Tag: poet

Quaranxiety, by Melissa Calderon-Rougié

It’s been 30 or 40 days
At this point what’s the difference
An hour more a minute less
The silence sticks to me like a wool sweater, hot and uncomfortable
Bubbling over with every thought
Every doubt all competing in a race
For my full attention and the finish line
I feel fine
Just noticing how much these walls echo
Every step on these creaky wood floors
Louder than the last

You sure seem to have adapted well
Folding laundry, cooking, cleaning
Like any other day
I admire your ability to withstand it all
Thankful our daughter & son have you
Thankful my silence doesn’t overwhelm your strength
As it does mine
I want to rip the sweater off
But change is a process and I take my time with everything

For now I’ll comfort myself in the laughter echoing from our children
In the sunlight
Beaming through the window
And the uncharacteristic silence of our NYC street
So quiet you can hear the birds sing
I never noticed how many of them
Line up on the tree adjacent to our window
Flitting from one branch to the next
Like any other day

by Melissa Calderon-Rougié
andwhenshesings.wordpress.com

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Read Poem: Scared, by Michael Jackson

You should be scared

Scared of symmetrical smiles
of mystical eyes
white teeth
breath purified

Of have a nice days
the month of May
Everything okay?
Yeah, everything’s okay

Of positive thinkers
steady blinkers
gnomes in gardens
clean-cut shavers

Of old ragged flags
of I love you shags
of trend-setters
in trendy rags

Of the hopers
the delayers
these slayers
of evildoers

Of I wish you were heres
of the small-talkers
the how’s the family
the licenced stalkers

Of nice tattoos
of blue suede shoes
of decorative punks
with baby cunts

Of happy parents
at children’s parties
of bored housewives
who dreams of hippies

Of A graders
degraded B graders
pissed off C graders
and the maybeers

Of sofa violence
on Mary Jane
comedies
of hobby pain

Of live and let live
it’s all the same
just stay out of my fucking garden
and play the game

Of polished lines that seem to know
that points away towards the foe
Rhymes that time perfectly
Yeah, you should be scared of me

I’m just kidding
have a nice day

Read Poem: WALKING ON THE BEACH, by Jacueline Mead

Have you ever gone walking on the beach?

Shoes slipped off, sand covering your feet
Just you walking, on a big empty space.
The wind blowing in your face.
You pull your coat around you tight;
to brace against the cold.
Arms across your body, you fold
Waves crashing on the shore
Yet you find peace and tranquillity, even with the waves loud roar
You walk and walk, losing track of time
Recharging your soul, body and mind.
How is it possible to find such peace?
When all around you is noise.
Yet the wind in your face, the crash of the waves, brings you such joy.
I love walking on the beach, shoes slipped off, sand covering your feet
Coat pulled up around your face, the Beach becomes my happy place.
(c) Jacueline Mead 2020Image

Poetry Reading: Gifts, by Zeki Majed

I have become the enemy of time,
as arrows march and leave behind.
It’s cruel to love and throw aside,
but the hope, the silence, that’s the crime.

I wait for God to show me signs.
The grip on my soul is death and tight.
I loved so much and lost my mind,
how tragic to love, when love’s just mine.

To be left with questions, wondering why.
To be left with faith, is to live while you die.
For true love, it waits and it lies,
to nobody but you, that it will be alright.

For we, the long forgotten empty souls,
always there when they call.
Although it’s cold, down below,
I’d freeze to death so she is warm.

We the puppets and they our masters,
leave us begging high, for time to run much faster.
For they moved on, but we slaves to answers,
and it’s hard to walk right on, when you wrote them books, but you’re a chapter.

After, I have faded into dark,
I ask this world with all my heart.

Keep her smiling and keep her calm,
make sure she is sheltered from the storm.
Even when they drained us and we are gone,
my love will live forever, it will go right on.

Poetry Reading: Dan’s Bogey Wall by Si Baker

Performed by Val Cole

 

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Producer/Director: Matthew Toffolo http://www.matthewtoffolo.com
Editor: Kimberly Villarruel

Festival Directors: Mary Cox, Rachel Elder, Natasha Levy

Camera Operators: Hugh Ritchie, Isabal Cupryn, Aser Santos Jr., Zack Arch

Poetry Reading: If You Could Fix Me, by Melissa R. Mendelson

Performed by Elizabeth Rose Morriss

 Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

They say that what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, but what about the pieces, the scars left behind? What about the harsh memories that chase you when you try to sleep at night or the absence of time that you need to heal, and do we fully heal? Or are we just damaged beyond repair, wanting to be fixed, but knowing that we can’t be, no matter how hard we might try, but we still try, which inspired me to write this poem.

2) What motivated you to write this poem?

“If You Could Fix Me” was written years ago during a time when I tried to pull myself back together again. All I could see were the scars, wondering if they would ever go away, and if the damage could be fixed. The poem was originally longer and more raw, but I revised it and cut it down. And then I added it to my book of poems called, “Fragments of Yesterdays Past.”

3) How long have you been writing poetry?

I have been writing poetry since maybe eighth grade. I used to write a lot of poetry, but these days, I write more short stories.

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

Stephen King

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

WildSound has always delivered on their performances, giving voice to my words.

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

I have been writing a lot of short stories recently, and some of my stories have been published by Sirens Call Publications and Dark Helix Press.

7) What is your passion in life?

Writing first, Photography second.

Read Poetry: Poem, by 78Poet

We walk the streets everyday
But separately

We walk through the crowd

But each on the other side

Our heads are bowed down

Thinking of what could have been

Why aren’t we living the dream?

The ones we dreamt together.

How did we fall so apart?

There’s this bridge between us

You thought you burnt it

But it only lightened my path

Now I can see clearly

That I really miss you

Now I can see clearly

That I really do love you

But this gap so wide

There’s no coming together now

We’ve fallen so deep into the past

We cannot hide

This time around I have lost faith in humanity

Cause all truths are lies now

What good is a promise

If you cannot keep one?

So we walk the street again

But each on the other side

I wish it was a different day

Am afraid this is goodbye.