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 ...

Performed by Val Cole

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Is It Because I’m black, by Jermal Perkins

Is it Because I am black
Is it Because I am different from
You seen me And I seen you
We looked at each other
I seen the anger in your eyes
I continue walking down the street
It was pretty dark outside
I heard the Sirens ...

Performed by Steve Rizzo

Big Lonely Doug by Ekaterina Karassev

I walked down the path and touched Big Lonely Doug.

He poked me in my chest and whispered in my ear,

"Do you know why I am left here?

Do you know why people keep approaching,

Taking off their shoes, hugging me and crying?

Do ...

Reading by Val Cole

The Face of a Woman
By Chris Mills
2020

The face of a woman is where emotions stream live
Revealing the beauty that within her resides.
She rises to a challenge to make life better for just one
And works ceaselessly until the deed is done.
Her expression, as she sees the f...

Read Poem: Tiptoeing Elephants, by John Hansen

Why do people take offence
so easily these days?
It seems that almost everything
offends in certain ways.

No matter what is said or done,
written or expressed,
someone somewhere, who knows why,
will be visibly distressed.

There once was something...