A Life of Love: An Autobiography in Poetry

By Ronald Douglas Bascombe

Ronald Douglas Bascombe is
a poet/writer who has been writing and
performing his poetry for more than forty
years. Born in Harlem, New York, Bascombe
developed his early writing skill at Harlems
Countee Cullen Public Library in a workshop
led by writer and scholar Sonia Sanchez. He
performed with the Cosmos Nucleus poetry
performance group and served as journalist/
editor-in-chief of the Sunday Morning Christian newspaper in New York
City. He won fi rst prize in poetry in the 1976 National Ossie Davis/Ruby
Dee Write-On Competition sponsored by the National Black Network
and has performed his childrens poetry in schools and libraries throughout
the New York Metropolitan area. Listed with Poets and Writers, Rons
poetry recently has been included in The Great American Poetry Show,
Vl.1 and his letters to the editor and poetry have been published regularly
in local newspapers. Bascombe was named the New Jersey Department
of Labor and Workforce Developments 2011 James A. Ware Award for
Excellence. He has been published under his own name as well as under
Jayne Lyn Smythe and Oronde Lasana.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483633572

Ronald Douglas Bascombe

About the Author Ronald Douglas Bascombe is a poet/writer who has been writing and performing his poetry for more than forty years. Born in Harlem, New York, Bascombe developed his early writing skill at Harlems Countee Cullen Public Library in a workshop led by writer and scholar Sonia Sanchez. He performed with the Cosmos Nucleus poetry performance group and served as journalist/editor-in-chief of the Sunday Morning Christian newspaper in New York City. He won first prize in poetry in the 1976 National Ossie Davis/Ruby Dee Write-On Competition sponsored by the National Black Network and has performed his childrens poetry in schools and libraries throughout the New York Metropolitan area. Listed with Poets and Writers, Rons poetry recently has been included in The Great American Poetry Show, Vl.1 and his letters to the editor and poetry have been published regularly in local newspapers. Bascombe was named the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Developments 2011James A. Ware Award for Excellence. He has been published under his own name as well as under Jayne Lyn Smythe and Oronde Lasana.

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 by Ronald Douglas Bascombe.

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.

Front cover picture, shot by Douglas Lloyd Bascombe.

Back Cover photo by Ira Schulterbrandt.

Rev. date: 05/07/2013

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

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Contents

A Life of Love

Pyramid

God Loves Me

Boy’s Together

Rainbow People

The Little Things  (For Ma) 

Mama’s Song

You had to be there

Ma

The Absence of Presence

SNAP  (A Woman’s Monologue) 

Connie M.  (My Secret Love) 

To A Pregnant Woman

father’s mourn song

My Five (For Ayanna)

Big Ten

I Can

In Her Wee Hours

Shiloh’s Hair

Sean2

I Love Children, Yeah!

It’s My World

Good Days

The Corner Stand

New York Neighbors

Summer Love Para Ti

The Aftermath

Sunny Summer Sundays

Who?

Last Finale

Superstar (How do you play my song?)

Silly Me

If I Am Your Vintage

Blues ’Tude Solution

You Must Have Thought You Knew Us!

Come Dance with Me

No Look Pass

The Thing About Aging

Rear View Mirror

No Hyphens

Acknowledgements

About the Author

I would like to acknowledge the help that I received from my sister, Linda Blanchette and my brother Ira Schulterbrandt for their participation in preparing this book and a special thanks to God for gifting me with so many inspirational people and events that made this life-long series of poetry possible.

A Life of Love

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I can’t imagine my life without love.

Can’t conceive not having boyhood friends

and teenage pals

and Air Force chums

and hanging out cronies

and workaday buddies.

Don’t want to think about the absence

of loving parents

and bickering siblings

and family playmates

and aunts, uncles, godparents, grandparents

and holiday reunions

dripping with laughter and music

collard greens and barbecue

and stories of what used to be

that somehow sound like now

to a whole new generation.

Can’t piece together a speculation of yesterdays and tomorrows without

The arrival of an infant daughter

Holding, rocking, playing, feeding and changing

Seeing her open her eyes to my smiling, waiting face

Seeing her start her waking moments with her unfolding smile

Noting the victory of her first solo standing

and her unsteady steps

and her first real words

and her colors and numbers and ABCs

and school projects with white paste, toothpicks and paper-mache

Swinging her up and catching her from her dad propelled flights

Catching her in photo after snapshot in Afro

and braids

and pom-pom buns

and s-curl

and short cuts

and permanents

and little girl swings

and cousin hugs

and graduations

and all grown-up and successful.

And, now, not just a daughter but a growing wiser friend.

Repeating a part-time parenting role

with four grandsons

each with their own idiosyncrasies       

and particular laugh buttons

keen interests

areas of excellence

rough sides

and tender places.

Sweet boys that growl

and yell

and tickle

and joke

and fight

and cry, sometimes

and climb up on knees and necks and laps

and hug with silent love you Poppas

showing the love like boys do.

Would not know what to do with a life that was missing

first kisses

puppy loves

hand holding

scribbled nothings

lovesick daydreams

deep-down romance

low moaning, loud shouting passion

and even frustrating, long-healing heartbreak.

My page would be too blank, my life too empty without that.

I look back at it all and see it as an