OPEN MIC MAY, 1999 PART ONE

Up-dated May 1, 1999

CHILD OF YOURS-CHILD OF MINE-CHILD OF COLUMBINE
Barbara Alyea

Child of love, child of hate, what hindered your soul, to kill a school-mate?

I can only cry, "why child why"?, and hear your echo, "die, die, die"!!!

At what point ,Sweet Dear?, did you see, your hate, cause fear?

What time, in your minds, plan?, did it become okay to kill even one young man?

And, sneer, at the consequences, or contemplate, any dead-end chances?

And, scream at all of society, "look at me, look at me"?

All this sorrow, that I feel, at their life's expense, is all of what you will

never experience!

And, to live, with the thought, the rest of your life, that the death

you caused , wasn't worth the strife,

Or worse still, if you are dead, we'd just lower our heads,

cause there's nothing else to be said,

I can only cry , "why child why"? and hear your echo,,,"die, die, die"!!!

----------------------------------

This is dedicated to all the people from the town of Littleton, Colorado

referring to the school massacre that took place on April 20, 1999.

4/26/99

It was a tragedy

that happened on an April day

All the parents came for their kids

Close, but feeling so far away

Will the pain ever end?

Will the hurting ever leave?

The terrible incident that happened

Is just so hard to believe

"What..." I ask myself

"can urge young minds to do this?"

Its so hard to understand why

but obviously they had no bliss

Laughing as they did it,

feeling no remorse

killin cause of color or beliefs

it was obviously a satanic force

Oh how my heart cries out

silently but loud

as I see on t.v. and in the newspaper

how sad and torn, the crowd

There's nothing we could have done

to help all these kids to live.

I pray for your strength to go on

and that we can all do what Jesus would...and forgive.

-------------------------------

The guilty conscience of a murderer:
By Sean B,

The walls are caving in,

You know they wouldn't have been.

If you hadn't done what you done,

You'd have a place to run.

See we all know you did that first sin,

But until you repent you can and will not win.

But even if you do it will be too late,

There's no way you can avoid your fate.

You were a coward and Joined the mob,

Instead of getting a decent job.

All you needed was a little cash,

But now they're going to fry your____

Now you have to sit and wait,

Until you meet your ultimate fate.

And as time slips away,

It brings you closer to that final day.

You never took the time and thought,

That just maybe you would get caught.

Look! Look! Look! The walls are caving in.

------------------------

dwarf (For Littleton and Us)

The twitch returns as my eyes begin to tear

Disconnected boys shoot mirrors of themselves

Without honor or esteem purposes

Seeking that which leaves us small

Who is responsible? Name us all!

Addicted to money, guns and hate, these impotencies

Crowded and lost among the spray of blame

Shadowed schoolrooms painted black rage

Grieving all our now faded innocence

Madness stalking our very souls

We are squatting there in the ruins

Bathed in the red dust of shock

Answers lie in the whispered love among the cracks

The mind rises from the narrow and withered

Together to build a bridge cross the cynical cavern!

The evil dwarf vows to return to us -unless

We breath God's Healing into the Giant Abyss

Hugging our children, with hope, tolerance and love

Weaving words in the actions of the Heart!

-------------------------------------

LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST

EMOTIONS HAVE BEEN TOSSED

INNOCENT CHILDREN HAVE BEEN MAIMED

THE QUESTION IS ALWAYS THE SAME

WHY?

WHY HAS EVIL WON?

HASN'T SATAN HAD HIS FUN?

THESE CHILDREN DIDN'T KNOW

WHEN THEY LEFT THEIR HOUSE TO GO

TO SCHOOL THAT WRETCHED DAY

THE AMAZING PRICE THEY'D PAY

THE SITUATION SEEMS SO SAD

AND SOMETIMES WE GET SO MAD

BUT STILL WE MUST REMEMBER

EVERYTHING HAS ITS REASON

AND NO MATTER HOW THINGS GO

GOD IS IN CONTROL

DON'T WORRY FOR THESE SOULS

GOD IS IN CONTROL.

---------------------------------

SORROW
Dedicated to: Columbine High

I know you,

Are crying inside,

I know you,

Are in pain,

I know this,

Because I feel it too,

I too have lost one,

Close to me,

I too have felt the,

Pain and longing,

Of having my,

Loved one back,

And I am,

still crying over,

The memory,

Of the ones,

I have lost,

But like me,

You too will heal,

Over time

--------------------

PEOPLE WHY ARE WE SO BLIND?

People are so blind and i think no-one can see,

Everyone must be too busy,

Overall we as the human race are mostly violent & insane,

People everywhere think we should bring back the cane,

Leaving everyone feeling horrible & speechless,

Ending in unhappiness,

Why do we have to hurt each other, (?)

How come people murder one another, (?)

You know all this does is make everyone look for cover, (!)

Anything we do has a reaction (!)

Reactions come from an action from one's action,

Everyone, everywhere reading it in a big heading or caption,

What can we do, you ask (?)

Everyone needs to do their bit their task (!)

So how many people are willing to die (?)

Oh don't you dare start to mumble a lie (!)

Blinded by your own denial and stubboness,

Loneliness,

In your rapidly beating heart,

Never ending people mastering The Death Toll Art,

Doesn't anyone see that this is making our world fall apart

THIS POEM I (TRAVERS ATKINSON) WROTE IN YEAR 6 (5 YEARS AGO)

--------------------------------------------

A SOLDIER'S OATH

NOW I REMEMBER MY REASON FOR SERVING THIS COUNTRY.

MANY TIMES I WONDERED WHAT WAS THE USE IN KEEPING FIT.

MANY TIMES IT SEEMED LIKE SUCH A BORING ROUTINE.

GO TO DRILL. TAKE INVENTORY OF SUPPLIES OF GEAR.

ALWAYS WONDERED IF I WAS A PART OF THE SOLUTION OR IF

I WAS A PART OF THE PROBLEM.

I'VE FORGOTTEN THE REASONS FOR MANY A WAR.

BUT NOW I AM REMINDED OF MY PURPOSE

MY ROLE IN THIS WAR.

I TOOK AN OATH THAT I WOULD SACRIFICE MY LIFE FOR THE WELFARE OF OTHERS.

AND NOW I AM PREPARED TO FOLLOW THROUGH ON THAT OATH.

I MAY NOT MAKE MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE IN THIS WORLD. BUT HOPEFULLY I'LL MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN SOMEONE'S LIFE.

-----------------------------------------------

my heart beats faster as I run with the adrenaline at the max

I would turn to look behind me to see if they're gone,

but that would only slow me down

continuing to race I start to become tired

and my feet almost numb from the repetitive motion

then I stop, and they surround me in a dark alley way

they got me nothing will save me now

pop, I wake up.

It is only my greatest fear to be killed by my own species

Don't make that fear reality, stop the violence that will kill us all.

------------------------

VIOLENCE: WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO??

Why is this world so full of violence and hate, I don't understand this at all.

Is it too late?? I don't think so.

We can rise above this, we can do something.

Violence is here, we will never see it gone,

but I think we can try to slow it down and see that it doesn't belong.

There are a lot of things WE all can do to get violence to stop getting worse every year, month , week and day.

We can ALL come together in every state and every city..

We can write letters, have meetings, have rallies, just get the word around, that we need to get rid of these guns in our towns.

You can buy guns so easily now, WHY?? I ask, WHY is this?? This should never be, you shouldn't be able to buy a gun so easily.

We need to speak to out kids more, find out what's going on in their lives,

some of the things you may know, but some of the things they may hide.

We need to stop being so childish in school and making fun of others,

we need to see that we are all equal, no matter what we do or what we say or what is our color.

I am not expert in anything I say here,

but I do know that if we ALL started to do these things, you would see a new light appear..

We need to turn to God when we feel helpless and down, not guns, or violence that won't solve anything.

We need to bring prayer back into every school, it shouldn't be a choice.

We all need to believe in God, but some of us do not know about Him,

so how will we hear His voice.

We can rise above this, we can prevail.

Everyone who reads this please take it to heart.

We need to really do something, when are we going to start?

I know that I am going to do everything I can and I hope you all will too.

Please everyone listen to me this is something we all need to know and something we need to do.

We will never stop this violence and shootings if we act like we don't care,

because it can happen to any of us, anywhere.

So please start today, anything you can, start by writing a letter,

making phone calls about these guns,

get your community involved get this job done.

If we can do these things I promise you this, that our world we be a better place to live and a safer place for our kids.

Thank you for taking the time to hear what I have to say, please start doing something about this, start TODAY.

INSPIRED TO ME BY THE COLORADO SHOOTINGS, PEACE TO EVERYONE, GOD BLESS!!

WRITTEN BY: COLLEEN, AGE: 22

------------------------------------------

My Other Mother

Maybe you did not give birth to me, but you treated me as your own

Though you did not have to, you took me in to your home...

You showed me love, when love I did not know

You taught me right from wrong, when wrong was all I had to show...

You were there for me when my life was lonely and sad

You gave me strength when emptiness was all I had...

Words of gratitude may seem so small for the things you have done

So I am writing this Poem to share with you and everyone...

Thank you for giving me a reason to live

For giving me everything you had to give!

(Written with great gratitude to Paula Crawford by Theresa Doris Waggener)

---------------------------------------------

MY LAST GIFT

I write my decree

Of what may be

The last present which I could give

And before I lye

I would but die

So that only you may live

Asleep in the cold

After all I've told

Content, my heart would lye still

And you above

Would remain, my love

And complete every ounce of my will

---------------------------------------

Reflection:

When I look in the mirror what do I see? I think two eyes are gazing back at me.

Dark lonely gazes stare into me, someone is in there making a plea.

Pale white skin upon a thin face, with shadows acast all over the place.

I know I hate what I see, but my question is, does my reflection hate me?

--------------------------------------

When I lay down to sleep at night

I hope that someday you just might

Open your eyes to see

that I'm here waiting for you and me.

If I had to wait forever

I wouldn't quit-no, never.

I imaging your gentle touch

I yearn for it so much.

Your warm soft kiss

I haven't yet had a chance to miss.

just friends we may be

but you'll always be a love to me

When I lay my head down to sleep at night

I hope that someday you'll see things in a different light.

-------------------------------

soft rain kissing your face we look at the eyes of each other

I find that place of innocence in you, you find it in me

I reach out and touch the sweet smelling fruit of your emotions

the rain a gentle gray that reminds you of sleep

inside I feel a tide a salty ocean tide slamming and crashing on the realities of this world

I try to understand

we all want to be understood...

so desperately we all want to be understood

----------------------------

Flame

I am dying here,

with the flame running up my legs

and down my back

I finally feel no pain.

Why couldn't it have come sooner

to burn away all

the pain of the years.

to charcoal the words that hurt me

so often deep down inside

but now it is here

and i can finally rest in peace,

in the darkness of solitude

and the pure, emptiness

that has now found a place within me.

Kelly Cutright, April 28, 1998

-----------------------------------

**Flowers**

The prettiest flowers in the garden,

have deadly thorns to bare.

For people who try to pick them,

Or for people who do not care.

No one cares for the lonely flower,

in the corner, with crooked petals and

deadly thorns.

For no one cares to notice,

it in this big garden.

No one wants to see, that

when this flower blooms it will be,

deadlier than thee, who can pick it.

This flower is different from all the others,

an original of it's own.

But this flower will die sad and lonely,

for to all the others,

it is unknown.

----------------------------

Time collapses

In my hand

And every time I look outside

I see the world we live in

But I hope you can see

That even though you try to cover up all there is you feel

Now listen well

To those who teach you of the world

For soon your time will be out

----------------------------------

Remember Me?
by Matthew Timmons

Do you remember me?

I'm the one you teased.

Do you remember me?

You laughed at me when I hurt.

Do you remember me?

I wanted to be your friend.

Do you remember me?

I was always nice to you.

Do you remember me?

You saw the tears in my eyes.

Do any of you remember me?

Because I remember you.

---------------------

STRUGGLING
by: Noah Vannice

I murder people with words, not by taking action.

Expressing my thoughts on paper gives me satisfaction.

I'm pissed off at life & the people who cause my pain.

So I release the evil inside, which makes me go insane,

turns me into a psychopath with no feelings & no heart.

I get happiness out of pain sadisticism I start.

Trying to find a way out so I turn to psilocybin.

Start doing drugs 'cause I'm sick of the world that I'm in.

It doesn't stop the pain but it puts it all aside,

the hate & pain's still there in my soul it does abide.

I want to do good things & try to succeed,

but I usually mess things up & the sickness starts to breed.

It starts inside my soul & moves up into my heart,

up into my mind & then the depression starts.

I turn to my friends but they're hurting too,

life's just as hard on them so there's nothing they can do.

So I play it off like everything's fine, everything's OK,

and I put it off, for now, until another day.

Until I loose control & want to kill someone.

Until I loose control & there's no where else to run.

Until I'm out of lies, drugs, & hiding places.

Until I feel like hanging myself with my shoe laces.

Then I find someone special to help me through it all.

Someone who cares enough to be my support wall.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Yes...

It was determined

and she

stood and sealed and delivered...

Affirmative reply

and i Watched it all on channel five

Martyrs

aren't in such High Supply

in times that for most

never tried

grim reminder

wasted life

NO sympathy

for the highest earthly call

she has risen

above it all

i do believe.

--------------------------------

haiku
Danielle, age:8

Animals in the

woods playing all day long lion

roared and scared the deer.

---------------------

You held me in your arms it only felt so right

You held me in your arms, ever so close and tight

I looked into your eyes and saw everything that I love

I looked into your eyes, you're an angel from above

You gently stroked my hair as I spilled my heart to you

You gently stroked my hair, as we talked about what to do.

I slowly fell in love with the angel that you are

I slowly fell in love as you healed my battle scar

You wrapped your arms around me and said you missed me much

You wrapped your arms around me and smiled at that touch

I'm dreaming of that day, where forever it will be

I'm dreaming of the day when you will love me

Sarah Gentner

---------------------------

:Sing to me songbird

a love song so dear.

It floats from your heart

and into my ear

Tell me the tales

of your lost life.

The boats that set sail

into the night.

The good times and bad

the love and the sad.

They stay there forever

healing whatever hurts most.

Do you hear that whisper,

whisper of quiet?

Do you see the calm,

the calm and the silent?

--------------------------------------

Able Mountain

I went to the mountain, to see what I could find

Sat on a rock, and pretended to be blind

Held my breath by the river, still refusing to see

Remembered your whispers, and their effect upon me

Felt the warmth of the sun, as the wind tangled my hair

Facing straight into emotions, in blindness I stared

Courage and bravery, to my heart firmly bind

Releasing my spirit, to seek one of it's kind

I laid in the meadow, and stretched in the grass

Waited forever, for my fear to go past

Focused on humor, and ignored all that was false

The thought of your laughter, made the breeze to seem pause

It wavered and wandered, then silently turned

Took flight on your image, of which it had learned

I danced in the flowers, in their fragrance I twisted

Reveled in the theory, that your heart I was gifted

I turned to the forest, to know of no sound

But under it's branches, loud quiet I found

Holding close the wonder, of how on my soul you can shine

Upon that able mountain, to my deafness you signed

Silent and sightless, I found no cause to have tears

Headfirst and fearless, into love without fears

Brenda Dougherty 1999

-------------------------------------------

Act your age not a minute more

For life may soon shut its door

With a blink life is gone, so take it while its hear

Hold it close and treat it dear

Tomorrow will soon become today

Sadly to say...

Life races on past

While we try so hard to make it last

So take it all day by day

For soon today will turn to yesterday.

---------------------

"For My Brother"

Which way do you turn when there's no way out--

When you see nothing but brick walls as you turn about--

When constant jeering is the only sound to be heard--

When it seems like "hate" is the more common word--

When your flaws become more prevalent than any good side--

When no matter how hard you try, there's nowhere to hide--

When it seems like the only one in this predicament is you,

And you are not sure of the way to get through?

Take up the ax of self-confidence and hack through the walls.

Belittle the jeers and diminish the flaws.

And when you are sure that no one cares,

Remind yourself of the one important person there.

While others may laugh at this person they've never known,

And you feel unloved because of love never shown,

Make peace within yourself by knowing the truth:

The only person that really matters is you.

------------------------------

KEEPING SCORE

Your touch, your feel

Your warm embrace

Waking up to the nude body

That has the wrong face

A lot of beer

Too much wine

Last night, I don't know

I thought everything was fine

Not adding to the numbers

I've done him before

Is that really wrong

Who's keeping score?

-----------------------

While Watering the Bushes
by Matt Roberts

broken spout of a tangled hose, its autumn color

chattering out spray for the hungry poinsettias

a rusted half-moon encrusted on the nozzle

metal glinting in the last daring bursts of afternoon light

that sneak out of the burnt banner of sunset

the stars beginning to take their place

around my mother's weary face--

twin mockingbirds soared out of their secret nest

-----------------------------------

The Pizza Boy Spat....

When the Pizza Boy was delivering my dinner.

He spat on the ground.

I finally got to the window after standing in line.

The ticket taker went on break.

The police officer chose me to make his quota..

When I was running late for work.

I got a late night call from a telemarketer.

When I started yelling it was really my boss.

Once...in a millennial get enough imagination to think up a poem.

When I finish typing it...the screen goes

Black.

------------------------------

Echoes and Ripples.

There can be no mistake.

We are the Chosen, the Souled.

We are after all made in His image.

We are the pinnacle of Life.

And to falter, fold or fail would be a contradiction in his Name.

Wouldn't It?

Time was made so that we could be Tested.

We traveled the Void so that we could learn.

All lessons will make us stronger.

In the After Life we well be enriched with are experience.

Choose wisely and know paradise, choose wrongly and know wormwood's wraith for eternity.

There is a Plan, made by God.

A Plan that encompassed every inch of the universe that we know.

A Plan that details everything to the smallest subatomic particle.

A Plan that defines are existence.

A Plan that Angels died for.

And to defy that Plan is to defy your second birth.

Some would say, "So be It."

------------------------------

TIRED

As the years go by, the past grows longer;

the future it seems so bleak.

I no longer see the things that put a smile on my face:

all I see are the ones crying around me,

I'm scared, Scared to face what it is I've become.

The road I've traveled was rocky, only seeing myself fade away.

I want to live again, waking up unexpectedly;

finding that a new day has begun.

It's been so hard, I've been letting life go;

I need love in my life, I want to love again.

I'll never quit trying to love, please let a change happen

soon for I am "TIRED".

Written by:

John B. Merchant II

(1997)

-----------------------------------

CHINA-TOWN
... for D. L.

We could go treasure-hunting

You & I,

In China-Town.

We could find adventure on Spadina

In delicate shoes for tiny feet

In lichee fruit & salted lichens

In boxes of unknowable sea-things

In chopsticks

& paper-thin rice bowls embossed in a fragile blue enamel

So easily broken.

We could share these porcelain moments

You & I,

In China-Town.

M.g. '99

-------------------------------------------

King of Kings

Down through the passage of time and now to the end of this epoch

What has become of man without compassion?

These blessings given yet not received in faith

Many seek in earnest their own glory by any fashion and taste

Humbled and brought down men find no wisdom in loss

Why succumb to anger and let vanity make you a waste

Therefore the wind blows and you know not its course

This world you adore is not a kind host

Too say there is a better way is right

Anointed was he that came for the highest post

Lifted off our shoulders the iniquity of our plight

His language was like no other, which graced our deaf ears

A sacrifice most don't believe

Thus will be the greatest torment, a judgment on the eve

Have you ever walked in sandals comforted by a warm summer's wind as finch's serenade?

While you cross the neck of the trickling stream, an Oak tree reaches out like a faithful friend

These apples you carry to your companion, awaits a pie too be made

Happily this couple continues on to the wooden house around the bend

The long journey to the father's house of the groom comes to an end

The bride who waited through much suffering now at last is about to be married

The groom who broke his back while buying the ring was never buried

The father says, after your thousand-year honeymoon the wooden house is yours

This land will care for you and love will grow

Into your cup he pours

A unity between peoples sharing smiles of affection is what we know

This spirit will be common a joy is known

Stir your heart as you listen to hope that is true

I promise you will see love forever not fading to blue

As we wonder with great awe the travail of the world

Do we not see flowers in the desert, That some day bloom in the spring?

Yet the dragon desires them to be weeds of his Vail

Even if bows are broken the enemy will resort to a sling

That is desperation when one knows defeat is near

You say what is the prize of this unseen struggle

There are many souls on the fence and only two pastures are here

Misled multitudes step down in falsity were fools find no footing in the mire

To follow the white horse is desolation from the lord and too remain eternally in stubble

Step up in faith believe in the divinity and into a higher meadow you go

Would you curse the savior that lifts you out of drowning waters?

Do you choose to reward the old serpent that shuts you in a burning house?

The battle is today and the rapture tomorrow

Whose coat will you borrow?

------------------------------------------

No one tries harder than me

To be likable as can be

But soon I find

The world's not kind

Surviving is all I can see!

------------------------------------

i weave my spells with blood flowing

and passion straining at my skin to be released

i cast them through furtive glances

and angry smiles and restless finger twitching

i evoke the spirits through too many cigarettes smoked

through hot tears and an overflowing soul

i see the moon through the windshield and she calls me powerful

whispers potent thoughts, and pulls me out and upwards

to where i am afraid to go

by:faeoni

----------------------------------------

Today

Today I was going to get by,

I wasn't going to cry,

but the bad things, they get to me,

and pass them i can't see.

People just look past this plain face,

as i stare into space,

waiting for things to get better,

if they'll ever.

But i believe my spirit will get me through it,

I've got to keep trying,

my soul can't let me quit,

no matter how long it takes

----------------------------

Forgive me mother for i have loved

every soul that enters me

for their depth, their pain, their secretness,

the insides i've been cursed (and blessed) to see

forgive me that my passion is too great

to hide behind these calm, deceiving eyes

forgive me that instead it overflowed

into another's arms, in fractured sighs

forgive me that i gave into the best of me

and saw it in another's tortured soul

forgive that in a moment, overwhelming

i let another's gaze drain my control

forgive me for the love i have so much to give

forgive me that i crave a little heat

and that i let my hips embrace the body

and the man that i've been cursed(and blessed) to meet

forgive me soul, i have betrayed

the lines that i had strictly laid

forgive me, i've committed sin

and chances are, i will again.

-------------------------------------

LOVE

UNDERSTAND THAT INSIDE I AM HUMAN.

I HURT LIKE YOU DO.

UNDERSTAND THAT THE TONGUE IS A TWO-EDGED SWORD

PIERCING DEEP INTO THE SOULS OF THOSE WHO SHOULD B

LUCKY OR UNLUCKY ENOUGH TO HEAR ITS WORDS.

IT CAN BE USED TO EDIFY.

IT CAN BE USED TO DEBASE.

SO CHOOSE WISELY YOUNG MAN.

MAKE THAT DECISION BETWEEN THE ROCK AND THE HARD PLACE.

TAKE CAUTION NOT TO CRUSH THE FRAGILE STRUCTURE OF THIS LOST

SOUL TO WHOM YOU SPEAK.

TAKE YOUR PICK! WHICH ONE IS IT GONNA BE?

----------------------------------

A Failure
By RJ Kim

A looser

who is constantly last

I do so many things wrong

Am I an idiot?

What is my problem?

Am I stupid?

Why do I fail as others succeed?

I fail.

I fail again.

I quit.

I suck.

I do stupid things.

What is the matter with me?

How can I mess up so much?

Why?

What is the problem?

I am the problem.

I am a failure.

-------------------------------------

Waking in Mourning...

Living through Night

Let's take a trip

just a little walk

Step into my shoes and listen to my talk

The words I flow

move like waves slow

and watch the tides dance

with their beautiful partner.

Let's take a trip

the day begins anew

with obstacles in my way,

Things they do and the

words they say

Avoiding the light, living

in a bleak existence

I make my way,

at their insistence.

Let's take a trip

on a branch below the sea

are a lot of mice and men

who wander down the alley cat's meow

to break the silent morning dove on a window pain

from my heart flows to the sea and waves good-bye

to yesterday, I saw a shadow boxing up

all my self-doubt

in through the outdoor with a smile on your face

the problems of today, I live my

life free of distractions.

Let's take a trip

because it can't be seen nor herd the

cattle, the horses, the world ends

when man no longer loves to live with

the pressures of tires rolling downtown

where students gather not to honor

academics, but to spread decadence in

the moonlight drive of life.

--------------------------------------------

Painting Poems,

In the night,

I like,

Eating dinner,

By candlelight,

So romantic,

And yet,

So sensual,

Painting scenes,

Of beautiful,

Colors.

I thank,

You for,

Painting Poems,

Last night.

----------------------

A spacious gap severs my heart from my head

And it causes ache thousand miles wide

Treacherous and unsafe a climb

And you dare to brave the rough

Like a young handsome dare-devil

You understand the glory of no fright

It stands on the brink of destruction above voluptuous flames

As they scream their warnings and throw their punches

To see if you spark

You pull together and tumble above and beyond

Leaping over the vicious fire

You escape into me

by: Jillian Varca

-------------------------------------

an optimistic illusions

of treacherous cunning

aboard the love

that affiliated sadness

domestically pulling the seas

that burn the shores

with heart burning gaps

of hallowness

never avoiding the on coming

distractions upon

my mythical emotions

of souring love

upon many red seas

that turns darker every second

of the day

that I lay eyes upon

you lips of showing humming love

that embraces the bees

of stinging rays

bleeding the inks of agony

------------------------

ODE TO A WIFE AND MOTHER

May you who has endured my wrath

and walked me down life's changing path,

who knows so well the pain of birth,

has brought forth angels here on Earth,

who has, through tears, refused to rest

when others tire and quit the test.

May you whose life is lived for others,

knows not strangers only brothers,

who goes where fearless heroes trod

and follows pathways made by God.

May you who steals our hearts away,

is loved by us each hour each day,

be borne by angels to His stair

when Christ begins descending there.

Be placed by them close by His throne,

and proclaimed by Him to be His own.

------------------------------------

MY LIFE***
-kelly

Life is a narrow vale between cold

and barren peaks of two generations

I strive in vain to look beyond

I cry out loud, the only answer

is the echo of my wailing cry

From the voiceless lips of others just like me

Hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the struggle

of a girl.

My smiles...once touched and colored

By all there is of joy, there is of grief between.

I clothed even the stars with passion.

The waves were my music.

these feelings were born of hopes, fears, and tears.

Hope sees a star, and listening love can hear a struggle

of a girl. I am hope tonight.

----------------------

A child's life was taken.

It was taken at only the age 2

He was playing in the yard not bothering a soul

You had to break the law to have a little fun

Now look your in prison till your 81

My child will never see age 21

I now know that when his sister goes out play to watch for drunk drivers

They may again pass my way

Friends don't let friends drive drunk

Take the keys

--------------------------------------

Comfortably Numb

Flowers are grey and colours have dulled

The band has packed up and the temple has closed

The rivers are still and it's dark far below

My food doesn't taste, incenses don't smell

The birds have stopped singing 'cause there's nothing to tell

I lie on my back and stare at the roof

I'm trying my best to make sense of the sooth

The traffic is roaring in silence in silence outside

My kettle is shrieking in edited pride

I've used up my brain and had all my fun

Now all I can be is comfortably numb

----------------------------

Unnatural Plasticity

The sun hangs from another persons floor

(above my head) from some electrical flex

It's slowly melting the plastic plants in their

Terracotta-look plastic plant pots. Lilies mix

With snapdragons in a pool of plants that never

Lived or ever saw the outside. Never felt a bee on

Their lonely plastic petals (dusted once a week).

Plants that sometimes weren't even green

---------------------------

Love
By Mike McCracken

I know now why we dream

And what dreams are made of

Something the worlds been missing

LoveWe can't find it in our minds

Or in a single book

Love's not something that we find

It's where you look

Cause we all have a heart

That's where God put love

Our dreams are just a part

Of what love is made of

We search for paradise

I found it in you

It feels really nice

To say, "I love you"

It's not something we can fake

It's what we do

Just like the world can't make

Another you.

----------------------

WHY?

WHY DOES THE RAIN CHOOSE TO FALL ON ME, WHY IN MY HEART, THE PAIN YOU DON'T

SEE? HOW EMPTY OF ME TO BE SO FULL OF YOU, WHY WOULD I CONSIDER DYING OVER

A LOVE SO UNTRUE? ALL THE LIES AND ALL THE GAMES, IF I STAY WITH YOU WHAT

WILL I GAIN?

WHY DOES IT HURT WHEN YOU KNOW IT IS WRONG? WHY DO WE CHOSE TO HOLD ON TO

A LOVE THAT IS NO LONGER STRONG? I'VE LEARNED MY LESSON FROM HEARTACHES

BEFORE, SO WHY NOT STAND UP AND NOT TAKE THIS ANYMORE? THERE IS A LOVE FOR

YOU THAT I WILL NEVER LET GO, IF SOMEONE ELSE HAS YOU I HOPE YOU'LL LET HER

KNOW, THAT I HAD YOUR HEART FOR THE LONGEST TIME SO THAT LOVE OF YOURS IN A

WAY IS STILL MINE. ALTHOUGH I MOVED ON IT STILL HURTS REAL BAD, YOU LOST

ABOUT THE BEST LOVE YOU'VE EVER HAD.

----------------------------------

January rain, as cold as you

in my eyes

turning lashes to icicles

and for whatever reason I am still there

feeling your breath on my cheek

I don't know how to stop this bleeding

I've been pouring you out of me for months

every kiss

every wish

anything that takes me back

to when I loved you so hard I couldn't feel myself

to when parts of me began to fade away

I've worn holes in my heart because of it

and my time is so much heavier

now that I carry it all on my own

-------------------------------------

What pale form of artistry

conceived upon thought's tapestry

born in hopes of expressing me

little realizing 'tis but dim reflection of Thee

--------------------------

The Mask
Written By: Robin Davie
Dedicated to P. S.

There he is

You know the guy

There' something about him

That always makes me smile

Sure, it could be his deep blue eyes

Or his dirty blond hair

But I think it's something deeper

Like maybe...his Christianity

The way he lovingly cares for his family

After his late father

But he's hiding something

It's as if he's wearing a mask

There is something he doesn't want others knowing

If I knew what it was

Maybe I could help him

But he won't tell any one

He won't open up

He won't let people know his inner self

He's wearing the mask!

And only Christ can help him

------------------------------

Dizzy words come

clouding in my veins

with silly doodles

resting upon me

Too much distortion

clears my blur

making me numb

with a rare fashion

that seems unbearable

to any ventriloquist souls

Seeking a quest

to an unknown orchard

that glimmers sheer blindness

the sleeping wisdom

has crept into its archive

shattering its nobility

and letting the confusion

take its pleasing toll

Manifest the hunger

for a smart illusion

rapiding its pace

to end the race of reality

----------------------------------

Memories of You

I remember you, and it is like yesterday

Your touch lingers soft on my arm

I see your phantom in every room

And I miss you

The way you licked your lips at some devious thought

They way you rubbed your cheek in the cup of my palm

I used you, and that alone lingers

In the sweet haze of your memory

I have to remember you, because without your apparition

Hanging heavy on my shoulders

I fear that I would doubt ever ever loving at all

I hurt you, and now it seems so foreign without you

It seems so wrong that you would leave

And I want to tell you so many things

All those letters that I promised to write

I have them still, I just never had the courage to send,

To share with you how precious you actually are

How can I put in touch simple words how lost I am

In this love, this lust, this infatuation over you

Every glimpse I give to another woman

Leaves me feeling cheap, an adulterer to this passion

Because I remember you, every smiling apple-cheeked face

Pales by far to your comparison

And it seems too foolish, to naive to love

What I may never actually have again

But I have no defense for myself or my heart

Other than.....I remember you

-Cris Sullivan

--------------------------------

rain falls gently on my weeping mind

wrinkled hands shield my face

the door slams

the yelling never ends

thunder like the pounding of your words

stop!

I haven't an umbrella

the sun no longer shines

grey covers the land

i take my position

ready for You to come

and blow me down

but i have my windbreaker

i stand on the hill

no longer the effect of your storm

but the cause

-------------------------------

Watch Over Me
By Sarah Marie R.

This pain in my heart

You were taken away

The pain is there

It will never disappear

Why death, I ask

Why would God take you?

There must have been a reason

He wouldn't take you away for nothing

Did you go so another could live?

We will never know him

But as you look on from above

I ask for one favor

Watch over me

In times of pain and sorrow

With the eyes of an angel

Watch over me

Hold me, with all my faults and imperfections

In arms that can wrap around the world

And watch over me

I need your love

-----------------------------

A scantily clad misconception brings

a light to my darkened eyes

I feel happiness in this pit of

snakes and lies

A long past treason shows itself

as innocence lost

And a fool proof sanctuary burns

for nothing but this dream

The truth is evidence of the pity I

consistently struggle with

I separate the ocean from the tears its

made of, to cover this facade

When I turn to face the cancer that eats

away at the fabric

I shrink inside a little known section

of what no one means to me

----------------------------------

The Place I Call Home

I have come to this town

a place I have seen only from the outside

where an unforgiving hand tells the passing of time

and an unhopeful dream steals the imagination of mind

you ask "why come to this place, so full of an emptiness?"

I can only reply "I am home, I am home!"

By Nicole

----------------------------

:Never does one day just fall behind,

because not a minute goes by that you're not on my mind.

Everyone tells me I'm crazy for being in love with you,

but it's just plum crazy for them to say what they do.

I would give my last breath for one day to be with you,

just one chance to prove my love is that true.

-----------------------------

confusion

mixed thoughts dance through my head

wondering weather i'm better off alive or dead

different emotions hit my head like rain

feelings of happiness covered bye the roots of my pain

my minds joy is silent by screams

killing my glee and crushing my dreams

aaron george

------------------------

You Mean...
by:Jennifer Thomas (18)

You mean the world to me

You're everything I've ever wanted

You've set my heart free

Promise me you won't leave me

I'll stay by your side,

No matter what you do

There's no reason to hide,

What I'm feeling inside

Every second I talk to you,

It seems as if I'm floating,

Way up in the sky

My heart feel weightless

It's almost as if I'm as light as a feather,

Floating in the breeze

Drifting far away

Being carried away by your sexy voice

When I talk to you,

I forget about my surroundings

I almost forget who I am for a moment

I feel like it's a dream,

I know it's a dream

A dream that's come true

Only when I'm close to you

You are the BEST!

--------------------------

Geography

We don't have churches here,

only smiling Jesus smoking

Cuban cigars and selling

broken chairs in the garbage

dumps of the soul.

We don't have pastures here,

only gas stations, banks and

parking lots with broken glass

the lights are so amber

it makes you think

of prison.

And we don't have love here,

just drunken backseat

saturday nights...

Sometimes, this is enough.

-----------------------------------------

TERRA INCOGNIZANT

You would think by now, I would know my way around,

I shouldn't miss you so badly, I should be on familiar ground.

How many more lonely years, must meander by,

until I learn the lesson, it does no good to cry.

What manner of iron will, must some people possess,

to be always looking forward, to never accept regress.

Perhaps if I was willing, to let someone take me by the hand,

they could show me a happy place, in this unfamiliar land.

Perhaps I'm only homesick, for all the joys that once were mine,

I must accept that they and you, belong to another place and time.

But I know that deep within my heart, there's a place where only you reside,

and when the pain of loneliness comes, it knows that is where I hide.

So if sometimes it seems to you, I'm clinging to the past,

it's mostly because I can't yet accept, that our love didn't last.

No matter how hard I try, I've yet to get over you,

for the part of me that's still alive, believes you love me too.

Maybe there will come a day, when that part will finally die,

and feeling strong with a heart reborn, a new love I will finally try.

And what a splendid day that will be, when I awaken to discover,

I'm happily learning a great new land, with a great new friend and lover.

----------------------------------

Reality Bites

Before you regard earth as a perfect place,

think of it from someone else's view, from a non perfect place.

Lets say this person is 9 or 10, a victim of abuse an unwanted thing.

Doesn't this new world have a whole new ring?

Try to realize the view of another human being.

Like a suicidal teen what is she seeing?

she sees reality is sometimes harder then lies.

Suicide is her only alternative no matter how hard she tries.

But go home and forget what i've said.

Regard this as a lie something i made up in my head.

Don't think too hard u might just cry.

I hope u know realize reality is sometimes harder then lies

---------------------------------

NUMBER: 4
TITLE : YOUR BLUE EYES
DATED : 07-04-1994

I want to be there, there in your blue eyes.

I want to be with you, but I know the price.

Being around my friends makes me feel good.

But around you I feel how I should.

If I want to drown myself, it will be in your blue eyes.

Life itself is gambling, and your eyes are the dice.

You make me feel like I'm always winning.

Let's return to basic, let's go to the beginning.

All came forth from the ocean, the ocean of your blue eyes.

Jeroen van Rijn (dichter '95)

----------------------------------------

Stain---

Another wasted possibility yet this decision brought about no hostility.

Your life's all to mundane so you whip it out and create another stain.

Your sheets so a history of how many dead, but that's better than having a baby needing to be fed.

You may feel that I'm not very clear so let me explain the point i'm so near. Sperm is a seed for which a baby to grow it will need, but if instead it is peed the seed will never accomplish the deed.

I hope you get the drift an unborn child is not some miraculous gift, but a simple stain that could have been washed down the drain.

Sex can wait -- masturbate..."this line from Saturday night live"

---------------------------

With this poem

I shall say

you're always there

to brighten my day.

If you say

you'll always be true,

I will say

I love you.

When I am sad

and feeling down,

you're always there

to be a clown.

You were there for me

from the start,

then one day

you won my heart.

I fell in love,

I fell in fast

hoping you wouldn't

put me last.

I knew my feelings

were matter-of-fact,

but around you

i knew not how to act.

Should I flirt

or merely smile?

I pondered this

for a little while.

The love i have inside,

of which I could not bear,

knew I could only wait

for the day when you would care.

I love your eyes

and the touch of your hand,

just wanna know

that you understand.

Then one day

my dream came true,

you walked up to me,

your eyes so blue.

You put your arms

around my waist,

and told me you love me

without any haste.

I'll never forget

the way you looked,

it could never be captured

in a book.

---------------------------

FOR A GIRL I SAW SITTIN' AT FUEL WHO DIDN'T EVEN LOOK AT ME

Hey you

sittin' there

sittin' there readin' your book

I want you to turn

to turn and look

just lift your head and flip it to the side

I'm sittin' right here

I ain't tryin' to hide

-but you won't

-and you don't

so my time I must bide

and be content to admire

you

from afar

-'cuz I ain't got no money

-and I ain't got no car

so in actuality/

you would probably/

never even look at me,

-but I can dream can't I?

------------------------

Untitled

We look upwards

stretching our arms to the skies

seeking the Gods as man has done

since he first stood erect

upon ancient African savannahs

We worship beings from heaven and earth

strange beings with wings

Angels in some language

somehow to humans

wings are synonymous with Angels

Ethereal spirits from the Dreamtime

the ancient winged God, Garuda, of Thailand

the weird, winged entities

worshipped by Sumerians

are these but figments of our fragile minds?

This strange life that haunts us

follows us from the womb

to the cool peace of the grave

who are these divine guiding beings?

Visions of rapture, or yearning to explain the unknown?

JG Montgomery

-----------------------------

Gracefully floating down a river bed, a baby journeyed vast and fled

into a flood swallowing a tower. And was taken by a prince in power.

She was raised a vigorous child, by the age of twelve she grew to wild

for a castle life and snuck into the town.

She made a friend in her night gown

as she kept singing that autumn day.

no other girl in spain was seen so gay.

Comforting people as they pass

the men wink at her with queer class.

This twelve year old girl she seen a guy

and thought, what a good man he is for I.

Her heart pumped presto she longed his love.

She told him he was from the heavens above.

Then she asked him to a dance as her date,

he said, "great scott, that sounds great."

They danced all night on the dark red floor.

Such a beautiful sight was never seen before.

They finished dancing to the song deli,

and she showed him the tattoo on her belly.

(by Scott Littleton)

--------------------------------

---SALT LICK---

INCIVILITIES SLOWLY

CREEPING INTO MIND.

LEVELING LEVITATION

TO ITS PROTECTIVE

BIRTH RIGHTS.

YOU SETTLED THE CALM

BUT I STILL FIGHT

TRANSPARENTLY HONEST

YOU SEE RIGHT THROUGH ME

AND CATCH MY WANDERING EYES

LIKE A LEAKY FAUCET THAT CAN

BE FIXED YET WATER ERODES

GRANITE INTO STONES

THAT I CAN PICK UP AND THROW.

POLARBEAR - PHX,AZ.

--------------------------

I see the way you look at her

With such hate in your eye,

A look of disgust set on your face

As you try so hard to make her cry.

I see the way you look at him

With complete envy of his skill,

As if for a moment, you could be

As good as he always will.

I see the way you look at me

Not knowing what to think,

Your demeaning expression scares me so

I'm afraid to even blink.

I see the way you look at the world

As if everything is inferior to you,

How can everything measure up

To everything you do.

I see the way you look at yourself

Why can't everyone see?

That you are the best there ever was

And the best there ever will be.

----------------------------------

WILL YOU LOVE ME YEARS FROM NOW WHEN MY HAIR HAS TURNED TO GREY, WHEN THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK SO EASILY NOW WILL SOON BE HARD TO SAY, WILL YOU LOVE ME YEARS FROM NOW WHEN MY EYES NO LONGER SHINE, AND ALL THE THOUGHTS BEHIND THEM SLOWLY LEAVE MY MIND, WILL YOU LOVE ME YEARS FROM NOW WHEN MY WALK STARTS TO SLOW, AND THE ARMS THAT USED TO HOLD YOU TIGHT CAN'T BECAUSE THEY SHAKE SO, WILL YOU LOVE ME YEARS FROM NOW WHEN TIME TAKES IT'S TOLL ON MY FACE, WHAT ONCE WAS BEAUTY YOU GAZED UPON IS NOW A WRINKLED PLACE, WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME YEARS FROM NOW WHEN I CAN NO LONGER SEE, WILL YOU TAKE MY OLD AND AGING HANDS AND BE MY EYES FOR ME, WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME YEARS FROM NOW WHEN AT LAST I AM GONE, WILL THE MEMORIES OF OUR LIFE TOGETHER BE ENOUGH TO CARRY YOU ON, WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME YEARS FROM NOW, THE ANSWER I KNOW IS TRUE, IF YOU HAVE ALREADY LOVED ME THIS LONG THERE IS NO POINT IN ASKING YOU... JENNIFER WRIGHT

------------------------

Art

Painter conveys such beauty

Brush strokes on canvas with oil

The object of his affection

To capture truth he will toil.

As the writer composes

Witty expressions and phrases

Changing the course of history

With only the pen he raises.

Sculptor takes a lump of clay

An artist sees more than earth

By hand is carefully molded

A priceless masterpiece birth.

The conductor gives command

That each and every note

Will land soft upon the ear

From page to air they float.

These hands may not sculpt statues

Carve beauty from stone

Nor conduct a symphony

With perfect pitch and tone.

I'll not win the Pulitzer

For any words of mine

Museum walls will not have hung

My brushstrokes or sketched line.

Your heart contains such beauty

To inspire works of art

I wish I had such talent

From thoughts to paper I'd part.

The eyes I lay upon you

Like the poets rhyme

Are filled with inspiration

As endless as time.

DeLana Parks

---------------------------

To see her standing--

alone in the night

Flowing tracendency,

--her broken heart cries.

A toe protrudes from her foot,

creating a single curiosity.

Eyes glow a unique state

--a lonely soul weeps after love.

Time and space--

never seems to cease.

An ending, she longs for,

her tired existence.

Living not for today,

but a memory she clings to

Touching a tarnished symbol,

calling for an answer-- nothing.

A pledged vow remains,

--unanswered, failed attempts.

The fatherless child she recalls

--in vain.

--------------------------

Her Eyes

I gave birth to a baby girl,

With olive skin as smooth as silk.

Her hair was brown and full of curls,

Her breath smelled of baby's milk.

In her eyes I could see,

A look of love only I could conceive.

Her eyes shined with curiosity,

Her look said that she trusted me.

My baby soon grew older,

Her interests were more with friends.

Her words to me became bolder,

And her concerns were with trends.

But in her eyes I could still see,

A look of love that was just for me.

Her eyes shined that she was happy,

The look of trust for me was to be believed.

When there's an argument I know I must,

Look way beyond her lies.

To see the truth of her love and trust,

All I have to do is look into her eyes.

----------------------------------------

VAGABONDAGE

Walking.

Talking rhymes with paranoia.

In a book or maybe on deserted island;

there hides a silence for the soul.

Drinking.

Thinking over open sewer.

Silent septic vapors freely breathe beneath;

congested city waste above.

Trading.

Baiting buyers fish for liars.

Hunger strike bargain offers thin money making;

cost of living growing fatter.

Speeding.

Bleeding through the nose.

Frightened strangers stare at danger never seeing;

contentment is a mortal sin.

Tripping.

Slipping down dry pavement.

Bruises, scrapes and degradation never patient;

urging vagabond to find a home.

----------------------------------

BABY'S SONG

LET ME TELL YOU A STORY OF CHILDREN'S DREAMS.

OF CHERRY VOLCANOES AND HILLS MADE OF CREAMS.

WHERE BABY RULES THE COUNTRY WITH A HEART SO BOLD.

THERE'S NO GROWNUPS TO SAY NO , NO ONE TO SCOLD

CHILDREN ALL RIDE ON LICORICE BIKES.

DOWN THE PATHS OF HARD CANDY YOU'VE NEVER SEEN THE LIKES.

AND WHEN THEIR DAY IS DONE THEY BATHE IN HONEY AND

SLEEP ON CINNAMON BUNS

WHITE

---------------------------------------------------

I love to smell the flowers,

they bloom here every hour.

I would like you to share,

These flowers in my hair.

---------------------------------

Thoughts in my head, an ache within my heart

an unendless repetition of where did this start?"

This love or lie that I've found in my life

this joy of a struggle, this happiness of strife

The constance of needing and wanting so much

the bitterness of longing just for the touch

The aching to hold a heart not my own

the pure and simple wonder of not being alone

The joy of this ride that has become so much fun

and the sorrow that I'll feel if it all comes undone

a tear will surely fall when and if the end comes near

and a smile when I remember just what was here

-------------------------------

What is love? When can it be felt? Does it depend on time? Everything else does.

Is love the butterflies when he is near? Is it the need to hear his voice? Or the joy

in seeing his smile? Maybe it is the desire to feel his touch? Can love be none of this?

How does one know? I know I don't.

--------------------------------------------------

Shluck

Dripping petals of blood lick lollipops of floating desecration

Insanity mellows you

Gripping your lungs, suffocating your jelly naval

Boiling time drags on forever

Hysterically laughing. as

acid burns your salt-streaked ears

fiery tears streaming from your stone heart

shattering like glass

on the pavement of pain.

Pimples of pleasure stab boils of insanity

Constantly dripping in a pool of urine

Sweating like thunder

----------------------------

Wash Away

Wash away the pain,

The deep imprint of a scar

That you make by infliction.

Wash away the pain,

The altered state

That you drown with consumption.

Wash away the pain,

The delirious with-drawing,

That you seek with rejection

It won't wash away the pain

This dagger piercing skin

With your crazy mis-conceptions.

----------------------------------------

Wind Chime

Maybe I want it so much,

really doesn't matter who I touched.

The affection is all I can see.

I draw the desire apart from me.

Where passion whispers gently to my ears,

shouts time decreasing my patience.

In this world I try to hold on to what I can

but moments slip, and chances fade.

Every occasion beats hope to my heart.

My pulse strums chords of potential happiness.

Combinations of feelings unlock and are set loose.

Untamed emotions strike without mercy.

If I could dream my whole life, I would.

Reality sinks its venom deep into my veins,

I can feel my eyes surrender away from my sleep.

As life strangles me, my eyes bleed.

-------------------------

Intrinsic beauty travelling through the void of time before me,

A flash of colour lights the screen,

Gone again,

Benign love twists me in pain,

Blue and Bright becomes shifty and grey.

Grasping at the light that is soon to be gone,

Faded like the sun,

Out like a lamp.

The fire in my heart flickers,

Goes out.

Cold tears are my final words,

Left to the reader's device.

-------------------------

The moon is bright and full of life.

A kiss tonight would be so right. The

night is full of noise and scares, but

it is fine when she is near. Frights

and worries disappear when she whispers

in my ear. All bad feelings fall away

when we are holding each other near. She

narrows my pain when I am in fear. Her

love is everlasting like the stars in the

night. Her eyes shine like the bright sun,

for she is truly full of love...

-----------------------------

RETROSPECT

there is a secret place I go

a place that I alone can know

and there I dream of times long gone

of words not said and deeds forgone

I dream of those that I once knew

` the ones I loved and then the few

whose hearts I never seemed to reach

in retrospect I remember each

for in that secret place

the past is always new

as sweet memories are brought to mind

while present cares are left behind

-------------------------------------------------------------------

CONSCIOUS PAIN BURNS MY SOUL

LENGTHY PULLS IN OPPOSING DIRECTIONS

THE CHOICE MY HEART HAS MADE,

IS BEING CONTRADICTED. THE PATH WILL BE HARD TO STAY ON BUT I KNOW IT WILL BE WORTH THE FIRE OF MY TEMPORARILY BURNING SOUL UNTIL MY CHOICE COMES FORWARD TO CONFRONT ME..........

------------------------------

Lost Beauty

I stand atop a mountain. The cool breeze gently caresses my face. Thick fog

surrounds me. I can not see. The fog gradually clears. Beautiful green hills

emerge from the clearing fog. The hills look like patchwork because of all of

the individual, small patches and corpses of trees. I hear the distant playing

of bagpipes. I feel a light tingling. Great white wings sprout from my shoulders. I leap from my mountain perch. I hear nothing but the air rushing past our ears. I spread my wings and glide to the bottom of the valley. I fly back up and start toward the horizon. I see streams and rivers below me. I follow one. It leads to a small medieval village. The people look like ants

from the altitude. I eventually reach the vast, blue, calm sea. I hear the gently crashing of the waves against the shore. I fly out to where I can no longer see the land.

I bolt toward the sun. The sky grows brighter and brighter as I approach the sun. It grows so bright that I can not see. Then I slowly lapse back into consciousness

By Tyler Garst, age 14

------------------------------

People come and people go,

it happens every day.

Though goodbye is such a simple word,

I find it hard to say.

As I watch you leave me now,

I try hard not to cry.

Fore this is not the only time,

I'll have to say goodbye!

-----------------------------

Unbelievable
By: Liz Brook

You're unbelievable

You meet new people

You're sweet to me

That's what all my friends see

But if you treat me wrong

I'll be saying so long

I'll tell you this

If I say good bye it's you that I'll miss

For as long as I can remember

I've known you since last September

When I first met you I thought you were strange

But then again everyone has to change

There's always love

But then there's always a lonely dove

There's a lot of people

Who can find someone so unbelievable

------------------------------------------------------------

In Case You Don't See Me
by Annie

in case you don't see me,

remember what we had.

in case you don't hear me,

remember what was said.

in case you don't smell my perfume,

remember it's name,

in case you don't see me,

remember what we had.

-----------------------------

Alone Again
jdp

Once again the sun has risen, yet I am comforted not by it's offer of abundant warmth. Frozen within this cloak of suffocating darkness I find myself once more. The ever so brief glimmer of hope, which was so cruelly and tantalizingly held before me drowned, like all those before.

The cold winds of winter despair, descend upon the spring of my renewal, stripping away my happiness, leaving me raw and bleeding, broken, naked, humiliated and hopelessly destroyed.

From within the tortured remains of my heart are squeezed the last drops of hope, their taste immediately familiar, as in the form of tears they pause upon my lips, before continuing their journey slowly down my face.

Loving one so deeply has condemned me to a life in which none is returned, as the one who is loved loves me not in turn. The absolute abyss, love in a vacuum, trapped and isolated, unwanted and unfulfilled.

Memories that torture come unbidden, cruel reminders of what once more might have been, and shall never be again. They leave me as they find me; alone and cold, shivering within the envelope of darkness that has become the dwelling of my destitution. Lonely and hurting, hungry and afraid.

Alone.

So alone.

Always so lonely and alone.

----------------------------------

Three Haiku:

Pink apple blossoms

Flutter in wind with snowflakes

--another March day

Silent swimmers deep

In darkness of frothy pool

Unseen and knowing

Gray wisps of dry moss

Hanging from old oak in sun

Thirsty for winter

------------------------------

Why is it, that when one feels compelled,

Feels HIGH about life, they miss their wife,

They miss Earth?

This is a sticking point for me, little, little,

Little old me, now, isn't it (little)?

Now really, why do I want to be Transformed,

To be more than that which I am? I think...

I think it's going to be a long, long...TIME!

And I think I'm going to be...HIGH!

HIGH...for a long, long...TIME!

(Applause, applause, coupla rotten eggs,

applause, exenut)

-----------------------------------

There is a man inside my head.

The words he says have not been said.

He tells me of the things he's seen.

Some are kind, but most are mean.

He'll talk of meadows and sweet perfume

Then talk of pain and my coming doom

Woe is he who cannot dream,

For he is torn from seam to seam.

Woe is she who cannot feel

Whom with the devil will strike a deal.

Woe is him who cannot live,

Who must first learn how to give.

But woe is her who doth defy

her own lovers lonely cry.

There is a man inside my mind.

The words he says are so unkind.

He tells me I am soft and sweet.

The kind of girl he'd like to meet.

But somewhere from deep down inside

I hear his words and cannot hide.

Woe is he who cannot fear

He cannot see when danger's near.

Woe is she who does not know

the killers gloomy after glow

Woe is him who cannot hear

Satan's trumpets in his ear

But woe is her who doth defy

her own lover's weakening cry.

------------------------------------

Starfire
-Hurricane White

In the sky

Brilliant sun

Careless moon

Dark pinpoints

Backed by eternal flame

Calling out to me.

I know the science behind it,

Why they glow so.

But I wonder

If there's something

Magical

Going on amongst the starfire

---------------------------

What You Mean To Me...

Thinking of you is what I love to do,

your thoughts of me are so precious.

Your eyes are a gift to me,

they see what no one else could see.

Your touch is gentle,

I love your caress.

Your love for me is deep and true,

and I give my heart completely and only to you.

But most of all, above all else...

you have shown me what love really is about.

Trusting, caring, understanding,

and being there through thick and thin.

Loving each other not based on looks or money,

but instead what we see in each other

and in our hearts, both inside and out.

We've opened each other up to so much,

to new thoughts, dreams, and

opened our hearts bigger

than we ever thought possible.

>From this we draw strength from each other,

to help us through the time apart.

And when our time together comes,

in each others arms is where we want to be

hearing the beat of each others heart.

The day I first met you,

I knew right there and then,

my life really did begin.

-----------------------------------

The Creeping Weird

The weirdness creeps in me,

A slow moving parasite,

It devours what it can,

Afraid to face the light,

It will reveal it's plight.

The parasite, it changed me,

Spreading it's destruction,

Sweeping me inside out,

Subtle fear, complex composition,

Tranquil sanity, sublime recognition

-------------------------------

A Social Event

The one-eyed man

shoots straight pool

at the far table

of the Pastime Tavern

where it is always

Last Call,

his smile as crooked

as the scar down his face,

and he tells stories,

has been to the marble wall

as black

as the back of the Pastime

where lights are never on

and ghosts of rummies past

drift drunkenly

in eternal night.

Eddy the owner

broods behind the bar,

watches the one-eyed man,

listens to his laughter,

raucous, without mirth.

The lines on Eddy's face

run into the grain

of the beer-stained bar,

merge with the cracks

of the floor and patterns

on the walls,

Eddy would throw

one-eye out,

eject him into the night

but never moves

from behind the bar,

Eddy's legs

are rumored only.

Eddy knows of daylight

but never seen.

The only lights in the Pastime

hang above green felt

and Eddy's head.

One-eye shoots

with three fingers missing

and a dead-on stick,

reaches into folds of clothing,

produces money

pints and memories.

He looks deeply into the darkness

and nods to Eddy.

I would leave

but for the green felt

and clack of the rack.

--------------------------------

Love poem, written to Sophia

With love and life and the rest of the world, Bolas

Who knows a man from the society named Dollas

I hope you answer with all do respect

Cause very soon I will be wrecked

What you may know can cause no pain

but all I see and feel is rain

I sometimes see the brightness of light

even when it is a gloomy night

happiness is why I really exist

But an angels touch I cannot resist

So don't be fooled by what might be heard

I have a gentle heart, just like a bird

I feel real happy with the way I was made

but cause of that, there is a price to be paid

I hope one day, this poem enlightens your heart

For I just learned mine bleeds at one part

It may sound crazy but believe me, it's true

I hope I have given you a clue

things have been changing since the day this came

but I just noticed its all the same

many thought it would be you

I do not think I really knew

but heaven brought down the perfect match

This gift from above, which I cannot catch

Some one found the gift before I did

and now my feelings are forever hid

My heart was taken right away

and part of me had turned to gray

read my words as I will say

cause I deserve to pay this day

for what I let happen to me

it had a price, but the choice was free

nobody I know will understand

unless they lived within my land

this that I feel, is much more great

and sometimes I think that it might be fate

I just think or dream away

and the memories will always stay

My heart gets nice and warm

and takes a flowers form

then back to thinking that I am lost

and how my soul was laying in frost

The only thing that stood so high

was the gift I needed most, up in the sky

I try to grasp it, but no luck yet

everyone watch's, and I just won't quit

I want to reach it, when the light is lit

but the light comes on when I go down, to sit

I doubt anyone would like this life a bit

But I think the challenge, is a great hit

I can't get bored from writing my story

but I do hurt from being so sorry

Many times I hoped for such a joy

On waiting for that real mcCoy

and now I know that I was just a boy

and everything is not a toy

I didn't understand what might come in

I didn't know I have committed a sin

I denied the saying which came within my chest

and never knew this was the hardest test

Now I see my life in a different view

and releasing my tears is very new

but now I get that its the best thing to do

If life is bad for me or you

I get confused in which way to walk

but no one else came by to talk

when someone did, it didn't seem real

cause they don't see just how I feel

I feel as though there is no progress

and everyone, will love me less

because all I think of, is just one girl

and that's only because she shines like a pearl

Many times while I am resting in my bed

I wish that I weren't so hurt, or that I were dead

I look into the sky of the weary night

and hold my pillow, oh; so tight

I pray and pray with all my cry's

that one night I will open my eyes

and see that there the angel lies

in my bed without a disguise

but I can see that I'm thinking wrong

and calm myself with a lovely song

to calm my nerves, and my weakened soul

from this pit, which becomes a deeper hole

When I feel sad, from thinking too strong

I find out that I have been hurting for too long

then I get depressed, as if life weren't good at all

but I keep telling myself, to stand up straight and tall

My love for her, this angel, this gift

is my life, my match, catch my drift?

I leave you nothing else, but this quote

and the rest of my lovely note

It is the greatest to be the one who falls in love

and this will come from the skies above

but if you don't watch for cupids bow

you might fall onto the rocks below

by: Dimitrios Konstantinos Papadopoulos

------------------------------

In the Know

Interesting . . .

The lines life draws between one reality and the next

They sometimes say that perception is reality

That what we believe to be real is only what we allow ourselves to perceive.

Sometimes, they are right.

. . . . . . . . . .

The guido in a new leather Pea Coat

Driving his old American Made

He knows there's nothing new on the street

All of his problems are easily solved

With a call

Or a word

or a fist.

High School Sweetheart, in a cheerleaders skirt

Too much lipstick, too much gold

She knows what makes the world go 'round

A bounce and a smile can get her in

to the club

the bar

the backseat of a car

Grizzly old guy, in worn out clothes

His stool and his scotch, a time proven cure

For any hurt that life might leave

And he has drowned them all

Through the kids

A wife

Waiting for an end to life

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Interesting . . .

These people seem to know the world

Their lives simplistically etched and framed

By jagged glass borders of self inflicted ignorance

Of any truth other than their own.

Spending every day avoiding the edges.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"That chick at after hours," He smiles,

As he cruises 86th. "What a little tease.

No. Yes, No. Yes. NO.

Leading me on - She asked for a ride

What'd she think man? I got my pride."

Lipstick smeared, skirt torn up back

Smile faded, eye gone black

What'd I do? Why me? how?

His car. I wouldn't have taken the ride

If I knew the fare would be my pride.

He smacks the bar, and slams one back

The whiskey sage, eyes glimmering rage

Lays a bill on the kid in black Click - Clack

And asks his buddy for a ride

His little girl's hurt, and he's found his pride.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Interesting . . .

Each truth threatening

Goading

Ending the next.

And none can encompass all three

As the jagged glass draws deeper, and ideals all flow out slow

The conclusion - only theory : No one's ever In the Know.

EM Sheehan 1/22/99

----------------------------

My words of love are the tones of harmony

And my tears that fall are the sorrows to see

For my love is given in the light with passion

And my vision is my dream of that to be seen

For within these words are the spirit of my soul

And my message is within all that is great love

For my darkness was the weakness to bear

And my joy was the power of the light of love

--------------------------------

I KNOW A BOY

brings himself up

then brings it down,

he sees his face, but never

he sees his eyes, but always

caught in a daze

upside down in a haze

of open land

in a far off maze

he hates his life

he wants to die,

he goes through strife,

his life; a lie

he reaches the moon

his happiness

will come soon

"look" he says to the girl

"look upon this place"

"what do you see?"

I see my life

he sees his,

she sees hers,

they wait

they cry

they scream,

where has it all gone,

it seems to far to reach

then we laugh,

and we clap,

and we say,

I know a boy

who seems distraught;

in love

deeply felt and gone

---------------------

Queerest
by J.J. Hecht April 28, 1999

I'm just folding away your paperweight heart

This moment to myself

Enjoying the view I now have of you

As I circle from above

Dirty dirty dirty little girl

Maybe if you flipped this dead bird over

Then maybe it would help

Falling on sardine backbones

Just to make YOU real

I don't need this charity lung

I can breathe on my own

A purple kiss like webbing

Holds me up

To see the sunset

At least to see the sun

And your smile like dirty wings

------------------------------

As the whirling winds whisper to themselves

I realize what lies upon my mind.

As i walk through the shadows and see through the fear

I begin to wonder which fate is really mine

one with a sinuous road or one with a secure path.

Jesus says are fate lies upon us

As i listen to the whirling wind I think to myself

Why do we listen to a man who might be fake.

As i lie here listening to her heart beating

I finally figure out why i feel miles apart

I finally figure out which path lies ahead.

My fate does not lie upon me for it lies upon her.

Richard T Johnson Jr

----------------------------

Lying And Waiting

time passes over with the scent of happiness and pain

through all the trials i remain one and desiring

i lay on the feeling of love and hope it will disrobe me

for the layers of humanity are to great for a little soul

i sit and stare at the heavens watching the beautiful ones roam around

they stare at me and say " you are beautiful and have learned oneness with yourself

although all this happens i am still unknown and unseen by many

i am sitting here wondering will i ever be needed and wanted

i think and i lie here lying and waiting

---------------------------

WISHIN I WENT FISHIN'

BOY YOU KNOW WHAT I'M WHISHING,

I'M WISHING I WENT FISHING.

FEEL THE BREEZE ON MY FACE,

TIME MOVING AT MY PACE.

BUT FOR NOW MY FACE HOLDS A POUT,

CAUSE I AIN'T GOT NO TROUT.

I WOULD SEND OUT A CAST,

AND CATCH A BIG BASS.

IF I COULD CATCH A SALMON,

I WOULD FEEL LIKE JAMMIN.

BUT FOR NOW I'LL KEEP WISHIN,

THAT I WENT FISHING.

--------------------------------

Where the day ends...

I would give up tomorrow just to once again hold you

and have one more trip through the sole of your eyes

so that I may be able to understand what my heart can already realize

I remember our friendship being so close that I could feel your heart beating

and your dreams being so sincere that I too was deeply anticipating

I aimed for your sole, but ended up touching your heart

for it is now when I lye here with you that I feel as if were just to far apart

I've closed my eyes to enter a world which never fails to in vision you

here I reveal all the secrets which only your shy heart knew

this is the death we both feared, but yet our days still live

for it is proven here that God only bestows what my sole is willing to give

there is a silence in the night sense you've gone away

and a mispronunciation of the expressions in which I use to be confident enough to say

I know well enough that I have tears I've yet to cry

for I'm still pondering over the question which was interpreted more as a good bye

where will I end up when some day becomes tomorrow and I'm still living in yesterday

or will my inherited strength and my unawaken dreams assist me in ceasing the day

I miss you more now, then an early sun set, or a night where the stars are absent

for I expressed this fully in a letter which I addressed to you but never sent

my spirit still is the most cherished gift to which you were able to return to me

and your smile which I picture in every dream is still the truest and finest form of beauty

this is a friendship which isn't measurable by distance or time

for I've come to the final understanding

that there can't bet anymore women like you in this world for my heart to find

I still know the words to the songs which you sang on all those rainy nights for

for I knew if those moments weren't heaven then I no longer would believed

there is still that part of me that you love so dearly, which is only a reflection of you

which still inspires my dreams to see a life time of lonely nights through

if my heart never had you, then my pen would have long ago stopped writing

and my health would have giving up all its purpose to continue on fighting

I wake every morning to uncertainty only to question just where the day will end

for regardless if the sun fails to rise or the stars forget to fall

my day will still conclude in your heart, where all my dreams begin...

-----------------------

EVERY NIGHT I CRY AND CRY,

U WERE MY HEART, MY SOUL, MY LIFE AND PAIN TOO,

BUT IN THE END U LEFT ME WITH A GOODBYE,

CAN'T U SEE? I LOVED U.

WE DATED FOR SO MANY YEARS,

THERE WERE SO MANY MEMORIES THAT WE SHARED,

WHY DID U GO OUT WITH ME IF U DIDN'T CARE?

U WERE MY PROTECTION, PROTECTION FROM MY FEAR.

FORTUNATELY IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO HEAL,

A WHILE TO GET STRONGER,

A WHILE TO GET RID OF THE PAIN I USED TO FEEL,

NOW U CAN'T HURT ME NO LONGER.

---------------------------

ANOTHER PLANE GOES UP

YOUR HEAD RUSHES AGAIN

A CATERPILLAR CLIMBS DOWN

YOUR FACE MAKES A FROWN

THE CLOUDS MOVE IN UPON THE SKY

YOU START TO FALL TO THE GROUND

THE RAIN FALLS DRIP BY DRIP

YOU START TO CRY THEN YOU TRIP

THE FLOWERS SEEM SO BEAUTIFUL

YET YOU HAVEN'T EMERGED

OVER THERE YOU SEE A ROSE BLOOMING

THEN YOU REALIZE THAT YOU NEED TO GROW UP

BUT THERE YOU SEE A ROSE DYING

THOUGH YOU NEED TO GO ON NOW

THEN YOU FIND YOURSELF IN A CLOUD

NOT MOVING, NOT DRIFTING ON

UNTIL YOU RAIN UNTIL YOU FIND... LIFE

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