Category Archives: Revolutionary Poetry and Writing

What A Real Good Parent Looks Like: IMprov Free Verse Poem

Telling your kids
you need time
let’s them know
you are human;
you have limits;
you have feelings;
you struggle;
you work through issues;
you need to think;
you do self care.
 
It gives your children
permission
and encouragement
and guidance
and the example
to do the same
for themselves.
 
It says to your offspring:
I’m not perfect;
I don’t know everything;
I can’t solve the world’s problems;
and it tells them
they don’t have to,
either.

Embarassed In Patriotic Prayer: Improv Free Verse

Today,
as I prayed,
and thanked God
for the Liberties that we have,
in this free and blessed land,
suddenly,
in my mind,
I saw all these Patriots,
young men and young women:
D-Day,
Korea,
the Revolutionary War,
the Civil War,
Vietnam,
the World Wars,
Iraq,
Afghanistan,
all the wars;
men and women
with body parts
blown apart,
some of them
disintegrating
into pink clouds,
laying down their lives
for the freedom
which we enjoy.

I realized,
at that moment,
how rarely I thank God
for their sacrifices.

I was ashamed to know
I did not,
have not,
and sometimes still
do not
bend my knees
and bow my head
every morning
and every evening
in gratitude for them
and their sacrifices,
and from the bottom of my soul
thank Him for them,
these young men and young women
who don’t even know me,
who died just because
they were doing their Duty.

In shame and anguish
I wept,
and I wished to God
that He could call a great convention
of those Heroes,
gather them all together
and announce,
in a voice of thunder,
from His Holy Throne:
“Dave Kuhns is sorry
that he was a schmuck,
that he had forgotten
to thank them.”

I don’t know
that they will ever know,
from the depths of my heart,
how much honor
and respect
and appreciation
that I have for them,
as I look out on my land,
my free land,
and for the liberties
and the bounties
that I have here.

I have never said
“Thank you!”
to that vast and gallant throng,
but now,
weeping in shame and gratitude
I bow my head,
and beg forgiveness
for me overlooking them,
and tell those valiant Patriots:
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!”

Empathizing with Empathetic Empaths – Improv Free Verse

As an empath
I can’t criticize
those of you who are stoic,
people who can’t feel
the emotions I feel,
any more than I can criticize
somebody for the color of their skin.

But equally,
those of you
who are stoic
should not tell those
who feel deeply,
and who are empathetic,
to stop feeling that way,
to suck it up,
to ignore their emotions,
any more than they should tell them
to change their eye color
or be left handed
instead of right handed.

And you wouldn’t want to,
because in this hard world,
in your darkest hour,
empaths,
feelers,
sympathizers,
are the ones
who will come to you
as your world is crashing down,
put their arms around you,
and tell you
— and really mean it —
“I feel you,”
and then turn with you
and walk with you
back to the light.