Poetry

Dressed in red and black

Anita Hill took the stage

Humble amid the thunder

Of full-house applause.

“We are not bystanders anymore,”

She said,

Urging us to act

Like we are brave

And smart

And know a thing or two

About crushing

Inequality

Injustice

Urging us to use our voices

“Break the culture of silence.”

Insist

Act

Use our votes

Stand up

Speak up

Reimagine equality.

—Annis Cassells

 

Annis Cassells is a writer, poet, life coach, and teacher.  She divides her time between Bakersfield, California and Coos Bay, Oregon. She has been a member of Writers of Kern for more than a dozen years.

No one can convince me
that the oak has no memory.
Whenever I’m willing to listen,
it reminisces about winds
that shook its confidence
before I was born,
saturating rains I can’t imagine,
and droughts worse than this one.

The trick is to translate
murmurs and creaks of sap and solid wood
into dialects of blood and bone,
the cackling of neurons we call thought.

But the birds gossiping among its leaves
have no interest
in how much time it took
or what the oak had to endure
to make the shade
that shelters them in in the hot afternoon.
Now will always be enough for them.

—Don E. Thompson

In A Journal of the Drought Year ©2016,
Encircle Publications, LLC, Farmington, Maine, USA

Don Thompson, Kern County’s first Poet Laureate, was born and raised in Bakersfield, and has lived in the southern San Joaquin Valley for most of his life. In his term as Poet Laureate, he has held readings, given presentations, and promoted poetry throughout the county. During National Poetry Month 2018, he will present at the Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting (April 10) and the Bakersfield City Council meeting (April 11).

Life starts with a melody
Just be an instrument
Immersing in the beat
Flowing with the rhythm
Swinging with the music of life
Smelling every rose in the garden of love
To eternity

—Sudha Reddy

Sudha Reddy is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology. She is a life-long seeker and learner whose parents taught her true happiness is in helping and sharing. Her life purpose is to decrease suffering in the world, in every possible way. Writing is one of her many activities for staying healthy. Sudha is a new member of WOK.

When food doesn’t have a taste.
My existence is a waste.
My face a fake smile I paste.
The pain won’t erase.

When shame has a face.
Contentment has no place.
My sanity I chase.
I’m losing this race.

STOP!
Breathe!
How do I stop falling?

When my mind is reeling .
This world is not appealing.
The clock keeps ticking.
The tears are dripping.

When I’m not at my best.
Dark shadows cause unrest.
My soul I detest.
They say this is a test.

STOP!
Breathe again.
How do I go on?

When my existence is frail.
My mind is a jail.
Misery is a special hell.
Will I live to tell a tale.

When I feel I’ll fade.
The devil is paid.
My bleak bed is made.
The cards are all played.

STOP!
Take a minute to breathe.
One.
Two.
Three.
Where do I go from here?

When my failings become an obsession.
My pain leads to aggression.
Life feels like oppression.
I sink deeper into my depression.

—Donnée Harris

Donnée Harris is a former reporter, novelist, blogger and a poet. She writes erotic romance novels and has published three novels including Prohibited: an erotic novel. She has a BA in Journalism from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana and is a member of Delta Delta Delta Sorority.

It seemed the drops would never stop falling
Clouding my vision through an already fogged window

The focus of my view had always seemed relatively clear
Except for an occasional errant thought which like a hailstorm
Would blur my vision with disturbing frequency

Perhaps when this current downpour clears,
My clarity will once again return,
Cleansed by the shower of reality

—Nelson Varon

In addition to being a musician and a writer of song lyrics & poems, Nelson Varon was a NYC school teacher, the founder of Nelson Varon Organ Studios in NYC, a published songwriter & author of PlayNow Method For All Organs, feature articles for The Music Trades  magazine, and How to Open a Piano & Organ Store (a chapter in the industry publication, How To Open A Music Store) and the short story, Fixing Things.  He was also the founder, publisher & editor of The Music & Computer Educator magazine, and the founder of Kern Piano Mall, in Bakersfield.