OF FREEDOM

Courage allows for our ethics to remain strong;
an idealism that is the antithesis
of what the common perception is.
A sense of decency and decorum.
A truth based in knowledge,
of good will, not bad faith.
Our punishment is the loss of freedom.

© Walter J. Wojtanik

dVerse Poets Pub – Quadrille #40: FREE

HELP ME, I THINK I’M FALLING

There
is a
free
man in
Paris
who’s
life
was
free
fallin’.
He
kept
calling
Radio
Free
Europe
in the
hope
that he
could
free the
people.
He stood
high in the
Notre Dame stee-
ple. he shouted, “FREE-
DOM!”  “SWEET FREEDOM!”
no one paid any   heed,“Je
Suis” they          would all
intone. “This             is   a free
country and              we are born
free! We wish                   to be free and
thus we are free!” The man thought “How can
this be?  Wishing doesn’t make one free!”‘Why,
it’s like wishing to fly!”Climbing the ledge, he
looked down on Paris and declared,“I want to be
free!”“I shall be fr-                    ee!” “Set me free!”
He spread his                                  arms and leapt.
To his surpr-                                             ise, he soared,
gracefully falling                                                in the Provincial
Sky. A free ride,                                                        free as a bird,
Free to be…you and me,                                                     and a freebird in Paris.

(C) Walter J Wojtanik, 2015

***POETIC ASIDES WITH ROBERT LEE BREWER – PROMPT 295: “FREE”

FREE AS A BIRD

A spirit soars finally in the peace he sought,
He bought his rest with blood and sweat
and a few hits under his belt.
He was besieged in his adopted city,
it was a pity it turned him away.
Tearful reunions not forthcoming
save for that cold December day.
Sadly “Brother” George would follow.
Sorrow in the playing of their final group
recording. John and George, “Free As a Bird”,
Into the light of the dark black night.

(C) Walter J Wojtanik, 2015

***POETIC ASIDES WITH ROBERT LEE BREWER – PROMPT 295: “FREE”

 

FREE-FOR-ALL

Reckless abandon meets melee,
it’s a helluva day for a fight.
If you’re looking for a
donnybrook, you found it here, all right!
Tag teams welcome, cage fighters too,
MMA… take your time, we’ve got all night.
Taking all comers, the weak of heart needn’t try.
If you’re all in for a bench-clearing brawl, we just might!
But if Chuck Norris shows up, all bets are off!

(C) Walter J Wojtanik, 2015

***POETIC ASIDES WITH ROBERT LEE BREWER – PROMPT 295: “FREE”

SPEECH

Say what’s on your mind
and find the right words to do it.
You’ve been through it a hundred
times and every rhyme has it’s own flair.
You seem to care what others think
and it stinks when they try to silence you.
You don’t resort to violence, lest your voice
is quelled. It will be a cold day in hell
when the cost of free speech is prohibitive.
Expressive or excessive, your words matter.
They may not always believe what you say,
but they defend your right to say it!

(C) Walter J Wojtanik, 2015

***POETIC ASIDES WITH ROBERT LEE BREWER – PROMPT 295: “FREE”

FREE THE MIND

Ideas and thoughts,
vapid and vacuous
float imprisoned within.
I hear it in my head
but dread the thought
of releasing the beast.
Expressing things
with the least bit of vitriol
or despair. Who would dare
debate that what you create
is art? It all starts with these
sparks to inflame your passion
to write in the fashion of your own
choosing. Using your words to give
voice to your choices, not to merely
make noises. Let loose your barrage.
Do not disparage what your heart
knows is true to you. Free your mind.
The rest of you will follow suit!

(C) Walter J Wojtanik, 2015

***POETIC ASIDES WITH ROBERT LEE BREWER – PROMPT 295: “FREE”

FREE AT LAST

Hidden in the darkest reaches
of a mind bursting with plans
and schemes; dreams that you never had the heart
to start expressing, lest you show your hand
and your soul. Lest you loose control.
In the end you stayed within.

Over the years, it was a sin
to really deny your true vision, wishing you could reach
the masses without being an ass or classless dolt out of control
of emotions you never felt comfortable showing. Your plan
to stay silent failed miserably when your hand
took pen to page, opening a vein directly to your heart.

You had the words and the heart
but weren’t sure where to start; where to begin.
Your decision to ply your hand
with the brand of poetics that would pull you out of the breech
sounded like an outrageous plan.
But it was a salve to soothe an aching soul.

So you were given control
to dispatch your words as sparks of the heart,
an inferno brewing, stewing within this man
and releasing the man within.
No star too far, no meteoric rise out of reach,
no thought held too long within hands

longing to be free of the burden. A poet’s hands
holding the power to move and cajole,
to elicit a smile or groan, any guttural moan, to reach
someone else’s senses. To touch their hearts.
And so it starts. Words are merely words when sequestered within.
They become the guiding light when allowed to shine. Any man

or woman seeking to be free must first release these fears as this man
has. Take your words and destiny into your hands
and disperse every wild notion of thought, the din within
your own expressive mind. Find your voice and take control.
Rip open your soul and rend your heart.
Shout “Free at last, free at last…” to all within reach.

The plan has always been to reach
every heart with a tender hand
by wresting control of the poet within.

 

(C) Walter J Wojtanik, 2015

***POETIC ASIDES WITH ROBERT LEE BREWER – PROMPT 295: “FREE”

FREEDOM FROM WANT

Freedom from Want
From Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms covers of the Saturday Evening Post ~
Freedom From Want

A print of Rockwell’s work tattered and grease stained
and drained of all color; faded and showing years of use.
Not from abuse, but from a homage to a bygone age.
When all the rage is Christmas in October, you open
the hearth of home one last time, a reminder that
everything your parents ever worked for was instilled
in your own best efforts. To provide a roof, and warmth;
food and clothing and beholding to no one but your own
dignity and fortitude. It would be rude to take a hand
from one more deserving. Grandmother, with her better
half by her side sliding the golden brown bird before
and adoring family. “Freedom From Want” it declares,
and there’s the rub.. Everyone wants to their own degree.
But I see what home used to be and this need to be free lingers.

Poetic Asides November Chapbook Challenge – Day 26 – Free____/____ Free