The Road to Respect

I hope that you have enjoyed all the poetry month activities, as well as the poems I have shared. As we wind down, I'd like to share one more of my poems, The Road to Respect. In this fast-paced, connected yet not not always connecting world, let's hope we take the time to show some RESPECT!

By way of background on this poem, I was asked by my former boss in Toronto to write it to accompany a research article on nurses' feelings of being respected or not respected. It was originally published in Nursing Science Quarterly (January 2009, volume 22).

The Road to Respect

I spoke.
You listened.
I felt valued and honored.
You shared your opinion.
I trusted your wisdom.
The circle of respect was complete.
We saw in each other's eyes our common humanity.
Now, moving to a zone of mutual affirmation,
we felt safe to trust, and learn, and nurture
in the give-and-take of life.

Copyright 2009 Yasmin Morais

Questions in Jamaican Patois

I am sharing another of my poems with you as we celebrate National Poetry Month. Hope you will enjoy Questions in Jamaica Patois.

Questions in Jamaican Patois

Wha you fi do when you back gainst di wall,
and yu want fi bawl, but di tears won't come at all?
Wha you fi do when you heart break in two
and di smaddy you really check for just don't love you?

Wha you fi seh when you feel like you cyan go on
and you just want fi run?
Whey you fi go when you feel boxed in?
When di rain a fall and the dutty still tough?

When people a gi you a 6 for a 9
and others just nuh want fi tow di line?
Is every little ting really going to be alright?
Will you really see clearly when the rain is gone,
and your many rivers have been crossed?

Copyright 2011 Yasmin Morais. From Cane Field to the Sea

Poem in your Pocket Day

Today is "Poem in Your Pocket Day". The idea is to carry around a poem or two to share with someone. Check out poets.org's site for ways in which you can share poetry today. Have fun!

Monique Mangrum's Choose

I am pleased to introduce poet Monique T. Mangrum, and to share with you her poem, Choose, as we continue to celebrate poetry month.

Monique describes herself as a "passionate lyricist", and I agree. As you read Monique's poem, I hope you will reflect on some of the choices you make each day.

Choose

I choose to make choices, consciously every day

I choose to thank God as I arise anew

I choose to celebrate as the birds sing and the flowers wave

I choose to hum along and give praise

I choose to make choices as I navigate my way through traffic

I choose not to allow bad attitudes to wreak havoc

I choose to extol and laugh effortlessly

I choose to speak warmly and exhort others continuously

My choices define me and have helped me become who I am

There is only one; Me and that's who I choose to be.

Copyright 2013 Monique Mangrum.

 

Reprinted with author's permission.

 

Hong Kong Connection

Sharing another poem of mine for poetry month.

 Hong Kong Connection

What was her lot?

How and when did she reach this island melting pot?
She continues to elude me,
this Chinese great-grandmother,
hiding in genealogical databases.

Futile searches.
Secrets forever buried
with my father’s forgotten stories.
I wasn’t a recorder of memories then;
too young to know the importance
of fleeting words.

Hong Kong memories.

Tsang or Sang?
Confronting at last,
my Asian past.

Copyright 2013 Yasmin Morais

April is Poetry Month - Sharing Postcard from Havana

April is poetry month! As a poet, each year I look forward to this month-long celebration in honor of poets and their poetry. Isn't it great that we get one whole month to highlight this beautiful art form?

So, in honor of poetry month, I am sharing my poem entitled Postcard From Havana, which is my reflection on a special time I shared there. I hope you enjoy it!

Postcard from Havana

At Havana airport

separated by a curtain of glass,

we air-touched.
Our unending gaze
kept at bay the many questions
crying out for answers
that perhaps our hearts
did not want to know.

Ridiculous, me leaving,

you arriving,
because you refused to be bound
by time and order.
Our together trip
fragmented,
so I sojourned Havana solo.

I smiled a week later

at the postcard you sent
and what you said was
your most expensive phone call ever.

Memories are the only roads,

stories, the only bridges
to haunting flashes;
nostalgia a permanent keepsake
of a love that could have been.

Copyright Yasmin Morais 2013