Two sonnets here on fear, one for Earth Day the 22nd, and an appropriation of a famous Shakespearean sonnet for his birthday the 23rd. The last sonnet is for a friend and colleague, Ms. Renee Simao, who passed away last week.<\/p>\n
(thoughts of someone with) (thoughts of someone with) EARTH DAYS BEFORE WE WERE BORN<\/strong> SHALL I COMPARE YOU TO A SPRING\u2019S DAY<\/strong> A sonnet in memory of Ms. Melva Renee Simao Written by the author, a colleague and friend of Ms. Simao, who read the sonnet at a service in her honor on April 16, 2015.<\/p>\n Joey \u201cPepe Batbon\u201d Connolly is a retired teacher and poet living on Tinian who taught English in CNMI public schools for the past 30 years. He has also taught in Alaska, New Orleans, and Las Vegas.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two sonnets here on fear, one for Earth Day the 22nd, and an appropriation of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4009,21,4010,4011],"class_list":["post-199743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-earth-day","tag-life","tag-melva-renee-simao","tag-tinian-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOMBROPHOBIA\u2014FEAR OF RAIN<\/strong>
\neven a few cumulus clouds overhead
\njust the increase of humidity and a few drops
\ncauses me to want to stay home in bed
\nuntil even the potential of rainfall stops
\nsome fools like hearing rainfall on tin roofs
\nI find the noise of rain falling quite abhorrent
\ncan\u2019t tolerate drizzle or drops like some goofs
\nI completely freak out when rain becomes a torrent
\nso much so that thunderclouds and downpour
\nor even the lightest of summer sprinkles
\nput my fear sensors into a mighty uproar
\nand cover my face with nervous wrinkles
\nwell that\u2019s my ombrophobic situation
\nit starts with any kind of precipitation<\/p>\n
\nTHALLASOPHOBIA\u2014FEAR OF OCEANS<\/strong>
\nFrom the tempest a terrible torrent
\noverflowing the banks of every seaside stream
\nflotsam and jetsam mix with the current
\nomnipotent in my evil ocean dream
\nfishing boats ripped helter skelter from the quay
\nsmashed and broken scattered along the reef
\nstinking fish floating out in the bay
\nsilently pulled out by a high tidal thief
\nthank Neptune there are no rotting sperm whales
\noil spills in shrimp and oyster beds blackening the coral
\nperhaps it is calm enough to hoist the foresails
\ntime to heave away from the coastal arboreal
\nwith more respect for and care, time, and devotion
\nlet\u2019s live without fear in synergy with our oceans<\/p>\n
\nI did not see all of the thoughtless events
\nthat lead us up to the moment where we are
\nbut using everyday basic common sense
\nwe don\u2019t need to look back in the past very far
\nmaybe a hundred years before our parents were born
\nwe began serious pollution of the waters and the sky
\nas farther and farther from the Earth we were torn
\nfew earthlings stopped to pause and wonder why
\nI did not hear of all the tragic man made events
\nthat slowly diminished the quality of our daily life
\nyet entire countries continue on in a manner most dense
\nlittle disturbed by the Earth\u2019s present daily strife
\nthere is light in the darkness and clean water in the bay
\nas people help the Earth by celebrating Earth Day<\/p>\n
\nShall I compare you to an early day in Spring
\nyour brain develops with the freshening green
\nIdes of March help the sudden garden mind sing
\nour love moves from sprouts to flower in our bean
\nduring Spring due to bouts of new love and new rain
\nrivers and eyes of tears overflow their banks
\nlevees and lovers feel the pressure and the strain
\ndrought stricken farms and couples give thanks
\nyour spring shows in your lively step and your lip
\nas over love\u2019s muddy ground you keep walking
\nin clear consciousness winter is given the slip
\nlove takes the lead with gossip and talking
\nas love\u2019s steady Spring rains melt the winter snow
\nmy love for you takes roots and continues to grow<\/p>\n
\n(a Tinian school teacher who passed away last week)
\nAdios Ms. Simao, some called you Renee
\nwe gather at Tinian\u2019s Kammer Beach today
\nbecause you have passed and gone away
\nwe\u2019ll pause for a while and silently pray
\nwe\u2019ll miss you and your life\u2019s dedication
\nto Tinian School students and education
\nyou taught your students to write and to read
\nand to think so better lives they could lead
\nyou came here from Alaska to Tinian School to teach
\nwe\u2019ll remember your lessons and laugh to the end
\nyou stayed late grading papers not down at the beach
\nthank you Renee, Ms Simao, our teacher and friend
\nand in the future between sun rise and sun sinking
\nwhen we read and write you will be in our thinking<\/p>\n