Author Archives: jonrobisonpoetry
Visiting Mary’s Mother
Visiting my wife’s mother Does she know? Mary and I feed her. She opens her mouth as she did to receive communion She eats only a few bites, as usual. Her eyes close. A little nap. Does she know? She … Continue reading
Power Wheelchair
My power wheelchair, plus accessible buses and ramped curbs, equals mobility and freedom!
Road to Washington
By four the buses stretch along the pike. The road is darker for their string of light. The barren fields and snowy hills are black. The moon is down; no guiding stars in sight. To Washington against a war again. … Continue reading
Dawn on the Road to Washington
Actually begun on the bus. Night sky slowly turns to blue. We can be sure that the sun will rise. The growing light is not our job. So I can relax and write a poem/ With each mile, We see … Continue reading
Report of the Bus Captain
This is a report of the bus captain in Pittsburgh Bus # 4, in the Cherry Blossom Festival and Stop the Violence Against Women bus tour: Another rally in Washington. Some people ask, “Did it make any difference?” This is … Continue reading
Where Are We?
Where are we? About halfway to Ft. Benning, Georgia, the “School of the Americas.” Before we stopped I was reminiscing about the first time I was busted. My seatmate and most of the others on the bus were not born … Continue reading
Transportation and Latent Demand
The developer wants tax breaks and a highway system for his shopping mall and subdivisions. Build it, and the developer will come.
Television Covers Iraq
Quoth the Bush, ‘Let’s go to war.” We watch, and listened The invasion made the six o’clock news: Bang! Whoosh! Boom! helicopter gunships – loud, loud. Bradley Fighting Vehicles, tanks, tank, tanks, clanks, clanks, clanks. Do you hear anyone? A … Continue reading
Taking a Break at the Labor Arts Exchange
I’m at the Labor Arts Exchange. Convened at the AFL-CIO Meany Center. Three days of training, talking, swapping songs,. brainstorming, arguing, selling CD’s, tapes, posters and buttons. Professional organizers, professional musicians, rank and file activists: all swapping war stories. In … Continue reading
Bella Ciao
Bella Ciao is a partisan song, sung by the anti-fascist partisans fighting Nazis at the end of World War II. It is well-known and still sung by Italian factory workers. (You can listen to a version here.) Activist folk songs … Continue reading
Jon Robison Poetry 