Author: poetryfest

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

When I die, I’m coming back to haunt the shit out of everyone who ever screwed me over in this lifetime.And I will be immune to your puny exorcisms. And if you’re on my afterlife shit list and you happen to get yourself dead before me, don’t consider yourself off the hook. Poor you, living or dead. I’ll be an Asian ghost. And Asian ghosts don’t fuck around. I’ll have fifty snakeheads. And in each of my heads, will be a clever brain. And each clever brain is going to remember exactly what you did. And the heads will take turns sleeping. When one sleeps, 49 sisters will be awake and sharpening their teeth on the whetstone of memory. And each of those 50 snake heads will command a set of dog-loyal hands that will salt your heart and shove it in your mouth eternally, and you will swallow again and again and again, motherfuckers.

Just saying.

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

My body isn’t a protest.
It’s a betrayal.

I’ve been trapped in here for years,
buried inside a harp seal,
wide-eyed with hakapiks overhead.
It was silent when I wanted to scream.
It froze when I wanted to fight.
It stayed when I should have fled.
My body isn’t a protest.

It’s a betrayal.
It’s a betrayal.

Even my body knows it,
marks its own cells as intruders,
attacks itself,
as if the outside world wasn’t enough,
it joins the conquest,
and forms an internal massacre.
Hand me the club.

I’ll do it myself.

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

It was your curves I fell in love with
Or was it the gentle branches you offered me
Vines entwining you so lovingly
Bowing over to bond with each other

You provided shelter from all around
Protection like no other
Your strength shining in your continuous growth
Wisdom reflecting in your care

Open wide, unique for all to see
Providing warmth on stormy days
Always there, consistent in your presence
No judgement or service to render

Offering a daily dose of peace and comfort
A prescription for the simplicity of life
Blending and connected to others
No need to shine alone

Changing to situations with ease
A reminder of how much we have developed
In a world full of grey, your beauty glows
Adapting to the warmth you receive

A natural state of love you offer
Freely and with grace
A true example of pure beauty
Keeping secrets never to be told

Embracing all who meet you
Positive right down to the core
Silent when the elements change
You remain strong and powerful forevermore

Lisa Khan
lisakhan.com

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Let’s just say it.
You are the lucky one, Ed.

Dying is the answer to all of it.
Life is a constant drum

occluding the lyrics.
When you die,

you have flexible hours.
You can eat all the bacon you want.

You can run red lights.
You can float or bilocate.

If allowed to choose
I would be you instead.

But I have the boys,
and I trampoline back to this answer:

Yes, I would do all of this again
even knowing you would go first.

Are you near a window?

Can you feel the snow?

Have you met your heroes?

To the other dead husbands:

Please befriend my beloved.

He’s the one with the sweet beard.

He’s the one with the almond eyes.

He’s the one with the sleeve tattoo.

He’s the one that’s always glowing.

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

tightrope like tied note twirl tangential tiptoe
talk | your reflection
through
twisted spun spiderweb stuck-fly absurdity
scam | your reflection

escape glass enslavement soft falsehood of fractals
fear | your reflection
is lying, what

monster haunts this fun-house body
trepid mask manifests so malevolent
my-flesh does-not be-lieve it-self, bursts
skyscraper hoarding horizon like anti-hero
like the mirrors must be mistaken-

miss taking handfuls of half-full hungry for high school
bathrooms where I held the toilet seat how I wish to be held-
fingers stretched towards the accuracy I believed to live in my throat

hoped I only saw a stranger in the corner shops of Paris where

a boy who kissed me like I was glass
like I was the New York skyline
like the space I took up was beautiful, told me

“you can see Belgium from space they had so much
money from the slave trade they
lit up the whole country” said

“there are no stars in the city
but I like looking at you”

and I was sorry for the space I inhabited and I believed
all the fallacies I met eye-to-eye
all the reflections that lie and do not lie
and I stood in the mirror and wept
for the puddles we walked through and knew-

they were just
piss

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Me, Janey, and Jack were in the backyard
When we saw a dead man hanging by
The neck of my jump rope up in the
Willow trees, and I looked up and
Yelled at him, “What are you doing
With my jump rope?”

And he opened
His yellow eyes and looked down at us
With a crooked smile filled with maggots
And said, “I needed to borrow it for a while.”
I looked over at Janey who got teary eyed,
And then saw some rocks on the ground.
I told Jack to hit the man where it hurts
Cause he’s a no good thief that needed
To be taught to not take things from people.
So we pelted him as he swung in the air,
And like a Piñata red licorice and gumdrops
Fell from his gashes and wounds, all while
Janey was crying like the big ol’ baby she was.

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

I did not ask you to build me this way
I did not ask to come back from the grave
My brain has thoughts that my tongue cannot say
I do not like this second life you gave
The only reason that you worked this trick
Was to sate your own curiosity
A doctor who works with the dead is sick
No miracle – just an atrocity
I’m not my own, I’m just your science pet
A wonder you can display for the crowd
You don’t consider my wishes, not one!
I’d like the chance to be my own asset
Yet I am branded “monster “ not allowed
To be myself. I am not anyone.

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

I am a lost soul,
Blighted, bruised,
Condemned to wait
For what will never come.

But still, I am not idle;
I drift, aimless, through desolation—
A desert, cold and cracked,
A barren land devoid of life.

Here, hope is an illusion.
Time—wasted and worn,
A currency that crumbles to dust,
With no worth,
No meaning.

I suffer in silence.
Success is a mirage,
Filling my head with visions,
Of outcomes unfulfilled.

And yet, I dread the moment
When minutes slow to molasses,
And hours stretch like shadows,
Days blurring, their edges softening—
Until months drown in the fog of madness.

But still, I walk this path,
Persisting through the void,
Remaining in the silence.

I wonder—
Am I damned by fate,
Or a fool at war with myself?

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

When my final day comes,
And it’s my turn to go,
When to the pain you’ll succumb,
Remember that I’ve loved you so.
Don’t fret, my dear,
For I have lived a happy life,
It’s all alright, my love,
It’s all alright.
Don’t bury me into the ground,
As I don’t want to rot,
Cremate me, spread my ashes,
As I want to be high up,
Not six feet beneath the ground.
Look for me in the clouds,
And in the bright skies,
I’ll be there when you need me –
Just look for me, my dear,
Always in your heart.
Don’t lose yourself in the what ifs,
Or in guilt or in regret,
Don’t waste yourself away,
In what you could have done
In a different way.
There’s nothing to forgive, my love,
But if you need to hear those words,
I forgive you, my dear,
For I loved you so.
I beg for your forgiveness,
For what I have done wrong,
I hope we can part ways
With peace in our souls.
One thing I ask, my dear,
For after I’m gone,
Keep me in your heart,
Remember me as I once was.
Share them with the world –
The stories of my life,
For this is the only way
The memories of me can keep going on.
When my final day comes,
And it’s my time to go,
Just remember, my dear,
That I loved you so.