Category: Poetry Festival

The Oscars, by Melissa Chaconas

Robes, masks, carpets, sculptures
Statues, like s Shakespearian
Amorous play- party – the great
Barrier is lifted- all purple
Orange coral bones drift into the
up…
the accomplished shine in light
their inner world below-is tall &
become s their now
wobbly legs

treacherous
viperfish
numberless
ones cling to
burning throats

gangway bridges
wide-snap
the drowned

into morning fields-where hurting unsleeping makes crooked eyes

HOPE, by Twinkle Saluja

Life is a never ending vicious cycle
And this is reminder from up above..

If there are toothy grins,
they are always going to be followed by wretched and griefs
If there are days bitterer than the gourd
there will also be those days sweet enough to kill you of diabetes

Every oasis will have a desert surrounding it
You just need to keep your faith alive
and the glint of good hope will always be on your way
You may not always see it
but that’s how, it’s meant to be. Always.

Insta Handle – Twinkle_saluja_

Come in; tread lightly, by Miranda Williams

Come in,
But tread lightly on my aching heart
Move slowly and let not your jarring laugh
Cause it’s brittle edges to crumble

Come in,
But tread lightly on my breaking heart
Understand that I won’t allow you to try to heal what’s left, for the pain is a strange comfort

Come in,
But tread lightly on my hurting heart
Move gently, for peace is all that it can bare in this moment

Come in,
But tread lightly on my swollen heart
It can absorb no more, but it’s deafening, irregular beat can be soothed by your presence

Come in,
But tread lightly on my fragile heart
Help me to protect it from the noise
Of a world it is not yet ready to rejoin

Come in,
Sit with me until one day
My aching, breaking, hurting heart,
Aches, breaks, hurts a little less

Come in,
Sit with me until one day,
My swollen, fragile heart
Begins to calm

Come in,
Sit with me until one day,
I may start to restore.

Miranda Williams: http://www.sailinghome.blog

Why are the Police so Mean?, by Gladys Muturi

My Fellow Officers

I got one thing to say, “Why?”

Why do you have to be so mean?

Do you hate us?

Are we that bad people?

You say you guys are good cops but yet you’re acting like the bad guys

What does your badge mean to you?

To prove you are tough in this community?

You give me respect, I give you respect

But Where is my respect?

My respect from you is yelling when I asked what I have done

Pin hard against my body to the ground

Shooting at me without a warning or a question

Blocking the airway hole where I breathe

Until I blackout,

Knocked out to unconsciousness

Darkness with no movement or sound

Why?

Why does the Police have to be so mean?

Is it their job?

Your duty to end our lives?

I’m scared for my life

Does that mean I have to run and hide?

Does my life mean anything to you?

I stand for what I believe in

I stand for my life

I stand for all black people lives

I stand for everyone to be treated equally

My hope is your protection

Protection for all black lives

Black women, Black men, and Black children

No more knees on our necks

No more bullets without a warning

No more chokeholds

No more aggression

No more

I ask for love, loyalty, and respect

Isn’t it too much to ask?

I’m afraid what my future children would say, “Mommy, Why are the police are so mean?”or “Am I safe?”

What should I say?

Yes, the police are mean?

I don’t want to believe

I want to believe in the goodness in the world

But where is that?

Your duty is your promise

Your Promise to keep us safe

Where is your promise?

We don’t hate you, my Fellow Officers

We just want justice for our people

We just want the justice system to do better

We want you to stand with us

You don’t have to like us but help us

I have one thing to say, “Why?”

Why do you have to be so mean?

Stand up and be counted, by Erica Donaldson-Ellison

Just because
you say that:
‘It has to be
like that.’
Approved, without conscience
Driven by: uneducated criticism
and stereotypical non consensual nonsense.
A single dissenter
can still rise
Blooming, from the crowd
And, say
NO

The chatter of group compliance
simmers gently, without a spill
but,a lone ingredient
may yet spark a quicker bubble.
It unexpectedly .spurts
a volcanic lava
overflowing
making a small trail.

Like the person, who
demonstratively argues
their cause.
Stands and brings attention
And, says
NO.

Moved by the need
To right, a wrong
Disgust, peaked by
witnessed exchanges
of a bullies attempt to dominate
a ‘weaker person’.
I say
NO.

To team sly glances
highlighting an
underlying group aversion
to an individuals
differences.
I say
NO.

Upright. Tall.
Against, sneering grins
smeared across
grinning lips.
Authoritatively, I protest
And say
NO.

Then,
walk on.
With my own
Smile.
Leading the way.

WHEN I’M FEELING BLUE, by Sahar S.

When I’m down and out feeling blue

Just close my eyes, hand to hand and think of you

Can’t forget smiling on your face, sparkling eyes

Your kindness, your endless love, your emotion never lies

We share times together, you never left me alone
So when I’m down and out feeling blue
I know you are there for me، through thick and thin

You were my best friend my life, I have ever seen
I am lucky to have you around me
You are just with me I can feel I can see

I share my happiness song for you with glee
I share my sadness with you, which makes me free

You sit beside me, take my hand
Its heaven for us this land

I feel the warmest, honesty
It’s cold but with you I don’t feel frosty

When I am down and out feeling blue
I close my eyes hand to hand think of you

TEMPTATIONS, by Denisse Perez

Feel I need you , I can’t lie

But the morals don’t apply

But I can’t fight what’s inside

I can’t get you off my mind

Thinking I should let you know

That it’s you I want to show

All the places we can go

It won’t hurt if they don’t know

Think of all that we can be

They don’t know what they can’t see

It’ll just be you and me

It’ll feel like ecstasy

We can keep it on the low

I can love you nice and slow

From the bed onto the floor

Lose my mind while I lose yours

Can’t resist, I need a taste

Everytime I see your face

Want to take you to a place

Where your body I’ll embrace

Wanna feel what’s in between

As I watch you watching me

It’ll be so magically

We could do it secretly

Really want to let you know

But afraid that you’ll say no

Run away with me, let’s go

Take my hand and I’ll take yours

Wanna love you endlessly

Want your body under me

Make a dream reality

I’ll fulfill your every need

I’m not scared to fall

For you I’ll risk it all

Feels right although it’s wrong

Temptations I can’t stall

LIFE, by THA.WriteHer

Sometimes we go through things in life
And we don’t know why
These are the facts of life
sometimes we laugh and other times we cry

God is always sending us messages
To take a look at the life that we choose to pursue
Because he doesn’t want to see our lives in ruin
Don’t allow your thoughts to wonder why and stray

When a loved one is taken away
Pick up the pieces to bring understanding through the comfort of prayer
To relieve the fear and being afraid
When God created us, he already had our destiny in his eyes

So that we can motivate others
From understanding, knowledge and to make us wise
Encourage and strengthen one another

Help everyone that you can and be strong
Peace and blessings will cover you
Inspiration can come through in poetry and song

THA.WriteHer

POETRY Reading: Aren’t you tired of NYC?, by Marcela B

Performed by Allison Kampf

POEM

Many of us arrived in NYC with one luggage and a heart full of dreams.
When you are in New York city, you get psyched with its energy and immediately you start to ask why?

At the beginning you don’t know if it is because the astonishing architecture that intertwine the ” old” and the ” new”.
You don’t know if it is because the modern skyscrapers or because all the last century buildings with their emergency exit facades showing off.
You just feel it.

You don’t know if it is because the Broadway lights that makes you feel you’re in a non-stop, never ending party.
Or if it’s because the beauty of the Central Park that makes you feel you’re somewhere else for a moment.
You just feel it.

You don’t know if it is because this idea that you can be anywhere in less than 30 min by subway. Ah….the subway, this old, dirty, democratic and now first time disinfected system that carries the entire city from the homeless to the rich, from ordinaries to the celebrities.
You just feel it.

You don’t know if it’s because the bike lanes and citi bikes that makes you feel the wind in your face, the sun on your skin.
You just feel it.

You don’t know if it is because it feels you’re inside a movie set… is it fantasy? is it reality? Maybe both.

After sometime in New York, sooner or later you may realize the magic of this city actually does not rely on the outside.
The magic, the true magic, rely on the inside.

NY is tough, not everyone can make it here. It can be overwhelming.
You don’t know if it’s because the high rental fees and limited space.
Or if its because this city requires too much from you – NY always raises the bar.
From work, to restaurants, entertainment, to the possibilities… a wealth of possibilities.
You just feel it.

This constant and exhausting idea of #empirestateofmind that moves everything and everyone above and beyond.
You just feel it.

Now in middle of a pandemic anyone could think why stay in New York, why just not fly somewhere else, escape far away from this madness?

Well, New York never adapts to your desires, never adjust to your dreams, nor compromise. This city will punch you in your face more than you can possibly sustain, over and over again.

In the end, we are NY tough.
We know that we will fall not just once but many times, but we will rise stronger again.
We know that if we can make it here we can make it anywhere. We take this statement by heart.
We know this city has our back, for the best and the worst.

Today I can tell I am and always will be in love with this city, even tough every winter I may think otherwise, even tough I am living in the eye of the hurricane right now. The resilience found here cannot be found anywhere else.
You just feel it

It’s a privilege to call NYC home.
It’s a blessing to be surrounded for all the inspiring and spectacular minds that feed NYC’s veins and make us all addicted to be here, thus we persist.
We just feel it.

From Ash: Taming the Phoenix, by Abdullah Kinan

Performed by Allison Kampf

POEM:

“Look up at the night sky and count the stars until daybreak; my love for life now exceeds both the number of stars and the time it would take.

To traverse the horizon and navigate the seas, or brave the desert’s barren passages with ease; nothing is an impossible feat.

My love for life is power, empowering, serene. It motivates me to strive for the impossible- it motivates me to fly over obstacles.

I will crash through glass ceilings until the shattered mirrors falling over me reflect my yearning for the parts of myself that I’ve lost along my journey.

I yearn for the parts of me that drifted away like dust particles intercepting the rays of light that peer through the window at sunrise- perhaps those parts of me prevented me from inner peace.

Perhaps you’ll find those parts of me and I’ll find you- perhaps all hardship is a tool that we can utilize to hammer these lessons into our beings.

Perhaps some lessons are harder to penetrate- so never quiver or quake at the sight of the path towards the next mountain after you’ve just climbed to the first peak, because, verily, with every hardship there is ease.”