Reba's Poetry

Deafness

Editor’s Choice

This poem is on poetry.com.

Lonely worlds

Prejudged looks,

Clanging swords

Reading books.

Very static

Muffled words

Missing music.

Lonely worlds.

An icy stare

Tearing through nooks

Hideous to bear

Prejudged looks

Made to affect

Not made of ores

Deafness effect

Clanging swords

Coming through

Going by looks

Depending on few

Reading books.

* * *

This poem is titled "Thoughts about a Boy"

and I wrote it in eight grade.

Pondering.

Wondering.

Could it be

he likes me?

I don't know,

I hope so.

This one day,

I went far

as to say

"I like you"

(and still do).

No abuse,

just amused

mixed with fright.

So that night

I pondered

and wondered

his strange mien

just might mean.

How I wish

that the bliss

of having

and loving

him, a boy,

as a friend,

not legend.

It would buoy

me so high

in the sky

if a clue

shows it true.

Note to you,

I love you

forever

and ever.

* * *

This poem I wrote for homework in high school.

Chitter here.

Chatter there.

Talk is here

Everywhere,

In church and mass,

At work and class.

(This here rhyme

goes with time.)

* * *

I wrote this poem in high school about how a fly sees.

I am a fly

I can fly.

But cannot see

So easily.

My eyeballs

Are many balls.

When I see

A stopping place

I go crazy

Finding my place.

Many colors

Invade my eyes:

Red, blue, yellow

Whirling around I;

As if to see

A room of TV’s

With ultraviolet

In all the sets.

Kaleidoscopes

Are fun to see

But I prefer

A telescope

In order to see

Everything after

All I’ve been through

But it can’t be true,

Boo hoo hoo...

* * *

This poem I wrote in undergraduate school about politics in Waterloo, Iowa.

Major McKinley lost his job

“Oh my gosh, I’m not Boss?

What am I doing to do?”

Cedar Falls Major Mister Crew

Saw in shock, thought with a sob,

“I’m gonna miss you, too.”

* * *

This poem I wrote in undergraduate school

and modified over the years of singing it.

I don’t want to scat

I don’t want to rap

I want to sing

With melody

I want to ring

with harmony.

* * *

A Ray of Light

I defined and refined the same idea.

I elaborated and collaborated the sentences.

Spelling out the strategy helps to avert a tragedy!

* * *

This poem is titled “Betrayed”

and is a reconstruction of a poem I wrote in graduate school.

I was talking to Fred,

When I saw him look beyond my head

At a person I’ve come to dread.

She was my friend named Deb

But I considered her friendship dead.

My heart dropped like lead,

I shook my hands and my head,

And immediately away I fled.

Here you have indeed read

What I have often said:

My life was in total shreds

Whenever nearby she treads.

My face still flushes with red

When I think on a particular thread

How she stole my man from my bed

And the happiness from what lies ahead.

* * *

What Did You Say?

Huh? Hmm? Eh? What?

Give that another shot.

What was that?

I missed that.

Repeat that.

I didn’t get that.

I beg your pardon, say that again.

I’m sorry, run that by me again.

Speak louder, speak slower.

Excuse me? Pardon me?

I couldn’t hear you,

I can’t hear you.

I didn’t hear you,

I don’t understand you.

* * *

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Born and bred

In Waterloo

* * *

Reba Orton’s 2008

Happy New Year Rhyme

A new year begins.

It is not the end.

Life continues anew.

How reassuring true!

* * *

Reba's Ballad

Life is very weary,

Life is no cherry.

Drink all the perry

That you can carry

And stay merry

Says this derry.

* * *

Lovers’ Spat

I wrote this on September 26, 2007

after reading a book “Words”

She feels blue

Because the glue

Of being true

Is undue

To the clue

That he’d sue.

That’s her cue

To come unglued.

It is her due.

She still feels blue.

* * *

Reba's Poetic Prose

Description Of A Beloved One

The colour of the palest moonbeam is your skin,

With the luster of twenty-four karat gold.

Your eyes are like clear topaz cut into many glittering facets

Like the fur of black pedigree poodles is your hair

Reflecting blue and brown tones as a diamond reflects light.

A winter night under a clear moonlit sky,

Snow and ice glistening everywhere,

Are the images your appearance impressed in me.

You, yourself, are like the clearest wine

satisfying a life-threatening thirst,

After crossing a desert of scarce vegetation

And endless sand without water.

* * *

Unrequited Love

Jolly fellow, Miserable me

He cared not how I cared much for him at all.

Brown eyes loving look into my eyes, my heart, my soul.

Hugging me, buoying me to the highest of the mountains,

Casting me to the bottom of the sea by turning away.

My heart yearns after him,

His heart yearns for another.

I'm jealous of this other who so captured him.

I'm angry that he believes in having only one love,

I need all the lovers I don't have.

* * *