Read Poem: Solitude in the City Woods, by Peeush Trikha

Solitude in the City Woods

The Mid July heat,
the heat on the concrete pavements,
Of ACs drawing out heat from all corners of houses,
The CO2 s and NOs of the automobiles making life hellish,
makes one feel thirsty, hot and tired.
Yet tasks are to be done.
Targets to me met.
Disputes to be settled.
While walking in this heat,
comes a lonely and deserted passage of grass and trees,
with some cows resting and crows roaming.
And the blessed shadow of the trees
fill one with a much needed relief
and joy.

Who doesn’t wants such a solitude in the city woods,
which fills our mind and soul with a resolve,
to protect our nature and trees.
For what are we without them,
without them…….

Theme: Philosophical

Read Poem: Avoiding the Clutches of Tony Glut, by Matt Snyder ©2019

The road to 165

is a slow and arduous task

for every small 20 foot hill conquered

I still stumble down large mountains

often with my feet stuck in thick mud

but thankfully avoiding any quick sand

I’ve managed to evade Tony Glut on Easter Day

because I don’t want to pay the price for what he’s constantly offering me

I shall persevere, I will reach my destination and Tony won’t be there to taunt me.

Read Poem: AI! AI! AI! (A Tartarus for Youth), by David Estringel

I.
AI! AI! AI!
Sated with stolen life,
emerged from mother’s Night,
there is longing to be free
from the warmth of darkened humours–
to be crowned by The Light of Artificial Gods.
Our worlds quake and rip,
tossing us upon gory shores
beyond fertile crests,
illuminated by a cold Sun.
Messengers sweep down in clouds of winged oblivion
to wet lips with Lethe’s waters
upon cruel fingertips.
“Shhhh.”

II.
AI! AI! AI!
Blinded,
light brings pain
in rushes of movement and sound
that sting the flesh.
Icy
with invasions
of steel and sterile prodding,
souls rouse to profess philosophies
in cries and screams
that crack the air,
unheard
like the falling of leaves upon the ground
from distant trees

III.
AI! AI! AI!
Swaddled bodies,
searched in vain for the safety of familiarity,
tell much, tell little
like symbols in scrying mirrors.
Their fictions, written with sweat and tears,
anointing
foreheads, eyes, and lips
with benedictions of shameful regret.
As if it were better to have the heads of babes
dashed and bloodied
upon the Rock,
than to suffer Spartan destinies, impaired.
Left only to linger—a world apart—
in bloodless mediocrity.

IV.
AI! AI! AI!
What are these ragged paths
to be stumbled upon
under tender foot,
with stones that cut
and scratching thorns from the briar
that temper flesh,
supple and pink,
making hard what was once soft to the touch.
Fed by an earth
that feasts on cuts,
bodies devolve to walk upright—and alone
upon roads, paved with the hands and backs
of brethren.
Knuckles crunching beneath soles like so much gravel.

V.
AI! AI! AI!
O, the passion of attainment,
upon which the masses engorge,
aimless in its metal
and promises
of faceless adulations
and the settling of laurelled wreathes
upon heads of cartilage!
How empty, these violent strikes against the Self,
incessant and passionless,
carving out pounds of flesh,
victory for victory,
‘til nothing remains–
all for narratives
that are not their own.

VI.
AI! AI! AI!
How thirsty are these–
the razor-tongued buds of spring.
Driven
to the drinking of others’ tears
for satisfaction of sanguine thirsts.
To revel
in the tearing
of white petals
from tender stems
with poisoned fingertips,
delighting in themselves,
as if masters of ceremonies
at blood-lettings
and vivisections.

VII.
AI! AI! AI!
The sooth of touch’s fidelity
has melted away–
soured–
like cream in the sun.
Replaced,
the quality of distance
makes, explicit, one’s worth,
across arid plains
of air and silence.
Fallen away, the allures and charms
of communion,
only to make room
for the play of shadows
on Plato’s walls.

VIII.
AI! AI! AI!
There is a science,
oppressive
and cold,
behind the collisions of heavenly bodies of light (in love)—
clashing
explosions of atoms
over chasms—
the spaces in between—
that define and separate.
Souls, burning brightly,
cannot coexist
in their starry majesties
without a surrendering of fire.
My Ares takes your Aphrodite.

IX,
AI! AI! AI!
Upon paths paved with gold,
under the azure
of a fanning sky,
herds
are driven in blithe procession
to the precipice.
Cast into the maw
of their society.
Without the iron shielding of wings,
they perish,
masticated,
like everyman’s meat,
leaving them shades
that stain the wintry air.

X.
I, I, I,
will crawl to the grave,
worn
and weary,
upon the Earth I have salted
with tears,
violent and hot–
but harmonious–
in Time’s own poetry,
where I will find
the Peace and Solace of Rest,
drinking from a forgetful cup,
enshrouded
by the arms of my brother—
The Undergloom.

Read Poem: A Beautiful Death, by Kristen Corbisiero

This love was never meant to make history,

Darling, we were never meant to move the stars and caress fate.

This mere distraction turned into a spell-bounding affair

Of two hearts stuck on each other.
With the red string closing in at their throats,

We are simply two souls, trapped in a fragile state of caring too deeply, too much.

Our story begins as a boy and a girl, meeting a stranger’s eye and returning a smile,

It goes on for days, months and years before our love solidifies,

A power of simple affection drawn deep from the infatuation made from strangers.

A burden I can no longer carry on my own.

But our tale holds as much joy as it does sorrow,

For a star that burns so bright can only been seen as it implodes on itself.

And our stars colliding was the best thing that could happen to my universe,

For any cosmos we make will harbor passion, greed and lust born from such lovers.

In the deep skies we find ourselves at our best and worst.

You have become neither scorn nor lover,

In the body of angel, and the mind of the devils son, you worship me.

And we fall into the blacken sky, holding onto a breath that has escaped us.

My heart falls deep and fast for a being such as you,

And you take me for everything I am, the good the bad and the worst.

For you, I give my all and get so much of you in return,

But our love is tragic and laced with caution,

(The stars beauty is only found in the light years it takes away,)

My heart is too melded in yours to be broken; rather, it simply shatters,

Taking pieces of you and me, scattering them across the universe of time.

Oh, darling, you’ll be the death of me,

So consider yourself lucky on how beautiful it will be.

Read Poem: Black Person, Should I Be More Like You?, by Sway Writes

Cookie cutter black person
What does it mean to be like you?
What do I need to do?
How do I say what I need to say to sound more like you?
“Be more black, act your race” is what they all say
What does that even mean?!
I refuse to be a cookie cutter example of you
Why can’t I be me and do what I do
So what I like to listen to rock and pop and maybe a little alternative too
Is that deemed white music by you?
I like to listen to rap as well
Am I finally acceptable to you?
I love my black people and I love my brown skin
But I refuse to be put in a box
Because you’re satisfied enough to live in it.

Read Poem: Conscious Monster, by LayeDaWriter

Oh, well there friend

Why won’t you tell one, where you’ve been

I mean you don’t have to say, because of course I know

That there, is a secret I’d never show

Remember, I told you once you gave up your mind it was over

In the back of your head, cruising, you as my chauffeur

Want me gone, yet the fun has only begun

You gave a part of yourself and wasn’t thinking of a refund

Now, where do we go from here you ask

Take a sip from that flask

Close your eyes, this may get bumpy

The next morning you may be a little grumpy

All the while, I sit back and watch you squirm

But due to your lack of awareness my grip became firm

More control I receive, as you fight Throw in the towel, exert no more might

The battle you urge to win, you lack the most essential tool

This battle resulting in a loss playing you as a fool

Yes I am the master and you come to me for the ultimate decision

One bad choice, and I eat at you slow with precision

Without me, you run through the world as a mad man

Bit and pieces of what you see create me, yes I stan

Once upon a time, you had the power to shift me in your own way

Yet you chose to let society devour you, creating more of me day by day

With you forced to be my driver, helping me collect more

I’ll get the things I need to help reach deeper into your core

-LayeDaWriter

Read Poem: UNDERSTAND ME, by by Natie Jay Tembe

I am not a usual thing; I am not the standard spirited young adult, still brimming with teenage angst and aged wisdom passed down from the withered hand that put me too sleep many years ago. I am not the oh-so-common, die-in-your-mid-twenties young adult that fought, screaming at their own reflection every day in both pain and fear… “Believe me!!! I’m trying.”

I am not either of these things, because I am both of these things.

I died 8 years ago, aged 15 when my best friend told me she was tired of how much I loved her. I died 7 years ago when my mother left my father because he was a sad shell of a man that raised us on the back of the broken principles that shattered him. I died, 4 years ago when I realised my dreams were just that.

I died yesterday when I woke up and felt like breathing was a chore and living was a privilege I never intended to receive.

Every night I attend my own funeral, and every morning I open my eyes to a miracle. At night I close my door, lock it twice; slip off my slippers and slither into my bed. As the uncomfortable comforter slowly covers my head, like the end of an open casket funeral, I lay there and picture how my life would have turned out if I were one or the either.

Songs carry me to my annoyingly not-eternal slumber. The voices of the Delta slip me into a blissful mental coma, and Bon Iver sings to me of moon water and creeks.

I share my headspace with unrelenting heartbreaks, and a constant fear of my own mortality. I fear the day I scream at my reflection, so I don’t try; I fear the day when the wisdom I have been carrying slips between my fingers like sand, granulated and eroded … so I don’t try.

I have screamed at stars all alone during winter nights and I have cursed angels during my twilight at twilight. My hands have laid down lines of lead and ink, and my heart has bled on paper of all colours; from standard white, all the way to rosy pink; my mind has regurgitated my reality in the form of words on blank pages so that you may catch a glimpse of the weird and wonderful world I exist in.

I have seen the darkness of man and the beauty of his heart.

Understand me! I am the vile and venerous vilification of my history and the hauntingly splendid exoneration of my history. I am no usual thing; I am both alive and dead. I die a million times within a day, but I was only alive once… way back when.

Believe me… I’m trying

Read Poem: Genere is Friendship, by Mallika Kumar

Dedicated to my friend Raghuvendra

Sweet memories, that will always shine,
Shimmering of them will do remind
Of Someone who is very special.
To some he’s a chattering box…
For some a pain in the neck.
This is what others perceive him as;
Who fail to see a beautiful mind,
a caring heart and a sensitive soul.
Who is always there to console.
An elf for sure, for a little talk, would bring back your smile.
Worries would sublime….and you will feel light…
Hold him tight or he will fly..to someone who needs his Elfy delight, to bring light in others life.

https://ecofamily.food.blog/

Watch the AUGUST 2019 Poetry Readings

All performed by Kat Smiley

POETRY Reading: Almost Homeless, by Perry Terrell

POETRY Reading: The Old Man and the Tree, by Andrew Smith

POETRY Reading: THE DEVIL’S CLUTCH, by Kevin Parish

POETRY Reading: End, by Christine Bolton

POETRY Reading: Bully, by Travaughn

POETRY Reading: Bully, by Travaughn

Performed by Kat Smiley

Producer/Director: Matthew Toffolo http://www.matthewtoffolo.com

Festival Moderators: Matthew Toffolo, Rachel Elder

Casting Director: Sean Ballantyne

Editors: Kimberly Villarruel, Ryan Haines, John Johnson

Festival Directors: Rachel Elder, Natasha Levy

Camera Operators: Ryan Haines, Temitope Akinterinwa, Efren Zapata, Zack Arch