Tag: Poetry Festival

Read Poem: Pixels, by Viktoria Emelkin

I am a leafless tree.
Green is fading to grey with every day
That turns into minutes
And seconds;
Time is picking up speed and taking off.
I can’t follow,
I am busy counting numbers and pixels.
Absorbed by the monotonous sounds
I don’t raise my head towards the other pair of eyes;
It’s not looking at me anymore.
I see shades of blue directed elsewhere.
Longing for the past,
Reminiscing of the lost,
Of the useless.
The dreary air is crawling into the lungs
And greying me out.
I am pixelating.
Now you can’t tell me from the pixels
That I was so busy counting.

Read Poem: Last night’s dream, by Tyler R. Martin

Sweet little girl with a teddy bear,
Standing almost naked on her porch

Eyes blue, perfectly round, large as dinner plates
Glimmering like jewels in the golden morning sun

I approach, smiling, leaning down to meet her eyes,
I ask her how’s life in her little world today

From her mouth comes the sweetest little voice
Telling me I’m a fucking asshole

Read Poem: Haunt, by Tyler R. Martin

Abandon me
Please won’t you phantom?
Apparition don’t appear.
Abandon me
Please dark ether,
You fill my nights
With fear

Leave me
Sorrowful specter,
Haunt my floor
No more,
The way you smirk
and giggle
Shakes me
To my core

You’re unwanted
Wicked wraith,
Please incorporate
Elsewhere,
Cease the seizure
Of my family,
For that I can not
Bare

Poetry Reading: AS MY OWN BREATH , by David Dephy

Performed by Carina Cojeen

After centuries of living with nothing, but my love to you, friends,

I found myself surrounded by the luxury of feelings and I am safe

now, I am alive, I am breathing again, but where were you, my friends,

when I was broken? I am calm now, but where were you my friends

when the emptiness encircled me and I was afraid? Where are the friends

when I need them most? I was yearning for knowledge, but from this

day on, I don’t want to know a thing except for, will I be able or not

to love you again, friends. Maybe everything and maybe nothing that I

have given or maybe not given away will ever be really as mine, as my

own breath? Hello friends, I found you after centuries of living with nothing

but my expectations — our life is what our expectations are. I thank you all.

David Dephy

January 2, 2020

—

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

Read Poem: LOVE’S NEEDLE, by Anne Leigh Parrish

Watch them tug along
First her, then him
Walking like looped stitches
In the slanted evening light

Watch her thread him
On her spool
Cast perfectly on the bobbin
Of this orange sky

So long together, they have
Sewn, pulled apart, frayed
And dropped the needle’s thread

But now they rest and
Gather up their loosened strands
Bound together, always

Read Poem: Veterans – Not Just For November, by Bill Clayton

The medals glint on Whitehall
The Veterans glow with pride
The country’s politicians
Standing side by side

Rousing words are spoken
Solemn stories told
Politicians sing the praises
Of the old and oh so bold

But as these words all fade away
It seems it’s just another day
For every poppy lying by their feet
A veteran sleeps out on the street

TV crews have all gone home
Veterans now left all alone
Returning to a desperate fate
Help them now, don’t leave too late

For those who fought and gave their trust
The treatment given is so unjust
Those soldiers held in high esteem
Are being ignored, to an extreme

For those returning from the front
A new war is just beginning
For all those who came back to us
Inside their heads are spinning

A never ending torture
They live each and every day
The horrors they’ve seen
From the places they’ve been
Will never go away

The Covenant talks of treating fair
Well, none of that is working
The politicians preen and pose
While from responsibility, they’re shirking

To all in power or wish to be
There’s one thing that you have to see
Our poppies may be packed away
But our veterans’ needs are here to stay

Let’s show the world, let’s lead the way
Let it not be just a remembrance day
Let’s show the care that they deserve
Those who bravely went and served

Don’t let the pride and memories fade
Till it’s time to think of the next parade
From your responsibilities, no retreat
Get our comrades off the street.

Please don’t betray our girls and boys
Please give them all your loudest voice
Give them a home, give them care
Don’t leave them all alone out there

Homes fit for heroes
Lloyd George said
Not cardboard boxes in their stead
Maybe what he had to say
We’ll remember this Remembrance Day.

Bill Clayton
© 2019

Read Poem: never-ending sun, by Kristen Corbisiero

Run away with me,

To a place where the things we worry about don’t matter,

Where the sun melts into the sky,

And the birds sing so beautifully we forget the sun never sets.

Stay here with me in the paradise of our own making,

Dancing and play in the sunflower field,

And we can laugh without worrying about the wrinkles around our eyes,

Blinded by the magnificent blooms.

The sun never sets,

So we never have to worry about the night and her stars,

Or wonder if the moon misses the sky,

Wonder is the stars truly do light up the sky,

Where are you stars…

Did the moon take you…?

She can’t. The sun never sets,

Eclipses anything, everything else,

Here we are, trapped in the paradises of a never-ending sun,

Dancing and spinning and laughing until we cry,

Never noticing the stars were hidden behind our eyes this whole time.

Poem Reading: First Contact by Lauren White

Go to the poet’s website: https://hellolaurentms.com.

Performed by Esther Thibault

******

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

Director: Kierston Drier

Casting Director: Sean Ballantyne

Editor: Kimberly Villarruel

Camera Op: Mary Cox

Read Poetry: I am the one by short-prose-fiction

Performed by Elizabeth Rose Morriss

*****

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

Director: Kierston Drier

Casting Director: Sean Ballantyne

Editor: Kimberly Villarruel

Camera Op: Mary Cox