March, 2005

OPEN MIC ARCHIVES

March, 2005

OPEN MIC ENCORE I
OPEN MIC ENCORE II

NOT LIKE IT USED TO BE!

Stan Bartsch

Seers, Priests, Prophets,

Mages, Witches, Alchemists

Keepers of secrets,

Tellers of fortunes -

Parlaying information

In exchange for power.

Predicting eclipses -

Causing eclipses -

T'was all the same

To the ignorant masses

Reading the moon,

The stars, the planets.

Webmasters, DBAs, Programmers,

Technicians, Net Admins, App Support

Keepers of secrets

Tellers of fortunes -

Parlaying information

In exchange for power.

The masses unruly,

No longer in awe!

Moving information like

Never before-

Can only complain...

"The network is down!"

-0-

SURVIVING ANOTHER FIVE O'CLOCK

by Marcia Schechinger

Predictably you bundle your insecurities away

a practice learned over the last thirty years

Like other office androids, your dwelling

is a box shaped cubicle

that encompasses you like a cave

yet maintains a daily stench of antiseptic

Stalagmites of mail tear at your flesh

leaving organized cuts

Echoes of computer keys gnash - click clack

the cries of young disgruntled employees

Saturated fat feeds you lunch

prepared by a hairy pawed man

who sneers a suits and four bedroom homes

You flee outside for a smoke to relax

but it's rushed to your lungs with symbolic rebellion

as the clock - tick tocks

Responsibility screams for reports

and mumbles of unpaid bills

Finally the phone rings to her sweet voice

whispering late night secrets

And you remember why you remain

surviving another five o'clock

-0-

Hanging from one street to another,

Emeralds long to gleam, once again...

Tarnishing glow, written on their facades,

Their dreams, shattered, a sudden gloom.

Begging without joy... fear of being jeered at,

Emeralds, in the evil heart of the devil.

Starved for decades, thirsty for centuries,

Wandering aimlessly, longing to hold the diamond ember.

Money, in the air, vanishes like vapor,

Homeless in the heart of the wilderness ,

Hoping to feel the divine rainbow ===

That blazes its hue upon their dying green.

tri ntran

-0-

Senseless Questions: An Unlucky One's Query

Shezi Sibongile

Why was I born in a village

why was I given knowledge

knowledge of my poorness

Before I say to this world bye

I wanna know why

Why do I not have a girlfriend

Why do my friends have girlfriends

Before I sex-buy

I wanna know why

Why can't I with school go forward

Why do my friends with school go onward

Why can't I for my effort get a reward

Before I say "Ai!"

I wanna know why

Why isn't anything for me going well

Before I die

I wanna know why

-0-

FISH

chris ramsay

Talking fish speak in riddles.

They sing of times come and gone,

of puzzles solved

and hackneyed puzzles overused.

It’s a biological curio,

once you get them started they go on and on…

and on and on and on,

never stopping for breath

or a glass of water to whet their appetite.

All I can hear are these talking fish

chattering away in my head

trying to confuse me even more.

-0-

As I see My Words

by Bill Albright

Words on a page bring life to a blank

Space which invites the print to decorate

With thoughts few will thank

For being there to read what we promulgate

Thus, we who write do so for ourselves

Selfish, guarding a moment of our own

Each word, each line a progress

To that worthy prize, fame atoned

For the burden of all who write

Hopefully assumed, we have recorded

Words which might

Combine into a common thread

Words on the page, which awake, come alive

Otherwise none who write would seek to survive.

-0-

Moonlight Sonata

Malcolm

Genius in a musical sense

With emotion come

My Love intense

Pounding keys

of memories

Control my world

through centuries.

Creating a brand new masterpiece

None above

My Hearts release

Let me shake

my fist at fate

And once again

be numbed of hate.

Stars that shine

With a moon that smiles

Arise once more

My inner child.

-0-

YUMEGOKOCHI (trance)

by: angelndsky

karada ga tsumetai

kuchizuke ga koishii

daite...daite...nemuru made

dareka ni atatamete hoshii

yume no naka ni haite kudasai

me no mae ni hitokage

anata ga arawareta

aishite...aishite...oboreru made

watashi no kokoro wo kanjite

karada ni haite kudasai

yume no nakade futari no ratai

sonomama kiete nido to konai

urandemo...urandemo...urami kirenai

kokoro sono mono shika souzo dekinai

yumegokochi....

-0-

THE LONELY BRIDGE

-Neha Sharma

I'm the lonely bridge,

I'm made of iron,sand & bricks,

I'm the lonely bridge,

I'm the lonely bridge.

I stood here,when rains poured,

I stood here,in weathers soar ,

I stood here,in winds strong,

I stood here since seasons long.

I saw them come,I saw them go,

I saw them high,I saw them low.

So many fought & they did die,

My guarding eyes but remained dry.

I saw the land,when it was green,

I saw the grasslands in their teens.

When sun laughed & winds sang,

When lovely moon above me hanged.

I loved the river,below me so,

it tickled my feet as it flow.

I sang silently in cold nights,

When sparkling waters did gain heights.

I still stand where I was

but no more tickling in my paws,

the waters low,the dry bare lands

noise 'n noise in these dry sands.

The busy people,always in haste,

hmmm... I think there's a change in taste

money 'n hate 'n crowd 'n smoke

is all what comes in their fate.

Now at nights,I do not sing,

But yes,I cry for that new wing,

that can help me fly, out of here,

And give me back,my beautiful share.

-0-

THE AWFUL BATTLE

c.1967 C Paquette-Parker

The world is old now,

covered in rust.

Once shiny metal

is covered o'er with rust

I like to sit and think

of when the world was young

When we were hale and hearty,

when we were strong of lung.

Of when the world was cool,

when the world was green

Before the awful battle

of man against machine.

New ending from 2005....

Before the suffocation

from our "(North) American Dream"

-0-

DEATH OF FIVE NEWBORN PUPPIES
Jesse Clinton

Tears tears Tears

Green sword of ferns-

leaves old rotting into the earth,

fir needles loam deep...

I buried them curled around each other

Dead, gone out.

My deed

No excuse before the face of God(dess)

I sent them into the void.

Loss loss loss loss

Never is there any path away from my action.

-0-

God On The Move

-jww

God on the move, from introduction to display-ism

Thorough Abraham call out of idol paganism

To the called out elect, out of Christianized fetish

To the manifestation of The Word displayed as God made flesh.

Moving from thought to Expression

From expression to creation

From creation to a higher creature

To that of God again displayed in the human, eternally to endure.

Moving from prophecy to fulfillment

More than a thought to an actual event

Where the world is now displaying

Their given part of a drama playing

Each being given a part to play

Each yielding to an anointing for their day

Each fulfilling a prophecy to which they yield

Each to be rewarded for their part played

Satan getting restless, a short time left

Must get his subjects to manifest

Their diabolical role

Used by God as just a tool

Where is all this headed to?

But the final conflict between each foe.

The winner being the final One,

To stand alone when all else is done.

-0-

I have a small dog

He does not bark he doesn't growl

He is filled with beans

Nancy

-0-

BEGINNING

Gordon A. Davis

A warming, chilling

semicircular traverse;

red-gold sun appears.

Breaking hardened horizon,

to wax and to wane.

-0-

SLOWLY I TURN

The Enbay

Slowly I turn from right to left,

driving toward mis-direction in flesh.

I miss the day I was a child in need,

I didn't see the sign of pain to be freed.

Slowly I turn finding cursed futures,

thinking to myself I'm dying from mother nature.

Walking for a cause from one side of a wall,

I'm so short but my faith is so tall.

I believe in miracles, but not luck.

Looking to the past for time to interrupt,

I'm a man, so crying won't help.

I'll jump from this bridge, just to see how it felt.

Slowly I turn from a prince into a frog,

from a butterfly to a moth.

From Gold to rotting steel,

slowly I will turn from love to hate.

My mind is made up, because I don't have any trust.

I don't believe in myself, but I believe in God.

I believe in love, but I don't believe I deserve it.

Slowly I truly turn to you for answers of all.

-0-

The Life Cycle
Melissa Trahan

When death was lurking close behind

Unbeknownst by it’s prey

The victim now will come to find

Their life has lead astray

Now gone is what no soul had spared

And standing in it’s place

Spirit holds the moments shared

With no means to replace

Death aligns with not yet lived

As the moon to the earth

And with each passing life will give

A new and joyous birth

Then life can come as a surprise

When hope is born anew

we learn to see through different eyes

The cycle that is true

-0-

A Face Untold

Francisco Robinson

So many faces

I look at each person's fate

and realize that they are different

from what we know

So many thoughts

at a single pace

so many stories

waiting to unfold

Someone was shot

on main street

A story that didn't

have a happy ending

I stood in the rain

all soaked; crying

Realizing a single person died for someone's fate

A fate to kill

I picked up her head;

blood dripping down in my hands;

all time on earth stopped

I got up and walked to the road;

I'll never forget what i had seen

A persons sheer sadness in the hands of a stranger

Even though I didn't know her

I will never forget;

a face that was untold

-0-

Second Step Prayer

~~~~~Aimiee~~~~~

Help me God

For I have no control

Satan is calling

He's taking my soul

Whispering voices

So foul, yet, so sweet

Before I know it, I'm admitting defeat

Humbly, on my knees

For help I am pleading

I don't want to surrender

But part of me is needing

It's a pretty big order

And I've asked You before

But, this time when I knock

Please, answer the door

My life is in ruins

And You're the answer, I'm told

Take me into your warmth

Out here it's so cold

-0-

A MAN'S THOUGHTS

Ray Sheley

Can't a guy live without his thoughts

About all the girls in his life

We think and think

But never seem to get them off our minds

A males' thoughts

-0-

IN LOVING MEMORY OF EDWARD (TED) WHITLOW BAGOT ESQUIRE

PETER ELLICOTT

WELL NOW COMES THE TIME THAT WE MUST MOVE ON

THOUGH NEVER FORGETTING THE MEMORIES FORGED INSIDE

FOR THE TIME SPENT WITH YOU WAS NEVER WASTED

AND ON YOUR PASSING MANY A TEAR WAS SHED AND CRIED

NOW WE LAY YOUR SOUL TO REST IN THIS LOVELY PLACE

SURROUNDED BY A ROSE GARDEN AND YOUR LOVING MOTHER

JUST KNOW THAT ALTHOUGH YOU ARE NO LONGER WITH US

A MAN OF YOUR STATURE, THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER

LOOK DOWN UPON US AND REVEL IN OUR TRIUMPHS

AND HELP US THROUGH OUR TOUGHEST OF CHALLENGES

YOU KNOW WE COULD NEVER HAVE A BETTER GUARDIAN ANGEL

NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE ELSE THINKS OR SAYS

SO EVERY NIGHT WE'LL LOOK TO THE STARS FOR THE BRIGHTEST

KNOWING THAT YOU ARE SHINING DOWN UPON US ALL

BLESSED BY YOUR UNDYING LOVE ARE ALL WHO STAND HERE

OUR MEMORIES OF YOU LIKE THIS ROSE BUSH WILL STAND TRUE AND TALL

KNOW THAT WE LOVE YOU WITH ALL OF OUR HEARTS

AND THOUGH WE MOVE ON WE NEVER FORGET

FOR YOU LOVE, GRACE AND KINDNESS MY FRIEND

COULD ONLY BUT HAVE BEEN HEAVEN SENT.

-0-

THE SILENT HILL

Nissar Ahmed A. Naik

Here in the concrete jungle,

I stand alone, afraid to mingle,

With these strange, busy people,

Who shout and yell, swirl and mill,

The speeding vehicles,

Deafen me with sounds so shrill.

Right here once stood

Tall trees on a small hill,

On cold, wintry, moonlit nights,

The clouds above stood still.

Not a leaf moved, nor the branches,

The dew on the grass looked so tranquil.

The calm reigned supreme right up to

The far away mountains, quiet as if on a vigil.

I am a lonely soul in this teeming crowd,

I was not lonely on that silent hill.

-0-

A Drunkard's Word

Bnar Gurdji

Someday you will understand why I fought for you.

But now is not the right moment, you think if a drunkard has no money more,

he will stop drinking. Your wrong I can tell you that.

He will steal it, even his live is depending on it.

Ones a drunkard told me, If I die I want to die drunk.

Don’t take my dream away, If I die I want to dream on.

If I die don’t wash me with water,

wash me with the wine that keeps me on dreaming.

If I die lay next to me a bottle of wine for my journey to the next world.

-0-

TESTS OF LIFE

Kerry Lasswell

An exam that you have a limited time to complete

You do not have the chance to fail

You can not come prepared

It will prepare you

Death is the black storm cloud hovering over life

Life may be dancing in victory death could be closing in

That’s the chance to take

Life is a bottle full of choices

The bottle would be a little less full

If wrong wasn’t an option

If there were no wrong

Would these tests take place?

An aged man is diagnosed with lung cancer because of his choices

Nobody thinks it is possible for him to live

As he is lying on his deathbed he decides

His final tests he wants to pass on

An ally of life he shall become

Though staying seems hard, losing the battle

Would be one choice that he couldn’t regret

-0-

FINDING PEACE

JOHN WHARTON

Fly above the clouds and see the world below.

What will the world become, no one will ever know.

Live for today, and there will be no horror

Love for today, and there will be no sorrow

Fly above the clouds and see the world below.

Find your lovely white bird,

She'll guide you places you would never know.

Fly above the clouds and see the world below.

Your tears will flow when you realize we gave power

to a few who could create for us no tomorrow.

-0-

My Mind

Parag Agarwal

My mind is like the clouds,

sketching capricious formations,

with a beautiful abstract meaning,

that sometimes spell out,

absolute perfection in bursts.

My mind is like the clouds,

authoring random feelings,

that seek the truth,

among the universal,

set of the undefined.

My mind is like the clouds,

with an infinite resolution,

in a finite medium,

resulting from spontaneous,

recursive manifestation.

My mind is like the clouds,

that spreads beyond,

its own boundaries,

across the horizons,

of the the discovered.

-0-

Something Is Missing

By: Melissa Robles

The hope and peace I gain one minute is gone with the next.

I feel so in touch with things and then I feel so out of place.

I feel happy, and then I can’t seem to stop crying.

I can’t help but to feel that something is missing.

But where it is hiding,

Is another mystery to me.

I try to forget the thought and I succeed,

But only for a short time.

I once again remember that I am not happy.

That I am not cared for and that I am all alone.

I am pathetic in my thought.

And stupidity is written on my forehead,

But lonely is written on my heart.

What can I do but accept it and move on.

The problem is that I am tired of merely moving on.

I am ready to find what I am looking for.

Will I ever find it?

Right now, I am not sure.

I am only sure that no one deserves to be this unhappy.

But like everyone else, Not even I know how to stop it.

-0-

SOLO

E Paterson

A thin curtain separates us.

I finger the red velvet,

feeling it's voluminous curves

ripple back and forwards.

I watch the light skim

the grid like weave,

sculpting the material,

forcing it real.

The air gently brushes

the surface,

creating a silent tension,

reflected in my face.

The lights fade out

and with them, the vision

of our barrier as

it peels back.

The music echoes,

I relax into my skin,

and wait to disappear

into the light.

-0-

A BIRD AND A ROSE

emin ozan helvacioglu

I know

My hands gather sadnesses somewhere

Somewhere, everywhere

My dreadful eyes

Break the blooming emotions

In the eyes of a gazelle looking at water

I pick, in my sadness,

The falling leaves of a rose

A rose, all the roses

I unite pains

Feeding the decaying roots,

Decaying branches of my tiny body

With this juice

I start a new love

With a reluctant hunter's regret

Rearing a bird

Making my branches sad

Never fitting into love and kindness

Full of pains

Rearing a wounded bird in me

How can I prefer a new love

To a wounded body ?

Hurt one, dead one

As growing blood flood

Is running into the heart of a bird with broken wing

Red rose should rebel

Against the loneliness and my branches

How can I look for a new love ?

My heart is another forgetful creature

Increasing my sadness forever

The sadness with flowers

I know

-0-

COME OCTOBER

Frank Shaw

Alone, I have been

where dim snow falls

on craggy bordered field

The brown stubble corn

pokes where white shines white

and stone be stone

and ground shrugs its remorse

through sable limbed spruce

that reach for evenings cover

as a fen calls in an ancient tongue

to what lives alone in calm cold water

it is then I hear its whisper

tired and long gathered in evenings dry hue

nudged by a warm santa ana.

-0-

girl/boy poem

Christophe Casamassima

a lot of skinny letters view of home,

littered trip tease, wiry, worries

they’re diminished, stripped of lionizing,

memorex

or else? “find something

to think”, maybe sky wire perched,

fear of perhaps nothing,

prepared silence to hold on to, say,

windy day, then rainy, enjamb

recipe here, two of cups, why,

circle it impropriety,

jet lagged, in this case

study it, lather it notion fettered,

a list of private events, a list

of public events, sparrow, attributes,

panoply, please,

sorrow, overconduct of,

frail or fallible pleas,

a multimedia shower,

held beneath no breath & right attitude,

“that’s right, name’s no name”,

letters scattered among,

corridor of pedestrians, minimized amenities,

non-urban post office interior,

flood thereof, & traffic, can't,

it,

granules of refried things,

synopsis dropped on its head, trip mall,

weird sneeze,

this sincerity, already

-0-

SoulForge

Michael S. La Tourette

Learning to accept the pain of loving,

Without self blame or false guilt,

The metal is shaped to a sword of will,

Sharpened by wisdom,

And polished in tears,

And the sands of times and trials.

What remains,

Is pure,

Clean,

And strong.

-0-

To Understand Your Future

Charles R. Bonawitz

Long have been the days,

and weeks that we have spent,

To learning of new ways,

our futures have been sent

Through Math we have succeed,

through English we’ve prevailed,

Through the arts we have been kneaded,

and through history we’ve sailed

By your friends you stayed,

and with who’s help you endured,

And in their absence you feel strayed,

but you and them have both matured

Though separation can be rough,

you’ve learned of understanding,

Though some old friends are taking off,

some newer friends are landing

They say there is a future for you,

just around the bend,

Of that future you can do,

what best brings you a happy end

It may seem your world is spinning,

and in spite of fear you must open your eyes,

to recall your past years’ lore,

and to understand new beginning,

you must try to realize...

This isn’t just school anymore.

-0-

SHOWERS OF MID JUNE

Rakesh Vasant Shirke

The sun never rose that day

Hidden behind a cloudy frost

It knew of a storm building

In the spleen of weather God

The picture turned a torrid gray

A gust whistled past the fields

The birds returned to their nests

All in a frenzy to say the least

Showers of mid June are here

All day, all night, everywhere

Lashing torrents arrived on the scene

Dashed with spiteful lightning and turbulent winds

The horizon was a grumpy mess

A harbinger of the things to unleash

The sea rose and swelled carefree

As fishermen hurried with their boats

No one can stand the weather’s might

Snatching everything in its unyielding core

Showers of mid June are here

All day, all night, everywhere

-0-

MY SHADOW

by Don Hakin

Shine light on my visible sin

And turn away in despair

Like a grieving mother hauled by

The reins of joyful memories.

I cast a shadow and disappear.

Let me hear your resounding truths

To pull me through this veil

Of blackest black and lead-like sadness

Into the burn of urgent need.

I keep this shadow; born of fear.

Now, talk to me in soft and silken tones,

Careful of my hidden promises

To you my dear, to hide no more

And languish in this warm resolve.

My shadow follows; I keep it near.

-0-

GRANDPA'S FEDORA

by Marcia Schechinger

With sweaty fingertips a candle flickers

wavering to eerie sounds of summers warm unfolding

I can hear each creak of hollow wood floors

that contoured my past

Moonlight trickles

peeking through termite infested walls

A singular cloud looms a pattern of silver

much like grandpa's hair

Guts of a tractor tear at my flesh

as time withdraws

I rise to grip crusty rough hands

amputated legs stand whole before me

Eyes, once curtained, sparkle with green hue

In whispering wind I hear grandpa sigh,

go away child this is no place for you

I extend back, dazed, toward a splintered door

visualizing young men playing pitch in celestial robes

Wondering what became of their Sunday hats

when they died

OPEN MIC ENCORE I
OPEN MIC ENCORE II

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