Section: «Poems»
Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings:
artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.);
a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").
Word Reaches Us
Word reaches usthat you are sleeping, sleeping.Dismayedwe have turned to the sea.We encounter among otherswalking therea sense of what we have..
© Alice Walker
What It Feels Like
As if I've swallowedA watermelonAndSidesteppingMy digestive tractIt has lodgedIn my heart.There it liesGreen& wholewith a lusciousredheart of its..
© Alice Walker
You Want To Grow Old Like The Carters
Let other leadersRetireTo play golf& writeMemoirsAbout bombingVillagesThey've never seen.Growing oldPresents a perilThey may notExpect.It is to..
© Alice Walker
To Change The World Enough
To change the world enoughyou must cease to be afraidof the poor.We experience your fear as the least pardonable ofhumiliations; in the pastit has..
© Alice Walker
What Makes The Dalai Lama Lovable?
His postureFrom so many yearsHolding his robe with one handIs odd.His gaitAlso.One's own bodyAchesWitnessingThe slopingShoulders& AngledNeck;One..
© Alice Walker
From: Poems To My Girls
IHow can Humanitylook the deerinthe face?How can Mommy,having erectedmy fence?
© Alice Walker
When You Thought Me Poor
When you thought me poor,my poverty was shaming.When blackness was unwelcomewe found it bestthat I stay home.When by the miracleof fierce dreaming..
© Alice Walker
The Ways Of Water
With your unknownto meOdd magicYou cameTo me:Your truckBackfiringAs if sendingOutRocketsTo theStarsYou cameInSo gracefullyRocketsSilencedBehind you..
© Alice Walker
The Tree Of Life Has Fallen
The tree of lifehas fallen on my small house.I thought it was so much bigger!But it is not.There in the distance I see the mountainsstill.The view of..
© Alice Walker
Our Martyr
When the peoplehave won a victorywhether smallor largedo you ever wonderat that momentwhere the martyrsmight be?They who sacrificedthemselvesto bring..
© Alice Walker
Knowing You Might Some Day Come
Knowing you might some day comeand how unprepared I’ve alwaysbeenlike Mr. Sloppyin Charles Dickens’our Mutual FriendI made a list:not meat..
© Alice Walker
When You See Water
When you see water in a streamyou say: oh, this is streamwater;When you see water in the riveryou say: oh, this is waterof the river;When you see..
© Alice Walker
Before I Leave The Stage
Before I leave the stageI will sing the only songI was meant truly to sing.It is the songof I AM.Yes: I am Me&You.WE ARE.I love Us with every..
© Alice Walker
If I Was President
If I was PresidentThe first thing I would dois call Mumia Abu-Jamal.No,if I was presidentthe first thing I would dois call Leonard Peltier.No,if I..
© Alice Walker
Don’t Be Like Those Who Ask For Everything
Don’t be like those who ask for everything:praise, a blurb, a free ride in my rentedlimousine. They ask for everything but never offeranything in..
© Alice Walker
Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit
Did you ever understand this?If my spirit was poor, how could I enter heaven?Was I depressed?Understanding editing,I see how a comma, removed or..
© Alice Walker
Remember
RememberWhen we endedIt all-for a weekend-& howWe knew?You tookThe tea bowlThat IBrokeInCarelessnessTo glue togetherAgainAt yourHouse.
© Alice Walker
Going Out To The Garden
Going out to the gardenthis morningto plant seedsfor my winter greens-the strong, fiery mustard& the milderbroadleaf turnip-I saw a geckowholike..
© Alice Walker
A Picture Story For The Curious
(You supply the pictures!)I get to meditatein a chair!Or against the wallwith my legsstretched out!(Or even in bed!)I get to seemaybe halfof what I'm..
© Alice Walker
Be Nobody's Darling
Be nobody's darling;Be an outcast.Take the contradictionsOf your lifeAnd wrap aroundYou like a shawl,To parry stonesTo keep you warm.Watch the people..
© Alice Walker
Torture
When they torture your motherplant a treeWhen they torture your fatherplant a treeWhen they torture your brotherand your sisterplant a treeWhen they..
© Alice Walker
I Will Keep Broken Things
I will keepBrokenThings:The big clayPotWith raisedIguanasChasingTheirTails;TwoOf theirWiseHeadsShearedOff;I will keepBrokenthings:The..
© Alice Walker
Desire
My desireis always the same; wherever Lifedeposits me:I want to stick my toe& soon my whole bodyinto the water.I want to shake out a fat..
© Alice Walker
Expect Nothing
Expect nothing. Live frugallyOn surprise.become a strangerTo need of pityOr, if compassion be freelyGiven outTake only enoughStop short of urge to..
© Alice Walker
In Midas' Country
Meadows of gold dust. The silverCurrents of the Connecticut fanAnd meander in bland pleatings underRiver-verge farms where rye-heads whiten.All's..
© Sylvia Plath