poet – Page 49 – Words and Feathers

recipe for a broken sonnet (20161206)

December 6, 2016December 6, 2016 crow19 Comments

if you really want to fuck someone up
make sure you tell them how much you
care about them and how much
you’re thinking about them
every minute of the day

check their feeds on every social media
platform as often as you can
maybe you could get something for the car
so you can check on them hands-free

send them shit they don’t need
and remind them that you really
really love them and that they’re
the center of your universe

it’s a recipe to scramble their brains
eventually they believe it–or you do

——

for
dVerse ~ Poets Pub
Poetics ~ Recipe Poems

old ones in new flesh (20161205)

December 5, 2016December 5, 2016 crow29 Comments

the scar is where the word got in
digging like the worm that it is
lacking but one letter for such a metamorphosis
single-toothed it found fertile ground and began to feed
to breed, a heart sized parasite
scar, i name thee trust

——

for
dVerse ~ Poets Pub
Quadrille#22: scar

no need for repair (20161204)

December 4, 2016 crow4 Comments

–it’s broken, you said

i took it from you, turned
it in my hands
wondering if there were
some lathe that could spin true
and steady hands to hold the tools
to reshape your heart

i shrugged and handed
it back to you

–it’ll do as is, i said

metamorphosis (20161203)

December 3, 2016December 4, 2016 crow8 Comments

i woke up with elephant
tusks protruding
curving down under my lip
i tore holes in the sheets during the night
impaled my pillow
fell twice after getting out of bed
until i found my new balance

i used a whole tube of toothpaste
brushing them
–they’re teeth aren’t they–
flossing took an hour
and i had to put the seat
all the way back in the car
to drive to work

no one else i met with
had grown overnight tusks
a girl in accounting
had sprouted a unicorn horn
and i commented
that would have been so much
more convenient
except for my hats
she said she sleeps on her stomach
and she woke up stuck to
her headboard
and her husband had to pull her free
by yanking her ankles
they were still bruised
i agreed that must have sucked

i might take up scrimshaw
i mean
it’s my ivory

cusp (20161202)

December 2, 2016 crow3 Comments

swallowing bones
and pieces of bones
breathing in smoke
it is myself burning

hands hold me down
hands open me up
set fire to my tongue
and funnel cement
into my mouth

breathe
panic
breathe
panic

enough lead
to weigh me down
i will not be
needing my eyes
for this

not ghosts (20161201)

December 1, 2016December 1, 2016 crow6 Comments

i feel it
standing behind me
the spectre of that old man
shaped like my father
on the outside
on the inside

with a shadow
neither long nor dark
no chills race up my spine
but there is that whisper
you too
you too

December Open Mic

December 1, 2016January 1, 2017 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:

Record yourself reading one of your own works.
Post it on your site.
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.
I will post a link with your name and poem title RIGHT HERE.
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

nails (20161130)

November 30, 2016November 30, 2016 crow11 Comments

if you could find
a nail from the cross
what color would it be

stained red and
glistening yet
after all these years

or just a pile of rust
(still the right color)
but destroyed by the

slow burn of oxygen
and time

Final (November) Open Mic

November 30, 2016November 30, 2016 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)

the tin man’s burden (20161129)

November 29, 2016November 29, 2016 crow7 Comments

just below the ribs
that’s where i feel you
like a hand inserted
under the bones
fingers warm-soaked
cradling my heart
i feel every whorl
of your fingerprints
every crease of every
line in your palm
leaves a mark
and i beat