Category Archives: poetry

Here is where you’ll categorize poetry posts during your field study. A minimum goal is one poem per week, 4 total, posted by Monday PM midnight. One of your four poems must be posted in a “Poetry Observed” video format (www.poetryobserved.com/). The goal is to perform your poetry in situ—within the context of your passionate immersion.

B – Final Performance Poems

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Mind Like Letters.

my mind like letters

sits shelved and

quiet,

collecting dust,

degenerating,

dreaming

of the time it

will feel the rumble

of the cabinet

cracking open,

the sliver of light

passing over,

becoming active

from the hand

that selects

words

for conceiving

thought.

Untitled.

She is not one to say

what is on her mind

until I tell her-

place the words on her belly

and cover them with ink and sheets-

I press her,

she picks up some

but not all,

I press her

harder,

gently forcing

to sound out every letter.

Her translations quiver

at the edges

but are full of body-

I work her,

wear her,

re-ink her,

till she is vibrating,

breathing, rolling

my words from her

loosened tongue.

Untitled

I dream

for a moment

and my skin slides off

my muscles as they drop

away from my bones

as they loosen my joints

as my mind exceeds

my body and I

disappear through the thick

of my thoughts that trail

after a memory that covers

the land that arches out

over and back

into my body

and I feel that tiny burst

of relief as time lets go

and I fall free

and unfinished to tangle

with the leaves.

E – Final Presentation Poem

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When I write I

Recreate the stars

Giving them a rhythm

Absent in the real world

Life doesn’t flow but story flows.

 

Still, the starts they are

And here in this tiny world,

Though I create it,

I am not God but bard,

For stars would obey God

Instead of

Demanding better music.

To the outside,

Writing is awkward. Attempting to build

A house, a home, a cottage

Out of marshmallows and toothpicks.

Language is clumsy, fragile

One wrong letter shattering

The entire structure

 

Harder still when something

MATTERS

These stars and hand I was dealt

Are similar to others

Who have been cast out

Thrown to the wolves, to be

Devoured by hate and pain and

Loneliness.

 

I have toothpicks and marshmallows

Shallow platitudes and reassurances.

Yet my toothpick house

Draws people to admire

Such a foolish work.

Look closer I say

See these wolves

And my people left

To be devoured?

They look. How courageous, they say

About my toothpick house.

What a marvel, a wonder a show.

Steam flows out of my ears.

Running from the wolves

Is not a show, is not courage.

I am not superior to those who died

For lacking my head start of skin color

And not being able to run faster.

 

Building a toothpick hut of

Letters and hope and

Tears

Might be foolish, stupid courage

But I am not a soldier

I know not how to fight

So this is how I do battle, because

What I know is toothpicks

And marshmallows

And persistence beyond what is healthy.

I will build a spectacle

To draw in those that know not what they do

Attempting to get them to change.

 

So you have your people

Left out in the cold.

Foolish courage borne of desperation.

Find your toothpicks and marshmallows

What story would you tell?

P(r) – Final Poem

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These movements that seem to move themselves

with a grace that hides the strength

that brings ease of movement as we manipulate ourselves

into achieving what should be impossible.

The lines of the body extended far past the center, the core,

the baseline, what the textbooks say is normal

–but I think we just might

create our own homeostasis.

 

Are the boundaries of our bodies absolute,

or only a suggestion?

A dare from our ancestors,

to see what we are capable of…

 

…I never could refuse a dare…

 

Do the lines of my body define me,

or is it only the outline of my meat suit?

Do the limits of my body describe my potential?

If my core expands invisibly across creation

and my physical self is confined, contained, constrained,

here, now—but there is no separation, no divide,

my body is not a car I drive around in,

it is me and

I cannot distance myself from myself.

 

The given parameters are no longer acceptable.

I will fight every constraint

and cross every boundary I am given

or give to myself.

I’ve always toed the line,

daring myself to cross

and am exhausted from the effort

of holding myself back.

I’ve always enjoyed lost causes

but this has become an exercise in wasted effort.

 

If the past is a memory and the future a dream,

the present is what I hold in my hands right now.

And now. And now.  And

I don’t want to be held responsible for

precedents set in my before.

I want to tell the story again.

I want to tell my story again.

 

Present tense.

C- this is a song, not a poem…

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…and it’s the BEST THING I’VE EVER WRITTEN.

Welcome to the Forest

Greenman says hello

Greenman says hello

 

See you through the window sitting at the table

Words are wandering about but nothing’s being said

 

I know you think that nothing helps

and the world won’t ever let you off your feet

 

But do you sense

something’s coming

in the distance–

what’s that sound?

suddenly you see

 

suddenly you see

a flash of red across the window

a twinkle in his eye

but just enough to keep you guessing

when you’re stuck inside

 

“What is reality,” you say

racing to the door before

he goes away

running so fast your phone jumps out your pocket

 

see the Piper standing

across the street, demanding

“Drop your salary,

Lose your understanding

of reality

and do not take another step until your feet are bare

and don’t be scared

of the light in my eye.”

 

But these words he does not speak

he is a raven without a beak

and you hear all he has to say

in the music he secretes

the Piper leads you

 

Greenman says hello

 

the piper leads you down the stairs

away from this polluted air

to a place where if your feet are bare

you will not be scared

 

The Piper leads you to a forest

the sound of his enchantment getting louder with each step

and you get deep into the woods,

now you rest

 

He disappears

but you still hear

the many songs of wisdom in your ear

 

Look over there and see a tree

singing its polyphony

telling you that all it sees is magic

 

Now look around and feel the song

with all six of your senses

Where you sit, there are no bad

attitudes, or fences

 

And suddenly, you see

voices all around

it does not scare you, make you ask

What is that sound

 

Civilization

has come and gone

you are in no time

welcome to the Forest.

your mind has crossed the line.

 

Greenman says hello

 

Greenman says “hello,

welcome to the Forest

Do not take another step until your feet are bare

and don’t be scared

of the light in my eye

 

You are gone

 

Now shed your clothes, not your tears

and dive into the river,

it will cleanse you

 

the branches of the bushes

stroke the water’s surface

and you reach up and pick their fruit

when they sing to you, too

 

And when you’re finished in the trees,

lay down and make love to me

beneath the canopy

 

do you see

Do you see that we are blind

to the world outside

this river now will continue to flow

till the end of time

away from this polluted air

you will not be scared

 

Your mind has crossed the line

you have gone away from there

now that both your feet are bare

and you’re not scared

of the light in my eye

 

And then you finally

open your eyes

you were sleeping outside

and now it’s dark, the sun has set

distraught and betrayed, you turn for bed

but across the street, a flash of red

suddenly you see

 

Across the street, the Piper stands

with a lute on his back and a flute in his hands

decked out from cap to toe

in glowing red, with streaks of gold

and shining eyes of crystal

 

The Piper is there, he wasn’t a dream

however fantastical it may seem,

there is a land of reverie

and it’s what you see

when you close your eyes

 

And know that when your feet are bare,

you’ll always see him standing there

you’ll hear his music in the air

and you will not be scared.

I wonder, should we end it here?

 

Greenman says hello…

the Piper leads you…

Greenman says hello…

the piper leads you…

you are gone…

 

Greenman says…I’ll see you soon.

😉

C- Forest Poem three

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Fire

Watch

even water cannot wash

the things that bring pollution here

 

Soft

no more, it must be cleansed

all the Forest runs with fear

 

Lost

the mother deer and fawn

a light this bright won’t come till dawn

 

We are dancing

we are cleansing

we are burning, burning down the land

 

We were passive for too long,

and now there comes a sweeping hand

 

We are FLAMES

we are MIGHTY

do not take our presence lightly

 

We are your passion

burning tears

taking away your fear, your fear

 

Blast away all but your love

pouring, soaring high above

 

Guide us gently, guide us soon

or you will be taken too!

C- Forest Poem two

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Water

Hopefully you’ll come to me

you’re running free

weave in and out, you’re nurturing

and coming back around to feed yourself again

 

The water here is crystal clear

it is not sharp, is not a spear

it empragnates the land and flows

over, up and down a road

of its own making always waking

up the life it flows and feeds

 

But drowns you when you submerge in

Submerge in her again again

you lose yourself when you come near

the waterfall that sheds a tear

for none who brave its heights, a grave

for those who tempt the water’s might.

C- Forest Poem one

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Air

“Drop your mind,”

says the wind

let it whisper,

let it in

never changing

never there

in your hand

but the air

is everywhere

where you stand

40,000 pounds of voices pushing down on your shoulders

invisible voices

speaking solemnly

in whispers of the past

voices leading to a path

in the darkness–

don’t be scared

there is no true pollution

in the air.