Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

One may pave the sided streets from his neighbors guile,
To a diligence of a leader; or to an acid’s chyle.
This zephyr from the switchgrass of soulstice,
is unabridged by my mama’s veiled smile.
One’s true veilon is dogged behind the child.
Child who refused to fin...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

My light was out when the message bore
the state of the child’s condition
and brought me kneeling to the floor
and reading what the father knew—
the object as inviolable, though reason claimed we too
would not cease in giving way
when met by forces, I recalled
my ow...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Number 1

I watch him carry my mother up the stairs as if she is the thinnest piece of glass,

She is full of cracks.

I turn on the shower, a waterfall of memories.
Rubber ducks in the tub as we pretended to be mermaids.

My mother huddles in the shower, scared and...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

(Sci-Fi for Rob Halford, Written While Sitting On a Curb
Outside Steven Spielberg’s “Amblin’ Entertainment”
Universal Backlot Office, Bungalow 477)

Ravages of starlight
beat upon his head:
This battleground,
a smoking field of dread.

His body feels the pummel
of w...

https://youtu.be/9DQs3B_4y2g

Performed by Val Cole

POETRY:

Uncle Ricky, a Gentle Giant
Uncle Ricky, a brilliant soul
He gave his near and dear a softer grace
With his gap-toothed smile on his face
His laugh filled a room as he told his vivid stories.
A smooth swagger, a heart in bloom
A brothe...

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

The theme of the poem is the comeuppance and downfall of a politician
who literally lied his way into office and was then found out.

2) What motivates you to write this poem?

What prompted me to write it? I suppose it was to see how I...

https://youtu.be/WhPQ84JWJTU

POEM:

In the sole required text for that Intro to Western Civ
State-college course I took as a freshman, in the chapter
On the 19th century Industrial Revolution in England,
I saw farmhands by the dozens streaming up the street
From a black iron gate, their agricul...

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

The theme of Towards The Storm is to move into uncertainty regardless of what change is to come. The only difference is choosing to face it

2) What motivated you to write this poem?

Most of my poems start with a feeli...

https://youtu.be/Z0B3ZEiOzbQ

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Their moment had come where the truth was told…
From that point forward nothing was known.
All that remained is the constant flow
that stained their minds that had come to a close.
Their minds bestowed only what is allowed.
Allowed to b...

https://youtu.be/Hy92-yHuykY

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Whether you pretend to see me,
or you actually do
eventually, eyes betray
and look at what they really want.

In an attempt to know myself,
I know you.
What it means to know beauty.
To find a moment you hope lasts forever.
A smile that ...

https://youtu.be/pDqK9dK-BVg

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

(Church of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ)

I.

In a small Eastern European town,
A painter swiftly walked on through the square
Of the city, past old roofs colored brown.

There was a metallic smell in the air,
Caused by the rai...

https://youtu.be/2mP0bDi5igA

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

A stag leaps across the board run,
ditch to ditch, thorns to thorns,
muscles, music, obsidian eyes focused
to aspens beyond his landing.

Those blessed to see such things once,
and never again, carry the frames
of that motion into the s...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

I met her on a Tuesday.
But it wasn’t an ordinary Tuesday.
Sort of lukewarm, but heavy.
One of those just get in the car,
cut the music on and drive
kind of Tuesdays.

She was at the gas station,
wearing Beats headphones.
Not the discreet ones that fit
in your ears,...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

I would let you eat me alive,
Devour me whole, and
Digest me completely.

I would let you set me ablaze-
Bright lights engulfing me;
I’d burn to a crisp.

You could carry me to sea,
Drag me down, drown me,
And I’d still thank you.

You took her first,
So far away…
I...

https://youtu.be/A2Yo6b6dKUM

Performed by Val Cole.

POEM:

My beloved Great Aunt Ruth
Fed her children good gray truth.
Great Aunt Lisa, whom I prize,
Raised her brood on bright red lies.

Filthy cupboards, cockeyed doors,
Spotted carpets, sticky floors,
Rancid odors, saggy plaster. . .
Lisa’s...

BLUE PEARL UNDER THE SEA
by Ardalan Pourvali

In twilights dusk, where coral reefs sway,
an empress dwells beneath the waves gray.
With tresses of hair, like golden seaweed,
she reigns; a blue pearl - carefree.

Searching the bayside;
Nature Man hunts for lost treasure.
Shuttered to t...

https://youtu.be/EW45EGodRds

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Slammed doors,
raised voices,
tears hitting the floor,
she’s faced with choices.

She sleeps alone
for the first time
in a long time
with a heavy heart.

Her own painful words echo in her head
and guilt consumes her.
What started the fig...

https://youtu.be/__hH3S-FfAw

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

I.

Eros walked slowly through the forestland,
Near Mount Olympus, in the soft twilight.
By his side, he held his bow in his hand,
As he walked on through the advancing night.
Above the forest, the evening was clear,
As a full moon lit ...

Performed by Val Cole

Performed by Val Cole

Performed by Val Cole

Performed by Val Cole

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POEM:

To the tune of Yesterday-With apologies to Paul McCartney

Yoga pants
I spend half my life in yoga pants
don’t do yoga, I don’t even dance
oh, I just live in yoga pants

Wintertime
cold outside but I don’t have to freeze
Used to garden in my dungarees
but yoga...

Performed by Val Cole

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POEM:

Mirroring myself
Only led to broken glass
Pick up the pieces

Stained with memories
Jagged and rusted with tears
Only truth remains

Performed by Val Cole

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POEM:

Is it better never to have loved at all
Than to have loved and lost in sorrow’s pain,
When love departs on flights to be enthralled
With pleasures of youthful spring again.

That temptation of Eros which beckons,
To shed one’s age and cast love’s old clothes;
An...