Windows to My World: A Collection of Poetry Depicting Real Life for Many

By Deborah Elmore

My Poetry Style - Personification poetry given a voice to objects or people who may no longer be here. Also Imagery poetry pulling the audience into my poems experience by the use of words, props, audience participation and sound effects.

SWANA DRAMA - Short skits that depict real life issues for many performed by the women of SWANAS Women Support Group.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781469178097

Deborah Elmore

Deborah Elmore was born in Derby, Connecticut raised in the town of Ansonia a neighboring town which is part of the Lower Naugatuck Valley. Born to her parents Ethel and Henry Gatison she is one of nine siblings with Deborah being the middle child. Introduced to poetry between the third and fifth grade and taught poems by Robert Frost and Edgar Allan Poe. Somehow these poems resonated with her spirit at a young age. Deborah is now a Poetess with a knack for personification, short skits and projects. Her latest being the Poetry Lounge (a travelling open mic poetry venue). She has traveled on safari in Africa and shares performance poetry on stage. Deborah will always remember the days of respecting your Elders, penny candy and saying thank you.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Deborah Elmore.

ISBN:      Softcover    -1-4691-7808-0

                eBook         -1-4691-7809-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. Date: 08/29/2014

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to my Daughter Desara’e Elmore

She has always been a token of strength and encouragement for me.

Courageous, compassionate, reliable, and determined to win at anything she puts her mind to.

She has grown up to become a beautiful woman, a wonderful mother and an awesome friend who even in childhood was wise beyond her years.

Thank you daughter for being the wind beneath my wings.

I Love You!

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CONTENTS

The Journey

Born Again

Ten Dollars

Dressing Up My Pain

Jesus Is Gonna Get You

The Fight

The War Zone

Coke Addict

Who’s Running The Circus?

Different

I Found Me

Hurt By The Church

Holla Back!!!

The Truth

If People Told The Truth

The Wilderness

Life’s Lessons

Round Two

Canning

Invisible

Nikka

God Is Calling

The White House

But God

Searching

Eighteen With A Bullet

The Role Model

This Is Not My Daughter

The Big Dogs

The Brick

Never Came Home

Where’s Our Party?

Dancing With The Stars

Meeting Of The Moms

To The Brothers

Buried Alive

Death Is Knocking

If They Are Hungry Feed Them

If The Shoe Fits

Politically Speaking

Mission Impossible

My Lord

I’m Not Going Back

My Four Sons

Spare Change

Monster On A Leash

High Hopes

The Audition

The Position

911 Emergency Hotline!

Person In The Mirror

True Confession

There Go I

I’m Pregnant

One Life To Live

Addiction Stole My Child

The Party Is Over

The Choices We Make

Showing Up For Life

Small Beginnings

The Blame Game

One String

My Addiction

A Poet’s Perspective

Earth To Men

But God

Life’s Bully

Had A Little Talk With Jesus

A Friend Till The End

The Good Old Days

I Got Robbed

Looking For An Angel

Officer

Stark Naked

Under The Sky

What If?

In A While

Bootlickers

Shakazulu Where Are You

The War Outside

A Letter To Our Ancestors

Shower Power

Who Is That Woman?

The Same Boat

Holy Ground

I Swear

Whose Child

The Family Truce

Alzheimer’s Speaks!!

Pride And Prejudice

Main Line

What If

The Other Woman

The Boogie Man

This Poem

On His Way!!!

A Gentle Giant

You’r Angel

My Mind

Pretty In Pink

Sister With A New Attitude

Super Hero

The War

The Dining Room

The Care Giver

I Too Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

INTRODUCTION

Through my imagery style poetry I believe that God has given me a gift to create artistic expressions that produces a spiritual response of strength and inspiration in others, who are spiritually broken. Some of my verses resonate with the pain, despair and aspirations of those who live in neighborhoods where murder, addiction, sexual abuse and grinding poverty are everyday facts of life.

For those who don’t live there, the ‘hood is a far off place. Many witness these atrocities over the internet or on TV. My hope is that my poetry will give readers a window into a world where people are crying out for help, also recognizing that even in the mist of tragedies and despair there is still good that transpires in our communities.

I didn’t learn my craft in a rarified grove of academe. Terms such as iambic pentameter and metonymy don’t trip off my tongue. As a middle child growing up with three brothers and five sisters, we all attended Williams Temple Church in Ansonia CT. There, gospel songs inspired me. At school, I developed an early passion for poetry. I’d stand in front of the class reciting the works of Robert Frost and Edgar Allen Poe because I loved to hear the sounds of alliteration, repetition and rhyme. Everything in life turned into a poem for me.

Friends call me Sister Deborah, not only as a spiritual designation but also because it is my performance name in the poetry arena. One of my accomplishments that gives me great satisfaction is stepping out on faith and creating S.W.A.N.A. This support group brings me in close contact with women who are struggling in many areas of their life’s. Of course money would be a blessing to all, but more than that people need to feel secure and cared about. They want safe policing, education and mentoring for their children, jobs that pay a decent wage and to know that their issues and concerns are not last on a very, very long list.

I believe that because of my own past substance abuse issues and ongoing recovery I have been assigned to share hope with others. I have recited my poems at jails, festivals, churches, rehab centers and town greens—even city buses. My poetry describes what the heart sees and feels. It touches on love, betrayal, injustice, despair, racism, gun violence, mental illness, child abuse, substance abuse, recovery, spiritual deliverance domestic violence, unemployment and recidivism.

I am the mother of five beautiful children—four sons and one daughter—who are often the ones who inspire me to write. I recently took a trip to South Africa where the country and the people inspired me to write even more.

This is the first time my poems have been collected in a book. What I want people to take away with them after reading my verses is the fact that everybody goes through rough patches in life—some rougher than others. Through these times, I encourage everyone to hold on to God’s unchanging hand and to remember that when we are weak, God is still yet STRONG.

Sister Deborah Elmore

THE JOURNEY

This is the route I traveled

and where God has brought me from.

Yes… very troubled waters

before victory was won.

I started out near the lake of

Depression

before I got to the river of tears.

This is where the enemy had me

embarked

In a thunderstorm of fear.

I travelled high to the mountain of sorrow.

For I had no faith in the word

tomorrow.

Miraculously his majesty heard me

calling out

from the valley of death

from the valley of doubt.

Here the Lord came and rescued me.

Yes, deliverance out of bondage

Is what he did for me.

I now reside on the island of hope

with many other believers

who once could not cope.

BORN AGAIN

Remove the lipstick

the tight jeans,

and the makeup too.

You’re my daughter,

my special child,

and my grace is sufficient for you.

No longer are you to hide your beauty

under a colorful mask.

Because only the things, that are done in my name

have the stamina to last.

No longer are you to use your vessel

as a dumping ground for waste.

I’ve got bigger plans for you my daughter

and again it deals with my grace.

The men that I have allowed

to wreck havoc in your life,

Wipe your tears,

cry no more,

for no longer can they entice.

The expensive jewelry,

the fancy cars,

and all of the finest clothes,

are material things that you never really needed

for your victory I have aligned in gold.

Before I could not use you

because you allowed the things of this world

to stand in my way,

but now that I have taught you humility

I work through you every day.

You are now my humble servant,

one of my many vessels on this earth.

When I send you out into the vineyard,

your job, your assignment is to poetically

reach out to those who hurt.

Yet, still you have some glitches,

small things I have observed,

like mumbling and complaining,

sometimes forgetting who you serve.

Nevertheless,

all these things will come to pass

and I will grant you the desires of your heart,

as you spend more time in my word.

Remember to look to the hills

from which comes your help.

for your help, my daughter, cometh from the Lord.

You have been born again!!

TEN DOLLARS

$10.00 sold!

is how I lost my soul.

I stepped off the narrow

and chose the broad unrighteous road.

I thought I was cool,

I thought I was hip,

but let me break it down to you

about this life-altering trip.

Ten dollars for a lifetime of tears.

That doesn’t sound quite reasonable.

It certainly doesn’t sound quite fair.

But this is how the enemy works

when he whispers sweet nothings in your ear.

I’ll never forget his words

because I’ve cried a blood