OPEN MIC ENCORE II

February, 2004

OPEN MIC ENCORE I

The Wisdom of the Rose
Pat Bernaerts

My heart at 3 hoped in good until ravaged
by the fox. Fortunately, the wiser me
refound shades of grayish imperfections in
humanity. The adult now asks, "Is good
dead, its' bed flowered with a stone? Is
hope mangled, tangled in reality? The
answer lies in the rose, a flower running
red with passion and love. OUCH! a prick to
the heart of flesh. THORNS,THORNS,
protruding from rose stems saying, "Love me
from afar, like a picture on a wall with
eyes alone." But then, I hear the bloom of
the flower call caressing words, "Touch the
petals up close and personal with all your
feelings? Remember the prick is fleeting,
temporary, with every, sight, smell and
touch full of new hope and good." I ask
myself, "Why reach out to the rose knowing
of the thorns?" The answer speaks in the
Wisdom of the Rose.
 

-0-

WITHOUT 
Jeremy Weader
 
All these memories rushing through my head
the meanings I can't comprehend,
just wrap them up and send to you
this pain that you have put me through.
Your presence meant that I could take
this tortured hell lived day by day,
without you I'm alone to find
a way to fell alive inside.
My dreams- a prison built with hope
to break me down when I'm alone.
Your voice- a whisper in my ears
playing out my darkest fears.
I fight so hard to break away
each morning locked here in my cage,
this torment's all I think about
each moment I'm without...
 
Now this time I can see
what you're doing to me,
why can't I make myself walk away?
But I'm starting to feel
like this life isn't real,
I can't bear to be myself today.
 
It's been too long since I could free
this happiness inside of me.
So long I fear I'll never make
the choices, chances I should take.
I'm living life in black and white,
drifting lost through endless night.
Struggling to be someone
but everything comes undone.
I lived a life inside my mind
with everything I'd hoped to find.
I'd wield those dreams to face each day,
but with a word you tore my life away.
Now I'm back secure behind these walls
where contempt creeps and suspicion crawls.
No trust gets out but pain gets in,
I'm trapped inside this cage again...
 
Now this time I can see
what you're doing to me,
why can't I make myself walk away?
But I'm starting to conceal
in a life that isn't real
because I can't bear to be myself today.

-0-

WRECKAGE
james richard wood
I took the blame
I took the fall
Smiling faces and smiling through it all
And now without a friend
Not the time or a shoulder to lend
You think you're so good
Compared to me
And I wouldn't if I could
But I've been there
I once was good
If only at seventeen I could've listened
And follow through
I would've avoided a world of pain,
I curse the sun but start all over again
Wreckage
Wreckage
Red Wreckage
Red Wreckage

-0-

"AGREED"
by Jenny Howard
 
do you feel
the way I felt
the day you left?
did you see
the way I looked
the day you turned away?
did you hear
the way I didn't say anything
as you walked out of my life?
do you believe
the way we felt
was only mutual,
and not love?
Because that was
how it ended.

-0-

The sound had gone astray
Only the call of the north was alive
Even though it's dwellers were lost
The wept sorrow fell
Sleep stinkers
Behind bar behind bar
In their bundles of breathing straw
Dreaming their losses, were not...
The world stands and stares wa
Watching the memories ebb.
They smile like the lion who was
While the clock of life ticks
So slowly away.
Eyes glaze over like frost on a sea
The only noise echoed and rang in brains of dullness.
Long lost freedom was never to be found
Fallen rainbows were left in folds of despair

Chloe O'Connell

-0-

Fields of My Mind
Bill Albright
 
Cultivated
in he fields of my mind
crops of thoughts,
the dead,
memory
as present and future
soon to be
the past
harvested
as I exist
one of a kind.
The dead,
family,
knowns,
ho0ped to knows
walk silently
among the crops
continuing to grow
with what
they have said, m
echoes
without revision
laughs
and tears
which freely flow.
Songs of sorrow,
regret,
berries and buds,
stems and stalks
cut,
picked,
bailed,
crushed, m
bottled and packed
blended into
the humanity of
ME.

-0-

"One Nation"
Venus D Jackson
A world filled with sorrow, spilling with pain,
Wars, terrorist, kidnappings to explain.
Our children turning up missing,
Manifested and preyed upon by psychotics.
Other countries start problems, and U.S. soldiers are heroic.
Still prejudice is upon us in every american race,
But iraq's got American blacks, American whites,
American soldiers in graves
When will there be any peace,
and i ask why?,
Why does everyone want a piece,
of the "American Pie?"
Terrorist attacks again and again,
whose gonna protect us?
When there's protestors marching and screaming
this war is unjust.
Eyes tightly shut,
to a world that's' destroying themselves: and
Yet we still have wars of AIDS, wars of Cancer, wars of murders on shelves,
"Humans of mass destruction quickly it sales.
Kneeling on both knees i pray for help.
Now as one we shall stand together,
and never shall we forget nine/eleven,
Content as one nation is what we stand to be,
and my prayers goes out to the family,
whom american sons and american daughters of the war in 2003
 
So never worry, and if their lives was taken,
they were very much needed with god in heaven,
 
For he is standing near waiting for us,
In a circle all races in god we trust.

-0-
We Just Don`t Know
By: Jonason Thomas

I ask God forgiveness everyday for my sins
Knowing my evil thoughts would lead my ass in a state pen
A ni66a`s mistakes is a white man treasure
God I'm not prejudices , but a ni66as riches doesn't bring a white man pleasure
The world is made of punks and phonies
An wise man once said "Keep yo`, enemies close nigga, watch yo` homies"
 "Jealousy is misery, suffering is grief "
True ni66as stick by their words and stick by their beliefs
Na66a`s today is all about envy and greed
Waiting for a nigga to fall so they could take that man seed
Our calculate steps would day takes it's toll
Ni66as would give their heart for a woman, for Jesus they won't even give their soul
Jesus every move was our life`s calculate steps
That's why must people is still infatuated with his death
The world is also made of drugs, violence, money, and gold
We walk in today life holding our heart and holding our soul
We must be some blind and deaf motherfuc*er`s cuz we just don't know
 
-0-
Nothing 
Darren McIlroy

There is a force that drives us to the edge
It tells us where to go
It tells us what to think and it tells us what to believe.
How can you explain a force that isn't visible? You can't.
Have you ever tried to read life?
Have you ever tried to read sanity?
Are you in a cage?... Of course you are. We all are.
The force that divides us, makes us all equal and allows us to think for ourselves is not really life
It is what we call life
It is what we call fate
It's in the mind.....

I call it war.
 

-0-       

                    Controlling You

                                 By
                           Mark A . Majors
 
I dreamed we'd joined together
Our fighting had come to an end
My eyes awoke refreshed and new
That's when I knew you lied again .
 
Controlling you isn't as easy
As I thought it was going to be
And yes, you have taken advantage
Of releasing your demons on me .
 
Why must you torment and tease me
I try hard to forget about you
Your laughter is that of a jackal
And that sound cuts me in two .
 
Your cruel and unusual tactics
Have you had them all this time
Why am I just now finding out
That you're why I'm loosing my mind .
 
So here's a simple soultion
In your world it's only pretend
If I discharge your memory
This dream should come to an end .

-0-

Be A Leader, Don't Do Drugs, Everyone Needs A Hero
      by: Maggie Baker
 
You knew him well, he was your friend
But then his life came to an end
You never helped and now he's gone
although his soul may carry on
His only friends were bad on drugs
so he was left to death and thugs
So now he's gone, There's no more hope
he's up in heaven and died from dope
His heart was young and full of light
But he did drugs and that's not bright
I hope this poem has rung a bell, and if not
there's more to tell.
This poem was for a bright young man
who only needed a helping hand
His name was Cole, his last name Vice
But he did drugs and paid the price
His friends were wrong and their hearts were mean
and so...Cole died at seventeen!
 

-0-

Serial Sniper
 Don Lee Lester
 
The road had started in Washington state,
As one had control over the other,
In their thoughts must be such a hate,
Friends,all for one,as they were brothers.
Heading down a road,that was their gate,
To Louisiana and Alabama,and to others,
Of death and fear,the people would hesitate,
On through the night of drizzle and showers,
Two lost souls,a dark path,they would create.
D.C.,Maryland and Virginia,two senseless prowlers,
Taking life,and causing terrow in their wake.
Hole cut in a dark car trunk,for unseen cover,
Families in fear,the children were not safe,
In three weeks time so many would suffer,
Ten lives taken,no reason,none could escape.
Shots being fired,with a low muffled murmur,
Two dark minds,cruel,with death a date,
Unforgettable terror,that fall;of deadly murder,
A dark lonely reststop,they would meet their fate...
 

-0-

I Saved a Life
Graeme James Small

He lived a life of sorrow and pain
Treat all he met with scorn and distain
No reason to love no reason to live
That man he could not forgive.
He woke this morning and stole a glance in the mirror
He had changed somehow he had grown much bigger
In his hands a tiny thing he held
It stirred and gazed into the eyes of the lost
Those eyes shone forth gone had the frost
That reason for warmth that reason for joy
He now had a son for I was that boy
His love was stolen to provideth that child
She only hung on for the life inside
Be strong they urged for the sake of your son
We must do that for what we have done
God stole our angel to join us as one

-0-
I am Destiny
Miriam Onyeani 

I wonder about my life at times
I think about the wrong people
I feel that I made bad choices in my life
I dream of sweet loving dreams
I hope find true love in my life
I hear my friends telling me the right things
I see my life going the wrong way
I would be a v.J. when I grow up
I love my family with all my heart
I touch my baby brothers heart when he needs me
I hate when people get the best of me
I trust my gut feels before anything
I write me feelings down when I'm sad
I try to be happy when I'm not at all
I wish that a boy of my dreams will rescue me from this nightmare
I look for sweet and kind thoughts
I understand that I ain't perfect
I sleep when despised about my day
I am Destiny
There is no one here...But me

-0-

MISERY
Keisha Courville

Why is it sad here? Why do you cry?
Is your remorse more powerful than your disgrace?
Why is it so hard for you to believe?
Is the truth too hard for you to face?
Carry on and bury your faith
I cry, I cry in misery
Go ahead and turn your face
I die, I die in misery
Play your emotions well, because you do
Hide your face as well, I'm not like you
Cry and cry, while I die

-0-

 
Focus
Cole W Schafer
Walk, This quiet path - My friend, your need to take a bath,
To cleans, yourself from hurt - Wash away the dirt
As it sticks, and latches on - These tribes and rhythmic toms,
Kept, all to beat to defeat - Slept, And dream through awareness.
 
Do we think so much, that we need a break?
Passive is the crutch, do it for its own sake.
 
Become, aware of all - Freedom, through the broken wall,
Seek, out relief leave the grief - Sleep, no longer through your waking life.
Move, from hear to feel ­ awake, to what is real,
It's bright, and blinds with truth - a light that fills our souls.
 
Do we think so much, that we need a break?
Passive is the crutch, do it for its own sake.
 
Multi-task, leaves unfilled Flasks
Now Caste, off, until the single pa-a-a-ath

-0-

My Invisible Prison
Michael Connell
Why do I come back here.
Why do I try.
Can't look back anymore
Sick of my feeling inside.
 
Can you please get out of my head.
Everyone deaf to the truth, you misled.
 
Trapped in a quandry.
Trapped in your lies.
Prisoner of deceit.
Jailed by my mind.
 
Can't get away from the love you showed me.
Your fake heart made me think I could be.
Be whatever I wanted, no limits on my vision.
Instead of stuck here in my invisible prison.

-0-
"If I'm Without Him"
Markesha
Miserable mornings, and lonely nights
in this cold bed, I've spent.
I pull money out of my pocket, but it feels like lint.
Stress is eating through my brain like acid.
When I see him, my body melts quick like plastic.
Now when I see him, my bright eyes get dim and I break in two like a tree limb.
Because in my front of my face I see what I've always wanted,
but those who figured out my dream, stomped on it.
Now my heart is falling apart like a puzzle that has been ran over.
I put on my coat but I know it won't help because without him days
are going to get colder.
I can be under shelter, but still can rain.
My heart is behind a brick wall but still can feel pain.
If I'm without him, I'm alone, in a house that was once a home.
Without him, more than half of me is gone.
If I'm without him, my heart will drip blood,
because I'll lie down and die without his love.

-0-

A life of debt
Derek Mitchell
I reside in a place where the walls are closed in,
I need someone to hold but I don’t want them too close,
If they are too close they may end up as I have done,
I need their help but I am ashamed to ask.
 
I hurt constantly, my heart aching, my nerves stretched tight,
At any moment I could lose myself, fall off the edge,
My thoughts are dark and somber, a far cry from the past,
A past I can barely remember.
 
I must have been happy once, perhaps, even for the briefest moment,
I can no longer remember, what is joy?
My only solace is that my life is mine,
I take comfort that blame is mine alone.

-0-

lost in the crowd
screaming out loud
no one can see me
no one can hear me
looking around
can't hear a sound
catch your eye
makes me wanna cry
lost in the crowd screaming out loud
Camee Lemoine

-0-

A Gift From God
© Mariam D. Mababaya
Countless gifts were granted by God
To me, you and everyone else.
He had given us life and love,
The power to learn and dig wells,
 
The skill to write creatively,
Produce a thousand things and read ­
Capable of living our lives,
Planting many from just one seed.
 
Gave each a loving family,
A good amount of wealth to share,
Offered us houses and shelter,
And animals to show them care.
 
There are those who have been bestowed
A talent to act or write books ­
To help the sick or build a road
While there are those blessed with good looks.
 
You have a gift in poetry
And I took my talents from you.
Such art that bears pure loyalty ­
Practiced more of it as I grew.
 
Although your past's poems were lost,
You still have that passion in you ­
The same thing did happen to me,
All songs ­ made at fourteen ­ I threw.
 
No need to strive to return them,
Let the previous years go away.
I grieve not for myself for I
Know that poetry skills ­ do stay.
 

-0-

Sleeping in the dark
Death is in all corners of my life
I see it there
Looking for me
Finding me
But not seeing the evil with in
I cannot die a normal death
I am doomed to die an evil ones death
I am sleeping in the dark

ashley

-0-

 HIGH AGAIN               
DAVE LEVEY 1997
    I an losing reality.
 
    I always had dreams , real dreams.
    Now all that remains is pure fantasy.
    I'll escape before i have to face the truth
    or is it too late already ?
 
    Where are they taking me ?
    I feel safe here, all alone.
    nobody can touch me,
    even in a crowd nobody can really touch me.
 
    No emotion.
    I'm just floating around my head searching,
    trying to put it right,
    but ultimately just escaping.

-0-

No One
Adam Gading
 
Thinking and Wondering
Contemplating, Pondering
What it would be like if I were to die
No one would look back, no one would cry
At my funeral who would be there?
No one would be there, no one would care
As I sit here I wonder, wonder bout you
Would you really miss me, tell me, be true
If I were to die
Raise your hand if you'd cry
There's no hands, none that I see
I knew it would happen, wasn't meant for me
You say you love me but I know you don't
I ask for your guidance but I know you won't
Thinking and wondering
Contemplating, Pondering
What it would be like if I were to die
No one would look back, no one would cry

-0-

I Look in the Mirror and Cry
Alyssa
I am not the girl I used to be
My reflection just isn’t me
I can’t understand what became
I don’t smile like I used to
Wish I’d die, at least I refuse to
I don’t want to own up but I’m to blame
So I look in the mirror and cry
 
No one knows how I feel inside
And if they did I know I would run and hide
All these feelings I have concealed
Now I don’t even know what is real
And if I did I don’t know how I would deal
So I look in the mirror and cry
 
I see a girl staring back at me
Her eyes leak with pain and I agree
Could it be this girl was hurt like me?
I don’t know who she is, but I can guarantee
This young girl has been deeply scarred
And that woman has been suffering hard
All I can hope for is these tears to pass
I try to stop them, but all I can do is break the glass
So I look in the mirror and cry

-0-

Death Row
Alisdaire O'Caoimph
The circuits are overloading
to those internal cries
seeking some predestined insulation
that will gather the structures of this cold steel
and protect from the wrath of it's blade,
between the barb wired restraints
and these prisons of my own demise
How well I've hinged my sanctimonious Butt
Upon the infringement of human cries.
Pass the open wounds
That bitterly bleed the final injection
Of perforated, sodomized self raised excuses
Of all that I allowed the mind to gather
Wasted, all so torn to the years great cycles
Till lavished upon a fancy dies.
This is it
That which balances this human condition
Strapped into the chair, electrodes waiting
helping myself to the piece of contemptuous pie
Dangling my legs and shaking the feet
In a final rectal reaction to existence,
Plop that on the plate.
 -0-
Drops of sorrow flowing down her cheeks
What reasons we do not know
She sits on a ledge without her glow
And wonders why she’s here.
 
She walks to a drawer and pulls out a gun
Gleaming menacingly in the suffused sunlight
She uttered one gasp and pulled the trigger
What reasons we do not know.
 
Droplets of sorrow flowing down their cheeks
What reasons we do not know
They sit on pews and stare ahead,
Wondering why she left.
 
The ceremony is over
But the droplets of sorrow will never secede
They will always flow and bring dread to some
And grief to all.

Brianna 

-0-

LIFE
MICHAELA

          LIFE SCARES ME SOMETIMES ITS LIKE A CIRCLE. AS YOU GO AROUND AND AROUND YOU HIT THE SAME BUMPS OVER AND OVER AGAIN, AND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CIRCLE IS ALL THE PRE-TEENS AND TEEN SCARED TO ENTER THE CIRCLE. NOT KNOWING WHEN TO, HOW AND WERE TO ENTER THE CIRCLE. SO WE STAY IN THE MIDDLE MOST OF US AND DOING DUMB STUFF SOME OF US KIDDY THINGS BECAUSE WERE SCARED TO GROW UP, OTHERS DOING DANGEROUS THINGS HOPING THE PAIN GOES AWAY.
           WHAT WE ALL DON'T KNOW IS THAT WERE NOT ALONE. MANY ADULTS HAVE NOT ENTERED OTHERS HAVE JUMPED OUT SCARED TO ENTER OR RE-ENTER HAVING THERE MOM, DAD, AUNT, OR GRANDMA TO PROTECT THEM FROM THOSE BUMPS. SOONER OR LATER WERE GOING TO WANT TO GO IN FOR A TEST, OR EVEN BE PUSHED IN. BUT I NOTICE ITS O.K. TO JUMP BACK THINK ABOUT WHATS REALLY GOING ON IM OUR MINDS.

-0-

Dear Mom
By Jessica Danielle Nutt
 
Dear Mom
It is me
Just writing to see
If you are too busy today
to come see my play
oh drats
what's that
you have no time for me
you are just too busy
i understand
yeah i see
oh well its ok
another time? another day?
then how about some time next week
your still busy well how about that
no problem i guess, ill just wait to be next
i guess its too much for me to ask
for you to put time toward a much needed task
oh now i see where the problem lies
my mom needs time with that man in her thighs
no no not a man, it's fame that she lusts
should have known it was her that we couldn't trust
hey mom never mind, ill go ask dad
at least he is there through the good and the bad
Don't worry Ill ask no more of you
some day you'll grow up and you'll get a clue
there is nothing here that you were ever good for
so pack your bags and walk out the door
I guess for now ill say good bye
I slam the door and on dads shoulders i cry

-0-
DARK BEFORE THE DAWN.
By Ashleigh Scott.

I sit here at night.
You do not see my pain.
I cry myself to sleep,
Time and time again.
You do not understand
What I am going through.
You think I am just being emotional,
Because I’m not happy like you.
Some nights I will cut,
Just the scars will remain.
I hide these scars from you,
So you won’t see the pain.
I wish I could tell you,
About how I’m depressed.
I cannot find the words,
That will make you more impressed.
I wish the sadness would stop,
So I can continue with my life.
I hate the way it feels,
These feelings of strife.
I wish you could love me,
Just how I am.
But I feel you will not.
Your love will be a sham.

-0-

WHEN THE "HORNED ONE"TANTALIZES
adetayo teluwo
The devil's bait is always mouth-watering
it takes extreme efforts to think of a refusal.
The offer of vast wealth,fame,and beauty
many can't afford to resist
clever from adam,shrewd he'll remain
mightily powerful,just far from offering salvation.
He gives what you very much long
but 'll later wish you never had.
In multiple folds he recoups what you've being given.
With the righthand  he showers and
using the left,he disastrously retrieves
Why hold burning coal?
Why touch cyanide and march towards long-time wailing?
Just a primary description of what he can offer.

-0-

VICTORIOUS     
by Angela P. MacNeill
 
If she were standing next to the American flag
Firmly planted on top of the remains of a palace
Amongst the crumbled ruins of an upturned empire
Looking out onto the vast golden horizon
Of uncharted deserts and lost civilizations
On a scorching day in mid March
Dressed in an armored vest atop a chemical suit
Proudly saluting the republic for which it stands
While salty tars of anguish and patriotism trickle
Her cheeks stained black with running mascara
And her nose running, as she could no longer hold it back
A red bandana loosely tied from a loop in her Cargo pants
becomes her handkerchief
The television camera catches the scene
In a wide-angled lens as the silt settles
She would cry tears of the final mortality
Then a smile would overtake her
She would find victory

OPEN MIC ENCORE I

 

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Page Copyright © AHApoetry.com 2004.

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