Category: poetry reading

Poetry Reading: Journey of the Butterfly by Denise Stephani

Performed by Val Cole

Get to know the poet:

What is the theme of your poem?

The poem represents the individual journey which leads to activism and standing up for truth and justice. It is meant to be motivation and inspiration for all those on such a life journey.

What motivated you to write this poem?

My own life and struggles as an activist against all forms of abuse.

How long have you been writing poetry?

Since I was a child. Too aging to give figures. 😉

If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?

Maya Angelou

What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?

I want to share my poetry on the internet in a viewer friendly form.

Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?

I have published 2 books: ‘In the Wings’ and ‘Letters to Mandela’ (Award-winning)and written a few screenplays, some of which have been placed in competitions.

What is your passion in life?

Inspiring global change to create a better world for future generations.

Poetry Reading: Time Passing So Quickly, by Kayla Krilove

Performed by Val Cole

Get to know the winning poet:

What is the theme of your poem?

The theme of this poem is Coming of Age. It includes aspects of childhood, and the mental and physical acceptance of becoming an adult.

What motivated you to write this poem?

I wrote this poem the last week of high school. I was inspired because I had attended the same school for thirteen years of my life and was now moving into a world very unknown to me, and very outside my social and academic bubble. I wanted to write a piece that many other young adults could relate to, and I read it in front of my entire school on the last day.

How long have you been writing poetry?

I have always been writing, ever since six or seven years old. I’ve been making movies and writing silly poems all my childhood but it wasn’t until Sophomore and Junior years of high school that I became more serious about it. I took a Creative Writing course that opened up a whole new level of poetry skills for me. Since then, I have been writing poetry for my own pleasure.

If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?

I would have dinner with Sylvia Plath!

What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?

I see my poem relating to many people and would love for it to reach many more through this poetry submission.

Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?

I write short stories, scripts, and poems.

What is your passion in life?

My passion is to give my best to all aspects of my life. I have multiple passions in my life, writing being one of them. Yet, I would say my ability to give my best version and attention to each one is most important to me.

Poetry Reading: ME, by Jim Durkey

Performed by Val Cole

Get to know the winning poet:

What is the theme of your poem?

— Honor the song in your heart.

What motivated you to write this poem?

— My granddaughter had a learning disability and was shunned by her classmates.

How long have you been writing poetry?

— Since high school.

If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?

— My mother.

What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?

— Perhaps someone listening to the poem may know of a young person who could benefit from reading it.

Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?

— Screenplays and short stories.

What is your passion in life?

— To be able to spend more time writing.

Poetry: Silent A by Nicole Long

Genre: Motivational, Society, Inspirational
 
They call me Silent A—
Who am I? They ask and don’t ask
Slithering into a discussion about
School, politics, what happened on the news—
While everyone gazes for a reaction,
Do they look concerned? What are they thinking? Do they know?
But you can’t seem to get out of the dazed,
Confused state I put you in.

I come when you least expect it—
In the middle of a bar,
The music pumping, juices flowing
Through your body.
The heart starts pounding,
Panic sets in like a
Storm crossing the horizon.
You look around, making sure no one notices.

In the middle of the night—
3am as silence fills the air,
Coming off of sleep meds and
Mixture of Vodka Tonics and Merlot,
Anything to keep the mind
At an altered state of nowhere and beyond.
But I’m screaming at you,
The toxicity won’t keep me away.

I’m the one who kills—
Friendships, relationships, your purified mind
Keeping you away from what you love,
What you don’t love.
Standing in that darkened corner,
Waiting for that next high off of me.
They call me Silent A—
You can’t see me, they can’t see me, but I see you.

 

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Poetry: Brewstorm by Anmol Chitransh

Genre – heart break, heart ache, relationship, hurt.

Everyday there is a desire
When will my heart conspire
Against my belief
That love is not a relief

My medulla swore
To fill me with hate
To the core
Just for my sake

Heart is shattered enough
Cannot break me more
I will break down myself
Just embrace my core

Dont come so close
This soul is rusty and old
Not shallow and bold
Still naive and amateur

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Poetry: THE LONE WOLF by Sebastian Arenas

 Genre: dark/sad/pain/love

 Hungry and alone the lone wolf hides.
His love fled as she lied even as he tried to be at her sides.
Wounded he licks away the blood,
Now the dark surrounds him as he sinks in the mud.

Pure tenacity allows him to survive.
Pure anger fuels his need to stay alive.
Purity of mind has now lost its shine.
Purity of heart no longer resides in his bloodline.

The cold gnaws at his bones,
Deep inside the void, pain wants to be known.
Unrelenting agony fills his howls.
Unrequited love manifests in his growls.

He lets it all out to the moon,
The only thing that sympathizes with his tune.
The lone wolf is always meant to die,
Yet this lone wolf is meant to defy.

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Poetry: Otherness by Shirley Jones-Luke

 after Alex Dimitrov

We’re on the moon. Years ago, I knew I couldn’t
save anyone. Despite that news, I made sure that
I tried to save anyone thereafter. But it’s easier to say
it than to do it. The moon doesn’t love you. Without
anyone else, I am just a room devoid of life. It is almost
impossible to exist without deception. Do you love me?

I must tell you that I’ve failed at loving you. You wanted a
deep, passionate love from me, but I could not give it. I know
that people need to be loved. But right now, I see only hate. I hear
only hate. I feel hate growing in my heart. My country is confusing me.

Our money is not infinite like the oceans. But even oceans lose their currents. Water runs dry.
Banks fail. Our money is better off under a mattress. Besides, we don’t sleep in the same bed
anyone. We haven’t in years. I don’t miss the warmth of your body. It went cold when my heart
did.

We must refuse evil. We must not abandon our hearts. We must end the worst of life, the
debased, racists, religious terrorists and the elite. They exist because we allowed them to. They
exist without love. Their love is warped. But we aren’t pure either. There is still coal inside us
diamonds.

I wish this otherness would end. But there seems to be no ending. Our love struggles onward,
life support, breathing tube, ineffective medicines. Oceans are dying. The rich continue to get

richer. The poor labor with only love to sustain them. What will sustain us? Something beyond
this otherness.

 

BIO:  Shirley Jones-Luke is a poet and a writer from Boston, MA. Ms. Luke has an MFA from Emerson College. She was a 2016 Watering Hole Poetry Fellow. Her work was shortlisted in poetry by Adelaide Magazine.  Shirley’s poems have been published by Adelaide, BlazeVOX, Deluge, ENUF and Fire Poetry.

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Poetry: Autobiography of the Poet by Indunil Madhusankha

 
I am the poet
carrying a luggage of roles
all of which I play with equal interest

I am the talkative lover
who knocks on the door of your heart
and having entered,
bursts into a torrid tete-a-tete
with your inner self
and sings fantastic flirtations

I am the justice in the court
betokening perfect impartiality
and never guilty of distorting the truth
None receives the least pardon from me
for any offence

I am the policeman
following the thugs
with a baton
and filing a case against them

I am the overpowering magician
My virility, more ebullient
than that of a gunman or a swordsman
In case they can only kill a person
Yet I influence the latter
and charge the battery of his heart

I am the labourer
digging out moth eaten rubbish mounds
and recycling them

Yet, I am the poet,
the very slight poet,
still struggling for perfection.
 

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Watch the June 2017 Poetry Readings

Performed by Elizabeth Rose Morriss

Poetry Reading: WORDS by Lawrence Klein

Poetry Reading: ROGUE WAVE by Joanne Van Leerdam

Poetry Reading: RISE AND BE ONE WITH THE SHINE by Gloria D. Gonsalves

Poetry Reading: Heaven Cried Too by Ty Davis

Poetry Reading: CONGO, CONGO by Miroslav Atanasov

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poetry Reading: CONGO, CONGO by Miroslav Atanasov

Poem performed by Elizabeth Rose Morriss

Get to know the poet:

What is the theme of your poem?

The Congo Free State crimes and the continual suffering of the Congo people.

What motivated you to write this poem?

I’ve passionately wanted to share the Congo story with the world.

How long have you been writing poetry?

Off and on for 12 years.

If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?

Jesus Christ

What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?

Your Great festival platform.

Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?

Yes. One movie script on the subject. Also I do scholarly writing and media commentaries.

What is your passion in life?

Helping people. Especially in Africa.