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  VCNettles Inspirations and Letters
Picture
This is My Year
I closed my eyes to sleep
But my brain would not shut off
As ideas whirled around in my head,
And the number 22 floated across my eyelids.
I am convinced that this is
My year.      
 
For there are new ideas
In my head daily,
To stretch me, to grow me,
To change the direction of my life.
 
And I pray for guidance that these
Are HIS ideas and not mine.
That this is HIS direction for my life and
Not my journey into self (again).
 
I am excited and giddy and restless
About all of the possibilities
That will shape this year and beyond.
So as the number 22 floats and I finally
Drift off to sleep -
I am convinced that this is
My year.

 
 
 ©Vernet Clemons Nettles, EdD
March 9, 2022
Only Together
Only together
         Can we heal;

Only together
         Shall we strive.
 
Those who sought to divide us
         Shall not prevail;

Those who sought to weaken us
         Shall not draw our strength.
 
For only together
            Shall we survive. 
 
And as we stumble to
         The year’s end,
Sometimes falling along
          The way,
 
Extend a hand; lift her up,
          Leave no man behind.
 
We will rise not fall
           Together.
​
Vernet Clemons Nettles, EdD
November 7, 2020
​It took 4 years
It took 4 years
          For us to forget that
          All we needed to know to be a leader
          We learned in elementary school.
 
          For us to forget that
          Fairness, integrity, and kindness
          Is not weakness, but strength of character.
 
It took 4 years
          For it to be okay to publicly
          Demean and bully our colleagues,
          Calling them disparaging names.
 
          For public profanity by elected officials
          To become elevated to normal speech,
          Now accepted at the sacred dinner table.
 
It took 4 years
          For the public to dismiss and disregard
          Crying children and their parents,
          Separated and caged
 
          Because they look different,
          They sound different;
          Whose only crime was wanting more
                   for their families.
 
It took 4 years
          For leaders to close their eyes as the land
          Angrily burns out of control and
          Fans choking winds from coast to coast,
 
           For the leaders to watch as
           Nature warms and spews wind and water
           Across the land and sea in never seen
                  proportions.
 
 
          And, for the leaders to blame the people
          Turning a blind eye
          To nature’s painful cries for help.
 
It took 4 years
          For racism to become publicly cheered
                  and promoted by officials
          Who demand respect by bullying and
​                  seek acceptance
          Through contempt for others who are different.
 
          For all of our deep-seated divisions
          To become mainstream politics,
          Now played out in violent retribution at the cost of
          Lives abandoned and families torn apart.
 
It took 4 years for our country
          To turn against itself…
 
What will happen in the
            Next 4 years?
Vernet Clemons Nettles
October 5, 2020
No Worries - 2020
In January from across the waters
Were whispers of a silent Killer…
 
And No one knew how
But They said, “No worries.”
 
In March, the world closed
And Death hovered
Closer than ever before…
 
And They had no answers
But They said, “No worries.”
 
And as Death continued to hover,
They scrambled.
“Do this!”  “Do nothing!”
“It will go away.”
 
Yet, Death continued
To collect more than 200,000 souls.
 
But… They said...,
“No worries.”
 
And as Thanksgiving approaches
I am thankful
For the many blessings and revelations
That God has shown us
In the midst of this pandemic.
 
Yet, Death continues
To ravage the land and its people,
 
So, now, I ask,
"When
Shall They begin
To worry?"

©Vernet Clemons Nettles, EdD
October 21, 2020
Draft 1
Autumn, Maybe?​
How shall Autumn come,
When it is cold then hot, then
Cold again - this day?

Oh yeah, it’s Mother
Nature and Father Time.  She
Can do what She likes.
Vernet Clemons Nettles, EdD
October 12, 2020
A Conversation
She listened intently to the words
That vomited forth.
 
Words, not of wisdom, but
Of life’s heart struggles.

Words of guidance,
Of stepping stones
To avoid land mines

That life hides in the valleys 
Of trials, and even 
On the hilltops of success.

Years from now she will
Think of these words fondly
And the time spent with love.

But, today, it's just a 
Conversation from the heart..
Vernet Clemons Nettles, EdD
October 12, 2020
Once Upon A Time
It is my sadness
That you are apart from me
 
Marking time in
Someone else’s symphony
 
Yet, I am grateful for the cup
Of joy that you shared with me…
Once upon a time.

Vernet Clemons Nettles, EdD
July 30, 2020
​The Buzz​

Whispered Prayers

Whispered prayers
      Seeking purpose
      Dreaming visions of “What if?”
 
Muddled thoughts
      Of discontent
      Clouding truths of “What is.”
 
Quiet words
      On wings of dove
      Shifting shadows to “What is to come!”
 
Praising Him
      For what is to come…
            Promises beyond measure.
                        Amen. 
 Vernet Clemons Nettles, Ed.D.
November 12, 2018
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    • Contact List - Keeping in Touch
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    • National Poetry Month 2020
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