Looking Back by BJ Neblett

Looking Back
BJ Neblett
© 1967, 1970, 2013, 2014
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
                                                                F. Scott Fitzgerald
                                                                The Great Gatsby 
As one of my all time  favorite books concludes, I am again reminded of how desperately we sometimes cling to the past. And of how simple life can really be if we could only:
                                                                 Learn from the past
                                                                 Live for the present
                                                                 Look to the future.
                                                                           BJ Neblett
Enjoy these two poems from a different time, a different place and a (somewhat) different BJ.

Untitled

BJ Neblett

© 1967, 2013

I thought you said you loved me

When you asked me my name

I thought of how an hour from now

Would it still feel the same

But all that mattered was your laughter

It hid your last goodbye

Disguised as rain clouds in the air

And taught me how to cry

Untitled

BJ Neblett

© 1970, 2013

I wonder if you’ll ever think of me

Somewhere within your castle mind

Of crowded rooms

And sweeping halls

And ivory towers

And crumbling walls

That

            t

              u

                m

                   b

                     l

                      e

Through the caverns of time

You’ve set aside to live within

And the world

A microscopic toy to you

To play with as you will

Or destroy as you please

The 12th Day Of Never by BJ Neblett

Ok, here it is, my first 'officially' published work, a poem from 1967 that appeared in a national poetry anthology. The Vietnam War was escalating, there were protesters in the streets, Bob Dylan and folk rock were on the radio and the Republicans were about to be in power. I was 17 and in high school and sitting in study hall bored and just wondering what the big deal was about Friday the 13th. Calliope must have been bored that day as well. Enjoy and please feel free to comment.
BJ.

The 12^th Day Of Never

by BJ Neblett

© 1967, 2013

The morning burst into a crisp,

clear gay marriage

of loneliness.

Soon the shadows of night

are forgotten and all around

is a joyful feeling

of sudden death.

It is the 12^th day of never.

To the east the burning sun

is slowly climbing the skyward

of hatred and deceit.

In the garden, Alice In Wonderland

type figures have already

landed their forces in

the outer rice paddies.

It is the 12^th day of never.

Scheming people turn in fear of

a strange flash of burning black

gone as suddenly as it came.

And the morning air becomes

full of cloudy, dust filled

rings of crazy people in a

crazy world.

It is the 12^th day of never.

Now the sun returns to the west;

the frightening flash of total

darkness is about us.

Meanwhile, hidden deep in alleys,

people are drawing conclusions

on the walls and returning to

their coffins ‘till tomorrow.

And what of tomorrow?

Why everyone knows it’s Friday,

The 13^th day of never.

                                                            Broomall, PA

                                                            November, 1967

Black Wall by BJ Neblett

            Black Wall

 A peaceful march

‘I have a dream’

In Washington DC

What does it mean?

Hope for the future

A nation in doubt

In Dallas, Texas

Shots ring out

Black dog white cop

A church in flames

In Selma, Alabama

Nothing’s changed

Black Panthers roar

A country’s shame

In New York City

A leader is slain

Ten thousand more troops

A limited war

In countless speeches

We’ve heard this before

 Summer of love

Restlessness churns

Across America

Cities burn

Napalm rains

Children scream

In Memphis, Tennessee

The end of a dream

‘I will not run’

War escalates

In a LA hotel

Hope meets its fate

Police mobilize

Storm troopers marching

At a Chicago convention

The whole world is watching

A solider dies

The boy next door

In the USA

A living room war

Draft cards afire

Lives on the line

At Tranquility Base

A step for mankind

Protesters unite

Answer the call

At an Ohio college

Four students fall

‘Bring the boys home’

‘What’s going on?’

In America’s conscience

The words of a song

Soldiers return

A mother’s sorrow

Trapped in a wheelchair

No hope for tomorrow

Fifty-eight thousand dead

For our father’s sins

In the end

Nobody wins

Black Wall cries out

A generation turned

In Iran and Afghanistan

What lessons learned?

                                                            Raybrook, New York

                                                            June, 2006