Category: Uncategorized

Poetry Reading: Courage, by Kenneth Clarke

Performed by Carina Cojeen

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

To stand alone against all odds is courage, we all fight our own battles, some with health, some in the mind, some with fate, and we generally all feel as if we fight these battles alone.

2) What motivated you to write this poem?

I am disabled after an accident and a stroke, I am fighting back and whilst I know there are many that are helping me, it feels like an uphill struggle that saps my strength and I need to remind myself it is not just my courage that will see me through but that of those around me helping me too.

3) How long have you been writing poetry?

For myself, since the early 80’s it has been my creative release.

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

Hans Christian Andersen

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

As a person with disabilities, I understand the importance of access for all, people who are sight impaired, dyslexic, or unable to read can still and should still enjoy access to poetry.

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

Yes, I have 11 published books, some novels, some historical and some on Metaphysics, I am also compiling a book of Poetry at the moment with each poem associated with an original piece of Art by me Oil on Canvas. I have seven scripts for features and TV dramatic episodic which is under option.

7) What is your passion in life?

To write and to learn.

Read Poem: Requiem in Orbit, by Nick Johnson

The pillars of fire ignited the sky spreading an ebony cloud of death that quickly engulfed the glowing blue and green orb floating in the infinity of space. All over the planet, the bright clusters of lights that had once stood as a testament to the power of man were smothered by darkness. To the men and women watching from their observatory on the edge of the cosmos the lights dotting the surface of the Earth were more than just the burning glow of civilization, the illumination emitted by billions of lives. These lights were a reminder of their homes, of their families, of their lives, and in only a matter of minutes, it was all gone.

For the astronauts on board the international space station, the burning red flurry of atomic explosions was like a silent fireworks show. They were deaf to the Earth shaking roar of the blasts, the howl of the scorching nuclear winds that were carrying the screams of billions across the dying world, and just like a fireworks show the pyrotechnics eventually stopped, and everything went dark. They floated in silence. The only sound from their communications equipment was the static transmitted by a dead world.

The gravity of the apocalypse instantly crushed the brave souls of the cosmonauts. Everyone was dead, and everything was gone forever. There was no way home. The space station they inhabited that once symbolized the accomplishments of an entire species had become their titanium tomb, and while their families were instantly incinerated on the ground below they would be subject to the slow death of starvation. In due time the cold specter of desperation would find its way into the hearts and souls of the astronauts. The once revered and respected men and women would try in vain to delay their descent into oblivion by consuming the only things they had left, each other.

Read Poem: Less of a Man, by Tierra Martin

Fatherless, Fatherless
How unfortunate for me, my first heartbreak was my father to be.
Fatherless, Fatherless
Yeah that was we, you damn sure aren’t blind so don’t act as if you can’t see.
Fatherless, Fatherless
Thinking and repeated blinking while sinking in these deep cry’s, when a child 197 miles seemed like a lifetime away.
Fatherless, Fatherless
Made time to bring more lives into the world while neglecting the ones already existing.
Fatherless, Fatherless
It was your duty so explain why your choosiness became such a crime.
Fatherless, Fatherless
When you come to the realization, I’ll be too elevated to allow your ignorance to fly…

Read Poem: Climate Change, by Gloria J. Wimberley, M.A.

Spurious and sputtering
Spring sprinted
in
all huff of yellow
and puff of pollen
then rush of rain
(too cold this veil of melted icicles)
Shriveling the delicate pink & white
of unaware blossoms
…petal babies trembling
defenseless against
Old Man Winter
and Mother Nature’s
ancient ardor
and weather war
…Summer emerges as the
victor as the
sultry sun rages
in heat & leit of light…
Dragon Celosia, Dahlias, and devil vines
thrive
in silent threnody
–no Asphodel
for a vernal epitaph
________________________________
Brief bio-note:
Having taught English at an inner city college in Little Havana in Miami, Florida, as well as teaching at colleges and universities in the Washington,DC-Northern Virginia area for decades, Gloria J. Wimberley, MA, prose editor for Middle Island Press, now lives in the woodsy warmth of her West Virginia hometown in Appalachia. Her poetry collection Dialect of Dahlias was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Edgar & Lenore’s Publishing House of Los Angeles, and her social media profiles can be found on Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Her poetry readings appear on YouTube.

Watch the MAY 2018 Poetry Readings

 

Poetry Reading: MORBID DECEIVER, by Bob Mazzei

Poetry Performance Reading: Families are the treasures of heaven, by G.B. Smith

Read Poetry: Ballad Of The East Wind, by Mark Tierno

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read Poem: WHAT HAVE I LOST?, by Diane Burrow

What Have I Lost?
(Afterthoughts.)

What have I lost?
Was I truly tossed and
Shuffled among schemes
Seemingly for betterment,
Reasons for acting, masquerading
As morality of the highest?

There’s a thread
Slotted somewhere inside
The footsteps of those men
Who influenced my way,
Whose dreams are nothing less
Than slaughtering the many for any deal,
To realize a peace they
Cannot sustain, maintain.

A little sacrifice for the many.
‘In the end they’ll see it my way’
While I revile my wife and spoil
My children for a greater cause:
The many, not the few.

What have I lost,
Alone among
The everlasting flowers
Singing one-time songs?

Read Poem: The Taste of Black, by Aaliyah Salia

Bitter to the tongue; like overbrewed coffee or ninety percent dark chocolate,
a heavy lump down my throat, I crave for sweet water.

Not too hard to describe, but not too easy to understand.
Like blood, just not sweet. The metallic taste everyone knows, but no one can bear.

An addiction, an overdose,
never tiring, always novel to the tasters.

It burns, it hurts,
the pain doesn’t die.

Like drinking alchohol,
but deadlier and raw.

I don’t want it,
I need it.

I don’t need it,
but I crave it.

Don’t give it to me,
It’s foul,

Give it to me,
I might not live anymore.

Poison for some,
Elixir for some.

Sinful for some,
Paradise for the rest.

Read Poem: Paint yourself, by Phil Utumapu

Freedom calls my name like a mother searching for her lost child.

Do not chastise me with criticism, instead, free my spirit with love and understanding.

Discipline me with your wisdom, showing me the path with actions and deeds.

Anyone can tell a good tale, but proof walks in your shadow.

For the picture you paint of yourself will show the purpose of your life,

and your purpose, may save my life, in the end.

BY, Phillip Utumapu

Thank You Very Much.

Read Poem: POWER OF HER EYES, by Hume Poets

Staring into your eyes
is all I need
to dance without music,
Beautiful,they are,
I feel myself floating
with no feel of gravity,
A small, fragile member
of your body,
but all you need
to conquer my ego
and bring me to my
knees.