From Which They Receive No Substance
How do I feel,
About the escalating disrespect...
Shown to me?
And the pride I have taken,
In priding my identity?
That is a very good question.
And I am glad you asked it of me.
First and foremost...
I am not the one to be traumatized,
By an awakening...
To realize my entire existence,
Has been a hoax!
And that is why I stride with a dignity.
Everything about me that 'appears'?
Is what it is!
And my consciousness,
Has never been sold to be stripped away from it.
Everything about me that 'appears'?
Is what it is!
Others may be here to make excuses for themselves.
And...
Out of mind and feeling out of place to escape from fates.
So unfortunate are the ones who have been 'hoaxed' to live...
Their lives they do not value.
And support themselves...
On a faith that is replaced on a daily basis,
From which they receive no substance.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Unless It Has Never Been Addressed
If you are not celebrating,
Yourself...
With pride and dignity.
You have no identity.
That is how I see it!
That is how it appears to me.
There is something missing in your life.
An understanding that goes unidentified.
Something unliked one wishes to hide...
Or ignore! Perhaps despise!
There is an unacceptance.
And whatever it is,
It is denied.
Anyone with a pride and dignity...
Will let this be known.
And it is clearly shown,
On the outside as it should be.
Unless it has never been addressed,
Or respected.
And the emptiness is left unconnected!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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So Easy It Has Been made
I am not a terrorist!
At least I wasn't when I last checked.
I am, however, a divorced veteran of the Vietnam War,
Living alone on a fixed income.
I am a man who decided early in life,
To take a stand...
With a doing of things I believed were right.
As I kept my identity and pride and integrity in tact.
I did not seek to backbite or make excuses.
There is not a woman who can say or make claims,
I fathered any of her six children.
Or laid up in her face all day to nibble or chew,
On seven hundred dollars or more of food stamps.
OR was there to sleep with her,
And her other fatherless kids in subsidized housing...
Just to have a place to live as I complained,
About my circumstances.
I am a dedicated Black man!
Whether that is significant or not.
I am also patriotic.
And reminded on a daily basis,
I am amongst the very few...
Who choose to stand on my own two feet.
Although so easy it has been made,
For many to degrade themselves to live a lazy existence.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Who and Why Are We?
Nobody here appears who they should be.
And some are heard saying,
They're quite alone.
Nobody here appears stripped free,
Of showing a face...
Known as shown.
Who,
And why are we?
Who...
And what,
Is our destiny?
We come here alone.
To go on our own!
But,
To where?
Tell me,
Who...
And why are we?
Tell me,
What...
Is our destiny?
We come here alone.
To do what it is!
But who cares?
But who cares?
Nobody here appears who they should be.
And some are heard saying,
They're quite alone.
Nobody here appears stripped free,
Of showing a face...
Known as shown.
And who cares?
Tell me,
Who...
And why are we?
Tell me,
What...
Is our destiny?
We come here alone.
To go on our own!
But,
To where?
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Elated To Have Been Distanced
From which side are those with kept delusions,
Would 'they' say are most difficult to view?
Those on the side witnessing their values diminished,
By the ones they've entrusted to keep them endeared?
Or the ones advocating the others to be fools,
To dismiss those standards hyped as reality...
When both sides refuse to accept reality as it appears,
With a denying of its existence?
And those censored as nonconformists,
Who continue to offend them with truth...
Are defamed on a daily basis,
For their attempts to introduce truth to them.
From which side are those with kept delusions,
Would 'they' say are most difficult to view?
When both sides refuse to accept reality as it appears,
With a denying of its existence?
And those censored as nonconformists,
Sing their praises to be the ones isolated...
To view all of this from a higher consciousness.
And elated to have been distanced.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Zeus Or Achilles
Don’t let anyone hurt you,
Don’t let anyone disrespect you,
Don’t surrender your dignity
For love or money,
Don’t believe anyone who came before you
Is greater than you!
Live like a god or goddess,
Live with uncompromising confidence,
Live to walk on water
With Jesus as your guide,
Live with faith and pride.
The powers that be
Want you to crumble and fall,
They want you to cower and kneel,
They want you to forget how to feel
Sublime, redeeming love…
You can transcend every defeat,
You can overcome every broken relationship.
You must realize today
You have the potential
Of Zeus or Achilles.
poem by Uriah Hamilton
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Feeling Okay To Be Ignored
Being alone does not have to mean loneliness.
Or interpreted by others as a desperate existence,
For one who has chosen...
To live a life without accepting nonsense.
And feeling okay to be ignored,
When others believed one's actions were foolish.
And on a daily basis...
One like this does what it takes,
To ensure a peace discovered...
Is not replaced or exits to escape,
By others trying to find their way...
Through a chaos they have created to permit.
No phones to answer or knocks on the door,
Can take away what one has earned.
Not when one has found what one adores.
An arrival of a peace within and quiet restored.
One hopes to keep with a feasting kept...
With no regrets and forevermore.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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That Depends On the Enlightenment of Your Consciousness
How much more pain can you endure?
That's a good question!
How much more would you like?
Would you like that with or without an appetitizer?
You seem to prefer your suffering done,
With a full voicing of complaint.
You seem to have awaited,
The moment of its infliction.
Then you began...
A whining without constraint!
How much more pain can you endure?
How much more would you like?
When did you decide,
That an enduring of it...
Brought to you more dignity?
And enhanced your pride in others' eyes?
How much more pain can you endure?
You seem to enjoy it with cocktails.
Or at least with others,
Who feel their afflictions...
Increases a degree of a perceived patriotism!
And of course...
No end appears in sight for your noble sacrifice.
How much more pain can you endure?
That's a good question!
But I am sure,
When you begin to hold yourself accountable for it...
You will awaken to discover,
The foolishness of your decision.
And those you believed had your best interests...
Kept you in pain to obtain their own gains!
And how much of their gain,
Can you endure at your expense?
That depends on the enlightenment of your consciousness.
And your willingness to seek some answers,
When you have been detoxed from your addiction!
Without the need to martyr or bleed away,
Your right to a peace of mind...
That has obviously become no one's concern!
And this is a lesson,
You aren't the only one...
That has to learn!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Confusion Within The Mind
Has today been a day where I should be glad
Or has it suddenly turned into feelings that make me sad
My greatest memory appears to come in then fade out
I never been able to figure what this mystery is all about
Can I have this memory stay with me to the end
Will it come to a certain point where it appears to bend
Once in a while I will think on my own
About the memory that has barely been shown
poem by Sarah Bruun
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It Appears To Be That Way
Wait a minute.
Aren't they the same incompetent people,
Expressing with confidence...
Why they have a lack of competence?
'It appears to be that way.'
Is this the change being made,
We all can believe in?
'It appears to be that way.'
Is this the 'light',
Coming to poke holes through the darkness?
'It appears to be that way.'
Is this the rainbow that has come,
After relentless storms of anguish?
'It appears to be that way.'
Have you been affected by total disbelief,
And you are doing the best you can...
To stay on your own two feet.
And my voice you can hear,
But your consciousness has left...
To leave you unsure of your own footsteps?
'It appears to be that way.'
Hang in there.
But just don't stand planted,
To become more twisted by shifting winds.
'What are you saying?
I should be doing something else...
Other than just to hang in there?
With a going to somewhere with purpose? '
It appears to be that way.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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You Will Know When It Has Been Discovered
I can not award you confirmation...
Of who it is you are.
With an identity felt.
Connected to an adjoining dignity.
I've never had the experience,
Of living with such emptiness inside of me.
I've been blessed to know who it is I am.
With a testing that is done daily,
By those who refuse to accept...
Nothing I do that appears on the surface,
Is not without its depth!
I can not award you confirmation...
Of who it is you are.
With an identity felt.
Connected to an adjoining dignity.
That you will have to determine for yourself.
And you will know when it has been discovered.
When few will accept,
The strength reflected you project.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Traumatized By Too Much Reality
The one thing that can be said...
About those who are traumatized,
By too much reality faced on a daily basis!
Is this...
They will always find others to help protect them,
And their delusions.
While depicting those who speak truth comfortably,
As vicious and mean.
And insensitive to the ones,
Who disrespect honesty...
With embellished acceptable lies.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Living Their Lives On A Part-Time Basis
There is nothing left one can express,
To a mindset tumbling in outer space...
About the importance of securing one's identity.
And how that connects,
To maintaining one's dignity with a keeping it in place.
Some living their lives on a part-time basis,
Would not understand a full-time commitment.
The thought of it would mean being held accountable.
With a facing of challenges without a single escape.
And without a safety net permitted to catch a heart that breaks.
How can anyone provide rescue,
To someone that argues the values...
Of surrounding themselves in total darkness.
As if to re-enact the living within a womb...
Frightened by the prospects of being shown the light.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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There Is A Kingdom
Just like a bird that sings up the sun
In a dawn so very dark
Such is my faith for you
Such is my faith
And all the world's darkness can't swallow up
A single spark
Such is my love for you
Such is my love
There is a kingdom
There is a king
And he lives without
And he lives within
There is a kingdom
There is a king
And he lives without
And he lives within
The starry heavens above me
The moral law within
So the world appears
So the world appears
This day so sweet
It will never come again
So the world appears
Through this mist of tears
There is a kingdom
There is a king
And he lives without
And he lives within
There is a kingdom
There is a king
And he lives without
And he lives within
The starry heavens above me
The moral law within
So the world appears
Through this mist of tears
There is a kingdom
There is a king
And he lives without
And he lives within
There is a kingdom
There is a king
There is a king
And he is everything
song performed by by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds from The Boatman's Call
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Procrastinations Created to Make An Erasing
No excuses are better made,
Than those insecure that make them.
A beating around the bush,
Whether conscious or not.
Is not done quite as well...
As those who attempt to escape,
From hesitated procrastinations.
Created to make,
An erasing of their accountability!
People like this are easily offended.
Believing their disrespect for others,
Should be condoned.
People like this,
Anticipate being appreciated!
For making mediocrity enforced upon others.
With a downgrading of their expectations.
And communicating that,
To entrap as this is shown!
No excuses are better made,
Than those insecure that make them.
A beating around the bush,
Whether conscious or not.
Is not done quite as well...
As those who attempt to escape,
From hesitated procrastinations.
Created to make,
An erasing of their accountability!
And as incredible as this may be...
People extend to them patience,
With comprehension.
Instead of giving them a boot to the curb!
Asked for and deserved!
A lack of discipline should never be rewarded.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Where to Bathe and What to Eat!
Some choose to mask their insecurities,
By use of excuses and insults...
To reduce feelings of insignificance.
As if this shallowness exposed,
Replaces the obvious imposed.
Those of strength are labelled arrogant.
Those of identity are often tagged nonconformists.
And on the other hand those living their lives,
On a daily basis...
Doing what they can to survive.
Could care less whose ego thrives,
Seeking to be massaged...
By another round of bravura.
Pampered in the approval of lies!
There are folks living on our streets,
Trying to figure out how to shelter themselves.
Where to bathe and what to eat!
Those of strength are labelled arrogant.
Those of identity are often tagged nonconformists.
There are folks living on our streets,
Trying to figure out how to shelter themselves.
Where to bathe and what to eat!
And on the other hand those living their lives,
On a daily basis...
Doing what they can to survive.
Could care less whose ego thrives,
Seeking to be massaged by another round of bravura.
Pampered in the approval of lies!
Just to nibble on sweetened pretentions.
To share from a vacuous hollowness!
And at someone else's expense.
There are folks living on our streets,
Trying to figure out how to shelter themselves.
Where to bathe and what to eat!
While those who scurry about with their lifted up noses...
Seek a place to close a door anywhere.
With anyone who agrees...
They are still able to indentify their sanity!
It may not be the accepted 'sanity'!
But at least they are supportive of one another!
There are folks living on our streets,
Trying to figure out how to shelter themselves.
Where to bathe and what to eat!
And people who are marketing decadence,
Stuff their diseased guts...
With delusions of grandeur.
OR something they hold,
To make them feel better than someone lese.
There are folks living on our streets,
Trying to figure out how to shelter themselves.
Where to bathe and what to eat!
Caring less about their bad credit.
Or who refused them a loan,
Based upon nothing in collateral shown.
Since once valued pretentions have lost their asset.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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An Isn't...Is!
An isn't...
Is!
When that isn't...
Appears.
An isn't...
Is!
When that isn't...
Appears.
Cheating spouses,
Who run about...
To play a cat and mouse,
Out of the house.
Often lie,
When they can...
To hide unfaithfulness from eyes that scan.
But that isn't...
Is!
When that isn't appears.
Oh yes that isn't,
Is...
When that isn't appears!
Those downlow and attempting discreet...
Play it cheap,
While sneaking under sheets.
Be they lesbians or homos too,
Cruising darkened streets to do what they do...
To hide an isn't...
That is!
When they say what isn't,
Appears.
Oh yes that isn't,
Is...
When that isn't appears!
You can say that isn't,
Is!
When that isn't,
Appears!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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A Granting Of An Escape
When does it become one's duty,
To be held accountable for their own actions?
When does that border between,
Allowing one to locate excuses...
Separates that from one's denying,
Of making habitual mistakes...
To find fault to place blame on others,
With a granting of an escape.
When does it become one's duty,
To be held accountable for their own actions?
When does that border between,
Allowing one to locate excuses...
Separates that from one's denying,
Of making habitual mistakes.
And when will people awaken,
To discover their dishonesty...
Offers their children,
No respect or identity.
Or a dignity they pride for the rest of their lives.
What will it take...
For those with pretentions to have them erased?
More hiding places?
Or the appearance of guilty looks,
Adorning their pitiful faces?
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Offended And Upset
People have become too complacent.
With a caring not to listen.
Or a caring done to comprehend!
Believing a sleepwalk exercised...
Through rituals and symbolic traditions,
Would appease the majestic mentalities...
That brought them to experience,
Lives they live here on Earth.
A respect not shown,
Is awakening those with a selfish consciousness.
The disrespect shown to one another...
Has more than just neighbors complaining,
About this thoughtlessness.
Guess what else,
Has been offended and upset?
With no patience left...
For anyone to get their act together!
If anyone has not yet accepted,
The depth of their connected realities...
Soon will discover their beliefs to be dispensible.
Since we have been the welcomed guests!
Not the 'creators' of what we believe,
Can be easily deceived.
WE are not the creators of what we see,
That has allowed us to leech...
Maniputively!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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In Your Face
In your face.
And scrutinized on a daily basis,
That should not take place with such curiosity.
But it does with the getting of attention.
I am an American man.
And labelled black to be made aware of that.
To offend many when my proudness is expressed.
I have always had ambitions to be my best.
With a dignity I wear my identity to expose.
I have never had a wish to be depicted as a stereotype,
To appease those who are white to please appetites.
Not me I am happy to be who I am.
And then there are those who wish to be viewed,
As 'good' Negroes.
With obedience and subservience,
Served to those they'd rather not upset.
I am an American man.
And labelled black to be made aware of that.
To offend many when my proudness is expressed.
I have always had ambitions to be my best.
Does this confession make me 'less' patriotic?
Or am I 'more' American because I have beliefs...
To be the best human being that I can be.
Regardless of any images that provide others with relief.
How you depict with descriptions to abuse and define?
Is a problem you have to overcome in your limited mind.
With time given to dread or not.
And 'that' will never be a question you will hear me ask!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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If Pride Was Felt Inside To Feel
If pride was felt inside to feel it...
It would be shown.
And to all would be known.
If pride was felt with intent and integrity,
Few would be envious.
And who would then express jealousy.
But pride and identity,
Is as distant as an orphan...
Seeking purpose and a home,
Alone.
To roam.
Feeling disconnected.
Leaving one who travels...
Wishing this corrected.
If pride was felt inside to feel it...
It would be shown.
And to all would be known.
But...
One who travels,
Wishing to connect...
Feels as distant as an orphan,
Alone.
To roam!
And...
Feeling disconnected.
Hoping one day,
Pride will be displayed and known.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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