POEM: Hindsight is 20/20, and so is foresight (November Poem-A-Day 30)

Posted 30 November, 2010 in Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry

Listen to this poem using the player above.

This is it. The 30th and final poem for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. I’m glad I participated. I think I’ve got a few poems out of it that will stick around for a while. Today’s prompt was to write a “lessons learned” poem.

Hindsight is 20/20, and so is foresight

They should have sealed it with a kiss
and left together. Never looked back.
They should have known there might not be
another chance.
Except, and here’s the lesson:
There’s always another chance.

POEM: Romeo & Juliet

Posted 29 November, 2010 in Audio Poems, Literature, My poems, Poetry

Listen to this poem using the player above.

Romeo & Juliet

my therapist thinks we’re tragic
so tragic, in fact,
that when I told him our story, he laughed
not standard therapist behavior, perhaps
but it’s hard to fault the man
when you lay out the facts, line them up neatly
anyone would be incredulous, would doubt our veracity
wonder how the hell something like this could happen
I told him I don’t believe in God
but this whole situation makes me think
there may be a Devil
my mom thinks things happen for a reason
what’s the reason for this?
Shakespeare already wrote Romeo and Juliet
who are we to try to one-up the Bard?

POEM: a lost man… (November Poem-A-Day 29)

Posted 29 November, 2010 in Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry

Listen to this poem using the player above.

This is poem #29 for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. Today’s prompt was to write a “next steps” poem.

“Lost Man” by Michel Rajkovic

a lost man wonders what to do next,
decides to gamble it all on one throw of the dice

Hell with it, he thinks
putting down the last of his money
on the airline ticket counter

nothing ventured, nothing gained
no guts, no glory
know Jesus, know peace

that last one doesn’t fit
so many things don’t fit
the timing isn’t quite right

in fact, it’s wrong in a tragic
Hollywood or Shakespeare
sense, the kind of wrong

that is worse because it’s so
close to right
it’s almost there, it’s Maxwell Smart

missing it by “that much”
fingers held close together
the width of a telephone line

the ticket agent looks up
asks him where he’s going
a fine question, that

go west, young man
pack up your troubles
in your old kit bag

search the desert for treasure
scale the mountains
plumb the valleys

find the other half of your heart-
shaped locket, the one made
from an actual human heart

POEM: Villawood (November Poem-A-Day 28)

Posted 28 November, 2010 in Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry, Politics & Activism

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This is poem #28 for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. Today’s prompt was to write a “what really happened” poem. This poem is about the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre near Sidney, Australia. What happens there is horrifying. I learned about it through the work of Dan Burke (twitter.com/proudreader) via his appearances on the indispensable Citizen Radio.

Villawood

We told them to come and it would be safe.
They were running away. Escaping.
We were a return trip, back across the Styx
toward the stairway that leads to the living.
By the thousands they came. Pleading.
It’s just over this way, we said, through this gate.
And we shut it behind them, locked them in.
Of all people to imprison refugees, doing it here
has a special irony. Here in a land born in prison.
On ground we stole from an ancient people.
Our blood baptism brought forth a new religion.
And now we sacrifice their children — refugee
children — on the altar of our merciless god.
In truth, we’re grateful when they sew
their mouths shut, because their screams
pierce the night and steal from us our dreams
of beer and song and beautiful women.
And when they hang themselves or jump
they spare us the expense of the slow death
we were always planning to give them.
There is a boat across the Styx, and a staircase.
And at the top of the stairs, a gate.
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
And welcome to Villawood.

POEM: blame the brown people (November Poem-A-Day 27)

Posted 27 November, 2010 in Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry, Politics & Activism

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This is poem #27 for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. It’s almost over. Today’s prompt was to write a “blame the (blank)” poem. It’s quite possible this poem was impacted by how I spent most of my afternoon.

blame the brown people

for standing under all those bombs we dropped
getting themselves killed
didn’t they know enough to get out of the way?

sure, the cluster munitions and the food packets
were the same basic color and shape
but Jesus-H-Christ-on-a-crutch
how goddamned stupid are those Afghan and Iraqi kids?

I think they mostly hate us ’cause we’re right about everything
that would annoy anyone
don’t you remember the brainiac in high school
who you just wanted to punch until he went down
and stayed down?

Anyway, I think the next thing we ought to drop over there
is a picture of a bomb that says DON’T STAND UNDER THIS

Fuckin’ A right. Praise Jesus. Amen.

POEM: After a poem by C.P. Cavafy

Posted 26 November, 2010 in Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry

Listen to this poem using the player above.

I wrote this today in my favorite coffee shop while reading Cavafy’s Collected Poems. The italicized lines in the poem are from Cavafy’s poem “Before Time Altered Them.”

After a poem by C.P. Cavafy

They were full of sadness at their parting.

A fleeting kiss, meant to play the role
of so much unexplored country.

Tin-voiced airline announcements listing
destinations — a word meaning, originally,
“to stand.”

So he did, looking out the terminal window,
watching her walk away.

That wasn’t what they themselves wanted.
It was circumstances.

So easy to place the blame on fate.
Throw the stick in the stream,
watch it float toward the sea.

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