OPEN MIC ARCHIVES
MAY, 2006

Letter from a Summer Camp
Max

I have had a lot of fun,
Translation: Every morning we have a food fight 

The beds are nice,
Translation: Ten bed bugs bit me last night 

I love our counselors,
Translation: They let us stay up till 3:00 a.m.

I made lots of friends,
Translation: Billy is a nerd

The activities are nice,
Translation: I want to be a skydiver when I grow up 

The lake is pretty,
Translation: Tommy almost drowned

I’m wanting to come home,
Translation: I’ve run our of clean underwear 

I’m sad to leave,
Translation: I wanted to try and set off a firework in the canoe 

Goodbye, Max.
Translation: Good riddance, Max

Destiny in This World
By Nora Shinya

Far beyond the mountain,
High o’er the seas,
Through the thick forests of emerald green trees, Fallow your heart wherever you may roam, But there’s a place you’ll never truly part with, A place you once called home, Listen to the birds, Listen to the song of the breeze, Listen to the tales of bygone times of the age-old trees, Never forget what you heard, Keep it forever in your memory, Never forget what the world has told you, Of your fate, Of your destiny.

Ode to the book
By Indiana Pehlivanova

Oh, my dear poor book
I am sauntering on your dirty, scrappy
But full of music pages
Some of them are burned.
But others painted
And some of them are dizzy
Dizzy - from the smoke
From the smoke the wind is driving
From the crazy currents
From the train to China making rain
Until its travel 

I watch the rats
Running through
Your lines. 
I want to touch them
With my hand but I can't
Reach so far
I watch you
Thrown there-
On the kitchen
Floor. Maybe people
Are trying to learn how to cook
But they did take the wrong book! 

Because there on page 52
I see a hole, digged deep into the ground Fitting with the war. It's full of victims I see a woman praying there - behind the yellow rug Here - on the page thirteen - A few blue flames. 
A seismograph is measuring the force of an Earthquake and there are fissures decorated All around page two I can hear the winter Bringing roses from page 106. 
I can walk on the streets the beggars in your Pages walked. 
Hey, look at page zero - it's a boat
And my father is on it. I am saying to him: '' Ïàê ëè â

Go Now...Come Back Later
Üzeyir Lokman ÇAYCI
Ankara, le 06.06.1979
Traduit par by Yakup YURT en français
French free verse translated into English free verse by Joneve McCormick, 22.02.2006

Do not stay in front of my troubles
And rattle my private feelings
Hereafter, do not touch my ideas
Do not revive my memories
Leave me to myself
Go now...
Come back later! 

Me, I depend on my loneliness...
I do not let other people trample
My love so easily
Leave me to myself
Go now...
Come back later! 

Me, I am accustomed to the sky's irony
It is of no importance
That I am discovered in my sleep...
I climb my trees myself
I water my flowers myself
Leave me to myself
Go now...
Come back later! 

Do not stay in front of my troubles
And rattle my private feelings
Hereafter, do not touch my ideas
Do not revive my memories
Leave me to myself
Go now...
Come back later!

THE DAYS GO BY
              Laura Thien
As these days go by,
I sit here thinking,
Of thoughts about our country,
And what will happen,
In the near future ,
Just what things would be like,
Its unreal to me ,
But as time begins to pass,
And the future is really coming ,
super-super-super fast,
Then all of a sudden i forget ,
What has happened in the past cause,
Life has gone by way to fast and the days go by in a instant flash 
 

-0-

The Night
Nermin Nazim

the night isn’t the end of the day.
It is the origin of the day.
The night is young, matures and fades
Away giving birth to the dawn of a new day Which in turn gives way to the night, Serene, divine and peaceful.
Sins are committed at night are shy,
And the Lord grants his forgiveness to whoever Seeks it at nights While sins of the day are flagrant and ugly in broad daylight.
-0-

I Was Just There
(Cate Espener - May/06)

In this room defined
By cracks and shaded corners
Comes the scent of earth and worm
All the good cooking and wares
Gone rotten within a touch  

All the good women gone unnoticed
Greater than those who spoke
Louder than their dying breath
All those who wept and danced
before our silent eyes
And sprinkled flowers
On this consecrated ground 

All those who worked the field
And sowed it all by hand
With just a little kindness
Woven by the spindle of love
By chance embrace a seed
And nettle, nothing gained
I was just there before you

-0-

DRY TEARS AND A TABLE OF SALT.
Chidozie Ihebereme

Where does my nonsense dwell?
Everyone smells of some rotten richness; Richness of the eyes, and that of mouth; Richness plucked from fires of hell, where rotten poor girls scout for diamonds pouring from a president's eyes.

My nonsense is here! Look well, it's there.
There's nothing in their heads but grasses and rap music; classroom blackboard pricks the pockets of teachers who fickle in fear, because math will die for many weeks.

My screams have lost her voice to scream, and my nonsense lies right within.
Aristotelian democracy has a third term...
let's stand, there's no spice in their lies.
let's stand, there's no more salt in our cries.

-0-

" The altar cried "
Linda LaPorte
    
  Looking through life's pages and pictures of the past,there's mom
  and daddy's wedding....who knew it wouldn't last? Snapshots
  scattered on the bed;questions going through my mind.Our family
  life had ended,then the altar cried
  

  The altar cried and stars fell from the sky
  The altar cried and momma's ring lost it's shine
  The altar cried and the loving moon turned cold

  Tears fell down from heaven when the altar cried.

  I don't know what happened that night daddy left.I was too young
  to understand:Momma said"It's for the best".The vows they took so
  long ago were being carried on the wind.Two rings joined on tear-
  stained hearts;forever till the end...and

  The altar cried,intentions put aside
  The altar cried,mom and daddy said goodbye
  The altar cried,for better or for worse

  Tears fell down from heaven when the altar cried.       

-0-

Time is Money
Carmen-Teenah

Hurry, hurry, don’t be late
Don’t stand too long,
You know I hate,
Losing precious dollars.

Don’t call me on the phone,
I’m working here,
Say, you’ve broken a bone?
That’s the least I fear,
For I’m losing my precious dollars!

I don’t have the time,
To drive you to,
You’re ballet or your movie preview,
It’ll lose me, precious dollars!

You can’t have this,
And you can’t have that,
Sorry miss,
That you’re broke flat,
But I’d be giving you my precious dollars!

What’s that you say?
Take a vacation?
Or try to help a starving nation?
Stop making hundreds of dollars per hour, And waste it so these people can devour, All of my precious dollars!

Don’t you get it?
Stop asking me!
Money doesn’t grow on trees!
I have to work,
No time for games,
Go pester someone else.
I’m making precious dollars!

-0-

-0-

-0-

The last Day of Coney Island's Steeple Chase 
martin

shattered bottles
railroad ties glitter towards Coney

boardwalk sunlight
sand in the sloppy joe

a gull's shadow pecks at popcorn

parachute ride
cotton candy stuck to the seat

autumn
the steeple chase slide
full of color

dusk—
the covered pool ripples
stringer lights

-0-

THE COVER
Jackie T.

She looked across the the street.
In her bedroom suite.
There a man laid on cold concrete.
She put on her diamond ring.
meanwhile he itched his bee sting.
oh what unfairness life can bring.
She gets into her long stretched out car.
as he watches from a far.
his life is worthless next to that movie star.
life is cruel and bitter.
although she may be wearing glitter.
her life aint perfect either.
she lost it all at just sixteen.
her mistakes are now worldwide seen.
she follows the same dreadful routine.
don't judge a book by its cover.
because you'll discover.
its really nothing like the cover.

-0-

A World of Heavenly Fantasy
Lisa Canfield

Do words even compare to the beauty that I do seek?
Among hollyhocks, and trumpet vine
Hanging climbs of light and peek?
Dragonflies lingering their gypsy flight Across the star spangled banner of night.
And butterflies with their silken wings
Fluttering across magnolias as the nightingale sings Trellis’s covered with wisteria fruit Lilacs perfuming the air with their rich fragrant loot.
And the incense of freshly laundered air Stirred up by a light rain and rainbow flare Makes me want to sing, and dance!
In this paradise of garden romance.
Near me I feel the warmth of light
As the sun smiles down, in blinding sight And it comforts me, like a loving lover.
Its arms wrapped around me tight,
in protection and cover.
Wild jungles of mimosas bloom, and burst.
The sleeping grass that awakens, no longer pursed.
And the anxious hummingbirds dart their swift escape In these exotic trees, of bright pink cape.
And so, I wander, in this world of heavenly fantasy With my spirit and soul, shadowing lightly along side of me.
And I smile, light and child.
As I continue my journey, through flowers – ever, so wild.

THE IMAGE OF MY LOVE
Dada Abiola
	

	I woke up in the morning, checking my living roses and feeding the animals i eventually found a clean drop of water on a green leaf.what is this I asked my spirit, convinced it was a mirage or an illusion
	But my soul was worried how could this happen when there wasnt any shower the night before, i decided to search over and over again. until i found a caring loving angel who walked into my spirit and explained to me.  This is called morning dew it always come clean, ummm i asked what is the usefulness of the dew. she explained further this dew is the personification of love  it is the image of future love, clean and passionate,dew tells how clean the awaiting feeling is.This makes me think of my forth comming passion and feeling it makes me to imagine how clean am gonna handle the season of love
	In the dew i saw the image of my love

-0-

-0-

-0-

 Metal Mates

     The sound of rail cars coupling
in the night, somewhere, anywhere,
in any little railway town.

     Sounds the same now and before;
my ears heard, my mind understood,
and my insides shook as metal struck metal.

     The coupling, the sex of rail cars, the wombs of rail cars, filled with cement that one day would help build structures.

     Always sounds the same,
the banging of rail cars,
raw sex in the industrial safari.

                  by Glen Horn

-0-

Lizette Cedillo

It went many years,
But at last came a knock,
And I thought of the door
With no lock to lock.

I blew out the light,
I tip-toed the floor,
And raised both hands
In prayer to the door.

But the knock came again
My window was wide;
I climbed on the sill
And descended outside.

Back over the sill
I bade a "Come in"
To whoever the knock
At the door may have been.

So at a knock
I emptied my cage
To hide in the world
And alter with age.

jacob mccormick

How to live…
Habiba Azab

Put your head in the clouds
Your eyes upon the sun’s setting rays
Your nose between petals of a rose
Your ears within a guitar’s strings
Your tongue in a jar of sugar
Your fingertips on a smooth leaf
Your feet in the deep blue sea…

And forget where you left them.

I know i'll never win the pride
To cherish you in these arms another while.
I sorrow to have swallowed
The sweet yesterdays to be of no esteem.

Each time I spill a tear
Purer what you were becomes.

When I exit the happy world
I seek you to sooth my somber spirits;
To calm my convulsed soul.                 
It's all I need to conduct me back.

When can my brown sisters
Behold you for just another while?

Endurance
Marium Zaidi

I stand amidst a thorny crowd
no one to trust, full of doubts;
The things I see are real to touch
but not to perceive;
I am blind, blind to the evil
that lurks behind every soul
Even the thought of the slightest link
abandons me,
I am not here,
to admit! I besiege myself,
Rigid, as a cliff
with a deep cave ashore;
the cave, an empty cave
with an illuminated core
hides nothing and holds nothing;
I live in this nothingness,
I demand nothing;
I expect nothing;
But still I stand,
I stand to myself
certain and complete.

-0-

THROUGH FIRE and WATER
    by Jameel Heath

Passed through fire, rising higher,
I and the death fruit share one pyre,
then she whispers wisdom to my heart,
and pulls my mind up from the mire,

decked in skulls, I haunt old dusty halls, sitting reverently with the ghosts, or in a frenzy, taking a giant hammer to the walls,

here comes water, pass the blotter,
so I can see like we will then, (when?)
on that solstice when the sanity begins, over the field and through the gate, and somewhere Thoth just sits and grins, knowing that truth must always win.

-0-

WHEN STARS GROW ON TREES
Loralyn D. Sandoval

I looked around the gleam of life
Lost within the thought of mire
Oust the world with me to hold, I'm hanging 
Vowed the silent leaves I do admire 
Ere I cry the tears for living 
With each step and trek of life 
You are the succor of my spirit 
Out nowhere sights of hope abound 
Under the yoke of childlike faith I'll dream.
I'll trust.
I'll fight.
Until stars grow on trees...

-0-

-0-

"Gone" 
Whitney Northway

What do you write
When there's nothing?
Nothing but you
In a white room
Nothing to say
Nothing to do
What do you Think
When it's just blank
No Earth
No people
No one to blame
How would you explain
How did you beat the game
Did you even push play
Did you get the chance to go back
And learn the right way
Do you understand now
That you must remember how
What do you feel
When nothing is real
Where do you go
When no where is the only place
What would you do
If you woke up
And everything was erased?

-0-

  The Need
  pete gray

               Life is so short
               it's the heart that lives on
               Even though death came to me God said move on
               In this way of being , truly my life is hid
               In the love , hope and compassion of your heart
               if life were an ocean or the sea life
               and there was no darkness
               and everything was nice
               I would still need that love 
               because I still have the need 
               Even though i'm standing in all that I am
               life is only a gift , out of love and care for me
               not the design of my making 
               it's because you have seen the need

-0-

John Butler 

-0-

-0-

SPACE
Donna Marrone

Nebula, phobia
Look at that tarantula
Crawling there in outer space
Better watch or he may chase

Star bright in the night
Wish I may and hope I might
See ten million awesome skies
Before I lose my Earth bound ties 

Nova, supra
Once around the loopa
Let the jets propel the car
And stir space like a soupa

Bizarre, Pulsar
Spinning little neutron star
Escaping fast from where you are
A milky way escape

Fireball beat them all
Take a thrilling little fall
If I die before you wake
Know that I appreciate

Space