Author: Howard Darko

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Pretty Ugly Poem

I’m very ugly

So don’t try to convince me that

I am a very beautiful person

Because at the end of the day

I hate myself in every single way

And I’m not going to lie to myself by saying

There is beauty inside of me that matters

So rest assured I will remain myself

That I am a worthless, terrible person

And nothing you say will make me believe

I still deserve love

Because no matter what

I am not good enough to be loved

And I am in no position to believe that

Beauty does exist within me

Because whenever I look in the mirror I always think


Am I as ugly as people Say?

(now read bottom up).



By Abdullah Shoaib


single stanza of text

Rhyme Scheme: None

Metrical Pattern: None

Style: Free Verse

Techniques: alliteration, enjambment, & anaphora

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Welcome to Holland

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this……
When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”
“Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”
But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…. and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills….and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy… and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away… because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But… if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things… about Holland.

by Emily Perl Kingsley

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The Nightingale Pledge

I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.

Florence Nightingale, modified version of the Hippocratic Oath
Detroit, Michigan 1893

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Reichstag fire

The burning of the Reichstag (parliament) building in Berlin, on the night of February 27, 1933, was a key even in the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship and widely believed to have been contrived by the newly formed Nazi government itself.

On February 28, 1933, the day after the fire, Hitler’s dictatorship began with the enactment of a decree “for the Protection of the People and the State,” which dispensed with all constitutional protection of political, personal, and property rights.

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blessing prayer

Jehovah God, heavenly father, creator, and king of the universe. We come before you as two broken and hurting children praying for your blessing of peace and joy. We are willingly giving ourselves to you and wish for your will in our lives. We know it was your will for our lives to cross on our earthly journey and we now wish to know what your eternal will for us is.

We pray that if it is not your will for us to be together that you will remove the tether between us so we may have peace in finding the ones you have created for us. But, if it is your will for us to be together we pray that you will strengthen the bond by weaving a marriage braid out of our souls with your holy spirit as the binding force. A braid so perfectly designed in your spirit that it will hold the test of time because it is your blood that will bind us.

Father, I also ask that you will continue to provide us with the opportunity to build up each other. That all things we say and do to and for each other be to glorify you and to help the other evolve into the child of Christ they were meant to be. That even the things that feel like they are meant to destroy and tear down are in fact the gifts of love to help each other heal and grow closer to each other my becoming closer to you.

And if it is not your will for us to be together I pray for a blessing on my sister in Christ. I pray that she may finally meet the man of God you have designed for her. I ask that you bless them with an abundance of healthy children and a long joyful life together united in you.

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my Queen’s list

she must be a sister in Christ

she must be willing to be the mother of my children

she must be able to deal with and work with me on my problem areas

she must have the intelligence to mesmerize me with her mind and tongue

she must be athletic & healthy

she must communicate with me and let me know when we have a problem and go to counseling if needed

she must never lie to me

she must be willing to fight for our marriage

she must be willing to Love me

she must be my best friend

she must dance with me

she must be willing to share her past, present, and future with me

she must pray for me daily

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thankfulness

Heavenly Father, i am thankful for you every day.

I am thankful for the day and all the opportunities it presents me

I am thankful for her and how she helps me

I am thankful for my family and how they love me

I am thankful for Violet and the memories she gave me

I am thankful for the hopes and dream you give me

I am thankful for my desire to serve and follow you

I am thankful you love me enough to send your son Jesus to die for my sins so i may have everlasting joy with you

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peace

Oh how i wish to know you

How i wish to find you daily

But at last, you elude me

You hide in places i can not find

In a place that feels out of my reach

You tease me with the promise of rest

But all i find is turmoil and distress

I long for your embrace to know i am safe

I feel your hands and know your arms will catch me

And in the end, i have learned i can only be with you if i surrender

I must give up the rights to myself

I must pick up my cross

And I must follow you

My answer is yes, Lord.

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sacrificial surrender

What does it mean to surrender to your will

What will i sacrifice for your will

Will i sacrifice my own will

Will i sacrifice my our desires

Will i sacrifice the need to be right

Will i sacrifice the need to be happy

Will i sacrifice the hope of love

Will i sacrifice the joy of her touch

Will i sacrifice my fatherhood

Will i sacrifice everything with the promise of nothing

The answer is yes