OPEN MIC ARCHIVES
December, 2004

ON HOLIDAY AWAY
Mary Kate Lindsey
 
my mind is on holiday
you can ask me to move
but i wont go away
 
drifting toward the sky
ice skate on a cloud
and a cat flies by
 
it screams out your name
i listen but i dont hear him
though i give him a fish
a prize for his game
 
grand colors of paint
on walls of sky
 
and i might stay
why would i want
to fall to the grey
 
my mind is on holiday
and i might stay
but i wont go away
 

-0-

the days seems to be deciduous remembrance
when i have a good thought
the pious days of friendship gone to but pretty noble
the days of shattered failures doesn't worth a word
when i found something coming over
the days debonaid for one good reason
but how was i to know
the days look inane to argue
but its imminent rumour
the odd days become even
when good look bad
the days are dynamic
but how to stop the emotions
those days become static
when they like to query me
the days contain pretty good words
when they have had an everlasting smile
o Almighty tht's why u gave me ur words
somedays are meant for u
somedays are meant for us

bhuvan

-0-

ON  THE  ROAD
BY  LIP  SAI  LIN
 
INSIDE  A  CONFINEMENT
THAT MOVED WITH  YOUR  DESTINATION
ROAD  EXTENDED  BEFORE  YOUR  EYES
GREENESS  STRETCHED  ON  YOUR  SIDES
MOUNTAINS  SUDDENLY  GAVE  WAYS 
BUT  BUILDINGS  STILL  FAR  AWAY
SOME  SPRINKLED  LIGHTS  BLINKING  TO  YOU
SILENT  TOLL  ASKED  FOR " TOUCH  AND  GO "
LOOKING  FORWARD  , THE  ROAD  NARROWED
FORCING  ON  , THE  ROAD  BROADENED
JUST  FOR  YOU  AND  ONLY  YOU
BEFORE  YOU  FINALLY  ENDED  UP 
IN  A  STAGNANT  CONFINEMENT  CALLED
YOUR  BUSY  OFFICE 
OR YOUR OLD SWEET HOME

-0-

 
WHERE'S THE LOVE
Kevin Fox

I shall come from which I was
To enjoy my birthplace
To look at that friendly face
To take time from this race
And to have my own space.
I shall come from which I was
 
So that I may be at peace
With myself and others
To speak and teach my sisters and brothers
That which I can help my mother
So that I may be at peace.
 
If it wasn’t for those people who opposed
Maybe I could enjoy my endeavors
And reach those who are cleaver
That they can grab that lever
So all things can be better
If it wasn’t for those people who opposed
 
There would have been more that rose
If many windows weren’t close
With no way to open
And all you can do is keep hoping
But the words can’t come out and you’re steady choking
And if they weren’t froze.
There would have been more that rose.

-0-

Ode to Rumi
-Cicero.

"Cicero says there is no dollar.
A dollar is not because you know it is not.
Dollar died in 1968 . . .

[Hold up a Prop which says]
r0x0r86: There's nothing in Fort Knox! 
HotSoccRChic:  LOL
[in silence for 10 seconds,
and you can use any two made up screen names]
 
 . . . You burn a piece of paper
And where does the Thing go?
Burn my heart!"

-0-

If you want to get in touch with Me
Then
Do exactly what You should do, Dude. 

 

I AM WHO AM
One.
Get off the symbol and just Be

 

Yo!
Listen!
Go beyond the poem for once.
One, two, three, four, five!

Zack Pesavento

-0-

Morning Melody for Paul Bouissac
Anwar Putra Bayu
Like that twins brothers
behind the apartment window
they’re drinking wine and
Accompanied by cigarettes
 
Recording all things
out there
 
Camps that stood
on a running winter
and beats who’ve locked their self
there’s all jacket’s taken off
 
Life at heart is not more
than a circus at nite
death always follows as he likes
just like a blind love
when Cassandra was confused
by her own heart
 
Though that ugly down
came to cheer days and
Sumatra tigers with their scary voices
it’s better than a life with emptiness
 
No more than that twins
behind the curtain
Walked to the table
and wrote about all things out there
days are just like an acrobat
there exists a clown, luck and love
 
Even death
whenever he wants to
just like twins brothers
me and you
no better than
just a record

-0-

artaud’s hand
1978, coloured drawing, 11”x14”

ARTAUD'S HAND
 walt christopher stickney
on this island thyr is a bird every 50 feet.
even in this church  on that branch  in the winds.
but u may not see them now.
u feel them fleetingly as u do a close friend
somewhyr else getting by.
i was brought hyr by the wine star above the waves at night.
i often see it. i have drunk deeply hyr for 12 years.
i swim at night.
these birds fly towards it but never leave 1 another or this island.
they r in love  united  n happy.
i was brought hyr by a great winefather, a birdfriend.
we touch the profound birdchildren as we seek an inner light.
we often help them to fly widout wings.
we sing mozart in r little school on the prairie.
the songs have gone out through the gods  through all of us.
on this island thyr is water everywhyr n stars every night.
hold the winestar close widin n let the birds enter u to drink.
this island-world will b reunited today wid the marriage of ashes
di mia parenti, helen n bernard, 1 mile out from the lighthouse
in the atlantic hyr. amen. peace. pace. per tutti. for me.
toss all your flowers overboard. bring on the cello.
now the heron is aloft the empire.
let’s circle this island n go home. yes?
 

-0-

Applied Theory
Zara Haider
I looked at the sky and saw my chance for freedom
I would have flown, If only my wings had not been clipped
 
I sit here now, and look up at the sky
It has just rained
And the fluffy white Jesus clouds, come out from
Hiding here and there
 
Never do they fail to capture my attention
I sit, looking at them passing me by
With each cloud passed, my chances of
Free existence lingers and fades
 
I do not understand why they send us here
I cannot comprehend
The purpose of our existence
 
My life is a story of sin
My years a torment of illiteracy
I have been covered in a veil of blood
From the soul of an innocent being
 
Hopes run wild as the thorns, prick randomly
Dreams escape as the world turns upside-down
 
Do you now understand the will of Satan?
Do you now understand my will?

-0-
Don't stop the food.
DANIEL.ATHERTON
It's so good of you to feed me during this winters day,
It makes my life better knowing where food is to be found come what may.
 
But please don't stop, "but" keep up the supply!  because I'm used to calling every day and without it I'll probably die.
After all been said and done, It's only food you'd chuck away,
You've finished with it, You've said it's done, But for me it means a lot more it's the difference between life and death,
Who could want for more??
If you feed me I'll to you will give "My company all summer and songs galore"
I'll try to look pretty and my best,
Not leave your garden i'll even eat your pest!
All this for a little waste food and a drink of water, just for a couple of months Lets work together, lets come up trumps, Ive listed the hardest times, there the following months,
JANUARY/ FEBRUARY/ AND MOST OF MARCH, After this it's time to nest and after that I'll keep my churp and eat your pest and teach my little ones how to fly and leave there nest,
And the difference between the friends I've made and the bugs and pest.

-0-

  A World Without
                       By Deborah La'Sassier

Have you ever thought
how frightening it would be,
living in a world without friends or enemies?
People who are incapable of feelings,
Spend most of their lives being miserable and unhappy.
There is no sorrow or regrets;
When emotions are hidden
and you lose self-respect.
People could not be diverted or entertained,
when there is a thin line
between the sane and the insane.
A world without fear
would be a horrible place to live.
People would do whatever they want,
they would do whatever they feel.
A world without ethics
would be a debauched place to live.
In a world like this only corruption would live.
No merit, no conscience, no emotional feelings.
In a world without, there's no happy ending.

-0-

INNER SPACE
     Alan B Warner
I look within and find abiding there
A universe unfolding in my sight
A world so vast and rich I pause to ask
From whence it comes this energy and light.
 
I look around, discover naught but me
Yet not alone for deep within I know
An essence from which all existence forms
A seed which causes everything to grow.
 
I float among the planets and the stars
Breathless and alert with growing joy
I sense the wondrous peace creation brings
And marvel at the grace it does employ.
 
From inner space I view eternity
With vision altered, sure to realize
When I return and once again perceive
My world, I’ll do it now with open eyes.
 
For now I know the world around me forms
By following the path my nature gives
And I am one with all that ever was
And all that ever was within me lives.

-0-

My  Midnight Embrace
Edwin Flores
 
Watch and wait is all I can do
Patiently sitting, stirring moments of you
Still cling to my heart as ivy scales walls
Inside of my soul once again I free fall
 
Hitting the ground I wither in pain
As if someone threw these feelings insane
Into a spin, appears all is loss
Where once love did live, emptiness now the cost
 
But hope still cries out and shakes me again
There is a slight chance it's far from the end
Where battle I do ,  I  still see her face
Feeling now whole, my midnight embrace
 
Darkness whispers to me, a heartfelt goodbye
I breathe in real deeply and let out a great sigh
For sentiment lives where once she did too
Stolen moments still kept,  that today see me through

-0-

Understand 'friend'...
    This has never been a one way street.
    People die out here trying to live, I know...but
    we're supposed to be cool like that.
    I would have given my life to take back everything that was said...
     Would've given more to take back the actions that took place...
     but what could I say but things happen?
 
     2002 was not the year for me.  A girl done grown up now
                 all forms and sizes.
     I've locked my scared spirit behind my courageous one and
               decided boys wasn't what I wanted my life to arouse from.
           I don't let girls play in my hair and don't let them tell me
                     they care and say we're best friends.
                         That shit had to end.
      Cause, like you Eureka, they don't mean it. 
               They say it cause they never had someone to say it to be4.
          They say it because they know the other person feels that way.
             But now adays...game recognizes game.
                 If you wanna step to me and try again, just remember...
                      A bitch ain't the same.
                            On that strong.
                  Shaquana's put up with that bull for too long.
 
                       Ain't really no quiet after the storm.

Shaquana A. Briggs

-0-

                            The Sandman Comest     
                            Guadalupe Gonzales

             In my dreams I yearn to see my dearest ones my family,    

 and while in thought I wonder to the moments that I've shared with you.
  I've willed my mind to seek you out and of my love there is no doubt.
  I've grown addicted to your love  the which there's no withdrawal of.
 
 And so I seek throughout the night to search you out with all my might,
   but then I wake to discern this again my prayers they've gone amiss.
    How I do envy my friend though and he does tell me that it's so,
 that he has seen them in his dreams not mine but his how odd this seems.
 
  Is not my heart tuned with my mind are they at odds and cannot find,
    to take the time to make amends because on them my soul depends.
    I ask each night before I sleep that while I travel in the deep,
    they come to me that I may see  the ones I long with them to be.
 
      Release this torment deep in me rescue my soul return to me,
      and in my mind I'll make a map to visit you in times of nap,
   and laugh and play with you again and while in sleep to you attend,
   like times before when I would host to you who mean to me the most.
 
     But I can't tarry in this though the sandman comest I must go,
    and so I bid you all good night to drift into my evenings' flight.
 

-0-

Let The Sunshine
Amanda L Whittington
Let the sunshine on you
let the rain fall in your hair
write to your hearts desire
tell us what is fair

Smile bright
and smile loud
give me your poems
and make me proud

Let the sun shine
let the words rhymm
let it go
It's your dime

-0-

Free Verse Cannot Be Measured
Gary L. Stephens
The words I write just seem to flow
If I can see your need to know.
An image then, I try to find
Within my heart, before my mind.
 
And when they come, they'll fit some rhyme
That breathes along at it's own time.
It's like a flute that flows with air
and in my hands the notes declare.
 
But, then I heard a man rehearse
A poem he wrote in free verse.
I've known of them, and sometimes tried.
This creative wind always died.
 
But as he shared I saw the words
Catching the wind like soaring birds.
In joy they piped a time or two.
But mostly, in the sky they flew.
 
We poets paint with words our scenes.
And hope you see what all it means.
My rhymes are birds within a cage.  
But free verse birds the wind engage.

-0-

 When walls are speaking.
Mattias Kroon

Staring into the wall. It looks like it wants to speak to me.
I will answer to the call, to the wall´s call.
 
It call´s me to think deeper, to flicker the less.
The wall reminds me of hinders between people.
 
It reminds me of a solid character, I want to grow to.
What a mess it would be, if I should destroy it.
 
What a work it would be to build it up again.
Where are you from, and what will you gain?
 
I´m staring through the window, and it reminds me of the future.
A future with more clarity, and sanity.
 
Now, it´s raining, and that reminds me of hovering thoughts,
coming down, from seas of heaven.
-0-

 

Dreams of
half-poured houses
my mothers absenteeism
and my stepfather's looming presence
that grey buffoon
pirate
patriarch
with a single
unfulfilled dream
of Vietnamese murders
Jungle Jim Jones
Adventurer
baby raper
rice daddy
war caper
 
He'll lay the foundation
after the kill
elation.

Sarah Brooke 

-0-

Mirror of Language
Sarah Stiltner
My guilt kneels on the altar-tip of a pen;
There is no repentance in this purging.
I seek redemption in revelation
but find only a denial of salvation
by the truths reflected
in the mirror of language.

-0-

 

It starts slow, works hard, to pull the weight
Of all the freight
Train
Of thought
So slow don't know if it will leave the station
At all,
Ever
Now
Or if it has left before
 
People have sat in front of this train
Wondering where it will go
The long hours it plows from city to city
From home to home
From coast to coast
 
What is my destination?
What do you read in my face?
 
The freights are old
This train belongs to the people of the city
Graffiti
A familiar face
A shout out to let you know that
I am here
The people are here
This train belongs to the people of the city

Jacquelyn Rocha 

-0-

End A Search
by Bill Albright
 
So we search and search again
for life's meaning, the why
an empty cup, a fleece
symbols we regard
as our inherent importance
more than the grains of sand
lying on a beach, kissed by waves
with no consent nor morals
only an act ignored
repeated endlessly.
 
Tides ebb then flow
as we humans
come and go
holding empty cups
seeking the alms of being
from never enough gods
multiplied, invented
as regularly as the ebb and flow
waves kissing the sand
while we search for meanings.
 
End such search
accept us for what we are
beings with limited space, time loaned
for moments called life
scenes with love and unlove
muddied with reigns
of invented gods and goddesses
made in the image of the makers
humans destined, never divined.

-0-

Plaster cast
Daniel North
My nascent negative
Casts a lugubrious mask
It congeals and sets quickly
Like a sallow emaciated husk.
 
Inundating in dead batter
My archaic apparition; continues on
Without a heart, without a smile
In the malleable ersatz of relief.
 
Filled by gasping bereft
Black angels feed from its cold contagion
Dewlapped in insolent languor
To debauch this desultory mollusk.
 
Enchanted by the great covetousness
Of the pallid concave impression
But dropping and breaking in pieces
The tenuous person that lies underneath.

-0-

RADIO
JAMES KING

The radio plays the thoughts of those who play and they play the thoughts that they have about life. They play the dark and sad songs that fill the unwanted times they wish they could forget in a song filled with anger and pain that pierces your ears like a winter wind that chills you. They play the parts of their lives that are filled with confusion in a song that seems to go in a cirle that will put you in a trance that will haunt you for days and months and years and will eat atyour mind and devour your thoughts like a rodent that fears the invincible hawk that will eat him as it stalks him and haunts him like this song. They play their songs of love in a song that has joy and lust for more of their affection this song will capture you and keep you prisoner for as long as your ears can stand it. When these songs are heard together you will have a feel the hypnotic feeling of peace that will calm and arouse you to feel these feelings. So next time you feel remember the rad!
 io that plays and plays and play your own song that reflects you.

-0-

Rolling Off The Tongue
ian sawicki
Seasons roll off tongue,
sweet taste weathered blissful life,
magical tilts dance,
spinning cycles of our new
tomorrows in wings
of beauty to view with laughs.
Earth spins atmosphere
across wondrous subtle life.
Spring caresses dawn:
awake with yawning dewdrops
filled with soft magic,
a breath of fresh air inhaled,
exhaled by all lungs.
Flowers push through earth in search
of sun's pot of gold,
rays of magnificence roll
across fresh petals unfurled.
Summer delights the blue world
with shades of bright green,
mountains thaw a little more,
songbirds gather notes,
quiet appreciation,
ballads of pure love.
Autumn colours leave their mark
with rusting promise
of breath to new life later,
cycles spinning loud
delight with warmth's subtle shine,
preparing for cold
snaps of fallen snow freckles.
Winter breaks the ice,
blankets of white wine sip on
bright chilled reflections,
restful ways blink and then stretch
all the branches bare.
Soon musical notes will ring
for spring to give birth anew.

-0-

Homebound
       Ives Unreadsould
           As long if my shadow is besides me, I am not alone
           As long if my lamp is on behind me, I am not scared
           As long if my cautiousness is with me, I am not sedated
           As long if my memories are with me, I am not oblivious
           As long if my hours is timed in me, I am not young
           As long if I am inside here for me, I am homebound

-0-

I flew around the moon and
saw something i've never seen
in a rainbow coloured insulation
it took me somewhere i've never been
i've never felt so warm and i've never felt so free
its like the summertime has come
its been so long finally
when the sky is gray and leaves are falling off the trees
and my heart is filled with ice looking upon the scenery
but i will always forgive you Summertime every time you come to be
i just forget the cold and loneliness no matter how much it continues to hurt me
it seems to me, Summertime, when you illuminate my sky
you create a sudden picture
that pushes away your winter
but you can't believe my smile
so you recall to me December
i simply say to you "i don't remember".

Flutaby

-0-

Lost in the Night
by Randy Lane 
 
I saddled up early that Sunday mornin’
a calf came up missin’ somehow through the night
Not yet a day old as helpless as can be
and not a sign of him anywhere in sight 
Well this put me to thinkin’ about a lamb
that a good shepherd had went out to find
He looked high an’ low ‘til he found him
to return him to the other ninety nine
Well all of a sudden I heard a cry
from a baby calf stuck down in a hole
Lost from his mom ma through the night 
how he ever got there I guess I’ll never know
 

-0-

MOON
Ronin Stewart
 
I see you staring down at me,
so old and wise, a comfortable eye,
Surrounded by friends, your never alone,
the world is your garden, the sky is your home.
 
I know I can trust you, my secrets you hear.
You always have time to lend me your ear.
I wish I could climb up and see what you see,
make everything clear and set myself free.
 
If I could, I'd open my wings,
fly high to the clouds, and look down upon things.
Large fields would become boxes of thought,
but I'd gaze down and smile, for now they can't hurt.
 
The wind would guide me and find me a path.
Guide me through choices I wouldn't normally grasp.
However in time my wings would grow tired,
but not before my spirits inspired.
 
Then I would have to come back to land,
help me back up, please lend me your hand.

-0-

My America
mary missildine
I was thinkin' about my country
when i boarded that big plane.
I turned around and i saw beauty
as far I could see.
 
I am proud to be going
to help fight to keep her free.
That's the reason that i'm on my way
That's what she expects of me.
 
Said i'd be comin back soon
and get down on my knees.
I'll kiss the soil i'm standin on,
This land of the brave and free.
 
My America
My America
God gave this land to me.
My America
My America
Where i'm blessed and i'm still free.
 
There were many close calls
every where I turned.
I seemed to avoid it all,
but this one time i learned,
I won't be coming home.
The Lord said He needed me
the reason for my bein gone
only you will see
 
So if I had the chance to ask you
to do  one thing for me.
Stand up tall, walk outside
and kiss the soil  for me.
 
My America
My America
God gave this land to me
My America
My America
where I'm blessed and I'm still free.
 
Thank God for America
I can be what I wanna' be
In America
My America
for you and me
 
My America
My America
God gave this land to me
my America
my America
where i'm blessed
and i'm still free

ENCORE I

ENCORE II

Poems Copyright © designated authors 2004.
Page Copyright © AHApoetry.com 2004.

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