The Laureate-Toast to 2017

We do not know what comes this year

and rarely have our say.

So lift your glasses, toast and cheer,

and stand together come what may.

Visit http://allthatrhymes.squarespace.com for more poetry by James E. Cox.

The Laureate-The Christmas Visit

A time for tales of visits past,

of warmth that thrived in memoirs cast.

Pray God will grant this boon fore'er...

e'en fickle Time our love outlast.

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The Laureate-The Snit

The pen is to ink...sure have your say,

but loose no barb upon its way.

For once in flight, though passion cools,

Chaos may conspire melee.

{From the book, Rubai by James E. Cox}

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The Laureate-This Special Season

 This Special Season

                                                                by James E. Cox

We share the present of the past

as this Season comes to close,

because for most the memoirs last

of special times that ended woes.

At Hanukkah some celebrate

the time their Temple was set free.

At Christmas some commemorate

the birth of Christianity.

Menorah or a Christmas tree,

Olive oil or Magi gold,

are there to share in amity...

vow never let our warmth grow cold. 

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The Laureate-ISIS Attack

ISIS Attack

{German Market}

Do all the Muslims sponsor fear?

The ISIS fiends they rare besmear.

Know they not a bomb can kill

Christian, Jew...or Muslim near.

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The Laureate-The Homecoming

This is the place for which you yearn.

Why such regret as you return?

Did you expect that naught would change

and memoirs Time so cruelly burn?

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The Laureate-/Delegate's Votes

The rich will run our Nation

if Trump now has his say.

Despite our indignation,

and he’s allowed his way.

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The Laureate-The Apps

They ask that you should grasp the task

to take the time to use unmask,

and find the rhymes that will unwind

that which they have to ether cast.

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The Laureate-The Middle Class

The Donald will be president...

please tell what Middle Class has won.

His cabinet of billionaires

may soon leave promises undone.

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The Laureate-Priorities

Priorities...

must set your goal as you awake...

must guide your mind each breath you take.

Your habits have, most in your past,

left your tea leaves flushed and cast.

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The Laureate-Sunset12916

The dawn, my friend, should waken you

to problems you would solve this day.

The sunset should expose the good

from seeds you gleaned from this day's fray.

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The Laureate-December 7, 1941

Though young I still remember

how on that fateful day,

the look of shock in mother’s eyes

said that our world had just turned gray.

Then came the deprivation...

rationing for our army’s needs.

The radio and the cinema

swelled our hearts with their brave deeds.

Resolve and toil helped win that war...

o’er seventy years our land stands free,

but those who bore that world war

know we must watch foes constantly.

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The Laureate-To The Donald

You pledged you'd save the Middle Class,

and tsar-like billionaires harass.

Choose rich men for your cabinet,

and on their plates our souls are cast.

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The Laureate-As You Age

As you age most tasks grow hard,

every goal needs more regard.

And, if you' d serve your progeny,

tell what you learned when lessons scarred.

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The Laureate-Has Nature Erred?

While in the womb the male cub thrived,

and after birth on breasts survived.

Once females strived to feed his pride...

and then, alas, Fem Lib arrived.

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The Laureate-The Internet

That which flows on Internet 

you rare have time to check and vet.

Note...don't quote foul lies afar,

or later fret what you abet.

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The Laureate-Fate

If you decry a your present fate,

take care the source that you berate.

Each dawn and eve as the day evolves ...

you're asked to change before too late.

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The Laureate-Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

For what can I be thankful

when I peruse the news?

Our world is filled with suffering

and terrorism brews.

I’m thankful I’m American,

where freedoms are assured.

I’m thankful for my kith and kin,

whose love o’er time endured.

I’m thankful for my health...

regardless how I ache.

I’m thankful that God grants me wife

who will my life with true-love slake.

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The Laureate-The Present

Each man must face his present...

if gold alone his only tools,

history proved it's evident

'tis best he follow all God's rules.

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The Laureate-Global Warming

Trump says the warmth comes not from us,

and need not make a costly fuss.

If this be true,

who spreads such pooh...

and fie on the fools that told us thus?

Do icebergs thaw from aerosol?

The pundits disagree.

They blame rapacious Man for flaw...

or Nature acting damnably.

We should not care who is the host

as temps around us rise.

What matters most is our riposte

anon detoxifies.

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The Laureate-Just a Thought

Trump won with braggadocio...

now has no guess where his thoughts go.

That could be good

if now he would

make pols dark money for us glow.

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The Laureate-Why We're Here

You dis the pols, then vote them back...

It's you, not them, displays a lack!

First think of your vote thoroughly

and, then, award to them your whack.

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The Laureate-Trump's Choices

Keep foes closer than your friends?

Beware of how the adage bends

If bon amis

may choose to flee

should they fear where your path now wends.

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The Laureate-To the New Prez

Surround yourself with men with sense...

with acumen in evidence

Experience can also mean

it took ten years to fix the fence.

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The Laureate-Now We Wait

Seek comfort when the times are tough...

and ofttimes humor is enough.

But break that spell that all is lost...

and loose those chains that now handcuff.

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The Laureate-Vote!

Regardless who may win this day

at least your vote has had its say.

And if the winner fails to please,

know in four years you can vote nay.

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The Laureate-Brotherhood 11716

Turn not your back on brotherhood...

for there God says is greatest good.

Work as one says He to thee,

and we will progress as we should. 

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The Laureate-November...a time to remember.

Remember vets...their service laud.

Thanksgiving Day give thanks to God.

And remember when you vote,

give only worthy pols the nod.

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The Laureate-A Quiet Place

Your mind must seek a quiet place,

where you can ponder at your pace...

where media and the milieu

cannot your inner peace displace.

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The Laureate-Sunset 102816

Sun sets...and clouds dominate,

if they bring rain, some celebrate.

But to be privy to God's plan.

we all must trust in him...and wait.

{From the chapbook, Sunset by James E. Cox}

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The Laureate-Our Vote

Strange, is it not, that when we vote

we rare recall where villains dote.

And pols with their dark money blessed

never in our minds addressed.

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The Laureate-Memoirs

They oft reside in photographs

or souvenirs accrued o'er years.

They are the treasures of your trove

when you need warmth to morph your tears.

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The Laureate-Ask the Aritisan

Who defines the foes of man?

We castigate who fail our plan.

But Man, not God, oft rules define...

when God was our world's artisan.

(Know even weeds, we kill...rare spare,

He designed to filter air.)

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The Laureate-Assay the Candidates

If known to lie without remorse,

no fouler fiend can couch discourse.

If false words can so freely flow,

nothing they espouse endorse. 

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The Laureate-Tonight's Debate

I will not watch tonight’s debate,

even a fool knows what they’ll prate.

The media has prepped us all...

and why watch chaos dominate.

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The Laureate-A November to Remember

Remember that half IQs are low,

don’t flounder from the undertow.

Vote to give to your thoughts voice,

so you can neutralize their choice.

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The Laureate-Prop 205

Just how may different ways

can AZ pols create a maze

that says they will support our schools

but end up in new giveaways.

{Prop 123, Property Taxes, Sales Taxes... et al}

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The Laureate-Sunday's Debate

Both Red and Blue say their side won,

despite that which was left undone.

But we care not for words of spite,

we want to know what wrongs they'll right.

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The Laureate-Ennui 1016

When days wend rough and smiles come tough,

rest and share the warmth of sun.

You can flee the darkest place

and ennui’s bondage soon undone.

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The Laureate-The VP Debate

Kaine won because his morals reek,

he would give Pence no time to speak.

his feat was really not that great

when no one thought to moderate.

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The Laureate-The Pendulum

You'd make the pendulum alter its swing.

You now must bide what the morrow may bring.

For forces you loosed to further your cause

set Yin and Yang once again to vying.

{From the book, Rubai by James E. Cox}

Visit http://allthatrhymes.squarespace.com for more poetry by James E. Cox. 

The Laureate-Caveat Emptor

Lost e-mails condemn Hillary.

Trump’s ego demands a pillory.

“Buyer Beware” should guide your vote

to whom you feel less leery.

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The Laureate-The Debate

Lord, how I hate a debate!

The foes select facts and inflate.

The truth matters not

for they now but plot

for their rhetoric to dominate.

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The Laureate-Be The Captain

Be the Captain

Never more that back should bend,

whether pressed by foe or… friend.

Be the captain of your fate

or steer a course that has no end.

{From the book Rubai by James E. Cox}

The Laureate-Beware The Caldera

Candidates

You oft demand that change be made,

but no solution is displayed.

Unfetter a caldera

and you must fend the fusillade.

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The Laureate-Cues

If you'd now know if someone lies,

fix your gaze upon their eyes...

watch intently in their flight

to find if maze now underlies....

(the answer should not cause them plight.)

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The Laureate-Patriot's Day

Patriots Day is far from new.

The brave respond when troubles brew.

They fought for independence,

and they’re still there when times are tense.

So let us rise to honor them...

embrace, support and call them friend.

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The Laureate-Dynasties

The heirs of the rich and famous

oft beget Man’s dynasties.

The danger to society

is what they lack they tend to seize.

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The Laureate-Monsoon Sunset

In summer when the sun sets late,

few view that which the clouds create.

But monsoons oft will aura splay

with brilliant hues as they mutate...

and that sight can fulfill your day.

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The Laureate-The Sainted Mother Teresa

She spread not money, but God's love,

and sowed it o'er the earth.

Her message passed to all of us,

“God would have love our world girth.”

Visit http://allthatrhymes.squarespace.com for more poetry by James E. Cox.

The Laureate-In Honor of Gene Wilder

Though written by me many years ago, this poem seems so appropriate:

Something said with humor

can pale the darkest night.

The heaviest of burdens

can swiftly become light.

For each unraveled yarn

that humor weaves with wit,

reveals that if you laugh at Fear

he’ll loose his hold a whit.

                                          James E. Cox

The Laureate-Primary Results

When race for prez began to steam

the pols were held in low esteem.

But votes were made to keep their post...

were voters on cannabis dreams.

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The Laureate-The Vote For President

When young we're forced to trust adults...

for parents and teachers shape results.

But as you age you reach a stage

when you must question all your welts.

You must reflect on every scar,

for each resides in a memoir...

and each has taught its lesson well,

for each now limns why/where you are.

Know as you vote the president

you'd have as White House resident,

the wrong choice bodes another scar...

which o’er four years you will lament.

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The Laureate-Election Time

A time for oath and synonym...

a time when each their foe condemn...

a time when they each other fray...

and certainly not carpe diem.

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The Laureate-To The Candidates 816

Remember promises now made

when elected move from shade.

The storms from which you seek alee

must breach our Congress barricade.

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The Laureate-The Terrorists

As I muse the media

I’m shocked how terror reigns,

and not alone by ISIS,

but lunatics with twisted brains.

ISIS and the lunatics

are enemies opaque to view.

Like venomous pests that use the night

and wound if you to close pursue.

You need not live a life of fear

just because they are a threat.

Just be aware they may be near...

and let that be as close they get.

Visit http://allthatrhymes.squarespace.com for more poetry by James E. Cox.