Tag: poetry

river and hunger (20170321)

crow19 Comments

i am sewn into a beaver pelt
and set adrift in the river
i hear the rocks split the water
though only darkness feeds my
starving sense of sight’s appetite

i feel them drag along my back
these jagged river stones
not yet worn down, splitting the water
though only darkness feeds my
starving sense of sight’s appetite

no longer enough air to breathe
the stench of game hide and water fills my lungs
bruised, i flail, splitting the water
though finally darkness satiates my
starving sense of sight’s appetite

——

for
dVerse ~ Poets Pub
Poetics: The River

NaPoWriMo Coming Up!

crow

Hello, everyone! It’s March 21, and that means we have just ten days left until April. We’re getting close to NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo now! As you gear up for April, remember that NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo isn’t the only thing going on! April is National Poetry Month, and there are a lot of ways to celebrate. You can sign up…

via April Is On Its Way — NaPoWriMo

the tools of fulfillment (20170320)

crow1 Comment

when i read that he had died
i was surprised more than anything
not that he had died
but that he had lived

he learned
when he was handed
that death sentence
knowing the next red light
would be the last stop
on the drive

so he threw himself
completely into his life
without the cushion of
random how
left with only when
as the remaining question

not the territory (20170319)

crow17 Comments

the map is not
the territory

or so they say

but drive a pin
into a point not blue
and everyone there sees
descending from the heavens
like some silver judgment
of divine origin
a javelin as big
as a city block
entering the earth
like a rough boyfriend
with about as much foreplay
opening the ground
breaking the waterlines
and gas mains
demolishing city squares
and family picnics
and political rallies
and games of frisbee golf
and hippies making out
and dog runs (hopefully the dogs
are smart enough to run for it
suck it you hippies)

we would have to redraw the maps
and not leave the dragons in the
corners or at the edges
spread those flames and scales
across the face of the earth

but this is already the case

iron heart (20170316)

crow3 Comments

your name catches in my throat
i try to say it under my breath
but i have no lungs–you’ve withered
those organs with the aversion
of your eyes

make no mistake–i have felt my heart
stop beating, felt the sudden lump
of inert iron sitting lifeless
in my chest, as cold as the furthest
edge of space

a watched pot never boils
but an unwatched pot bursts into flames
my fingerprints are invisible ashes
and i have left them on your
skin like doomed freckles

will you let it go on Open Mic

crow

Pleasant Street posted the words to this poem the other day (you need to follow her site) and it struck a chord with me so I asked her to record it.

You’re lucky, because she said yes, and here it is, on the March 2017 Open Mic Page.

You can appear here, too. Read the details on the page and submit away.