OPEN MIC ARCHIVE


OPEN MIC ENCORE I 

OPEN MIC ENCORE II 

February, 2005

TSUNAMI
In memory of all those who perished
December 26th 2004.
Edwin Flores
 
With crushing waves it came to land
leaving behind death and the damned
With no remorse all in it's wake
would suffer great birthed by a quake
 
It's calling card spread far and wide
many still cry and ask God why
Children orphaned,  families broken
many in shock, not one word spoken
 
Tragic the toll, there is no count
some still missing,  death tolls still mount
Disease in air,  a stench claiming
it's presence here and life it's draining
 
A child whose eyes read so despaired
A man crying now who will care
for  those now dead,  so many lost
the price of life,  thousands the cost
 

-0-

ABOUT DISASTER
Yupril Kamarullah
When disaster comes
it's what have we done
to the people, nature, and God

-0-

The Tsunami Tragedy
Jeffrey Goh
The Day was Bright and Sunny,
The Sea was calm as usual,
Just then, Tsunamis Came,
It bring forward debris,
Pushing sand and water to the land.
 
The land was flattened,
People screaming hysterically,
Body scattered around,
Nothing is spared,
The world wept
 
Around the world help came,
Touching and Heart-warming scenario been felt
No more tsunamis, no more
May all missing be found
May all lives be save.

-0-

  A Wave Of Tears
- God Have Mercy On Us All -
Ken 1/17/2005     
 
The world changed for good on one fateful day
It was December 26th of 04
A quake in the ocean create a wave
It devastated homelands and more
 
Thousands of people lost everything they had
What they wore was all that some saved
When the walls of water had returned to the sea
What it left were the children of the wave
 
Children of the wave more than 10,000 strong
Were orphaned by Mother Nature's might
Just surviving that day does not guarantee
That the end of the tunnel held light
 
For children that survived there are parents who lost
Kids of their own on that day
We can't possibly imagine the agony and pain
Of watching your family swept away
 
The clean-up is massive and could take ten years
Disease and starvation will come quick
We must reach in our pockets and send food to the hungry
And medical supplies to the sick
So we as a people must put differences aside
Come together and do what we can
If we dig deep within and put our hearts to the test
I know we can rebuild the land
 
We can rebuild their homes, their churches and schools
We can send them our love and our prayers
We can show them their future is just around the corner
But we can never erase their nightmares
 
But what must not happen above all the rest
Is to forget of these poor peoples plight
We can all do our part by simply remembering
To include them in our prayers every night

 -0-                
Mother Natures Blues
By Itumeleng Motuba
Sweeping her house to course a hurricane
all comes with knowing she gets no break
She sneezes and a storm erupts
drizzling icing like sweet snow crystals
You know she is an artist As she paints the trees green in summer, erases colour in winter, keeps to browns in autumn and goes colour crazy in spring
She sips her martini from a stream of life
While blowing smoke from her chimney pipe
I call her Mrs World as she is committed to the earth
She weeps and floods fill Mozambique
She coughs and China catches a monsoon
she can't help it Mrs World is just having a bad day.
At once she had to feed her millions of children Switch on the sun, polish the stars, dust the moon and put the planets in order.
But today she takes a back sit, to take in a deep breath coursing a cape gale force Volcanoes erupt with her hormonal imbalances.
The ground shakes and the earth quakes as she pounds her drum to mimic her hearts beat, beat
She throws out all the things she does not need anymore the object fly sky high like meteors
She goes to her wall to view her nations coluje
while thinking of decorating the desert with a mirage
subdued by dew and mist she never thinks of slitting her wrists
she might have woes and knows her does
she'd rather play her saxophone to calm her blues
with her feet submerged in the ocean
trying to untangle her emotions
Leaning over the horizon She watches her mood with the sun rising
It's a new day, it all starts again and life for Mrs world goes on and on There goes mother natures blues

-0-

The Human Teddy Bear
Joelle Crystal Willsey
I sit here
All alone
Nobody loves me
Nobody gives me a home
 
And so these tears they fall
Not just for me but for others
I'm not the only one who cries
 
I need people to hold on to
When there is no one I fall
And when I fall I break
 
So I sit here
In my depression
In my lake of tears
 
Sad
Alone
And forgotten

-0-

A TEAR OF A CHILD
In memory of my loving Grandmother,
Ila Irene Schow Swenson
1914-2003
SHALESE MARY PETERSON
A tear of a child,
Is special and sweet.
A tear of a child,
Is fresh off a cheek.
A tear of a child,
Is for your sweet lips.
A tear of a child,
Is for you to kiss!

-0-
THE TOURISTS ARE BACK IN PHUKET
by Tim Torkildson
 
The tourists are back in Phuket,
with corpses around them still wet.
Ignoring disease
and beggars faint pleas;
it's over their suntans they fret.

-0-

Tender lights upon my open face
once closed in so deeply hidden away from the outside space
I have groveled and given myself so easily away
Whatever this game is, God please make it go away
My eyes are slowly opening to the brightness of each day
As I grow older in my absent youth,
I feel like I have thrown so much life away
Still running from my own self yet searching for my own place
Don't let me leave here without giving the rest a taste
Taking down my hair to let it grow
I think to myself . . . I can dance,sing, and sew
Why am I disintegrating into dirt
when I can bloom with just a little water?
Why was I blessesed with being my parents' only daughter?
Open me up so I can love
and enlighten me from up above
for I am tired of fighting everything
I will heal I just need to walk from my sins
Dark angels do not stay
I am done with the price I've had to pay

Jennifer Ricca

-0-

THE PLAYGROUND
Joi Graves
 
Laughter
The color green
Envy from those who want
Smiles from those who seem to have
Children

-0-

CLOSED EYES
Devonna Kaiser
The sky was gray
the ground was black
a thousand bugs
on a small girls back
there stood a young lady
no older then twenty
her eyes were closed
she couldn't see
then the small girl
managed to scream
"can somebody please, please help me?"
the young lady opened her eyes
the young lady heard the cries
the young lady began to see
the little girl was her baby

-0-

HER DEATH
Cynthia Lewis
 
Old woman
Heart lighter than a dandelion
From fragments sent ahead
Drifts away
Drifts away

-0-

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM
by Jill Marie Hoel
 
My Mother is so special to me,
a friend who was always near,
someone I could turn to,
to listen or shed a tear
 
I know I told you often
how much I loved you so,
but I could never tell you
as much as you should know
 
Now that you are gone from me,
I think of so many things
that I want to tell you,
but the phone will never ring
 
Happy Birthday my dear Mommy,
I send wishes to the above,
of the joy you always gave me,
the joy of devoted love

-0-

SILENT CONTENT
By Abu Bokor
 
If I was to write the beauty of a moment,
A silence in which my dreams reside,
Words and time could not make atonement,
For the quiet in which my heart decides.

-0-

 I have no job, I said
They did not notice
 
I have no money, I wept
They did not hear
 
I have no food, I cried
They did not care
 
Today, grief all around
With the fear of death looming large
Me and many with lives so similar
Homes and children
Fed to the sea
We have been affected, they say
 
Those who
Did not notice, hear, care
Today they ask, our well-being
They care for our life
They fear our death
But the price we had to pay
For our voice to be heard

Jamuna

-0-

GRANDPA
Suzy Riek

Giving us treats
Really enjoying our company.  We
Ate chicken patties and we
Needed our polka music.  We
Did not forget to turn on "Days" at noon
Pass me the miracle whip
And get me a pop.

-0-

Inchadoney

Dave Lordan
I  have run my heart down
to a fading blue line

where headlands infrequently erupt
like cells beneath a microscope
 
I hope to be drifting as salt
till the sun stops pumping light
 
to be slowly devouring this coast
the invisible teeth in the brine
 

-0-

On the shore
                     of receding waves
                           gulls bicker

                               -Patrick Sweeney

-0-

In the name of God I live again
As if I was in death domain
In fact I was and sure I will
Return to life from deaf remains
 
To gain the faith I ever seek
I have to try and stretch to peak
To dominate all the weak beliefs
That used to lead the hopeless freaks
 
 Beautiful body will shelter dust
But beautiful soul will ever last
Faithful heart can feel the fact
And faithful mind can dare to act
 
Deep the ocean, within the sky
Beauty lives and used to sigh
To tell the man come near and try
To count the gifts which never die
 
The gifts of God will give the way
For man to think and stop to play
And wake up from his endless sleep
To dedicate thanks for God and pray
 
Above all those and more in hand
The fact that most don’t understand
The merciful God does not aggrieve
Who never follows his demands
Or take the innocent livings for
The mistakes of the evil bands

Alfateh Safwat

-0-

Filling the Void
Joshua A. Parker
 
There are times when I just let my hands tell it all
Words materialize by the fury of thoughtless expression
So the questions that plague my conscience mind
Fall to the strength of One that sits in the middle of time
With all the wonder and beauty that surrounds
It's so perplexing that we are still grounded to a world so round
Why haven't we left yet?
I thought our intelligence was top shelf?
They said we are the top of the food chain
Proclaim to the heavens to let us go on about our business
Finish what we started since the days we used to dream in the sea
See to it the our twinkling kin will welcome us
Usher in a new age of understanding
Undemanding, undamning
Unmanning the fragile ways of explanation and classification
Class has been waiting for the true nature that is one
To be taught the way that isn't shone
A law that is not written
Yet in our inner reflection, is sitting
Hinting every time I try to look into the glory of the sun

-0-

LIFE
By Lauren Markowitz
 
My life has flowered through the mountains of this world
Down to the oceans where it meets the bareness of water
And to the life that only air can hold
My life has brought me through trying eternities and minutes of pure purgatory.
Through joy and pain, splattered in paint on a wall meshed together they look like one and the same.
I have been to unlimited extremes
Heard nearly every feeling muscle in my body scream
Only to find the vacating mushroom cloud
Of what I thought would be the longest lasting childhood dream.
I have seen everything I have ever believed in walk out the door
And seen myself fall to my knees only to pick myself back off the floor.
I have walked and talked to people I don’t even know and understand that their hearts would be the last thing they wanted to show.
I have understood more than I will ever claim to know and I guess life throws us all in the face of a flexed bow and the arrow spells out disaster, for there will be no happy endings in this life of a negative forecaster.

-0-


Four Friends
Don Sizemore
 
          RAIN, you must be my friend,
          Weeping openly,
          As my masculine pride
          Forbids me;
 
          SUN, you must be my friend,
          Laughing brightly,
          As my masculine reserve
          Forbids me;
 
          WIND, you must be my friend,
          Howling inconsolably,
          As my masculine arrogance
          Forbids me;
 
          SNOW, you must be my friend,
          Caressing gently,
          As my masculine ignorance
          Forbids me.
-0-
Fearful
Tim Davis
The hard times I have brought to mind
The one’s who’ve fell from the open sky
They were hoping not to give up life
I won’t be the last no matter what its like
Because we, are children from the past
Nothing will compare nothing stays the same
Some try, but fall right on their face because it’s the way we live
Fearful of what life, brings on
Helping them had made me stronger
Why hadn’t they told me, I was far to kind?
Wait don’t show me I like the way this all rewinds
Play back the pictures in my mind
Show the people like me show the people who try
Some try, but fall right on their face because it’s the way we live
Fearful of what life, brings on
It’s hard to say I can’t wait to go
Because it’s the way we live fearful of what life brings on

-0-

TSUNAMI
Juliet Nadela
All over the world people rejoiced
Warm greetings, exchanged gifts
Joyous laughter echoed everywhere
Our savior's birth, a reason to cheer
 
But amid the laughter and jolly merry making
Death came to spoil the fun and inflict pain
Deep in earth's crevice was wrath erupting
To replace laughter with wails of mourning
 
It was supposed to be a fantastic sunny day
Tropical destination chosen for the holidays
But woe to them whose hearts filled with mirth
For alas! The destroyer has come to bring grief
 
Sucking ocean's deep with avenging hatred
A tsunami coming with tremendous fury and rage
Its ultimate goal was destruction and death
As thousands of bodies piled cold and lifeless
 
Now hear their cries of lament oh, savage Death
Hear their deepest wails of mourning and grief
But you can never totally crumple man's faith
For in God's mighty hand lies his inner strength

-0-

Dear Soldier,
Brandy Mayfield

We have been torn apart,
By Gods will,
Now your up there looking at me,
Watching me cry.
Hoping and Praying what I've been told is a lie.
But I know its not.
But I know you fought.
Fought for your country and our freedom.
I know you loved me.
Thinking of me as your final breath leaves your lips.
I just hope you knew how I felt.
How I love you so!
But I think it's my time to let go.
No matter what tho,
No matter how far,
You will always have a special place in my heart.
I will love you until the day I die.
Thank you soldier.

-0-

FALLEN SOLDIERS                                 
   by Thomas E. Sobon                               
                                   
Upon the sand he falls to die                               
And doesn't know the reason why                             
A soldier dying in his youth                                
Believing he was told the truth                             
The weapons he was told were there                                  
Could not be found…..not anywhere                                   
Misled by leaders who deceived                              
For obscure ends to be achieved                             
Again, again, the soldiers fall                             
The men we loved when they stood tall                               
Johnny, Jimmy, Harry, Phil                                  
Tommy, Dick and also Bill                                   
A husband, father, brother, friend                                  
Their worldly journeys with us end                                  
No more among us will they walk                             
No more unto us will they talk                              
But from their graves we hear them shout                                    
What was this war we fought about?                                  
... Unless Iraq you can explain                             
The fallen soldiers died in vain                  

-0-

Color Blind Soldier
April Perkins
What happens when a soldier is color blind?
When everyone looks the same.
How does he know which side is right?
How does he know which side is wrong?
Does he shoot, without seeing?
Does he kill without knowing?
Your side is always right.
The enemy is always wrong.
You are your opponents’ enemy.
The enemy is his own side.
He fights with the same codes.
You follow your orders, he follows his.
You both fight for a cause that is above you.
You fight for a justice that some have never known.
Could you shoot your brother if he was on the other side?
Would you lay down your weapon and talk first?
Or would you shoot than ask questions later.
Would you fall to your knees and cry if he died?
In God’s eyes everyone is everyone’s brother.
At the gates of heaven could you explain why you shot your brother?
Would you fall to your knees and cry for your brother;
your enemy?

-0-

         In the declaration it clearly states all men have equal rights
         If this were so true then why did we yet struggle and fight
         Marching down the streets in 63 chanting all through the night
         Why did some stand by us but most just shrugged us along        
         Taunted, yelled, and teased "go back where you belong"
         If it wasn’t for Martin, Abe, and Rosa would equality still be gone?
         If im pitching bogus someone please tell me im wrong
         I love the land I live on because that was long ago
         I just feel love is pain and pain is love like Allen Poe
         There are words like united that send chill’s through my soul
         I sit back and think and I smile I’ll cherish those till im old
         If countries were items some would be like coal
         I look where I live and know its 20 carrot gold.

Conrad 9

-0-

THE FRUIT OF DESTITUTION
F. Vazquez
In the gaiety of poverty
I’m happy as you please
paying  my rent
with drunken smiles
celebrating my choice
of subsidized afflictions
 
Its not me you see
clothed in the sun
bleeding thoughts of glory
toiling
amongst the colorful dead
 
I sweat black earth
share scars with straw hats
whisper intimacies into
restless pools of light  
as green bananas
fall from the heavens.

-0-

Twilight
Juliet Nadela
I watched the sun’s farewell spectrum
Reflected in the distant horizon
Dimples etched as he smiled
Trying to tease grieving mankind
 
He had witnessed my agony
As I labored in vain through the day
I can hear his silent laughter
As he let darkness to take over
 
Sadly I gazed at the western splendor
As again the sun gaily moved on
Leaving me teary eyed and weary
I wasted life, satisfying my vanity.
 
Strenuously I labored for silver and gold
For earthly cravings, I strived for more
Oblivious that in my next journey
I shall leave the world, palms open and empty
 
Now at my life’s twilight, came reality
Spend not precious moments selfishly
Better strive for things that spell eternity
And leave behind a living legacy

-0-

DUSK
ASHOK NIYOGI
 
When shadows crowd the cul de sac
And one creeps up your window-sill,
Basketball whoops magnify
Cars kiss bumpers,
The rhymeless drummer
Beats his tin pail;
 
When night insolently stares you in the face
And dares you to produce one more sun,
You know it is time to retreat
And live to fight another day.
-0-
From The Inside
Jodie Hughs 
I look into your eyes
and see of things untold
I look into your chest
and see a heart so cold
I look into your mind
to find hidden pain
I look into your soul
to find pouring rain
I see in your face
the need to be alone
I see in your actions
the fear of going home
I hear in your voice
the sound of a rising flood
I hear in your cry
the sound of boiling blood
All that hidden anger
locked inside your soul
has started to escape
and begun to take control
A storm has been released
and is raging through your mind
To scared to ask for help
in fear of what they'd find
Your world so safe and simple
has been totally blown apart
The road once warm and bright
is now suddenly cold and dark
Finally the storm blows out
and begins to fade away
The surface becomes calm
until another day.
 

-0-

I see this world as meek and misunderstanding these times,following the wrong signs. Submissive souls doing as their told just because some politician man says so. Working for that pay with nothing left to say when yesterday feels just like today. Forced to avoid true joys of life as the politician won't let that go. Truth would disinigrate power if we were to know, the reason I don't support a vote. Structualized society to favor he and his kind, levels of life from low class to high. Stretching our wills to benefit his life, everyone fighting for the bigger piece of pie. His struggle is to control your mind, keep you down and legally blind. Endless materials, and economical times, where does it go when we all die? What does it mean when I hear people cry? Block the exterior and look what's inside. Ignore what he says and learn your life. The politician wants you to listen to his vision, at the same time cause confusion. Much easier to control us in this false illusion. Build!

 ing jails and religious institutions. Keeping us away from the real solution. Holding us in a state of division. So called preachers speaking of heaven and hell, separating you in your afterlife as well. I won't be fooled by these cults and religious mindspells. We must look for the signs and read between the lines, and never let them take control of our minds.

Steve Lozancic

-0-

WHAT IS THE TRUTH?
          by
    Loyd David Burt
 
 Systems of belief and worship
 Taught to me in my distant youth
 Shows that truth has it's religion
 And every religion has its truth.
 What is it we are to believe
 When science explodes each myth
 That a smidgen of the truth remains
 In the threads of each tallith?
 Does the truth run through the bible?
 Is there substance in these tales,
 Or have we been brainwashed with religion,
 Do we know where truth prevails?
 For each truth has it's religion
 And each religion has its truth.
 I believe in the Spirit that resides within me
 I believe in the Spirit of my youth.
 
Systems of belief or worship
 Have been with us since our time began,
 Introduced to control the people
 Despite man's inhumanity to man.
 For without such Spiritual deterrent
 Social structure would wilt and die.
 So if there's no truth in our religion,
 Is all religion, just one big lie?

-0-

Important to Whom?
by Bill Albright
 
A unique feature of thought
Is content of the mind
Too expensive to be bought.
 
Simplicity's facade complicates
The veneer of civilization
Thick and thin.
 
Curiosity is seldom simply spent
Seeking what, who, when
Never the why, if, the should have been.
 
What is important?
Who created gods and goddesses?
When do we learn to smell the rain?
 
Questions then become gems
More so than answers texts supply
Wisdom seeks the obvious denied
Important to whom?

-0-

My Journey
Ankan Dabral 
O God, where might you be now,
When in my memories you I remember?
To you with folded hands, lowest bow,
Seek guidance through life’s meander.
 
O Friend, where now do you dwell,
That my eyes fail your sight?
I want for me you to tell,
That my path is safe and right.
 
O Brother, do you hear my voice,
Across the lands, over mountains high?
I am ready and made my choice,
Pack my bags, the journey is nigh.
 
O Love, to you a question I now ask,
As I set out, will to stride;
Will you for me, do one small task,
Take my hand, in this journey of life?

-0-

Autumn Walks While Silence Talks
Peter Howard
Along the lane at moonset,
On early morning walks,
The moon is caught in a misty net.
It’s then that silence talks.
 
Soon sunlight casts its gentle rays
Upon the sagging wires,
And coats them with a golden glaze
That glistens and inspires.
 
They’re strung in tiers between stark poles
Like precious necklace strands
And adorn the day, which now unfolds,
Throughout these the sunlit lands.

-0-

PYRAMIDION
by Jameel Heath
 
Autumn on Earth,
Autumn of man,
Autumn to which my face gives birth,
capstone coming around the bend,
completeing the anchor that's stood so long,
we walk with torches to each chambers end,
a king has come to fill the tomb,
a mausoleum where no bones lie,
carried the light through ages of doom,
there! right there I see a womb,
hell is where we just past through,
when no one knew the false from true,
that mystery which feeds the Sun grew weak,
but now awakening continues to brew,
Followers of Horus built the great clock,
all that's left is to turn the lock,
rouse yourself shepherd and water the flock,
down the halls a riddle is written,
etched upon the timeless rock,
serpent bearer sits between two lines,
thus another must join the twelve great signs,
the three sets of four containing her,
upon bemused time this monument dines,
our seal shows what new Atlantis must be.
   

-0-


The Hangover from Hell…
        Ken  4/24/2004
Can I tell you all a story?
It’s one I need to pass along.
It’s so damn unbelievable
It could be a country song
 
I was chilling in the backyard,
Drinking, soaking’ up some sun.
My workday had just ended
It was time to have some fun
 
I was listening to the radio
Dialed to station 103.
When I look across the patio
What do you think I see?
 
It's a furry little creature
That had climbed down from the tree.
He was wearing dark sunglasses
And he was headed straight at me
 
Now I know you'll say I'm crazy
But he had this soulful walk.
Not only was I seeing things
But the bug began to talk
 
He says” Excuse me there my man
Could ya cut down on the vibes?
I really need to get some rest
Cause I've got me fifteen wives"
 
With your radio a blastin’
I can't get me any sleep
Your music sounds like people screaming
It scared away the sheep
 
By this time I am not quite sure
Am I having a real bad dream?
Or is this some little alien
From a world where he’s supreme
 
When he thinks that I'm not listening
He climbs up on my chair
He says, "I see the lights are on
But is there anybody there”?
 
At this point I am stumped
And I'm not sure what to do
I thought that I'd seen everything
But this was something new
 
So are you going to turn it down?
Or must I call my friends
Its' at this point I realize
This has got to be pretend
 
I said, "Now look you little creature
Go climb back in your tree
Don't make me get up off this chair
Just leave, stop bugging me"
 
I'd hate to have to squish you
But I will so go away
You're taking up my party time
That's all I’ve got to say
 
I knew right then I'd pissed him off
Cause he set his glasses down
He rose up on his four back legs
And began to go to town
 
What happened next I'm not quite sure?
But I woke up in my bed
Had bruises up and down my side
And this pounding in my head.
 
My wife came in says "how you feel"
Like I been stuffed inside a trunk
Can you tell me what really happened here?
She said, "You fell down stinking drunk”
 
It’s not the first time I’ve felt that bad
It’s happened to me before
There’ve been times I can’t remember much
And times I’ve waken up on the floor
 
But it's the only time that I recall
Being happy to feel this bad
If I wasn’t drunk then that must mean
I got whopped by a bug gone mad

-0-

CIRCLING BACK AROUND
Adam vanderhoofven
In time all these errors in judgment
will be judged accordingly as sin
and all the things you thought you got away with
are circling back around again
and you will pay heavily for all of them
for they will destroy you in the end
by dimensions concealed to the human eye
bringing disaster we can't even comprehend
 
Throughout our days as we multiplied
the light that we followed has faded
as we entered this reality stumbling
through our minds the senses were created
with hardships defiling the morals
unknowingly our souls have been traded
and as we walk into this blazing inferno
a purity will finally be reinstated

OPEN MIC ENCORE I 

OPEN MIC ENCORE II 

 

 

 

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