Fred Babbin

Fred Babbin Poems

I think that all higher animals - primates, mammalian and ornithic pets, etc. 'think' to a certain extent.

Why do I think?
There is no alternative.
...

A PHOTO OF AN OLD GRAVE (Courtesy of Danny Reynolds)

This was once
a very grand grave,
...

With Apologies to Oliver Twist and everybody else.

Football, glorious football.
Don't care what it looks like -.
...

Our heating system speaks
but I can't understand the words – yet.
And the the toilet flush sounds like
advertising on TV,
...

There is a rat
I call Depression
...

Death be nimble,
Death be quick,
Death blow out
My mortal wick.
...

The neighborhood described in this poem is in the University of Chicago area, as it existed over 60 years ago. Most of it no longer exists, due to one of the first Urban Renewal programs in the United States. The 'Bomb' refers to the atom bomb, of which the University had a large part in the planning. I worked there for a short time. I wanted a picture of that corner for my poem 'Lost', and Ms. Schlesinger kindly sent it to me, so I wrote this poem.

Dear, Dear, Ms. Schlesinger
You are the messenger
...

And our lives do indeed do the tango
to the music of God and the Devil.
Our lives dance to their music,
at the basic, vibrational level,
...

Dearest Ruth
You are my Breath
...

Poetry – this madness
This feeling-thought
that looks like thought
that holds my brain
...

I went into the Internet
To see what I could find
And so much poetry I saw
Seemed written by the blind.
...

I see that you
are making eggplant
...

14.

The Women I have known
Are not the women I know now.
...

I’m pregnant again
with you my poems
My thoughts and feelings
Have screwed my brain
...

My blood is in my pen
And when I write
...

Spring leaps in
And pirouettes with joy -
The buds poke out
Into the new-found warmth.
...

At first, there was complete emptiness -
nothing, zilch, not even zero, an undescribable nothing -
no light, no darkness.
But then there were these two noumenal essences
...

CHAPTER ONE

Contrasting Pairs
...

Fred Babbin Biography

I am a retired school-teacher. Email me if you want my address. My poems are rather gritty for the most part, because my life has been rather gritty. I am a member of the Buddhist Temple of Chicago. 'God' is not one of my priorities, and we are in constant confrontation. I became interested in writing poetry in September 2007, so I would not climb the walls, because I had nothing else to do when I began. Writing poetry is the best excuse for wasting time that I can think of. I can wool-gather and sit for hours, because I am 'creating'; at least that's what my wife thinks. So I have no guilt about what I am doing. I save my cutenes, such as it is, for my poetry.)

The Best Poem Of Fred Babbin

A Thought On Thought

I think that all higher animals - primates, mammalian and ornithic pets, etc. 'think' to a certain extent.

Why do I think?
There is no alternative.
I am condemned to think,
To be obsessed with thinking—
But so is my dog.

Fred Babbin Comments

Kimberly Alford 22 May 2008

your a great person and ur poems are kinda weird but some are cool

5 3 Reply
Kimberly Alford 22 May 2008

a The Music: i like this one because i love to listen to music

4 3 Reply
Kimberly Alford 22 May 2008

You Did a good job on ur poems but u should talk more about u how u feel inside but i like the

4 4 Reply
Effie Yalena Steyn 10 December 2007

Hi Fred, No, I wasnt in Iraq, but I have spent some time in Darfur and Zimababwe on my travels. The poem was inspired by my cousin who was an ATF agent in America till his shooting earlier this year, he taught me so much about combat like that. Thanks for your comment, your stuff is amazing too, I am slowly reading through it! Effie

2 3 Reply

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