Category: Biographical Poems
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Niagara Falls, I Do Not by Scott Manley Hadley
Staring at the waterBeside the top of Niagara FallsThinking about throwing myself in. My sister is visiting and I am exhausted byPretending I don’t want to dieWhich makes me want death more. I imagine my body smashing against the rocksOrBeing pummelled under by the water. I see myFatBaldSadBodyFloating down the riverOn its backDisgusting the otherFatBaldSadBodies…
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Death of an Immigrant by Bobbie Kalman
My father cheated death a number of times. People called him a hero. In Hungary, he was my hero. But our Revolution failed, and our dreams were denied. On Dad’s 35th birthday, we fled our country in the middle of the night. “You’re so lucky you got out,” those left behind cried. But my father…
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Resignation to the Approaching Period of Decline and Decay by James Melloy
Days of my youth, ye have glided away ; Hairs of my youth, ye are frosted and gray ; Eyes of my youth, your keen sight is no more ; Cheeks of my youth, ye are furrowed all o’er ; Strength of my youth, all your vigor is gone ; Thoughts of my youth, your…
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Under the Falls by James Penha
My memories begin with the cascade of tears at Niagara Falls as I screamed NO when my father led us to board the boat he said would be sailing “under the Falls.” Under the Falls, he said. Distinctly Under the Falls. Not near, not close to, but under. What three-year-old would not weep uncontrollably,…
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Niagara Falls: A Poem by Jim Daniels
Niagara Falls is a long poem of 700 lines where three stories, growing up Catholic in the industrial North, a honeymoon to Niagara Falls and a pilgrimage to Assissi, Italy, are interwoven in a master work of fractured narration. The language is relaxed and upbeat where metaphysical concerns meet, head on. Excerpt from Niagara…