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Poetry Reading: WIND UNWIND, by Kanude
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
“I’m so fucking broke it’s absurd,” Floyd noticed the tear inside his jacket pocket. There are miserable times and there are the best of miserable times. Weeks had gone by and his dog Sue had been eating from the hand that fed him, trolling along on a loose rope. An...
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Poetry Reading: THE PEGASUS RANCH, by Arturo Desimone
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
The horses of Gaza—the stallions, colts, mares
the donkeys too—and mules, and jennies
who once tugged the people
on their carts, across the streets and intersections
for twenty centuries and maybe thirty,
now they scramble, the neighs, the braying,
the gallop in dru... -
Poetry Reading: The Golden Toilet, by Susan Kay Anderson
Performed by Val Cole
https://youtu.be/2S9NpUs-x9E
POEM:
The Maga will deliver what is owed
from a great hardware store
a department, the section
necessary fixtures and adhesives
for the job, guaranteed to cement
what’s so rickety, piles as they shift
rise majestic, up to high heaven
where Mag... -
Poetry Reading: The Gardener, by ani martin
https://youtu.be/0LufixXAwoA
POEM:
Summer arrives
in a dazzle
of pink blooms.The gardener admires
my petals with his fingers.
Reach for the sky!Seasons pass. Rivers slow. The gardener comes in shadow — a small flask
of rain.A brutal cutting!
Tendrils reach out for him, asking
“Why?” as th... -
Poetry Reading:The Final Fight, by Justin Prine
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
In the fading light of a weary day,
A man stands firm, through shadows play,
His heart a drum, steady and loud,
Facing the storms, beneath the shroud.Each breath a battle, each step a test,
He feels the weight of the world on his chest,
Memories flash like sparks ... -
Poetry Reading: Sun Shower, by Ryan Rahman
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
The sky opens,
raindrops fall,
and sunlight breaks the clouds,
casting its glow
throughout my backyard.An event, as if tailored for me—
a dance of water and light.
The universe is communicating
through the space between.I am in tune with the
presence of somethin... -
Poetry Reading: She Climbed, by Michelle Murray
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
She climbed to the top of the mountain
In her ascent
She failed to see
Red roses blooming, so fair, so sweet
Grass green growing there
Purple lilacs, stalks so bright
Pink glowing sky
Turning white clouds red by and by
Blue fading into black
Her steps show her track... -
Poetry Reading: Circle of Death, by Robert Pegel
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
My mother is dead.
My father is dead.
My brother is dead.
My other brother is dead.
My sister is dead.
My nephew is dead.
My son is dead.
When will my family stop dying?
I’m never going to get used to it. -
Poetry Reading: Beneath the Surface, by Christian Chu
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
1
The cello stands in silence, holding
Its breath.
In one baton flick,
everything changes.2
In music, rests and notes possess equal power –
Practice both. You’ll discover
life’s balance.3
Framed family photos hang,
smiles obscuring the fights before the
CLICK
No... -
Poetry Reading: chrysalis, by Virginia Elizabeth Samuel
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
back
from the dead
The Painted Ladies
tremble
in the heather
the change has come
as ephemeral Large Blues
emerge
from their buried
chamber -
Poetry Reading: Volcano Lover, by Walt Trask
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
Capri is framed by the east window,
Mount Vesuvius centers in the west. Chandeliers
suspend high, trapeze artists erupting their crystal
blooms to guide a Mardi Gras of painted clay and gesso
far below ceilingvaults. Do you recall sunset velvet splayed across marb...
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Poetry Reading: Twenty Good Years, by Richard Diamond
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
I turned fifty this year
Which made me reflect
That at best I have twenty
Good years left before
My life is basically over
As seventy is pushing it
For a man these days
This of course assumes
I don’t get hit by a bus tomorrow
Or even later today
Or have a heart atta... -
Poetry Reading: the rose period, by Uma Jagwani
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
professor says,
“picasso had a blue period, which was later followed by a rose period.
people tend to associate the blue period with melancholic sentiments.
& the rose period, with its opposite.”
but professor, i sense lingering melancholy
in his rose period, too....
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Poetry Reading: The Burden of My Name, by Michelle Wittle
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
Little girl. You’ve carried
the burden of my name
my life, interrupted
by a car crash at my
own hands for longer
then you even knew me
on earth.It’s time you lay down the burden
of my name, my life, my
goals that exceeded expectations
because you have surpassed
an... -
Poetry Reading:Pain Away, by Shadeara Hall
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
I smoke to take the pain away
Hoping for better days
That I don’t have to stress
And just be blessed
What God blew my wayI run to take the pain away
Running just clears my brain away
Away of any negative thoughts
That I may have running through my mind at the time... -
Poetry Reading: Deep Breaths, by Rachel Baker
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
Shadows
(they move)Deep breaths
(can’t breathe)Darkness swirls
(like the madness in my mind)Deep breaths
(can’t breathe)Name 5 things
(but it doesn’t go away)Deep breaths
(can’t breathe)Tree branches caress the window
(or scratching fingers)Deep breath...
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Poetry Reading: Away We Go, by Zionna Edwards
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
I wanna go home
As the dusk rises
With the sun bending down
And thus, staying there
Until it begins to rise again.In your car
With the windows down
Does light shine dim
And bright shading the
galaxy, the sky.Racing down the street
Goes the gas smell and
the steam... -
Poetry Reading: The Joshua Tree of Mojave, by Lalit Kumar
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
Dry, arid, desert landscape of Mojave
spartan-like, feisty under the relentless sun,
austere rock outcrops, shrubs,
wildflowers under the clear blue sky,
bloom vividly upon a thousand stars in the cover of the night.
A solid trunk of a tree, a poetry
unfurls its bra... -
Poetry Reading: Poetic Justice, Jonathan Goldman
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
T’was my last caper, a risky but weighty score:
Safe dial whirred, door popped at speed,
No chance to focus, time to take a shot,
In n’ out in minutes, so why’d I get caught?Cops cuff’d me, then questioned me, but I didn’t break,
The files stashed, they couldn’t c... -
Poetry Reading: My Final Arrow, by Cameron Crawford
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
Pain and grief,
Sadness and sorrow
Will I have the strength to make the morrow?I fear my loss
Will forever emboss.
Can I shed this pain, no matter the cost?Rage and anger
Are no stranger,
Especially towards the one born in the manger.You watch your world burn
... -
Poetry Reading: RACE, by Paula Maria Rodriguez
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
I was, maybe, three
years old, when my mother
said: “I challenge you to run
from here to the corner.”And, delighted, I ran.
On my spring stick new legs,
I ran,
giving it my all,
I ran,
alongside the old stone building,While holding my mother’s hand
and I felt t... -
Poetry Reading: X Marks the Spot, by Lucinda Clark
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
The Countdown begins
When?
November 5th, Jan.6th
OR
Is it
When does the countdown end?
I have heard one question and one statement over and over
Are you better off
We will fix it
I hear words like
I am traumatized
I am wondering I am leaving
I am scared
That is not... -
Poetry Reading: Revenge Theology with Hands, by Sharmila Voorakkara
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
When I die, I’m coming back to haunt the shit out of everyone who ever screwed me over in this lifetime.And I will be immune to your puny exorcisms. And if you’re on my afterlife shit list and you happen to get yourself dead before me, don’t consider yourself off th...
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Poetry Reading: My Body Isn’t a Protest, by Nickie DeSardo
Performed by Val Cole
POEM:
My body isn’t a protest.
It’s a betrayal.I’ve been trapped in here for years,
buried inside a harp seal,
wide-eyed with hakapiks overhead.
It was silent when I wanted to scream.
It froze when I wanted to fight.
It stayed when I should have fled.
My body isn’t a pr...