NIGHT (napowrimo #30) a response to NIGHT by Elie Wiesel

NIGHT napowrimo #30
a response to NIGHT by Elie Wiesel

screams in distant past
can we hear their cries today
or is there silence

wake up to their agony
let it not have been in vain

Michelle Balletto-Wooten
© 4-30-11

blossom napowrimo #13

BLOSSOM

gardenia blossom
blazing white in field of green
nature's purity

Michelle Balletto-Wooten
© 4-13-11

rainstorm phantom napowrimo #7

dusk comes early
air smells of wet leaves and grass
the moment passes

Michelle Balletto-Wooten
© 4-7-11

VIOLIN STRINGS napowrimo #6

VIOLIN STRINGS
Vibrating
They resound.
Pressure them
They change.
Look closely
And they’re singing
To the frog again.

Change
The pressure,
Change
The string,
The tired frog
Says good-bye
The tip is now the friend.

Neighbors four
Together sing,
Frog and tip
Harmony bring.
Listen closely
And you’ll hear
Them call your heart again.


Michelle Balletto-Wooten
© 4-6-11
Napowrimo #6

QUESTIONS, ONLY QUESTIONS napowrimo #5a

QUESTIONS, ONLY QUESTIONS

Why can't my students come prepared
with an open mind under their hair,
with food in their bellies, a smile on the face,
knowing they're part of this human race?

Why must they come with their vacant look
as if it's a chore to just open a book?
Why must they grumble when given a task,
like curiosity is too much to ask?

And why don't they know how great they are,
that each one shines, that each is a star?
Why do they clamour that life's not enough?
Who filled their heads with that silly stuff?

Could I have done it when I said, "That's not right."?
Could it have been me who stole their delight?
Was it something I said? Did I make it wrong
to be wrong, hoping they would be strong?

Was it the time I said to them, "No, wait!
I can't teach that now. According to State
Board of Ed regs, we must learn that later."
Did I stiffle desire when it could have grown greater?

They come to me and give me their trust
as best as they can, so to teach is a must.
The dilemma is, what do I do to ignite
the spark that has faded deep into THEIR night?



Michelle Balletto-Wooten
© 4-5-11

WINTER BLAST napowrimo #5b

WINTER BLAST

When the wind comes roaring
and the eagles start soaring
something's about to change.

The air, a bit crisper feels
it comes and warmth away it steals
and life is left a bit strange.

When the frogs stop their croaking
it's the fire we'll be stoking
if the howling winds have come to play.

Crickets go to hiding
and on ice soon we'll be sliding.
Winter's here for yet another day.



Michelle Balletto-Wooten
© 4-5-11

Cooling Spring

Cooling Spring

sun sets to bird call
cooler weather brings them in
night song then silence

Michelle Balletto-Wooten
...© 4-4-11

ON BEING HUMAN napowrimo #4

ON BEING HUMAN
Is there a pain
involved in writing?
Some unspoken hurt
crying out to be expressed
so that it does not explode
bottled up within the tight confines
of the mind
and heart?

Is it pain?
That dull, throbbing reminder
that unfortunately
I still live and breathe
even though my fondest reasons
have been ripped from my grasp
have scurried through my fingers
leaving me with empty hands
and empty heart?

Well, is it?

Content, blissful –
poetry becomes “too good to be true”
a pollyanna version
of what the world is “really” like.

Is the world really pain?

Come join my joy.
See my beauty!
Hear my symphony.
Feel my aliveness …
I am overflowing
with goodness and vitality!

Why is it that what reverberates
among the souls
of strangers

is the shared pain
of being human?
Michelle Balletto-Wooten
© 4-4-11

REVOLUTION napowrimo #4a

REVOLUTION

I suppose
One must propose
To have a thought
That is not bought
For which no one’s been paid
And no one’s been laid –
An original idea
One that is real
That comes from the heart
With the possibility to start
A revolution.

It makes me wonder
If when torn assunder
There, in the brain,
Exists a small drain
Where thought simply leaves
Blown away by a breeze
Of question and doubt
To take a new route
A new path to create
More thoughts to elevate
This revolution.

An idea emerges
Suddenly suges
Into my mind
Making me find
Some form of expression
Maybe make it a lesson
In originality
In creativity
I’ll write it down
Take it to town …
MY revolution.Michelle Balletto-Wooten
© 4-4-11

fireflies

in growing darkness
fireflies begin their dance
raindrops send them home


Michelle Balletto-Wooten
© 4-2-11

SPRING MIST

soft green halo
shimmering hovering
new beginning's breath


Michelle Balletto-Wooten
© 4-2-11

EDUCATION

EDUCATION

We don't need no "edumacation"
is the cry across the nation.
Our youth, in anger, shout this declaration
demanding their own liberation.
They'd rather rot in stagnation,
leave the world in desperation
destroying the very foundation
that they live upon.

Screaming about emancipation
they know not of reality
the things they face that they can't see -
they live lives of mediocrity
vacant, meaningless, empty -
devoid of the possibility
of growth.

If an apple falls from its tree,
they wonder not of gravity.
They take the world for granted.
They take what has been handed
to them without ever earning,
without ever yearning
or feeling the burning
to know more
to do more
to be more.

So we must construct an education
that makes sense to this generation
--- begin a sort of cultivation
of wonder and of exploration.
We must begin to change the way
we structure each day,
we must bring back play -
let reading and mathematics
become strategies and tactics
for solving the problems our youth will face
problems of the human race
of hunger and of poverty
of poor and rich society
of clean water and clean air
of peaceful living without a care
of saving wildlife and flowers
of having clean, fresh April showers
of making sure that all feel loved
instead of pressured from above.

All this can come with imagination,
problems solved with information,
and the world improved through the application

of a real-life "edumacation"".

Michelle Balletto-Wooten
© 4-1-11