What I Thought I Wanted

Have you ever wondered who you would be
Without your profession, without your role
Without a position in life that holds
The you, that you know to be in this world
The you, who you think is important
The pearl
That is singular?
One and specific?
Identified by name and pos...

Read by Val Cole

THE CALL OF PAN

© 2015

Barbara Grace Lake

I heard a piping in the wood –

Haunting, calling me

To follow if I dare.

I heard it in the dawn

As misty sunlight gently touches

Tips of trees when first aroused

And leaves are freshest.

Mounds of grassy thickets

Crunch beneath my feet

From...

Her last smile, by Mustofa Munir

when the clock of civilization has lost its sense of time
she perceived the world without knowing its malicious darkness,
a lonely young girl died many times
before her death when
she was gang-raped by some beastly men,
suffered many days and months,
she deliver...

TENDER LOVING MOMENTS, by Colin Guest

To feel your tender body touching mine
Is a sweet feeling that is simply divine
I love the touch of your arms around me
It makes me feel happy I want all to see
Our tender love is both strong and true
With our never feeling down and blue
Just to hold your h...

POETRY Reading:

fan the flame
let it die out
or set fire to the kitchen trying to make breakfast
with you at four in the morning

take a walk instead

paint the winter canvas of town
like a boot on the moon

trip on the ice and knock your head into mine
watch our breath intersect in the space...

Four Days, by Les Bill Gates

Remember me?
You betrayed me today.
With a kiss, you showed them the way
And collected thirty silver coins.
You whipped me and mocked me.
You crowned me with thorns.
So grovel in the dirt, pick up your pay.
You betrayed me today.

Remember me?
You killed me today.
Y...

Crann Bethadh Song Messengers, by R.L. Stephenson-Read

We embrace our Celtic ancestry
For that same time runs nigh
And seek the mystery from the Lake of Small Stones
Of a lost, ancient tribe’s practice.
Those magical Druid Holies droned, “Beannachtaí Dé”
In their sacred, Oaken Groves
And planted...

Love the mystery...
Love...
The mystery...

Love the mystery...
Love...
The mystery...

Love is a feeling...of curiosity...
Yearning for the moment...what might be...
Love plays hide and seek...
But truly never meets...
So, please...
Love the mystery
Love the mystery

Love is eternal...lasts til...

DEAR GAELENE, by Mercedes Webb-Pullman

I’m pitching a script about a journey
discovering new lands. A clever captain
but he’s shipwrecked. A remarkable
love-and-murder story illustrated
by the captain and his new navigator;
he is English, and she Polynesian.

(Quick back-story about a Polynesia...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

From within it stirs
Barely moving, barely awake
Its breath misting, steaming, warming;
Slowly it stretches
Reaching out
Its tentative touch
As fragile as floss spun glass
Crystalline, beautiful and alive.

Sentience claims it now;
Aflood with rainbow strands
Splash...

Read Poem:

Leroy my neighbor had some lottery luck
But he went off and blew it all on a big old monster truck
Now he can’t afford to drive it
The gas cost too much
Leroy’s old lady she packed and left
She was pissed that Leroy was only thinking of himself
But if I know Leroy
He wasn’t thinking ...

READ POEM:

I am waiting
for shrink-wrapped facts to fall from the bellies of planes
while gators slide across water and insects roar.

I am waiting
for a country-western singer without a pickup,
for a horse bounding
through grasses flung like long hair in the wind.

I am waiting
for unstandard...

The Note Pinned to my Heart Reads…, by Mark Kirkbride

I have been struck by lightning, twice,
once in the neck, once in the Trossachs.
I crawled out of a crash with whiplash
and made a bleeding, limping dash
across the border. Armed guards fired.
I’ve stowed away on boats and planes
and jumped...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

I wonder where you are

Wherever you are

The place is beautiful

The place knew an angel was approaching

I wonder what's your thought

Whatever it reached

That point is now purified

That point got out of trouble

I wonder who entered your heart

Whoever it...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

The snow has just begun to fall
thick enough to leave footprints –
My footprints –
first to mark this snow.
From A where I began
to B where I finished
Mine were the first footprints
to be added by others.

The first love sonnet was written when
a lover at A saw the...

Performed by Val Cole

Poetry Reading:

If only I could see

with a mind without

Distractions.

what would I see

would I see me

what would I do

would I take a knife

and then take a life

would I see

clarity

Would I be

Free

Or are the distractions in our

lives the only thing keeping
...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Shame, Shame go away I don’t want you any day
Shamed into Silence…
My spirit was dehumanized
Shamed into Silence…
By the words of my grandma “It's yo’ own fault y’ know mens cain't control theyselves
Shamed into Silence…
By the hands of my grandma beating 'til I cou...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

the dream
the reality
the ghettos
the insanity
the inhumanity
look at the world’s state
poverty
look how power rapes
could I take
dirty water under
the poorest living conditions
still praying, hoping, wishing
dreaming of that new day
dreaming of equal opportunity
h...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Let’s take a walk
You said.
Okay, I said.
And here we are
High above the East River
On a pedestrian walkway
On the Triboro Bridge
Hiking from Astoria
To Randall’s Island
As rush-hour traffic
Streams by.
I hate my life
You say.
And I know
You’re not joking.
I wonde...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Standing in Line. Eyes front.
No acknowledgment. Robotic recruits
Uniforms pressed. Knife-edge creases.
Summer sunshine. Corona causation.
Shoes shone. Reflective leather. Bows tied.
Tarsal protection. Cobbled, with a mirror image.

No one speaks. Wordless. Mute.
P...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

There was a special place at the end of the orchard, where a small clearing with a clump of young trees, hovered just above the creek. The child loved to come here. She loved the joy she felt when she saw the sun filtering through the wattle trees, the green mosses...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

I see like the sky sees—
Winding rivers, peaks, small bushes, tall trees…
A reality surrounded by all shades of purples and golds,
Humanity held together by unseen yet powerful bonds.
I hear like the mountain hears—
It feels like the air lent me its ears.
I hear ec...

Performed by Val Cole

Read Poem:

Continue being you
Continue to evolve with change
Continue being true
Some may believe it’s a stain to not follow the rules
So be it
They were not supposed to continue…
Continue to navigate through the cracks and ditches
Only God knows how many the enemy tried ...