Category: Poetry

And ah 1, 2, 3, 4…

play that guitar, hit that drum
grab your partner, pass de rum
forget de cost of living hike
forget how money tight.

grab your partner, spin her around
clap your hands, sing me a song
sing me something not too sweet
sing me something that feels my heat.

play that guitar, hit that drum
grab your partner, but pass me de rum
clap your hands, sing a song
nothing too sweet, but feels de heat.

forget de cost of living hike
forget how money so tight
lets dance to de moon light
lets dance til the morning light.

Hair

I was getting rid of some boxes that’s been just sitting in a corner of my apartment.  And I came across a book that I thought I had misplaced.  It’s the Collected Poems of Robert Hayden.  Flipping through the collection I came across a favorite, Snow.  The reason I think I’ve always enjoyed this piece is that it uses so little to express so much.

Snow by Robert Hayden

Smooths and burdens,
endangers, hardens.

Erases, revises.
Extemporizes

Vistas of lunar solitude.
Builds, embellishes a mood.

 

Here’s my attempt at using as few words as possible to express my feelings on my hair:

Hair

Nappy nappy
springs split-ends
soft wild dusky velvet.

Bold black beauty
spry leaping panther
rich as the Nile
subtle as wisdom

Nappy nappy
springs split-ends
soft wild dusky velvet

₣7 Across, and 18 Down

Got, swallowing spurious crossword-puzzle
chucks of spotlights to choke on.
A golden casket, yawning
prominence, port of then rides!
Tripping channels like waves, your
servings: words gullible full
say and not say, drowning in
in a wild sizzle that burst.
Got, conjuring certainty
with prays on Fridays, drinking
on credit, flicking a lung
aside a curtain, Always
hustles for platinum chains:
a diamond in a watch tells
time better, chicken wings and
chicken things, quick wicker sight
cruising down Broadway, Park Place
a Lexus teething gold rims.

A Taste of Vanilla

ice-cream-pic-21
by COCOYEA
ice-cream-pic1
by COCOYEA

Mask a howling
behind a curtain
tattered together letters
embroidered pieces of paper.

Pray for a taste of vanilla.

Brush her hair back into a braid
revive the smooth bump
imagine her shoulders
finger her firm even skin.

For a pair of fireflies
moonlighting days
light a room full of candles
kiss her eyes gently
watch them squint awake.

Ah, Panacea…

photo by Craig Marston
photo by Craig Marston
With this pull
crawling on all fours
a killing ease of breath
with this swallow
comes a lush
spawning a dancing line
bitter burnt out
cool regret.

With this…
as slender spirals
rush the room
careful of the outer air
exhale gently
as appetites loiter
a mouthful
Panacea.

It’s a Matter of Calcium

Chad Coombs
photo by Chad Coombs

 

Now ah days, these vitamins
they so smart, they so smart Ho!
You take one of them
and they know just where to go.

This is the second from the series: Vitamins & Photos.  I was watching the news one day, and one of the headlines was called: It’s a Matter of Calcium.  Apparently, according to the reporter, there was a growing epidemic where pre-teens were not getting enough calcium, and as a result were suffering with broken limbs. 

Vitamins and Photos:Revised

Ferenc Horvath
by Ferenc Horvath

 

 

caught up with the night
for five long years
I got caught up with the night

 

I lived in an apartment in Washington Heights, NYC, that overlooked a drug store, called Vitamins & Photos.  I thought it was a hilarious name for a drug store, since they obviously sold more than just vitamins, and processed photos.  In any event, I was drawn to this name/title, and decided to use it for the above poem.  Which then, inspired me to create poems around this theme, Vitamins and Photos.  With the help of some very creative photographers/artists on Flickr, I decided that I should also have photos that maybe, sometimes translate the words visually.

On WHFR

I read (out loud) two Sundays ago on WHFR, which was really exciting.  I haven’t read aloud…for years.

It reminded me about how important it is to hear the words you’re speaking, the importance of pronouncing your voice, the completely unstable voice. 

I met some really uplifting artists at WHFR.  It was like an arts commune that ranged from reading excerpts from novels and poetry manuscripts, playing live music, comedy, improv…   It was an apartment full of breath, full of buds ready to flourish in this time of uncertainty, a room filled with togetherness. 

I read 8 of my poems, and played a couple songs off my band’s full length (Love, Lust, Sci-fi & Monsters), and our self-titled EP (Telenovela Star). 

Here’s the list: BackSpaced, The Season, Mania, Architecture of “You”, Soucouyant and Loupgarou, Vampire from Telenovela Star’s Lust, Love, Sci-fi & Monsters album, Elma, My Imaginary Margin, Brown Girl In the Ring, A Plum from Telenovela Star’s self-titled EP.

Listen here:  Reading on WHFR