Sonnet : Our Home
Beyond these hellish heated days, late spring,
Pigments deepen their hues, colors surface.
Chlorophyll's still working, life's force she'll bring
To dominate landscape is green's purpose.
Spring gives way to summer's growing season :
Warm nights, warmer days, occasional rain ;
Sap flowing up new formed stalks, the reason,
Plants create oxygen, Man's outright gain.
The browns of fall loom horizons over
A bountiful Earth spent of production.
Energy accumulates in sober
Soils building up for next year's growth action.
Why life ? Why us ? Life's process ours alone ?
It works ! We're here ! Planet Earth is our home !
Ronald C. Downie
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Sonnet : Like A Jury
Sonnet : Like A Jury
When the weight of honesty bogs me down,
I pass judgement on our politicians,
Who, from each side of their mouths, speak untruths,
While evil intended money men laugh :
Then, the duped public : asleep, complacent,
Lulled into apathy, votes without thought.
They pander to slick adds of sleazy lines
Always skirting truths, garbage in - same out :
And then, with our country in peril, awake.
America has always moved forward
Like a jury collectively coming
Together to find the truth, dispel fears.
Lathered in a harsh fever oozing sweat
Political hacks die slow deaths, I bet.
Ronald C. Downie
When the weight of honesty bogs me down,
I pass judgement on our politicians,
Who, from each side of their mouths, speak untruths,
While evil intended money men laugh :
Then, the duped public : asleep, complacent,
Lulled into apathy, votes without thought.
They pander to slick adds of sleazy lines
Always skirting truths, garbage in - same out :
And then, with our country in peril, awake.
America has always moved forward
Like a jury collectively coming
Together to find the truth, dispel fears.
Lathered in a harsh fever oozing sweat
Political hacks die slow deaths, I bet.
Ronald C. Downie
Friday, August 9, 2013
Hitch Our Wagon
Hitch Our Wagon
To : Mosaic Lands Trust / Andy Monastra
Mosaic Lands Trust and Andy Monastra make a progressive team, kudos to them. Please consider "hitching our ( Pottstown's ) wagon to a star". Ask yourselves, what's one of the few stars rising within our borough ? There's not many.
I'd suggest for Pottstown, to hitch its wagon to the ascending star of MCCC.. The Montgomery County Community College, west campus, is strongly positioned in our town and its future seems quite secure. It is here for the long term !
Checkout any college town and you'll find, in every one, an intangible vitality. Vitality is a commodity severely lacking in Pottstown. MCCC is in the business of learning : expanding one's self, casting off the dreaded prejudices of ignorance, and, not only finding new horizons, but ascending them to look for those unscaled horizons beyond.
I suggest Mosaic form a committee to press MCCC to meet with them to explore a more interactive relationship between the two entities. Yes, I know there has been a good synergy between the borough and the college but most of that has involved the transfer of property. There is something more than tangibles at stake here. The life blood of Pottstown has essentially been drawn from her and she needs, in my mind, a transfusion.
It takes people of divergent interests to come together and discuss what each could possibly do for the other. "Hitching Pottstown's Wagon To A Star" would be another positive step forward and forward is the only direction we should know.
Ronald C. Downie
To : Mosaic Lands Trust / Andy Monastra
Mosaic Lands Trust and Andy Monastra make a progressive team, kudos to them. Please consider "hitching our ( Pottstown's ) wagon to a star". Ask yourselves, what's one of the few stars rising within our borough ? There's not many.
I'd suggest for Pottstown, to hitch its wagon to the ascending star of MCCC.. The Montgomery County Community College, west campus, is strongly positioned in our town and its future seems quite secure. It is here for the long term !
Checkout any college town and you'll find, in every one, an intangible vitality. Vitality is a commodity severely lacking in Pottstown. MCCC is in the business of learning : expanding one's self, casting off the dreaded prejudices of ignorance, and, not only finding new horizons, but ascending them to look for those unscaled horizons beyond.
I suggest Mosaic form a committee to press MCCC to meet with them to explore a more interactive relationship between the two entities. Yes, I know there has been a good synergy between the borough and the college but most of that has involved the transfer of property. There is something more than tangibles at stake here. The life blood of Pottstown has essentially been drawn from her and she needs, in my mind, a transfusion.
It takes people of divergent interests to come together and discuss what each could possibly do for the other. "Hitching Pottstown's Wagon To A Star" would be another positive step forward and forward is the only direction we should know.
Ronald C. Downie
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Sonnet : To War As Boys
Sonnet : To War As Boys
Broadly speaking, the story teller sighs,
Before laying out his theme's apt reply.
In a small town, it's tough not knowing guys
Who'll make a difference with their goodbyes.
Oft in swarms on trains, they to war so soon.
Hardly roughed on chin, their pompadours wait
Floating to the cutting floor, shave by noon.
Marching, left-right, straighten the lines, eyes right.
To war as boys, their return home as men
Knowing unthinkable things, mums the word,
Until authors seek them out, use their pen.?
Some relate, some not; some true, some absurd.
Effecting maturity, a war's theme,
Discounts beauty found in "The Golden Mean".
Ronald C. Downie
Broadly speaking, the story teller sighs,
Before laying out his theme's apt reply.
In a small town, it's tough not knowing guys
Who'll make a difference with their goodbyes.
Oft in swarms on trains, they to war so soon.
Hardly roughed on chin, their pompadours wait
Floating to the cutting floor, shave by noon.
Marching, left-right, straighten the lines, eyes right.
To war as boys, their return home as men
Knowing unthinkable things, mums the word,
Until authors seek them out, use their pen.?
Some relate, some not; some true, some absurd.
Effecting maturity, a war's theme,
Discounts beauty found in "The Golden Mean".
Ronald C. Downie
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
A Bard's Sonnets
A Bard's Sonnets
Champion, in the world of writing plays, William Shakespeare also became the master of the sonnet, and all of his writings ring as meaningful today as when he wrote them. One hundred and fifty four sonnets were compiled and printed in 1609 under his name.
His sonnets had structure: written in rhyming iambic pentameter of ten syllables per line divided into five feet per line, each of these feet were composed of one unstressed syllable and one stressed. This rhythm can be heard by the reader or listener in it's drumming of "baBoom" five times over in each line. His rhyme scheme, in poetic lingo, was : abab,cdcd,efef, and gg.
William wrote 14 line sonnets configured in three quatrains of four lines each, in which he developed a problem or a theme and then followed them with a couplet that resolves or sums up the issue. Definitive were his sonnets while holding on to a confining structure. Shakespeare was the sonnets' master and was rewarded by having sonnets written in his style named after him these past centuries, they're called Shakespearian Sonnets.
Except for the difficulty of writing in iambic pentameter, the other constructs of his style of writing sonnets are not too difficult to master. I have struggled many years to write a well constructed Shakespearian Sonnet but they don't seem to cut the mustard. Poor as they seem, I still publish them, because they ring well in content to me. I am competing with no one but myself and for those few who may read them for their content. I may only hope you are one of those who are willing to join me in my folly.
Ronald C. Downie
Champion, in the world of writing plays, William Shakespeare also became the master of the sonnet, and all of his writings ring as meaningful today as when he wrote them. One hundred and fifty four sonnets were compiled and printed in 1609 under his name.
His sonnets had structure: written in rhyming iambic pentameter of ten syllables per line divided into five feet per line, each of these feet were composed of one unstressed syllable and one stressed. This rhythm can be heard by the reader or listener in it's drumming of "baBoom" five times over in each line. His rhyme scheme, in poetic lingo, was : abab,cdcd,efef, and gg.
William wrote 14 line sonnets configured in three quatrains of four lines each, in which he developed a problem or a theme and then followed them with a couplet that resolves or sums up the issue. Definitive were his sonnets while holding on to a confining structure. Shakespeare was the sonnets' master and was rewarded by having sonnets written in his style named after him these past centuries, they're called Shakespearian Sonnets.
Except for the difficulty of writing in iambic pentameter, the other constructs of his style of writing sonnets are not too difficult to master. I have struggled many years to write a well constructed Shakespearian Sonnet but they don't seem to cut the mustard. Poor as they seem, I still publish them, because they ring well in content to me. I am competing with no one but myself and for those few who may read them for their content. I may only hope you are one of those who are willing to join me in my folly.
Ronald C. Downie
Monday, August 5, 2013
Trial And Error
Trial And Error
When in the surge of history, we brace
Against the breadth of inane ignorance,
Which permeates those persons seeking grace
From worship, instead of, perseverance:
Then the tide swings toward understanding
Limits of man's faith in a modern world.
Scribes write their definition of meaning,
Describing the shackles, flags are unfurled:
And then, the inquisitive seek science
As it builds upon trial and error,
With preponderance on thought not seance,
"This I Believe" just's a broken mirror.
Faith's failure leaves many disconsolate,
Though science, may they all repatriate.
Ronald C Downie
When in the surge of history, we brace
Against the breadth of inane ignorance,
Which permeates those persons seeking grace
From worship, instead of, perseverance:
Then the tide swings toward understanding
Limits of man's faith in a modern world.
Scribes write their definition of meaning,
Describing the shackles, flags are unfurled:
And then, the inquisitive seek science
As it builds upon trial and error,
With preponderance on thought not seance,
"This I Believe" just's a broken mirror.
Faith's failure leaves many disconsolate,
Though science, may they all repatriate.
Ronald C Downie
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Plumb Line
Plumb Line
When the line stretches taunt, perpendicular's set,
As the tapered pear like bob seeks Earth's heart.
Plumb is a desired need for any building plans met
To assure sturdy built structures from their start :
Then, if plumb, could skyscrapers rise as would Lego
Pieces quickly snapped in place by youngsters neat ?
Surely, foundations being set plumb allows the flow
Of upper stories safely built, above a busy street :
And then, when comfortable building walls erect.
We think of those who plan the future giving hope.
You are that person we look at, it's you we select,
You will be there, always giving strength to cope.
Growing strong through tough times tempers each
To check plumb lines, go forward, ready to reach.
Ronald C. Downie
When the line stretches taunt, perpendicular's set,
As the tapered pear like bob seeks Earth's heart.
Plumb is a desired need for any building plans met
To assure sturdy built structures from their start :
Then, if plumb, could skyscrapers rise as would Lego
Pieces quickly snapped in place by youngsters neat ?
Surely, foundations being set plumb allows the flow
Of upper stories safely built, above a busy street :
And then, when comfortable building walls erect.
We think of those who plan the future giving hope.
You are that person we look at, it's you we select,
You will be there, always giving strength to cope.
Growing strong through tough times tempers each
To check plumb lines, go forward, ready to reach.
Ronald C. Downie
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