Category: Poetry Festival

Read Poem: Read Poem: Nobody Wins, by Imina F. Edebiri

http://www.shemademewrite.com

Things are different now, roles are reversing

Smiling to conceal the frown, accrued pains without healing

So many fragile egos

We’re walking on eggshells of emotions

We’re too quick to pass judgements now and condemn

Each party think they’re so righteous and clean

We can persist to no good end

But really, nobody wins

The femmes have become hell bent

On passing chores to the gents

The gents want to be free of responsibilities

Pointless fights and arguments, but nobody wins

We jump into relationships blind

Then break up right quick or marry just for the title

Of course, when things go south we unbind

And wonder why divorce rates are so high

Only a few have found their missing ribs

They’re the lucky ones

The rest of us are yet to realize

That time for us is nigh

It used to be love your neighbor as you would love yourself

Now it’s more like, “my love is for sell”

Treat others the way you want to be treated

No, we have more hypocritical habits

We seem to have forgotten the love stories our parents told

We’d rather play these toxic games, than fold

This is getting old, and frankly, so are we

I’m speaking to my generation, we’ve lost our guarantee

Girls fall for what they hear

So guys became more crafty with their words

Guys fall for what they see

So girls became more deceiving with their looks

We recycle these toxic traits

Make unhealthy decisions on a whim Clench our fists and grit our teeth

Ready to damage the next victim

Tongue sharpened, ready to go to war with words, fueling hate

Whatever happened to healing each other with love, only a few can relate

If we took a step back

Maybe we could make amends

Maybe we could get back on the right track

Let’s be our real selves rather than pretend

Because, at the end of this war,

Nobody wins

The poem above, as well as the many others I have written, belong to the genres; Death, Family, Fear, Friendship, Hurt, Life, Love, Painful, Personality, Relationships, Rhyme, Romantic, Sad, Heartbreak, sexual and Sensual.

Nobody Winss

Read Poem: Saving Planet Earth, by Sarada Gray

(from a genre called the Golden Shovel using the first two lines of Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress’)

It’s running out, what little time we had
yet there are still deniers who say we
need more research: we’re always hearing ‘but’
while, hurrying near, destruction of the world
approaches. Have we time to do enough?
Reverse the harm, refreeze the ice-caps and
cool the air down? Can it be done in time?
For as Naomi Klein has written, This
Changes Everything. There’s no room for coyness
or deep denial: she’s our Leading Lady.
If we can’t soon return to where we were
the answer to all questions will be no.
Which universe will then forgive our crime?

© Sarada Gray, 2020

Read Poem: Lonely Dog, by Tyler R. Martin

I stand confused in the mayhem,
Lost in the modern haze,
Where the artists stick to standards
And drown in the modern craze,
But I won’t believe their shit is gold
So I’m a lonely dog, shaking in the cold.

I will not judge your poetry
By its social justice score,
I don’t care for your politics
And your social causes bore.
So since I won’t believe your shit is gold,
I’m a lonely dog, shaking in the cold.

I will not watch my language,
I’m sorry if my words offend,
But my art trumps your feelings
I don’t care and I won’t bend.
So since I won’t admit your shit is gold,
I’m a lonely dog, shaking in the cold.

I might be the pariah of my peers,
But then again, I suppose whose to blame?
They, who avoid the disgrace of outcasts,
Or I, immune to such shame?
I won’t believe their shit is gold
So I’m a lonely dog, shaking in the cold.

Read Poem: Where’s Kendra, by Avi Shalem

Reflections of an inner soul rot..
Misbehaving miscreants
Forced to feed
A strong mutation
Pasts create misinformation
Heading towards an alien nation
Hoping for crash salvation
Like to chart new destinations
A hunter stalking desperation
In the weeds grave creations
Jubilee or tribulation
Darker days
Crave sedation
Toxic mindful
Grave creations
Headed fast
Sure damnation
I can’t seem to get a handle
I’m not sure she’s quite a handful
Where’s Kendra
Pitter patters rain like thunder
Oil slicks
Pain formation
And where’s Kendra
Pasts create misinformation
Lost inside inebriation
Forced to feed strange mutation
Toxic mindful
Grave creations
I’ m tired now I need salvation
where’s my Kendra?…

Read Poem: PEOPLE LIKE US, by Gladys Muturi

Genre: Humanity
There are people like us
Dress like us
Look like us
Think like us
Better yet they want to be like us
But they’re not us
They bleed like us with the same red color
But their type is not the same
Their skin is not the same
Could we be the same?
Why can’t they have same hearts?
And not divide into parts
They have hands just like us
Holding each hand by hand
They breathe like us
in the same ozone air, we breathe in
What makes them so special?
They are strong like us
They are brave like us
And they are like us
What’s the difference?
They are humans
People like us
They have heavy hearts like us
Some want to cry with us
Some want to laugh with us
Some want to hate
Most want to love
Why can’t we be in love? Is there love?
Will it ever enough?
Like you and I,
We smile to make our moments worthwhile
Do you see?
People like us
will learn to be who they are
will learn to struggle and strive
will redeem and live again
Born Again
will learn to love again
They love us,
We love them,
I love them

Read Poem: Starkweather, by Tyler R. Martin

Anyone who can go through life

Sober, free and clear headed

Without killing themselves or someone else

Deserves a fucking award.

Without the comforting

Tang of wine or whiskey

I would have been

Another basket case,

Another Starkweather,

Born to raise hell

And fanning

The fucking flames.

Read Poem: R.I.P Poetry, by Katie Wolffer

Rest in peace to my forgotten ideas

Ideas that may have been genius

Ideas that maybe have gotten me to go somewhere with my dumb fucking life

My dumb broke life

My rich, genius, forgotten ideas

The poor things must be cold

So forgotten, so alone

Maybe someone can save them

Or not,

Either way none of these ideas really mattered,

They never even existed,

So rest in peace

You will be forgotten

My blog: https://katieandtys.home.blog/

My twitter: @katieistys

Read Poem: THE END, by Sobaby Onwane

The end, like this;
Red colours and sirens
Handcuffs as I walk in
Moving to my cell
I heave a sigh of deep relief
Today my demons won
Tonight my exorcism will be complete
Officers and Wardens
Still unaware of my motive
Yet no rebuke, no chide…
May 11th I let it happen
Tears clogging my throat
That monstrous pain again
Dear Mom and Dad,
I did it.

I pull the trigger,
My Dog is dead!

-Soso.

Read Poem: For Katie, My Love, by Tyler R. Martin

This pissed off poet’s heart now resides
With the girl of green-blue eyes…
Her hair so blond he can only weep
With visions of it in his sleep

For his daily thoughts encountered doom,
As thoughts of her began to loom,
And cause his obsession it did grow
He bit her neck to let her know!

And she bites back, ain’t that cool?
He’s feeling like a drunken fool,
Falling fast, his brains on fire
Its burning up on Katie’s pyre

The perfect smile the beauty wore,
Shook the poet to his core,
Just a glance would make him moan,
He simply had to take her home!

And although this structure’s not unique
Fuck off with your dull critique,
For the girl of green-blue eyes
Is an angel in a girls disguise