Category: Poems

December Open Mic

crow7 Comments

 

HO HO HO!

No, I’m not making personal remarks. It’s that time of year when fat, bearded guys like me laugh maniacally and write poetry about reindeer and snow and yule logs.

Mmm… logs…

So, give me the gift I really want instead of socks or a tie. Submit to the Open Mic.

SUBMIT

Santa commands you!

The Skinny:

  1. Record yourself reading one of your own works.
  2. Post it on your site.
  3. Include a link to this site in your post.
    OR Comment on that month’s call for entries
    OR send me a message using the contact form.
  4. I will post a link with your name and poem title RIGHT HERE.
  5. It’s an open mic invitation. NOT a challenge.

Some tips:

  • Go simple.
    I record using my iPhone, then email/share the file with myself. I very rarely edit it, unless I really waited too long to start talking.
  • Want better quality?
    You can get a relatively inexpensive mic on Amazon that you can hook up to your computer. Some of there come with editing software. If I do edit, I use Audacity on the Mac. It’s free and pretty easy to use. There’s a version for Windows, too.
  • Hosting.
    If you pay WordPress to host your site, you can add your audio by clicking on the Add Media button in the post editor. Have the free WordPress? You have options.All of the sites below will let you upload audio. Some will host for free up to a certain amount of storage. (I think with Youtube, you’ll have to upload a movie, but you use a still image and add your poem.)

  • Questions?
    Ask below or contact me using the contact form (up above). I’ll try to help you out!
  • And if you have any tips, feel free to share them!

December 2016

******

Pleasant Street
patches

******

Poet Rummager
Frost

Final (November) Open Mic

crow6 Comments

Here it is, the last post I am adding to the November Open Mic. It is my own piece. I realized that I couldn’t close the month without contributing something. My wife even told me that would be “bad form.”

I thank you all for listening, and for checking out the November Open Mic page for all the other great contributions.

Tomorrow is the first day of December. Start thinking about what you want to post this last month of a very long, very turbulent year. How many artists did we lose, how much hope, how much starlight gave way to the pitch of night?

Just remember, we’re all stars. We all shine. We can fill the night sky with fire.

Crow
long enough (words)

long enough (20161128)

crow9 Comments

sit still long enough and hear
the universe howl in your ears
bees dog-piling on an intruder
the rim of a wine glass
flicked by a broken acrylic fingernail
the silence in the house
when everyone is gone but you

sit still long enough and feel
the universe press in on you
the falsity of gravity
a grey boundary between
your ass and the chair
your skin expanding at light speed
while the universe expands a little bit slower

sit still long enough and regrow
your amputated limbs
stop hitting yourself
taste blood as it drips from sinuses
into your throat
stop hitting yourself
drool as you teethe with a low-grade fever

sit still long enough and you won’t have to wait
for last rites
for burial
for cremation
for eulogies
stop hitting
for silence

——

revised: 20161130

on sitting through a rainstorm (20161126)

crow6 Comments

the rain overflows the gutter
a waterfall cascading
to the flowerbed

by the cold fireplace
i hear drops pelting
the chimney
wonder why a flood of soot
and nests and bones
doesn’t wash down
a cartoon tsunami

but the chair is warm
and there is peace
in the rain
a sleep-inducing rhythm
a gentle melancholy
that closes your eyes
but promises to open them