Hey, we have a new contributor for this month’s Open Mic. Jim Feeney of stopdraggingthepanda sent me a link to a reading of one of his poems. Check out the February 2017 Open Mic Page and swing by Jim’s site!
Category: Poems
observations on a serial napper (20170222)
behind me the cat sleeps
on a little fleece bed
i can see her breathing
in that almost imperceptible
mockery of slow motion
i just wanted to remind you
that there is something warm here
with a beating heart
and it doesn’t matter
the size of the muscle
manicured wastelands without roots (20170221)
from the latin
sub “below, near”
and urbs (genitive urbis) “city”
so then, one might say
something beneath a city
growing
fungus like
virulent and in the dark
but really
what else grows in shadows
and in shit
just so many mushroom capped
spore spreaders without
bearing the weight of skyscrapers
and the dreams that built them
stone on stone
the murder rate is lower
but the suicide rate is higher
in spite of the lack of tall buildings
——
monologue (20170220)
i hear you
rattling around in there
chattering
i let you
have your say
some days
and some days
i clap my hands over
my ears
i try to keep busy
because you don’t talk to me
when i’m busy
though you mutter
an incessant
vibration in my inner ear
sakura (20170219)
white shirt
cherry blossoms appear
like blooms of disappearing ink
secret message written in code
and violence
comparison (20170218)
flying toward me,
less than; passing,
greater than
Open Mic Alert!
Here’s a treat for you all, a new reading by Robert Okaji. Please check it out at the February 2017 Open Mic Page.
And do you yourself a favor. Visit his web site. I’m sure you’ll find something amazing there.
an early morning flight (20170217)
geese exit the preserve
a self-organizing v
constructed of
even numbers
off center by
one
the extra bird
tips the balance
a thrown boomerang
tugging the fulcrum leader
like gravity’s sweet whisper
if i messaged myself while trying to write a poem (20170216)
breaking into a sweat–no
breaking into a swear
after the nightly walk
wait
stroll
breaking into a swear
after a twilight stroll
wouldn’t you break into a sweat during the stroll?
that’s i why changed it to swear
don’t act like you knew where this train was going
you just bought the ticket
sight unseen
you didn’t even wonder about
the direction the tracks pointed–
breaking into a swear
following the course
of our discourse
very clever
you know what? fuck off
you always resort to swearing
when you run out of things to say
that’s kind of the point
New Open Mic Poem
Hey, February is exploding with Open Mic goodness. Head over to the Open Mic Page to hear Pleasant Street’s latest addition. And as always, visit her site. You’ll be better off for it.
Words and Feathers 