The Daily Poem

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D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 462

Novel Verse Form

Moshi, Tanzania

Lat: Long:

EVIL STAR

We're all going down the rat hole,

Down like a lump of cheese.

So smelly that no one will feed us,

Just turn up your noses and sneeze.

We know we're the worst of the worst,

Nothing can rid us of that,

Just toss us a coin of pity

And give us a tip of your hat.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 461

Ballad Meter

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Lat: Long:

IMAGINED ENEMY

Our enemy is alien,

A huge monstrosity;

Conspicuous complexity

Of non-mammalian

Mechanical audacity.

And we the soft protagonists,

With nothing more than skin,

And flowing blood within,

Contrive these hard antagonists,

Then cockily crow, "We win!"

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 460

Quintain Stanza

Stone Town, Zanzibar

Lat: Long:

A MAN IS A MAN

Across the Channel to Zanzibar

On Kilimanjaro Two,

The noise of Dar es Salaam behind

Ahead the sickle and star.

The call to prayer is a call to mind

The world from a different view.

I asked my Father, "Enlighten me

And lead me in Your Way.

Islamic faces around me stare

As if I'm an enemy.

Or is it my eyes reflecting the glare

Of something a hater would say?"

My Father said, "Every soul is mine

To do with as I please.

You cannot look at a nation and know

The way each heart inclines;

A man is a man for I made him so

To worship upon his knees.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 459

Novel Verse Form

Stone Town, Zanzibar

Lat: Long:

FIRST LION

Who cares about the average life

    Expectancy of snails,

Unless they grow cathedral size

    And sleep on beds of nails.

Today I saw my lion, first

    And finest of them all,

And then to quench my first-time thirst,

    An Indian Ocean sprawl.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 458

Ballad Meter

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Lat: Long:

THE SACRED COW OF WHO I AM

In little ways not quite perceived,

The corporation slips away;

The job description deeply weaved

Inside myself begins to fray,

Unraveling the sacred cow

Of who I am as what I do,

Until not sure of when or how,

I must conceive of someone new.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 457

Ballad Meter

Morogoro, Tanzania

Lat: Long:

AGAIN THE STARS

Again the stars, but even more;

The constellations strange and bright.

Again I turn away unsure;

Too small the man, too large the night.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 456

Ballad Meter

Iringa, Tanzania

Lat: LongL

ALL THE PEOPLE

I can't stop thinking about the earth,

And all the people standing around,

The throngs of children given birth

On a patch of footprint circle ground

No larger than a day is wide,

No room to run, no place to hide.

A pail of water to wash the blood,

A dusty nipple to feed the mouth,

A dampened rag to wipe the mud

In a brackish river going south

Like scraps of sinking luckless grime,

No hand to catch, no rope to climb.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 455

Daffodils Stanza

Chitimba, Malawi

Lat: Long:

STARGAZER

There's Saturn in the sky!

A dot before my eye.

They say it's got a ring,

But I can't see a thing.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 454

Rhyming Couplets

Mkondowe, Malawi

Lat: Long:

BORN TO LIVE

The floors are dirt, the walls are stone,

The doors and windows, air.

But here with us you're not alone,

In this our house of prayer.

Come in and join us in our song,

We sing to God on high,

Who with His love rights every wrong

Through Jesus born to die.

You are a brother, sister, friend

If He your sin forgives.

He'll keep you safe until the end;

By faith you're born to live.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 463

Ballad Meter

Kande Beach, Malawi

Lat: Long:

KILL & EAT

The nine inch knife to the heart of the pig,

The gush of the blood and the eys roll back,

    The zippered entrails are pulled away,

The gaping ribs on the iron rack,

The calculus of death's intrigue.

The party starts with the dipper's plunge,

The cups and knives are raised with glee,

   The pig is carved and put away,

The tongues are wet through shining teeth,

The all-night feasting has begun.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 452

Quintain Stanza

Kande Beach, Malawi

Lat: Long:

STILL, I KNOW

Dear God the noise

In here where safe

I sit with those

Who will not say

That You are who

You say You are

Devising views

From spark to star

With sights on this

Their little day

As if Your kiss

Of life from age

To age is just

A fluke of bounce

And spin that must

Have happened once

Forgetting that

Their pumping hearts

Are beat by beat

Your constant art

Of love made flesh

Of joy made full

And all the rest

Your masterful

Command of strength

Your hand in all

And every thing

Beyond their pale

Ability

To comprehend

Eternity

From end to end

In still now

I take my rest

Not knowing how

But knowing best.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 451

Quatrain Stanza

Kande Beach, Malawi

Lat: Long:

ONE HUNDRED MILLION

There's so many people just standing around

    Apparently nothing but glaze in their eyes

    No masterful plan to plot or devise

    A vacancy felt for its lack of surprise

The roots of their soles driven deep in the ground.

Some one hundred new babies to feed

    With curds for the body and words for the mind

    And notions of something worth looking to find

    A something of such a most excellent kind--

The vaguest of wants turns to exquite need.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 450

Quintain Stanza

Chipata, Zambia

Lat: Long:

HELLO HELLO

We're overland through zambia

    Just grass and trees and sky

A village here, a village there

    And in my heart I cry,

What to do?  What to do?

    Hello.  Hello.  Goodbye.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 449

Novel Verse Form

Lusaka, Zambia

Lat: Long:

ZAMBIOLOGY

The way most clearly obscures,

The truth that lies hidden away;

The beauty of blindness observes,

The bushwhacking trail of delay.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 448

Ballad Meter

Livingstone, Zambia

Lat: Long:

MAMA AFRICA

You hold the hidden secrets Mama Africa

Your thighs with blood, your breasts with milk provide

The nations with its warriors Mama Africa

To fight the freedom struggle strong with pride.

You are the stone of iron Mama Africa

The center of a billion beating hearts

You are the source of living Mama Africa

The mountain where the mighty river starts.

Remind us of our power Mama Africa

Our hope that every tribe will join as one

Instill your love within us Mama Africa

Until that peaceful victory is won.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 447

Quatrain Stanza with Refrain

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Lat: Long:

SAND CASTLE

Men of faith and virtue

Where can they be found?

Overnight sensations

Topple to the ground.

what you know can hurt you,

Even when you play.

Easy comes the going,

Night eclipse day.

Rancor in the nations,

Through the night of danger

Who will stand to lead?

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 446

Novel Rhyme Scheme

Livingstone, Zambia

Lat: Long:

BILLIE "T-BONE" TOBLERONE

Billie Dee "T-Bone" Toblerone,

    crazed as a half-cut snake,

Said an elephant ate her rubgy shirt

    and drank her half-drunk beer.

When a snorting warthog sauntered out

    of a shallow half-dry lake

She spun her armless Irish dance

    and hurled a flaming poison spear

    with a smile strecthing ear to ear.

When a raging rhino snagged her short

    with a muddy half-broke horn,

She jabbed its eye with a wicked stick

    and smacked its half-blind head.

When a pissed-off hippo tried to chomp

    her guts to a half-rip torn,

That gnarly "T-Bone" Toblerone

    just stitched its lips with a niddle & thread,

    had one last beer, and went to bed.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 445

Novel Verse Form

Kasane, Botswana

Lat: Long:

OKAVANGA LESSON

The Okavanga Lesson is

    To slow the lesson down to size,

And take the space of half an hour

    To contemplate the midnight skies.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 444

Ballad Meter

Kasane, Botswana

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OKAVANGA GAME DRIVE

Hippo, rhino, wildebeest,

    Lion, leopard, croc;

Every sort of mammal poop

    On this our first day walk.

Tomorrow will be better than

    Today's un-gamely drive;

Let's have a beer and celebrate

    We made it back alive.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 443

Ballad Meter

Okavanga Delta, Botswana

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