ford, Lenny Bruce, Baba Ram Dass, Gandhi, Sir Edmund Hillary, Raymond Lubitz, Buddha, Frank Sinatra, Columbus, Freud, Norman Mailer, Ayn Rand, Baron Rothschild, Ted Williams, Thomas Edison, H.L. Mencken, Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Ellison, Bobby Fischer, Emma Goldman, Peter Kropotkin, you, and your parents. Is there really one kind of life which is best for each of these people?

quote by Robert Nozick
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity. Imagination has given us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine, and the automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they became realities. So I believe that dreams--daydreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain machinery whizzing--are likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to invent, and therefore to foster, civilization.

quote by L. Frank Baum
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian

The Blame Game

THE BLAME GAME
Edward Iacona

When choosing a different life path
One may not get just what they thought.
Even Columbus wound up somewhere
Other than where he sought.

She demanded her new journey
As her family begged her, 'No! '
And as witnesses to her false words and deeds,
She is reaping what she did sow.

One is accountable for their actions,
And with all due respect,
No matter books read and voices heard,
What the heck did she expect?

So here's a murderous little metaphor

[...] Read more

poem by Edward Iacona
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Was all this bloodshed and deceit - from Columbus to Cortes, Pizarro the Puritans - a necessity for the human race to progress from savagery to civilization? Was Morison right in burying the story of genocide inside a more important story of human progress? Perhaps a persuasive argument can be made - as it was made by Stalin when he killed pesants for industrial progress in the Soviet Union, as it was made by Churchill explaining the bombings of Dresden and Hamburg, and Truman explaining Hiroshima. But how can the judgement be made if the benefits and losses cannot be balanced because the losses are either unmentioned or mentioned quickly?

quote by Howard Zinn
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

On Visiting The Spot Where Captain Cook And Sir Joseph Banks First Landed In Botany Bay

Here fix the tablet. This must be the place
Where our Columbus of the South did land.
He saw the Indian village on that sand
And on this rock first met the simple race
Of Austral Indians who presumed to face
With lance and spear his musket. Close at hand
Is the clear stream from which his vent'rous band
Refreshed their ship; and thence a little space
Lies Sutherland, their shipmate; for the sound
Of Christian burial better did proclaim
Possession than the flag, in England's name.
These were the commelinae Banks first found;
But where's the tree, with the ship's wood-carved fame?
Fix, then, the Ephesian brass-'tis classic ground!

poem by Barron Field
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

How Long Has This Been Going On

I could cry some chin-chin tears
Where have I been all these years
A little while come on tell me now
How long has this been going on
What a kick and how I buzz
My son you click like nobody does
Listen sweet I repeat
How long has this been going on
Chorus:
I feel like I could melt right into heaven
Ive heard
And now I know how columbus felt
Finding another world
Kiss me once and then again once more
God what a dunce I was before
What a break for heaven sake
How long has this been going on
Chorus

song performed by Cher
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Hunter's Hill

Above Columbus Parkway
it rises to the east,
creased with oak
and dry grass,
grazing cattle, bored,
loitering horses,
and the gliding hawk hunting
in the rough granite
and withered timber.

But hidden by high, jagged peaks,
the mute Miwok headman observes
the cattle and the hawk,
and the swift automobile
hissing
down the smooth, black road
below
Hunter Hill.

Author's Note:

[...] Read more

poem by Steven Federle
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Phoenician’s Are First To Sail

Maybe if you are a scholar you will know,
That it is the Phoenician’s were the first to sail.
Sail to discover the America’s.
No it was not Columbus as the storybooks say,
The Phoenican’s made ships and sailed away.
Landing on what is the US of A.
they became the first Native Americans,
they were one with the Earth they were friends.
Now more explorers came,
Forced them to go to Canada.
Great grandmother Ms. La Duc would come from there,
meeting my Great Grandfather who was French
and fall in love and care.
You might have Phoenician blood in you if you don't read,
or question beyond what you can't see.

Written by Suzae Chevalier on August 20,2011

www.purpelpoems.com www.puppitlady.com

poem by Christina Sunrise
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Phoenician’s Are First To Sail

Maybe if you are a scholar you will know,
That it is the Phoenician’s were the first to sail.
Sail to discover the America’s.
No it was not Columbus as the storybooks say,
The Phoenican’s made ships and sailed away.
Landing on what is the US of A.
they became the first Native Americans,
they were one with the Earth they were friends.
Now more explorers came,
Forced them to go to Canada.
Great grandmother Ms. La Duc would come from there,
meeting my Great Grandfather who was French
and fall in love and care.
You might have Phoenician blood in you if you don't read,
or question beyond what you can't see.

Written by Suzae Chevalier on August 20,2011

www.purpelpoems.com www.puppitlady.com

poem by Suzae Chevalier
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Originated By The Chinese

'We have come together today,
To express the results of our findings.
And to announce,
We have discovered without doubt...
The origin which has produced,
Such devastation!

The massive pain endured and suffered,
Has been pinpointed by the use of our research.
And overflowing facts...
Throughout this thorough investigation.

We suggest you sit back.
And relax.

Ladies and gentlemen...
The origin of this massive pain suffered by so many,
And agitating generations...
To enforce divisions and separations.
Has been caused by the reluctance to accept truth.

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Power And Glory

Christopher Columbus discovered America
Found he had a cornucopia
Gave love to the indians, they gave it back
A pow woo in the teepee is where it's at
I want to dance with you
The indian fought with his arrow and bow
Till General Custer lost to Sitting Bull
Scalped all day and scalped all night
Give me fire water, gonna buy me a wife
I want to dance with you
When your people first moved to our block
Our ancestors met with culture shock
Two different monkees from two different trees
Come on let's stop our fightin' and come dance with me
I want to dance with you

song performed by Lou Reed
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

WikiLeaks Revelations

Journalists write miles about WikiLeaks but they don’t say much,
I’ve wasted hours reading this stuff and it reads like double dutch,
About so called secrets and gossip - insignificant and rough.
Haven’t seen anything worth reading yet and enough is enough.

It all seems to be a lot of newspaper and magazine noise,
Trying to maybe make something out of nothing and dramatize,
If you find something important there, let me know right away,
Please because I’d like to know at least before Columbus Day.

It seems as though the end of the world might be coming soon,
And we should start paying attention to WikiLeaks by noon,
Keep reading the WikiLeak stuff because there’s more coming our way,
It could be very important or maybe not as much as they say.

Dec 21st 2010

poem by James Bredin
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Dark Glasses

Sweet maiden, why disguise
The beauty of your eyes
With glasses black?
Although I'm well aware
That you are more than fair,
Allure you lack.
For as I stare at you
I ask if brown or blue
Your optics are?
But though I cannot see,
I'm sure that each must be
Bright as a star.

That may be green or grey,
'Tis very hard to say,
Or violet;
The lovelight in their glow
Alas, I'll never know,
To my regret.
In some rhyme-book I've read,

[...] Read more

poem by Robert William Service
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

The Lottery

"Young fellow, listen to a friend:
Beware of wedlock - 'tis a gamble,
It's MAN who holds the losing end
In every matrimonial scramble."

"Young lady, marriage mostly is
A cruel cross of hope's concealing.
A rarity is wedded bliss
And WOMAN gets the dirty dealing."

. . . Such my advice to man and maid,
But though they harken few will take it.
The parson plies his merry trade
The marriage seems much what you make it.

If Pa or Ma had counsel sought
Of me whose locks today are hoary,
And feared to tie the nuptial knot -
Would I be here to tell the story?

[...] Read more

poem by Robert William Service
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

History Stuff

Magical Mystical history and mystery,
Painted and woven on tablets and tapestry.

Cave painted hunts and sand script on tombs,
We dig for our history then fill in the wounds.

The secrets of Stonehenge and Silbury Hill,
That tapping and digging will never reveal.

See Picasso and Van Gogh, read Byron and Shelly,
Then watch the war on a plasma screen telly.

Chipped marble statues partly destroyed,
The wisdom of Nietzsche and ramblings of Freud.

Thank Romans for wine and Columbus for tea;
Thank genetics and Science for deciphering me.

History is stuff that lives in the past,
Historical characters the sets and the cast.

[...] Read more

poem by Mark Fullick
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Look What You Did, Christopher!

In fourteen hundred and ninety-two,
Someone sailed the ocean blue.
Somebody borrowed the fare in Spain
For a business trip on the bounding main,
And to prove to the people, by actual test,
You could get to the East by sailing West.
Somebody said, Sail on! Sail on!
And studied China and China's lingo,
And cried from the bow, There's China now!
And promptly bumped into San Domingo.
Somebody murmured, Oh dear, oh dear!
I've discovered the Western Hemisphere.

And that, you may think, my friends, was that.
But it wasn't. Not by a fireman's hat.
Well enough wasn't left alone,
And Columbus was only a cornerstone.
There came the Spaniards,
There came the Greeks,
There came the Pilgrims in leather breeks.

[...] Read more

poem by Ogden Nash
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Sugar and Gold

Columbus sailed for riches
Pizarro and Cortes sought gold
The living slaves, the dead of Haiti
The Aztecs and the Incas
Haunt their testimony and
Historical foothold

Virginians mined tobacco
Brown leaves lustrous by the fields
Cured by branded bodies
Newly broken in
The sweat and joy entirely
Extracted by the sun

Jackson pledged to the Cherokee
The land would stay under their feet
As long as the grass shall grow
And the rivers run, his promise held
Until the white man with his dogs
Came running to the smell of gold

[...] Read more

poem by Frank Bana
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Put The Money Down

I got lost in the back streets, trying to get here tonight,
I got lost in the back streets, trying to get here tonight,
The police were asking questions, they took me to the wrong place twice.
The police were asking questions, they took me to the wrong place twice.
I even lost my passport, and I forgot my name and town,
I even lost my passport, and I forgot my name and town,
But now Im here by the water, put the money down.
But now Im here by the water, put the money down.
Before I walk on the water,
Before I walk on the water,
Put the money down, down, down,
Put the money down, down, down,
There are bands killing chickens,
There are bands killing chickens,
My heros getting pushed around, round, round.
My heros getting pushed around, round, round.
I dont know if I trust you as you try to shoot me down,
I dont know if I trust you as you try to shoot me down,
Before I walk on the water,
Before I walk on the water,

[...] Read more

song performed by Who
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Seafarer

Counting milestones and landmarks
Trading blows with destiny
Straddled on planks of wood
Amidst rampant storms, Cylopsian ogres of the ocean cover
Riddling life with the encroachment of labyrinths
As the mast blazes to the blitzing strikes from the breaching heavens
Entrapment of man in the doldrums of choice
Crossroads landscaped by the hands of God
As orbitals beckon for the pilgrims of the heart
Each blossoming with roses, yet scathing with thorns
The promise of spring, yet the seclusion of winter
Nomadic journeys uprooting legacies, as shores are absented
By conquistadors of fatum, Columbus's seafarers
As the sailor in you emerges to waterscape journeys of the heart
To uncharted frontiers, sea-locked lands, emerald isles
Mast sprinkled alight with St Elmo's Fire
Searching for the serenity of a Cyclopsian ataraxia
To anchor the heart on convivial shores
To hoist your heritage on permeable soil

poem by Dilantha Gunawardana
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!