Author: poetryfest

Performed by Val Cole

SHE WAS A GEM by Sylvester Anderson

She was a gem in a sea of forgotten treasures
Despite the distance between our shores
Love showed us favor and brought us together
We were familiar souls connected through spiritual intuition
Like we had shared numerous sunrises and sunsets before
We plunged into the deepest point of love
Heart first into the point of no return
Swimming towards a common shore
One where we could gaze at sunsets and stars
Hand in hand, clasped hands
Absorbing all that love had to offer

She was a gem in a sea of forgotten treasures
I was neither scavenger or treasure hunter
Just a fortune man to be chosen to love her

Performed by Val Cole

My Little One, by Mary Dimino

Upon your arrival, you came here from love
Upon your departure, you must go back

Love all ways

Will you remember me when I see you again?
I trust yes

Will you tell others you meet about me?
I dare say you will

Will you know how to get to where you are going?
You always have before!

You showed me how to live
You showed me how to die
Silent warm looks deep into my eyes.

You have thanked me for a good life
but it is I who needs to thank you
For you have made me love unconditionally
Have I you?

You have made me laugh
You have made my heart sing

You have made me feel pain
For that I can only hope you have not felt the same.

I have lost nine pounds today –
And what a difference nine pounds can make
So much wisdom, so much glory
only such a small package could take.

My big little one.
My little big one

Love surrounds you everywhere
For you are just That
So, I will always know the
vicinity in which you may be at

Eyes half shut but heart wide open
Kitty kisses with your eyes

Love surrounds us everywhere

All I need to do when missing you
is to simply look anywhere.

Performed by Val Cole

Missing You, by Sharyn Abbott

To easy my heart, I shed these tears of sorrow
What once was, now memories for tomorrow

Holding on to what could have, should have been by chance
Yearning for your tender touch, your caress, a familiar glance

I am left alone surrounded by this devastating desire
In a world gone still with emptiness of what you inspired

Knowing there should have been so much more
Had we had the time our hearts had planned for

If given one last chance to share with one another
To have one more moment to hold on to each other

How can it be a life so young with much yet to give?
Should be over with the light gone from which to live?

Please tell me how to ease this mournful pain
Of what transpires will fill this void again?

I walk away, never alone, my heart filled with sorrow
What should have been, now memories for tomorrow

Performed by Val Cole

Eulogy Poem (Untitled).

Bury me beneath a million technicolor daisies,
Bury me under the weight of beautiful music that speaks directly to the soul,
Bury me under sunrises, sunsets, shooting stars, and eclipses,
Bury me with all that is magical,
All that is free,
All that is divine,
Bury me with the hearts of my truest comrades and the rhythm of justice still beating in my blood,
Bury me beneath rainbow coloured flags,
Raised fists, peace signs, and all capital A’s,
Bury me fully alive, kicking and screaming to the grave,
Bury me in the sunshine and in the storm,
In the light, and in the darkness alone,
And with each and every one of you,
Bury me a dreamer, a lover, a fighter,
Bury me in the sky.

By Catherine Chhina

Performed by Val Cole

EARTHSONG, by Lew Osteen

Prologue
This orb or ours we oft abuse,
whence came the bang?
Who lit the fuse?

Canto One
O, lost of homeward eyes,
seeking upon the mocking skies,
where can be seen the founding plan,
or why or where it all began?

Out there somewhere is Genesis denied,
on some other world yet untried?
A Garden of begets without the sin,
a new Eden to begin again?

Chosen to be blessed and Festooned,
or orphans of creation forever marooned?
Is there truth in books took from shelves,
dried of words, we wrote ourselves?

Words of heavens to abide?
Or maybe not, if Adam lied.
Who are we? Where do we belong?
Is Earth our home or is our Earthsong – wrong?

Canto Two
So, yearning hearts and hopeful eyes,
seek upon the mocking skies.
No fear of what might be out there.
What might scare someone from here?

There is no fear that will stop us from knowing,
why life advances or ceases going.
Is it so that silver might buy another lie,
to crucify the other guy?

Or gold might drop,
upon a counter top.
To bind and seal,
a bloody deal?

The soul aches to know and the mind to find,
what in heaven or hell left us behind.
To know is why, you and I, so very soon,
on warm July, flew the earth and walked the moon.

Canto Three
Does anyone care out there?
Are we alone upon this sphere?
Is this all there is and ever will be,
we alone, in splendid singularity?

We of the midnight power,
holding at bay the midnight hour,
counting down the doomsday wait,
inside a burning house by a broken gate.

Canto Four
For what reason,
was God, man for a season?
Is there such worth,
upon the earth?

Here it’s plain to see,
only traces of divinity.
Not God? Then what?
Out of nothing is not.

Are there worlds far away,
where gods mold other clay?
Some golden universe,
not seeking us?

Perhaps by other measures,
our souls are not treasures,
but spirits of chance meant to be,
castaways, forever adrift, on a lonely sea.

And if we saw the truest light,
cutting through the distant night,
would we run away and hide,
or welcome strangers to abide
For hard it would be,
for us to see,
to understand,
some distant land,

When among the being,
within our seeing,
that we can touch – we don’t touch, very much.

Canto Five
And weary as we all are,
long-turning a burning star,
who knows, but that it glows to warm some other place.
And may someday, go away to warm another space.

Or do we trust that we must, by heavenly decree,
be ever warmed by the firestar, just because we are?
On any god-talk wherever gods might walk, is it said: humankind is rising – or humankind is dead?

Which Earthsong
is wrong?
Do we belong outbound on some unseen sea,
or probing inside for our destiny?

Perhaps we are, as we have decided, with reason and with rhyme,
casting lots upon the blankets of our time,
the fairest and the best of all the rest, and there is nothing anywhere,
that would dare compare to our sphere?

The answer is as old as history.
We seek where lies life’s mystery.
Is it upon the near or far.
The closest moon or the furthest star.

Desperate souls seek to see
the source of creation’s majesty.
To be redeemed out of Nod
and look upon the face of God.

FIN

Performed by Val Cole

Carpe Diem, by Todd G. Sorrell

I saw you in my bedroom, when I was just a boy
You’d come at night
Turn out the light
Call me your pride and joy

Your visits never lasted long, you were a busy guy
My days were full
I went to school
I’d see you passing by

We’d sometimes get together, and stop to shoot the breeze
But it grew rare
Good times to share
Were few and far between

I’m looking back at what we had
And what it could’ve been
Who knew one day we’d stop and say
I wish you were my friend
If we try before I die
We might at least pretend
That there is love between us
Let’s seize the day again

I heard you moved to Vegas, and found yourself a wife
It made me glad
To hear you had
A promising new life

Our phone calls were important, once or twice a year
They made it feel
Like you were real
Before you’d disappear

You said that you would visit, and spend some decent time
But times were tough
And sure enough
We fell into the grind

I’m looking back at what we had
And what it could’ve been
Who knew one day we’d stop and say
I wish you were my friend
If we try before I die
We might at least pretend
That there is love between us
Let’s seize the day again

When I finally saw you, old and frail and gray
Your fading spark
It touched my heart
That time had slipped away

I didn’t come to hurt you, or saddle you with grief
The blame we spilt
And all that guilt
Made life seem really brief

I came to hold your hand Dad, before I let you go
You’ve always meant a lot to me, I just want you to know

I’m looking back at what we had
And what it could’ve been
Who knew one day we’d stop and say
I know you were my friend
If we try before I die
We might let our hearts mend
Cuz there is love between us
Let’s seize the day again

Performed by Val Cole

Brownies

(by Debbie Fersht)

We sit crossed-legged in a circle. We are Brownies. Today we learn how to braid. I sit behind Fiona. I start to braid Fiona’s long blonde hair. She sits behind Margaret. Margaret’s hair is long and brown like her uniform. Each one of us Brownies knows better than to say the word, “boo”, to Margaret or she’ll get upset. We swear the Brownie promise not to. “There WILL be consequences,” says our leader. The word sits like a piece of candy under our tongue.
“Fiona,” I say, “You’ve got such terrific hair. Do you like the braid I made?” I guess she doesn’t because when she turns her head around to see she gives me a look. Fiona suddenly swings her head back around and goes,

“BOO Margaret, BOO-HOO!”

Margaret screams, her screams so shrill and sharp they pierce our sweet Brownie circle and we watch, we watch Margaret, braids falling out, run from us, away from us, towards the heavy gymnasium door.

Performed by Val Cole

I lay in this bed of affliction and I hear the people as they pass by.
They labeled me an outcast, my condition has made me unclean.
So I lay in this bed and I cry

I have done all that I know to do to release myself of this shame, but
I’ve been suffering with this for 12 long years that Mrs. Issue has become
My name.

I even see the women out with their children they look at me then they look away,
Is there anyone out there who can take away the burden of my pain…?

Just the other morning I heard something different in the people’s voice.
No longer where they’re conversation about me the miracle man was in town the man from
Galilee so he was there topic of choice.

There where people from all around so many faces I had never seen all crowed around this man as if he were the king.

I got down on my hands and knees so I could maneuver threw the crowd, and I knew better to be seen so I kept my face turned toward the ground.

But by the time I decided to look up I was right at the master’s feet, and I said to myself I’ve never seen a miracle before and here’s one within reach.

I know I broke the rules today the whole town knows I’m unclean but here I am with JESUS garment in hand and now he is looking down at me.

And from that day to this one I’m know throughout my town as the women who’s faith was bold.

The distance between us could not be reduced.
Words that cannot be described to describe this distance;
All this was subordinated to stop time.
Time is all we have until we start counting it down.

Yesterday I went out on the street where you recently settled.
I resisted the wind, but I left, I was in no hurry, because I felt you.

Let the angels sing in heaven about our future when we fall asleep.
Let the November wind carry the yellowed leaves through the long streets, diluting the silence.
May each of us be closer to understanding that everything passes and is born again.
Let our love cool and flare up until we are afraid to be honest with ourselves.
Now I stand in front of your house in a window that lights the light of our closeness.
Soon you will go to bed and the house will absorb the night, but I know I will come again tomorrow.