Author: poetryfest

Your body etherized becomes
planet
compliant celestial natural
resource
abundant with fields of terminator seed
dreams
enriched with all the forever plastic plastic can
buy
fortified head to heel with drivable online able
sprawl
fulfilled with residue of faster food and mood
fixers
quenched from banks overflowing with glacier
thaw
illuminated by billions of headlamps fueling bull
markets
elated AI declares man wins man versus nature
war
gratified robot labor can drone bombs and deliver
babies
rejuvenated from cosmetics extracted from carboned
reefs.
Alarm beeps and sirens evaporate the anesthetic
buzz
consciousness shoots up, cells cold sweat subdued
regret
pain invades lethargic arteries and soberly
bones
make a stand and emit a deforested shadow’s
plea
for what on earth she has not in stores for us up
roots
the weeds of greed and vines of me so we
see
selfless creeks, tend genuine community gardens
then
kiss to death the brute nature that manufactured
this us.

Routine was you.
Sleeping,
I coddled in the blankets you slept in
I saw you in my dreams.
Eating,
I consumed the things you loved
I took satisfaction in being fed.
Showering,
I soaked in the smells you took after
I treated my body to the clothes you gave
me.

Routine was once you.
Now that you are gone,
I am met with uncalled for reminders
and seek pieces of you,
through friends and motions of everyday.

And in spite,
Sleeping,
I deprive myself of rest,
to be reminded less.
I toss the covers to the other side,
which was once yours.
Brushing teeth,
I scrub the reminders of our last meal
together
I floss you out of my teeth.
Brushing my hair,
I let the bristles collect dust,
where your hair is still tangled.

Showering,
I rub my skin raw,
with uncented soap.
I want to throw on your shirt anyways,
but anger dresses me now.

And with eyes puffy and lips fiery
I drap it’s burs over my shoulders,
and pile your gifts in a corner of my room.

Routine is now me.
I must learn again to do it myself
To find happiness in the mundane
and care for myself rather than caring for
you.

I am no longer walking with you,
But walking beside you.
As inscrutable as it is,
I must embrace it.

mary jane- a response to lies by ana sage

my problem is that i smell my vanilla perfume and i think of me and of you and i think of
guns and white nectarines and then when i smell my vanilla perfume it starts to smell kind
of like weed
and my vanilla perfume starts to smell too much like you
and then i think of smoked salmon bagels and candy cereal and how you texted me at 4
in the morning
and i can just see your body crumpling over the hood of the car and impaled on your own
knife
when i said smoke i thought of what wildfires leave behind when they die out
but you thought of last night at 4 in the morning and 911 calls
my problem is that when i smell my vanilla perfume
i think of what you wrote on the decrepit wall above the baseball diamond and the chalk
smeared across my fingers when i reached out to touch it
i think of my fingers interlaced with yours and how your hands were always too cold and
how they shook
i can picture your funeral and how i would scream at your mother for being your mother
i would scream at everyone is the pews that this was your fault
and that your white chalk outline on the fresh tar was my fault
and that i ate white nectarines last night at 4 in the morning while my phone buzzed and i
knew it was you
and i didn’t pick up
because i knew it was you
and now when i smell my vanilla perfume
it smells extra sweet, like a rotting corpse.

If you asked my parents

“What was the worst year
Of your youngest daughter’s life?”

They might tell you age twenty.
Because that’s the year
A bottle of pills
Found their way
To the bottom
Of my stomach.

But that wasn’t
The worst
Of my experiences.

If you asked me
The same question
You’d get a more accurate response.
I’d tell you age seventeen.
The year I lost control
Of my body.
7 times in one night.
I’d tell you of how
To this day
I can still feel

Her hands
Running on my skin
Like knives.
Over and over
7 times
One after the other.

But in my house
We don’t feel trauma.
We hide it.
Bury it.
As far as it can go.

I learned that,
When at age ten
I asked my dad

“Can we tell the police?”

And he scorned

“Of course not.”

So, I tried.

Believe me, I tried.
With everything I had
I tried to be like them.
I carried shame and avoidance
With me
Like my own children.
For years.
Never letting them out of my sight.
I took them with me
Through assaults,
And broken beer bottles on the floor.
To the tops of mountains,
In oceans, and rivers,
And lakes.
To concerts, and schools, and work.
With friends, family, strangers.

But when I tried
To bury myself
As deep as my traumas
It didn’t work.
I couldn’t breathe.
For some reason,
I am not like them.
I cannot push the pain away.
Maybe it’s because
My senses tell me
I am still there.
How can I avoid
And shame these feelings away
When they refuse to leave my side.

I wish more than anything
To be like them.
To live in avoidance
Like bliss.
To use a substance
To escape yesterday.

But yesterday
Keeps coming
Faster than tomorrow.

I just can’t keep up.

For whatever reason,
I’m not like them

Puppy born without ears, unable to hear, deemed useless, death foreseen
Aegocerus saves the Laconian dog later becoming loyal Cadmean
Since, each others side remaining, puppy becomes dog with his man of many years
Living lowly, ignoble, performing favors for fellow man
Labors not always well-meaning or moral, questing without question, integrity kept
through ignorance

Crusades rarely lacking consequence, they wronged the electric witch
Lady luck had left their hands, the fates places would switch
Zeus renowned for seeking revenge, sends after them his Castorian
Dionysus acknowledging they had no fault, tells Cadmean his destiny is to never be
caught

Laelaps, canine made of lightning and obedience
Born in Pleonos from the wolf made of stars, Zues’ sunless child made only to serve
The glowing golden hound made to hunt any being, destined to catch its prey
His eyes, infinite voids of indifference, and his teeth a hundred blades of zinc

The Castorian could be seen from a million miles away, its aureated skin glowing in
the saddened sun
No matter how good the hound was at hunting, his glittering body incapable of
keeping hidden
120 years the man and dog spent, traveling, keeping distance
Years were catching up, enclosing the space, safety was so fleeting

Hidden in wood and undergrowth, they lie in the loam
Enfeeblement of age has entrapped them in the earth
His Laconian lies in agony, refusal to die destroying him
Aegocerus’ only friend suffering from his loyalty, man faces amicicide
Now sobbing, screaming, overwhelming grief, no longer caring for concealment

Laelaps mere moments away, running full force, identifying direction of sound
His last stand, Aegocerus accepts suicide seconds before being devoured
Predestiny never fulfilled, beast becomes flowing river, runs till end of times
Zues turns deceased companions to constellations, for Laelaps failed to kill
Cadmean the Laconian, prevailing over the Castorian only through deat

She loved the sun, he didn’t. He worked the graveyard shifts, she worked the morning.
She lit up the room, he was misunderstood as gloom. He had few friends, her friends’
faces were a blur. She was always moving, he stood still. He enjoyed the natures’
beauty; she wanted the next fad. She had her head in the heavens and stars, his sight
narrow. He crooked as they came, she was a star. She was fuschia pinks, he was berry
blues. He was night and she was day. But they both died in that car crash.

Hey there one and all
Welcome back
To the warmly lit space
Of our learning nook

So take a seat
Get comfortable
Allow yourself some peace of mind
Because today
We will be talking about something
Enormous
And it may take some explaining
Here or there
Just to contemplate the gandure
Of the cosmos
That’s right friend today we will be talking
About outer space.
So sit back relax, and enjoy our programming
On space

Space is an endlessly expanding void
And we’re all going to die in it.

Alright, we are going to take a break now
Ponder what we’ve learned
Maybe grab yourself a tea, or other bevrage
If you have a friend nearby
Maybe ask them how they are doing
Take your time
We are in no rush

When you are all ready
We can pick back up

Here’s an interesting fact
Did you know

that when stars run out of fuel
They burst big waves
Of gamma radiation?
And that if that were to happen
And that radiation were to hit the planet
It could destroy the ozone layer
That thick layer of gas
Protecting us from our own sun
And since the distance required
For this hypothetical
Is only 3,000 light-years away
It may already happen
And the gamma rays
Are still on their way now.
We are now going to take our second break
This time maybe you could enjoy
A nice song you like
Or think about
Some of your favorite things
For me personally
I like mint chip ice cream
Especially the kind from my local ice cream store
It reminds me of those days
Where it was just me
And a few of my friends
Enjoying ice cream
And talking about
Whatever
Glad to have you back.

Let’s talk about plancks

No, I don’t mean boards of wood
I mean, like the measurement
In fact, it’s the smallest measurement of length
That is
for now anyway.

To put in perspective how small that is
Imagine how much shrinking
A microscope would have to do
In order to see an atom.

It’s a lot of work.
Well, in order to see a Planck
You’d need to triple the zoom.
Of that atomic microscope

And supposedly
Scientists believe that in the center
Of a black whole
May lie a star the size of a planck
Imagine all that mass
More than the entire Earth
More than Jupiter
More than even our own sun
And the bonds that keep
Those electrons and protons
From hitting each other
Just being crushed
Into a point 3 times smaller
Then a single atom

And before this theory
They thought it would be a singularity.
Which means that they thought
That it was not only smaller
Than a planck
But that it would also be
All contained within
One
Singular
Point
As in the smallest something could feasibly be

Well, that’s all the time we have left
I hoped you enjoyed our time together
I’m going to stare out the window now
And think about our own igsignifigance

For Remy

My older dog looks back
at me
as I let him out
one frigid Michigan morning

through rheumy, milk-stained eyes
his black and gray speckled coat
glistens in the snow-strewn
early morning light

his body shivers from cold
and arthritis
and the weight of walks
and chases
and holes dug past

Our eyes meet.
Soul to soul.
Father to son.
Dog to man.

Where I see love, there’s also something I can’t
quite put my finger on,
like a hidden spice
tucked away in potato soup
(chili powder for extra heat)

his mouth pulls up and then
lets down

I hear a thought jumping across our bond
like a crack of ice
in a frozen pond

Instant.
And Powerful.

For one moment he stands there
in the frigid air
and I can read his mind.

Bullshit.

little snowflakes gathering atop my head
i watch them dance with a sense of dread
they are all sparkley and shiny
they are all cold and slippery
they are why i crashed and lay dead

Here comes smiley
Smiley face, so yellow and bright,
A symbol of joy, or just a bad night?
Your smile’s contagious, it’s plain to see,
But what’s behind that smile? Is it just a spree?

You’re on every text, every email too,
A lazy way to express, “I’m feeling brand new!”
But when you’re used excessively, it’s just a crime,
Like a cheesy joke, that’s lost its prime.

Your cousin, the winky face, is quite the flirt,
A sly little devil, with a wink and a smirk.
And don’t even get me started on the poop emoji too,
That’s just a whole different kind of “smile” to get through!

So here’s to you, dear smiley face,
A symbol of joy, or just a digital replacement.
May your smile forever be bright,
But not too bright, or it’s just not right! ￿

And Nigeria,
Here’s a comedy poem about Nigeria:
Oh Nigeria, land of delight
Where the lights go out, and the generators ignite

A funny state, where the roads are so bold
Potholes and craters, that’ll make your car go cold

We’ve got the best of jollof, and suya so fine
But our politicians, are a different kind of wine
They promise and promise, but deliver so little
It’s like they’re playing a game, and we’re all in a puzzle

Our traffic jams, are a sight to behold
Go-slow, as we call it, where the cars go old
But amidst the chaos, we find a way to thrive
With our afrobeat music, and our dancing alive

So here’s to Nigeria, our funny little state
Where the absurd and the crazy, are always on our plate
We’ll laugh and we’ll cry, and we’ll dance in the rain
Because in Nigeria, the funny never goes in vain