OPEN MIC ARCHIVE
DECEMBER, 1997

These were the poems posted on AHA!POETRY's Open Mic feature during the month of December, 1997.

Updated December 23, 1997 HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

Each night I pray for

uncommon things

That each tear that I shed

be carried on wings.

Wings woven from dreams

and memories long past.

Carried to my once-friend

with love that still lasts.

And, once delivered, the tears

become the joy of a smile

To return as warmth to me

making tears worthwhile.

For Don--my muse

---------------------------------------------------------

****Cheers****

To those who live their dreams

And those who do nothing at all.

For those who stand their ground

And those who take the fall.

To those who defend

And those who do not.

For those who get a chance,

And those who don't get a shot.

For all their pain and hard times,

For all their laughs and tears,

I think everyone owes them,

A hug,

A kiss,

And CHEERS.......

---------------------------------------------------------

do you love your child

like a Jesus child

do you comfort it's heart

when it's smiles departs

shall you protect and be wise

when you have bound your ties

to girl or a boy

that need shelter and joy

God shall be within all

who shall take up his call

and Jesus would have smiled

for the love you give to a child

---------------------------------------------------------

Why is it people deny the light of Christmas?

People think decorating the tree and spending time w/family,

is for poor people and sissies.

Al least the people I know.

Fapral

---------------------------------------------------------

Winter

Glitter falls from celestial hands

Unto naked trees

Whose fingers stretch yearningly toward the sky

A pale tapestry

Barren of stars

Blankets the earth

The season of angels

Brings little hope

To those with hearts

As fragile as porcelain

Left out in the cold

Like a newspaper

The cold

Stifles their tiny tears and whispers

Please send your comments! Criticism shapes great works of art. SnowyDay85@AOL.com

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I'm all alone

There's no one home

but wait!

what is that by the gate?

A sound I hear

I move in fear

To the window with fright

The figure moves right

Behind a tree

Maybe to pee

He runs to the street

And with the beat of his feet

To the ground

No one is around

I'm all alone

---------------------------------------------------------

Skipping through the daisies

On this high of mine...

I can't change the way I feel,

I'm feeling so damn fine!

Things slowly start to fade

The world is in I riot

And here I am, only able to think about

This wonderful high on pot

I can't seem to stop

My days are growing old

I continue to smoke pot

Even in the freezing cold

---------------------------------------------------------

A blizzard

Isn't like a lizard

Maybe a frozen dragon

In a wagon

in the sky

way up high

A blizzard is snow

that quite does blow

far and near

to and fro

snow

is a blizzard

white and coming down hard

but don't be alarmed

it's only a frozen dragon

in a wagon

wearing a leotard

---------------------------------------------------------

I tremble.

It is not the cold

That brings the motion.

It is the fear.

Too many lines left,

Only emptiness to fill them.

Pounding indecision hounds me.

Totally consuming.

Invalidating all

I have to give.

I shake.

Trapped in the constant

Longing for

I don't know what.

I stumble through the darkness.

Forever lost inside

My own vacated imagination.

Elizabeth DeVaney

---------------------------------------------------------

Choices

The future is open, the future is wide, I'm a young kid with nothing to hide. So much to pick from so much to chose I'm a young kid with nothing to lose. One path leads to happiness and one leads to wrath and I a young kid am trying to pick the right path, and to know I will live with the path I will chose, makes me wonder if I do have so little to lose.

Brittany Morgan age 12

AnvilNidHart.net@web

---------------------------------------------------------

Memory Shying

Once you were my Twilight

Now you

Are my taste to sweet

Belonging.

Ever a high of Trance-Shyness

Sickness

Hearts bounce

You memory reward

Seconds

Momentary Smiles---

I the shrewd loner

Wave angry diaries

Calmly

To last frontiers.

---------------------------------------------------------

Thy sword of hurtful intentions

is double edged

Casting the first blow

Brings it back upon oneself

Never rightly so

---------------------------------------------------------

FACE TO FACE

TO THINK IS TO DREAM

AND TO DREAM IS TO THINK.

BUT IF THINKING IS DREAMING

THEN WHERE DOES REALITY SINK?

DOES IT COME WHEN YOU'RE ALONE?

OR WHEN IN A CROWDED PLACE?

AND WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO TELL

THE DIFFERENCE IF YOU CAME FACE TO FACE?

---------------------------------------------------------

Dreams we dream at night

were just never meant to be,

please hold on to them.

---------------------------------------------------------

We've had the same secret for years now...

no need to reveal it.

Only one of us was ever in love anyway,

and I know I will be...forever.

Your face will always be sixteen

and the taste of your lips will never

lose its sweetness.

It's just my whispered secret now,

as life's breath slowly leaves me.

---------------------------------------------------------

Confused In My World

Alone for a second in time,

I realize my confusion.

Who are my friends?

Is my life just an illusion?

I cogitate on my thoughts and life events,

Over and over again.

Will i go to heaven when I die...

Or will I die with sin?

---------------------------------------------------------

Restless Within Me

As I sit here wide awake,
My legs begin to shake.
Others seem in a trance,
But my bones within me dance.
Trying so hard to stay calm,
I think with me is something wrong.

Around me they're all still,
While the feelings inside me spill.
As nighttime quickly comes,
The energy within me runs.

Where is it all from?
I wonder with a hum.
When will it all end?
When death to energy I send!

---------------------------------------------------------

INHUMANITIES

To love

and be unloved;

is more ferocious and cruel,

than a solemn rose

that stands in all it's beauty

in a ward

for the blind.

Bridie 1997

UNTITLED

Tombed

cheek to wood:

in Life's tide..

Bridie 1997

---------------------------------------------------------

French Haiku

Les textes de Francais

Ancien ne jamais pensait

De mes tres riches heures

Kerry Patton Patton27@aol.com

Haiku

At first I thought I

didn't understand; faux pas

I wasn't list'ning

Kerry Patton Patton27@aol.com

Haiku

Verbal Symmetry

I wield the mighty pen

Collide, one and all

Kerry Patton Patton27@aol.com

Haiku

I have thoughts toward which

all nod yet none care conceed

Contempt grows like weed

Kerry Patton Patton27@aol.com

---------------------------------------------------------

Fear of potential is as timeless as

The mystery of creation;

True potential is surely the grandest

of inevitabilities

Kerry Patton

---------------------------------------------------------

For the Jaded X

Generation X,

ever wonder how your own line of clothes would sell at K- Mart?

Generation X,

you're broke,

tapped out,

downtrodden,

stereotyped.

Generation X,

volunteer, it's good for your soul.

Generation X,

a child is dead,

and you don't care.

Generation X,

Watch out for technology penetration,

And wider is better.

---------------------------------------------------------

To Protect

I drift soundlessly through the rooms of my house.
Asleep, upstairs, are the babes with whom I love.

I feel the need to protect them.
I float from room to room watching waiting.

The walls are whispering to the floor.
I try to understand them.

I cannot unravel their words.
They do not want to reveal their secrets to me.

I drift like a phantom.
Watching and waiting.

Waiting for death,
so that I may challenge him.

~D. M. Higbee~

---------------------------------------------------------

YOU PICK UP YOUR PEN TO WRITE NOT THINKING IF YOUR WORDS

WILL HURT OR SHED SOME LIGHT

BUT I SIT STILL, AND TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE PAIN WE ALL

GO THROUGH, THE ENDLESS FRUSTRATION

AND SOMETIMES THE MEANING DEFEATS THE RHYME

AND WE LEAVE OUT THAT PRECIOUS LAST LINE

THAT STAKES OUR CLAIM TO GLORY

THAT TELLS OTHERS OF OUR STORY.

MICHAEL HIGHT

---------------------------------------------------------

Speak Softly

Speak softly to me for I am fragile

I may have a rough exterior

Inside I am like a child

Any small word and I am scolded

Speak softly to me

I have feelings too

~D. M. Higbee~

---------------------------------------------------------

Lost in a torrent of cries,
The tear that sheds,
Never seemingly dries.

Lost in motions of aching,
The heart that stops,
Never again quaking.

---------------------------------------------------------

Dreams

I fly alone into the darkness of my dreams

Drifting into the unknown abyss of subconscious

Where my deepest thoughts come into play

Bringing forbidden characters to life

In their foreign acts of love

Singing melodies so resounding

They travel through the barrier of sleep

Echoing in the cobwebs

As I shake myself back to reality

---------------------------------------------------------

Think

You think that you may know me,

That you understand my mind.

I think you've read me wrong my friend,

I'm not the acting kind.

I don't choose to play around

With others emotions and such.

I always speak my feelings,

and have suffered for that...so much.

---------------------------------------------------------

Writer

Elongated dreams

Steretched to size

Strong metal beams

Mesmerized

Eyes of wisdom

Glinting gold

A mind of a baby

Rather old

Fingers like vines

Rapping around silk

Writing his rhymes

Drinking his milk

---------------------------------------------------------

INNER LIFE

MAN CAN NOT LIVE THAT INNER LIFE

WHICH IS THE ONLY TRUE ONE

BECAUSE OF HIS CONSTANT PURSUIT

OF WORLDLY THINGS

WHICH DRIES UP HIS DEVINE SENSIBILITY.....

COLE@WEBTV.NET

ELIJAH COLE

---------------------------------------------------------

Stale

precious mahogany trembles

heart frayed and wanting

stares intently at rain

within an empty doorway

a draft lingers

bitter like retrospect

sweet like revenge

virgin lips quiver at thought

breath mists on a cold window pane

hair falling downward, goes ignored

silence breeds and brings desire

regret breathes life into fear

shivers run the spine

waiting to repent

---------------------------------------------------------

Sumptin bout nothing

It ain't nothing but a dream.

It ain't nothing but a candle

It ain't nothing but a star

It ain't nothing but a plant

It ain't nothing but a animals foot

It ain't nothing but a shoe

It ain't nothing

until you make it something.

---------------------------------------------------------

Threads of My Heart

The threads of my heart

all tied up and bound.

Not knowing if true love

will ever be found.

He was such a dream

So kind in his heart

Until I got angry

and feelings fell apart.

Misguided anger

and words spoken cruel

Only made me out to be

the big fool.

---------------------------------------------------------

Happiness

Floating through this existence,

Perceived by some as pretentious

What do they know?

Have they lived my life?

Do they harbor these past aggressions

at a cold-hearted world?

I think not!

Happiness and laughter are often

not found enough on this place we call earth.

Where no one is superior.

We should all be so twisted

that we can laugh off the painful inflictions of life,

and float above the hurt.

---------------------------------------------------------

A HUMAN LIFE IS

A HUMAN LIFE IS AS A STREAM

THE SUBSTANCE OF IT EVER-FLOWING

THE SENSE OBSCURE,

THE WHOLE COMPOSITION OF THE BODY

TENDING TO CORRUPTION.

A HUMAN IS RESTLESS, FORTUNE UNCERTAIN

AND FAME DOUBTFUL,

AND AS A STREAM, SO ARE ALL THINGS

THAT BELONG TO THE SOUL.

A HUMAN'S LIFE IS A WARFARE

AND A MERE PILGRIMAGE

ELIJAH COLE JR.

---------------------------------------------------------

"The Struggle"

God is the maker.
Lucifer, the obliterator.
Who will win the war?

"KIDS!"

Stop torturing me!
I often tell my children.
But I love them so.

"Rule #3"

Love is trivial,
but not easily replaced.
Don't live without it.

~D.M. Higbee~

---------------------------------------------------------

The sun rising in the west,
Life backwards and opposite.
Lust into hate,
Death not our fate.
Dry into wet,
Freed from the net.

Would it satisfy our thirsts?
To set our world in reverse.

---------------------------------------------------------

Blacken

Blacken,

I stand gray, broken over the palm of my lover,

Blacken,

I open myself, I close you,

Blacken,

I see my face, shattered over the image of a thousand blues,

Blacken,

Slate and stone crumble, twirl and stand on end,

I see that what lies beyond your eyes,

Call to thee, my soul hopes for black,

but

My soul drips pure, pure, pure,

Blacken,

It is not black, no not black,

Black.

It is not black,

It is not black.

---------------------------------------------------------

rEalItY

there's a sudden

explosion

followed by a

death

a young one has lost

their life

along with all the

rest.

---------------------------------------------------------

What do you see?

what do you see

when you look at me?

do you see a SWEET little girl?

or SHARP GLASS disguised as a smooth pearl?

what do you see

when you look at me?

do you see a NICE young lady?

or an EVIL woman trying to stay shady?

what do you see

when you look at me?

do you see a STUPID little child?

or an INTELLIGENT adult wanting to be wild?

what do you see

when you look at me?

i wish you would answer

so i would know what to BE.

---------------------------------------------------------

BETH

Beth has pink hair

She is very tall

She used to have a dog with only one eye

But her dad shot it.

RACHEL ANDERSON

---------------------------------------------------------

Alone I sat in the pouring rain...

thinking, dreaming, waiting for you...

the day was bad, but the rain felt good

and the stars shone...it was beautiful...

like you...

but you never came...and all night long I waited...

---------------------------------------------------------

on the potters wheel

a small black fly

rubbing it's front legs

by Jack McKinnon

---------------------------------------------------------

As the sun falls behind the silky blue curtain of the sea, the darkness moves into chase away all of the evenings heat. It pulls at my mind, as the cold sets into my bones. I am alone in this world, this universe. No one to hold me, no one to love me, I am alone with my pain, my fear.

---------------------------------------------------------

He is there, behind the eyes, watching, waiting.

He feels nothing. A stone witness to my drama.

"Who are you"? I ask. "I have always been, it is you that is the illusion. Remove your mask and sup with me. Only then will you know the truth."

gecco@webtv.net

---------------------------------------------------------

The teacher sat in the dark, cold classroom. Oh! How she loved to give the mind a place to roam! the Joy, the Fulfillment was worth the wait, for the student that took the knowledge to heart, that pulled it into the vast mind of his. Yet, so many times, the Knowledge, the insight, was repelled, thrown back into her face. but the one life, the one soul that she changed, was worth a thousand others that repelled. Yes, the impact was made.

---------------------------------------------------------

counting backwards from zero

locked inside your cage

arms painted with scars

fistfuls of rage

twenty-four hours of night a day

four solid walls build my world

in this place where i play

men in white

the devil in disguise

forced to fight

and believe the lies

what would you do?

where would you be?

what we all lived through

is slowly killing me

mike

---------------------------------------------------------

How I do crave that stinging juice
praying it to slid a mercy down my throat
and soothe my aching nerves...
like a cup of tea.

But my stinging, satisfying juice
demands more crosses than just a smile.
I soon find myself helpless to its power,
And I feel its poison in my veins.

---------------------------------------------------------

So he says, to his big orange cat
this is the day
you get to go
on a diet.

His cat says
oh no I don't
and you just wait
until I let you have it
with my
big green eyes.

Thus, the beginning
and the end
of another good idea.

Jack McKinnon

12-16-97

---------------------------------------------------------

A Walk Down the Street 10/11/97

I walk down the street.

I see people holding hands,

kissing.

I think of how we were.

I see people sitting, talking,

laughing.

I think of the fun we had.

I see people wrestling,

flirting.

I think of when we met.

I see two kids fighting,

yelling.

I think of us near the end.

I see a man get into his car and a woman,

crying.

I think of us when it ended.

---------------------------------------------------------

(YOU)READ ME

My life

is a maze of

half remembered ideas and dreams

assignments

mean nothing

if you can only remember half

important

words leave me

till i can no longer concentrate

my life

is a blur

i can't remember what i was trying to say

---------------------------------------------------------

This space is not mine

and because it is so foreign

because it's openness feels too large

to be real I must own it, no one

else can have such enormity,

here let me fill it with my Being,

let nothing cease to invade my evey thing, shhhhhh

can you hear that? it's emptiness singing me

out of hell.

---------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes when i'm sad

And blue I close my eyes

And think of you

I think of all the time

That's passed, just like the love

That will last

I don't know a way to make you see

You mean, you are

The world

To me.

---------------------------------------------------------

what would you have me do?

live my life in lies, forget who i am, just for you

i stand with GOD and him alone

i don't need a misguided fool to lead me to the throne

you speak of warfare but i hear no conviction in your voice

are you afraid of being humbled? afraid to make the choice?

let me pray for you!

let me show you another way!

where we are all gods children!

imperfect in every way.

boofungus

---------------------------------------------------------

I sift through my memories-

they are polaroids of you and me

what happened?

what happened to that safe place we created?

why am I left in the dark?

crying with no one to listen

as I watch the future hope glisten-

and die out

---------------------------------------------------------

DAVIDJAMES aka CRAZYMAN

Do you love me?

I love you - -

I rejoice in writing it, I do

I love you - -

I rejoice in saying it, I do

I love you - -

I rejoice in saying it in a poem, I do

I love you - -

So let me; has anyone told you this today?

I love you - -

I do.

-charann

---------------------------------------------------------

Haiku Tiger

Speak Tiger, tell all.
Gentle Spirit consumed by the
long days, lonely nights.

Roar Tiger, bite wind.
Mighty deeds belie constant
sorrow. Death is swift.

Injustice - No life
fades greater from dignity.
Stripes that cover walls.

---------------------------------------------------------

PARADISE CITY

by: Brett L. Anderson

Paradise City made of gold
No one has to fear the cold
The walls are thick, the fire glows
In this city the treasure flows.

As thick as tears and sweet like wine
Love sustains the living vine
Sugar so sweet it shakes the heart
We never have to be apart.

If you want to be together
You can have my heart forever.
We will call this city ours
And love will bloom like spring-time flowers.

---------------------------------------------------------

VICTIM SYNDROME

i scream,

you scream,

we all scream

for me.

tobimac@webtv.net

---------------------------------------------------------

mosquito

you rest forever on my wall

i notice you when i am writing my papers

you had a family

you flew so sweetly

you basked in the warmth of my room

it all vanished so suddenly

i had no place

how could i be so reckless?

it is because i hate you

---------------------------------------------------------

! I AM, am I ?

I think you are, therefore I am
not a relative to your realm

I am above you, yet I am
within. I am certain you are from

me, you are not so sure I am.
I am your agent, your alarm;

you are free to decide if I am.
I am your soul, you are my helm;

if I was not, you would not know I am.
All you choose to add is the sum

of your subtraction from what I am.
I am absolutely, you cannot harm
me, you deny me - therefore I am.

---------------------------------------------------------

Colors

We are all the same color inside.

We all bleed red.

We all shed the same salty tears.

We all feel pain.

We all possess the power to learn.

We all have talents.

We all have a heart to be broken.

We all have faults.

We are all of ONE race,

the HUMAN RACE.

---------------------------------------------------------

Just Imagine a Blackbird

i speculate on what ifs

if onlys and what fors

i knock on wooden doors

i rattle locks on wooden doors

i bend bars of image magic

beyond all thoughts explore

reasons, hopes and aspirations

and dreams i now ignore

the precious and the weird

of poor dear dead Lenore

if only i could please you

what for it'd only tease you

what if i then should leave you

wanting more

---------------------------------------------------------

Band Trip Romance

After our competition, we we're off to the sea
First to eat, then to shop
Soon, the day went slow, other musicians gather their accessions

The sun went down, the party just began
I went to the phone calling my live and my family
When I returned, Not only were we not alone, but dancing

When I saw him, brown hair and gorgeous eyes
I thought my heart would break, but we danced
Giving him my friendship, in return for remembrance.

---------------------------------------------------------

TWILIGHT

The twilight in your eyes shall never die
The deepness inside you is where I lie
All of our feelings intertwine
The love within you I long to find

The power of desire you have given me
Is as large and gorgeous as the sea
All of my love, I cannot hide
I love you- I have not lied

---------------------------------------------------------

macbellth

round about the c crane go

in the poison coozco throw

magnet that sucketh out the stone

in 90 days or deal's undone

sweat or sucker sleeping got

whore who is cheaply bought

boil thou first inchamber pot

doubell doubell taxing troubell

reduce it all to a dusty rubbell

---------------------------------------------------------

Haiku Whale

Weightless majesty
gliding waters, deep and dark.
To breathe is to die.

Consciousness explodes -
Your life shattered, wasted for
insignificance.

Burning lamps light fires -
painted faces, bright lips that
never see your realms.

---------------------------------------------------------

KILN

Flicker fire-tongues,

sweet sparks fly - upward, carried outward

onto smoke-filled skies.

Hard brick, color-soft sends warmth into the

room where I sit watching sweet sparks fly.

Whiskey warms my belly, and

God, he warms my soul.

Would you were here to warm my bed.

Would you were here for me to hold.

Fire thoughts can hypnotize,

and eyes can stare all night.

Would you were here to meet my gaze.

Would you were here to hold me tight.

---------------------------------------------------------

OF THE SOUL

The days grow cold
My love grows old

Why in all my days
Do materials conquer my soul

Love use to flourish

In ways to make the heart shine

A warm feeling so nice
That a dagger couldn't cut

Now a dollar can tear it all away
Money looks all that

But this heart will not
turn on true love of the soul

davearoo@webtv.net

---------------------------------------------------------

Mirror

Amanda Albert

Mirror, mirror on the wall,

Where is the clairvoyance I used to behold,

Where is the superior vision,

That made short men tall,

Where is the warm stare,

That is now cold,

Oh strange mirror, mirror on the wall.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,

Why are human emotions transparent,

I want to see them all,

Why do people only remember the rules that were bent,

Why is love and happiness a form of rent,

Oh strange mirror, mirror on the wall,

Mirror, mirror on the wall,

Where is my sight and humanity,

You absorbed it all,

Please return my peace ,

Give me back my warm thoughts,

Kill the eternal beast,

Oh strange ,mirror, mirror and the wall.

A Path

By Amanda Albert

A path is created where all walk,

A path where colors or numbers have no value,

A path where confusion and illusion do not stalk,

A path which extends longer then the sight of one's eye,

A path which rings hatred dry,

A path that all possess but few are able to tread.

A path is created where all where all bodies may walk,

A path is created where all souls my express,

A path is created where all minds may talk.

Join me on this route, circuit, track, road , highway, pathway, passage of

equality

... and leave a trail ,

join me on this path

............. and leave a trail.

- Amanda Albert

Rest

by Amanda Albert

I just want to lay here

all alone , all by myself

and think of no one eles

put my body to rest

only feel the rise and fall of each breath in my chest

to hear my heart make its undisturbed rhyme

to ignore the tick of time

listen to my body talk and reflect

let my thoughts collect

to never feel the sharp swords of pain

to recreate my army , which protects me from shame and blame

force my racing mind to process slow

allow my wounds to heal and grow

no hands may touch me

no one to see , no one to be

let time wait

let the future hesitate

I must be put to rest

I must manifest !

The Haves

By Amanda Albert

They have their popularity ,

their pretty parties on weekends ,

they have everyone wanting them as friends ,

their genuine good looks ,

they have their good grade,

their social like made ,

their styles put on parade ,

they thought they had me ,

but I'm one my own personal crusade , I see differently.

All I ever wanted is one loyal friend , I rather stay home on my weekend , my

looks are too natural , my thoughts to bold , to be one of them.

I am no a have , I just maybe a have not , I am all I've got , I am all I

want.

You may consider that as having nothing , but it is having a lot.

Wide Eyed Little Girl

Wide eyed little girl,

Hair in braids,

Neck strung with pearls,

Pampered by maids,

Isolated from harsh worlds,

Emotions of pure black and white,

All grown up to the perfect weight and height,

A foretold future of decadence,

A past of remembrance,

Never herd of destitution,

Never joked about prostitution,

Wide eyed little girl never knew,

She has a lot of living to do,

Wide eyed little girl open your eyes and see,

Open your eyes and be,

Open your eyes and see me,

Open your eyes and see me be wide

By Amanda Albert

World

What does this labyrinth hold,

A world of soldiers told to be bold,

Best friends gone and came,

Media gives you foreign names to blame,

You trust them,

It is true,

Betray, lie, destroy it all seems right to you.

The longevity of life is no more,

You can not produce love when lust turns to bore,

What became of the society of aristocrats,

What became of the home for democrats,

We preach mania,

While we demolish suburbia,

We are given title by a test,

We hear only of the existence of the worst and best,

Don't turn your hearing aid up,

It does not help,

It is true,

Break , steel , rob it all seems right to you.

Life is not fair,

Life does not care,

Are you going to go down,

Are you going to let your life drown,

We all may want to be leaves blowing in the wind ,

But me , I don't,

I won't,

It is true,

Mock me , suppress me , hurt me it all seems right to you ,

It is what this world has taught you to do.

- Amanda Albert

---------------------------------------------------------

MOONDANCE

I watched the moon's full bright last night,

hoping you would see it too.

It's gentle half-light smiled awhile,

soft-ringed shining symmetry

reminding me of you.

I watched the moon's full bright last night,

hoping you would see it too.

The shadow's slow dance weaving gossamer

patterns on the lawn, rich with evening dew.

I watched the moon's full bright last night,

hoping...

---------------------------------------------------------

I Feel Like the Empty Pen

Lonely, empty, suffering,

Left in a dump,

Among wrinkled, creased,

Ripped up, and crumbled wood.

Remembering when I was needed,

Special, and had a use in life.

When I was full of spirits,

Stuck in a clean, washed, dry shirt pocket.

Riding high, looking down on the world.

But now looking up with hope,

and happy thoughts to be picked up

By a person who will hold me the same as before.

By: Icromnius

---------------------------------------------------------

4:12:79

Her simple sighs surprise

I turn to rise

Her shifting pose

To me disclosed

Her sacred thoughts

Though I ought not

To tell her so

I turn and go

---------------------------------------------------------

Spinner

the poet sits pensive

spinning ink into images

a happy prisoner

of rhythm's and rhyme

locked in a tower of dreams

behind a wall of words

she delights in the writing

weaving thoughts into feelings

and creating

a printed page

Maggie May

---------------------------------------------------------

injection

passion

fire

death

love

satisfaction

---------------------------------------------------------

Life

Life is a merry-go-round

Going round, and round

Loving, hating, living, dying

Life is a merry-go-round

---------------------------------------------------------

They told me I was a hero
They told me I'd be famous
They lied to me and you
when they said they'd come and us

The pain continued unabated
The pain just wouldn't go away
Stuffed full of lies
I thought we'd be OK

Why do I complain
And why do I whine
When all I've been doing
Is fighting for the swine

Inhale

---------------------------------------------------------

"Inside Me"

When I am alone can you hear my thoughts,

When I'm by myself do you know what I'm thinking.

Can you hear the voices deep inside me,

Or the tauntings that leave my heart sinking?

If you could would you care enough to listen,

If you could would you dare to help me out,

Or would you just give me a cold shoulder,

And let these loud voices turn to shouts?

---------------------------------------------------------

His blue life shot her garden black

Like summer he cry after sleep

Pedestrian please this smear could sour men's feet above all sweet breast

Sincerely not true if the urge some easy woman

Bye away hello

These essential delicious sad rose

Time less for what you are

-------------------------------------------------------

Free

Free of the bed,
Free of the pills,
Free of the blankets of when I was ill.

Free of the pain,
Free of the memories,
Free of the knowledge that I will be gone.

Free of the sickness,
Free of the illness,
Free of the cancer that took me from here.

Free of the pain of knowing that I will cease to be,
But not FREE, never FREE of the pain of losing my family.

---------------------------------------------------------

"Trail to Our Eyes"

Moving from the soul.

Created by emotion.

Propelled throughout with thoughts.

Greedy for release.

Anger, Happiness,

Joy, Grief.

Proving weakness, humanity.

We cannot look around it,

for it encompasses our vision.

Blurring, distorting.

Becoming overwhelming,

Traveling, pushing.

Careening down our face.

Leaving a glistening trail.

A trail to our eyes,

leading to our heart,

which holds the emotion

that bears our soul.

By: Icromnius

---------------------------------------------------------

You

In the tortured attics of my life

In trunks of tears...the memories of you

Lay dormant. At times for days, at times years.

Stale and musty, packed with regret,

They open in every unguarded moment.

I live and die every time I begin to browse

Through the moth eaten contents of You.

Here a smile there a laugh salt to the still

Open wound. The dreams of love's own lie

Written on the pages of my flesh come alive

Here in this room filled as it is with the

Aftermath of You.

---------------------------------------------------------

Marsh Harbor

Taillights, like twin strings of rubies,

Stretch across an anklet-bridge

Against a sky of wooly socks.

Slippers made of ships are tethered

In a neat row to the docks.

Warm gray-brown marsh blanket

Folded at the edge of the river bed

With distant island-pillows at the head.

The glow of the night-light moon quite soon will enter

As the town takes down her attic-clothes for winter.

---------------------------------------------------------

By: Franco Kordei

mauiguy@hotmail.com

**********

I dream of a tropical place

Where the ponds weave silken dreams

With daffodil Rhapsody

Surfing a six foot wave

And the warm embrace of your lips

---------------------------------------------------------

It's never day forever,

For night may come and day may go

but you glow on forever.

the sparkle in your eyes

leaves me in a trance.

your very sharp eyes

pierce me in a trice.

let me tell you

that these are not lies.

for love for you

in my heart lies.

---------------------------------------------------------

Arlington

In Arlington where the hero's lie

Cannons roar and frighten the sky

The blessed path the caissons travel

Strewn with solders thick as gravel

Free from danger

Free from fear

Stifled voices only God can hear

Arlington the eternal rest

Reserved for America's finest and best

COLE3@webtv.net

Elijah Cole Jr.

---------------------------------------------------------

THE LEAF

Stepped on

Trampled over

Buried in the soil of the earth

floating in the universe

Drifting in the winds of time

found by a child

somewhere out there

just to be stepped on and trampled over

COLE3@WEBTV.NET

ELIJAH COLE

---------------------------------------------------------

BONDAGE OF MATTER

EVERY ATOM OF MATTER IN THE UNIVERSE

IS A CONTINUOUS CREATION OF GOD, AND

MAN WHO WAS MADE IN THE LIKENESS OF GOD

MUST FREE HIMSELF FROM THE BONDAGE OF MATTER

IN ORDER TO RETURN TO HIS SOURCE

COLE3@WEBTV.NET

ELIJAH COLE JR

---------------------------------------------------------

One never knows how much is said

When words are left behind

Two souls who long have spoken

Can smile in their silence

And finally come together

Beneath a mist of water

Thrown caution to the waiting wind

And sheltered under storms

What neither of them has to ask

Echoes in the air

Perhaps they'll find the answer in

These dances in the rain.

****Dmitri Platt****

---------------------------------------------------------

Smile, darling

Lets play charades

I'll pretend that I don't know

If you promise also

What I've hidden for some time

Has now come to a head

And if you don't step away from it

I fear you shall be covered with

Pus

---------------------------------------------------------

Candy,

Candy is a delicious snack,
full of sweet,
Candy is a favorite treat.

Just one lick then just one bite,
you try to resist with all you might.

One last bite and one last bar,
oops you've gone to far.

That sweet tooth of yours,
has got to stop,
or you'll have a cavity,
right on top.

---------------------------------------------------------

in moonlight like december

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i want to touch

december's moonlight

finger-marking, recollecting

what

falls gently on

cluttered desk tops

through open windows,

and unlocked doors

in moonlight like december

this night air,

ruffling the pages of

an open journal

bookmarking your name

for only a moment . . .

---------------------------------------------------------

she walks in the sun

as faith leads her down the path

ah, what a beautiful soul

full of life!!!

how can i do anything but follow??

follow down the path

that she carves with

her heart

---------------------------------------------------------

MELANCHOLY.

WE SIT WITH OUR MELANCHOLY,

SO FULL OF OUR DREAMS

SO EMPTY WITH NOTHING.

RICHARD MULVEY.

---------------------------------------------------------

Being near you
Shakes my Soul
Wakens my Passions
Frustrates

Life's lessons hold true
Teaching us from our mistakes,
Bringing us heartaches
Molding our individuality.

My Heart
Softly Weeping, Breaking
Dying

---------------------------------------------------------

Your anger humbles me, your hatred is so strong.

Just exactly what is it that I've done so wrong?

Do you hate me because I Love You?

Or because I choose to care?

Do you hate me for the fact that you don't

want my love to be there?

Or have you based your final judgment of me from another's

point of view.....

Someone else who hates for the fact, that I choose to Love you too?

---------------------------------------------------------

Thou who hast been injurious to others by

the sword of there on tongue, will suffer at

the very depths of thy own stupity.

Omni G.

---------------------------------------------------------

SOULS

TWO SOULS ENTWINED FOR ALL TIME ,

I WAS YOURS BEFORE I EXISTED ,

BOUND ETERNALLY , AN IMMORTAL LOVE ,

HEAVENLY SWEET , IT KNOCKED ME OFF MY FEET ,

MISGUIDED PERHAPS , PERHAPS MISGUIDED ,

BUT CUPID MADE ME STUPID FOR LOVE AND I CAN'T HIDE IT .

----------------------------------------------

THE MOUNTAIN CALL

OH COME TO ME, THE MOUNTAIN CALLS

COME CLIMB MY COLD AND ICE COVERED WALLS,

FOR EVERY CONQUEST

THERE IS A PRICE

EVERY MOUNTAIN

DESERVES A LIFE...

COLE3@webtv.net

ELIJAH COLE JR

---------------------------------------------------------

FRIENDSHIP

Once I felt like a bird,

Flying free from the cage,

That not so long ago,

Held me in position,

Just today,

I am freed once again,

Because I like the cage,

And the solitary it brings.

---------------------------------------------------------

I may be blind

Yet I have sight

To see the darkness of the night

To hear the lonely owl in flight

To catch a word

A thought that might

Contrive to betray this man I am

This man I have become

Do not depict nor do describe

Integrity I must imbibe

Forgo your falseness forgotten friend

Forsake me not so we might end

Catastrophe

---------------------------------------------------------

Tears

By: Monique Watkins

They slide down my face

Because I'm no longer enclosed in your embrace.

They wet my shirt symbolizing all of my hurt.

Those water droplets that I spill

Can only be dried when I feel you in my heart and inside.

---------------------------------------------------------

Fish

Gliding silently like a Spanish dancer

Yet much more skill, more grace

The utter illusion of heaven floating

Into murky green-blue space

A human-infested angel's lair

Like spurts of sand into deep blue air

The inhabitants cursed

Of big souls with small brains

Not knowing to care when their meet is obtained

These mystical beings in wondrous lakes

What a magnificent creature for our creator to create

---------------------------------------------------------

I feel like I'm drowning,

I cry into my pillow.

My heart feels lost in a sea

of hurt.

I want to live a life,

I want to dream my dream.

I think it's pointless.

The routine is never ending,

the hurt never ceasing.

I need love to fill my soul.

---------------------------------------------------------

Lost

I lay in the cross-hairs of boredom,

Slightly blinded from love.

Feeling absent in a world of passion and romance.

Envious of those who live there.

Confused by those whom would rather not.

Struggling for words to say,

My heart falls apart a little more every day.

---------------------------------------------------------

I walk.

And now the soles of my shoes are worn out.

I walk.

And now I know everything.

---------------------------------------------------------

Love from afar

beats no love at all

Jessie writes daily

I wish she could call

She has a husband you see

but I am not him

she has children, yes three

an affair on a whim

Its a cyber affair

our lips never touch

but I dream of her still

am in love very much

Jessica's soul and mine are one

in past lives I'm sure we were lovers

but we missed each other this time around

so we must keep our love under covers

ImNoEinstein@webtv.net

---------------------------------------------------------

Burger King Boss

by: Heath "Beetle" Bailey

My Burger King boss is Travis Stovie

he is full of bologna

Travis eats too much macaroni with a lot of cheese

he tells us we should always say please,

When we ask to speak to Toni

Toni is the man

who gives us our raise

if we receive a lot of praise,

from Stovie.

As for Toni

he is the big stromboli

who gives us our pay check.

---------------------------------------------------------

a haiku:

the lights are all off

everything is black as death

since the day you left

---------------------------------------------------------

a haiku:

blinding flash of light

deaf'ning rumble of the earth

cleansing swath of death

---------------------------------------------------------

a haiku...about Thanksgiving:

are you thankful for

family and friends and love

or football and beer?

---------------------------------------------------------

Paranoia (Haiku)

Demon in my head,

dancing, whispering, plotting.

I am on to you.

Stress (limerick)

A man worried over a simple sprocket.

He would rather sweat over it, than sock it.

He was such a big stresser.

He had high blood pressure;

And his head took off like a rocket!

Death (free verse)

Most fear it

Alot fight it

Many deny it

I welcome it

In my own time

In my own way

On my terms

Death is my friend

---------------------------------------------------------

Holocaust

Holocaust, a 9 letter evil word. When someone says it to a Jew hurt and pain rise up. Also the question Why. Why were we so bad? Why were we so diffrent? Why were we so wrong? These are questions with no answers. Why?

Clair

---------------------------------------------------------

---ILLUSION---

stop walking, run

forget your coat ,hurry

no need for money ,go

the time is now, move

you have to leave, pronto

run like the wind, eratic

fast as lightning, dissapear

go go go their on your tail

you must hurry, must not fail

off you go, you can never look back

quicker your out the harder to track

i'm ditching that love, vanish

i cant let go , conceal

and i wish this battle was real

but you cant win love

cupid's a sore loser

-----------coydog----------------

--------------------------------------------------------

with and without

without and with

I could live with your love

Yet without it would be fine

You lie and cheat so... without

you love and cherish so... with

you the only one I will love so...with

you are the last one I love so...without

last Friday...without

Tonight...with

I trust you not break my heart...with

yet you already have...without

I can live with your love...without

clair

---------------------------------------------------------

The aging sun arcs downward,

the quiet moon slides,

suddenly slipping in silky ink,

through the clouded sphere,

shot through with glittering

glistening beams of quicksilver,

that pierce the growing abyss,

shifting the space and spinning

tales of fantasy love and war,

rolling time through loops of reality,

weaving the dreams that lovers dream,

shrinking the memories all from before,

lighting the path of wisdom and wealth,

that treads on the feet of eternity.

---------------------------------------------------------

By The Sun

Time waits for no one,

we live our lives by the sun.

Tears shed by a full moon are

forgotten with the morning dew.

Wishes made upon a star are

compiled in a book of far fetched dreams.

Along with the others...lie my dreams of you.

---------------------------------------------------------

The death that is coming closer

ever closer to us all,

never stops,

never thinks,

never cares who you are,

or who you leave behind.

It is coming for you.

Every second

brings you closer to it.

You can never stop it;

you can never delay it.

When it comes for you,

when you are in its grasp,

you can never go back.

It never questions

or sits for a cup of tea.

Nothing can delay it,

nothing can prevent it.

When you die,

you are dead.

---------------------------------------------------------

Night

Night thins and darkness collides

Yet wide awake I lie and hear not a sound in its coming.

The world's silence is what keeps me awake.

The nothingness that pervades and seems to empty everything in its passing.

I am swept up by it's tide and can only float in it's wake.

Knowing that like the flotsam and jetsom that surrounds me that I too am empty.

---------------------------------------------------------

Death

Death's hand grasps with quiet intensity

like a thief in the night.

What a strange yet welcome friend I find you to be

After the hours and years of pain

you finally came.

Yet never when I asked,

Only when my pleading ceased.

Dean Collett

---------------------------------------------------------

Fingerprints

Please don't pity me.

I had the chance, but never tried.

Now I sit alone, and wonder.

Where did it all go?

That is one thing I can count on, that I will be alone.

Alone, with my soul covered with fingerprints of those who have past.

But left to wonder, do they remember me?

For I can't seem to forget them.

Dean Collett

---------------------------------------------------------

UNTITLED

Return the day of night fall

black man rests

there amongst his associates

high above the crest

shines the prince of myth

never lets them down

nor either does he shift

to a lower ground

the associates beg his forgiveness

and exploit his blackest gifts

long for the day

when night is all there is

---------------------------------------------------------

SUNDOWN

It's sundown

east of the Grand cayon

time to come home

away from

carnage

of human merry-go-rounds

of grimaced wood

of suits of tweeded dollar bills

of gnarled attitudes

of uniformed seeds

of doused hopes

of peaceful sleeps

of rickety carts

of pulled out dreams

of the terror

of man's deeds

It's sundown

---------------------------------------------------------

I am ralph Turturro...email

profhum123@zeus.odyssey.net

It was great to see my poems on open mike...but sad to see no name under them...

my poems were

THE ONION AND THE ORANGED PEELED

UNTITLED

J.T.

SHINE

WOULD IT BE TO MUCH TO ASK IF YOU COULD RUN THEM AGAIN WITH MY EMAIL UNDER THEM OR MY NAME...THANKYOU..

unrec. poet!!!!!

---------------------------------------------------------

J.T.

she walked into

slid under

danced

her teeth over my spine

I respected her

both times

we killed birds

and ate well

for several years

she was complex

but lied

about the simple things

it ended in a seedy room

in New York city

---------------------------------------------------------

SHINE

first we are in the heavens

and the other worlds

we have no bodies

we are pure thought

we are one in the same

as the light

we hang around

for longer than time

then when we're ready

we fly down to the

most appropriate vehicle

to relearn what we knew

just to practice forgetting

and when we relearn it all

we go back again

to the heavens

to shine

--------------------------------------------------------

AS I WANDER AROUND

THE SAME THINGS I ALWAYS SEE

IN MY HEAD ,IN MY HEART

ALL AROUND THEY ALWAYS HURT

I MUST FIND MY WAY,BUT NEVER SHALL I

I LOVE MY DREAMS MORE THAN LIFE

I DON'T KNOW WHY ?

BUT I ALWAYS WAKE

Updated December 3, 1997

"DEMON SEED"

I wanna bite the apple, I wanna kill the snake

I wanna skin him alive for heaven's sake

I wanna bite the apple ,spit out the seed

cause the lord knows I'm the demon seed

in revelations or on page one

when he comes calling the deed is done

I wanna eat the apple ,I got the hunger and need

for the taste of Eve the morning brings

I wanna bite the apple kill the snake

take all the blame, it's not her mistake

Written by Travis Ray Cole

---------------------------------------------------------

The wind whistles outside my window

Rattles my window,

As the trees dance to the melody.

The sky grows dark,

As the street lights flicker on.

The wind blows with great force,

Screaming and attacking the trees.

The sky grows black

to allow the wind to attack.

The streetlights are the lights

In this mad darkness.

The rain Starts to fall,

Cracks of thunder and flashes of lighting

Interplay as the wind plays a new melody

With the rain tapping on my window.

---------------------------------------------------------

Through

Your words cut like daggers into my soul,

ripping thru my "bleeding" heart.

Overconfidence reeks from your pen,

as you have mocked me from the start.

What should I let go of my Feelings for you?

Would that make you happy?

Would that make it Through?

I cannot make you that promise,

To abruptly erase my Love.....

I will hold it here forevermore,

And pass it on to the stars above.

---------------------------------------------------------

I CAN TELL THERE'S A PAIN DEEP DOWN INSIDE.

A PAIN YOU MASK AND CLEVERLY HIDE.

BUT YOU FORGOT TO WASH THE TRACKS WHERE

THE TEARS HAVE DRIED, I CAN SEE YOUR PAIN AND

TELL YOU'VE CRIED..

---------------------------------------------------------

Paranoia

- drifting alone,

spectral sounds are foreign

to untrained ears

keep walking

lamp posts call your name

just keep walking

is it the lamp posts or yourself?

the paranoia is killing you

delusions are in minds place

your going to scream out in the dead silence of the real world

then you walk in the door and put on the tube

-tutts

---------------------------------------------------------

"When I Think Of You"

I think of first look,

the look that made me,

think,

Think of what you had to,

offer me,

Then I think of that first though,

the though that made my skin,

quiver,

Then I think of that first kiss,

the kiss of true love,

Then I think of being with you,

knowing that nothing can,

stop whatt we have started,

on the day your eyes met my.

By,

Katrina L. Hull

KATDAD16@AOL.COM

---------------------------------------------------------

Massive rock

oppressive sky

barren night

sweet silence

comes the hooded one

end

gecco@webtv.net

---------------------------------------------------------

German grave

The dark cloak hides the pain

and piercing death.

Cherubs do a melancholy

dance with bones.

Iron bars surround this

frenzied tomb

and hollow eyes keep

careful watch.

Crowns of stone seem

painted black and red.

A tortured prince lies here

forever damned,

yet somewhat admired

by a modern man.

Impaling thoughts of a twisted,

misguided leader

draped with casted curtains

chipped and worn

moves a spirit within

the stony ground.

---------------------------------------------------------

"DIVORCE"

LITTLE GIRL DON'T CRY,

YOUR DADDY HAD TO GO BYE,BYE.

HE WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER,

HE LEFT TO LOVE YOU BETTER.

DON'T YOU SHED ANOTHER TEAR,

FOR YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR.

PRINCESSKYEE@WEBTV.COM

---------------------------------------------------------

"CHOOSE LIFE"

by: Melinda Walker

Run, scream, laugh, cry,

have all the fun as time goes by.

Life is precious, so sweet and fine.

These days its the only thing on my mind.

Too much time wasted,

choose life go on

and taste it!

Positive thinking,

No use blinking,

No bets and no regrets

Just put it to the test.

princesskyee@webtv.com

---------------------------------------------------------

War is hell we're sure of that,

especially where our boys are at,

fighting fighting all day long,

no time to ask where we went wrong,

no time to ask the reason why?

WhY?

by Jackie Sater, 1972 Vietnam

---------------------------------------------------------

The silver dagger

Is now crimson

With my pain

It tears through my soul

Carelessly breaking me apart

It doesn't care

That my eyes show the pain

Of an aching soul

Other colors hold me together

With threads of hope

Holding together

The wounds of pain

That the dagger slices

So carelessly.

-Jenn King-

jking@whitman.gmu.edu

---------------------------------------------------------

It's as if the angels

Came out today.

The clouds cascaded

Shards of light

On the brims of my face

Leaving me

With an essence of

Pure Joy.

I felt the sorrows and angers

Of yesterday

Escape into the dark

Clouded corners of the sky.

I felt

Pure Joy

When I thought of you

And for once in my life

The angels smiled down on me.

-Jenn King-

jking@whitman.gmu.edu

---------------------------------------------------------

Swallowed into the darkness

Lost in the mist

Hidden under a rock

Never to be seen again

Mixed into a memory

Lost inside a dream

Erroided into a river

To float out of a mind

Lost in a sunset

Washed away from shore

Misplaced in the sand

Not to be seen anymore

The dream was lost

One summer

In an endless attempt

To grow up.

jking@whitman.gmu.edu

---------------------------------------------------------

Hearts of glass

guarded

none shall pass

behind our mask

we're safe, we hide

longing for love to share the ride

Gecco~

gecco@webtv.net

---------------------------------------------------------

Who is that guy with the big head? Big Head? Big Head.

Who is the guy with the Big Big Head,

Lets look under his skirt.

Look up, Look down,

your Buttcrack made

a frown.

Hello, Faruk

I ate a rotten snake.

Pee up, Pee down,

look all around,

moles live underground.

Nii nu, Nii nu,

robin williams.

---------------------------------------------------------

Concern.
Richard Mulvey '97

Dark streets damp,

With sounds of eerie laughter

and parents searching for children.

---------------------------------------------------------

GOD AND DEVIL

OFF THEY RIDE

GOOD AND EVIL

SIDE BY SIDE

TO SAVE MY SOUL

WHERE CAN I HIDE

IS THERE SOMEWHERE IN NATURE WHERE ANGELS SLEEP

WHERE GOOD AND EVIL DO NOT COMPETE

OR IS IT THERE'S ALONE WITH AWFUL SWAY

TO RULE OVER MANKIND AND MAKE THE WORLD OBEY

COLE3@WEBTV.NET

Please, I am scared. Send me back to the AHA!POETRY Homepage .

I've enjoyed this, I'd like to explore the Archives some more.

OPEN MIC ARCHIVEDECEMBER, 1997

OPEN MIC ARCHIVE
DECEMBER, 1997