OPEN MIC
AUGUST ENCORE

Up dated 8/29/99

Bed Bugs
By Ame Hickel

The little man lives under my bed

Peaking out from oblivion to give me a fright

He'll bite my toes and eat my feet

Mommy please don't turn out the light

The boogieman lives in my closet

Just awaiting his moment to strike

He'll drag me off to his universe

Daddy please don't leave me tonight

The monsters are every where in here

the windows to my deepest soul

Mommy daddy don't close the door

I want to wake up whole

I sit in fetal position

The monsters and ghosts swarm near

Mommy and Daddy left me again

So all I have left is fear.

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

Bottles, circa June, 1998
-Katy

The bottle lays empty on the floor

It's been there for a day

I will let it stay.

It won't be on the shelf, as before.

It won't be like that anymore.

The bottle were once whole

beautiful, glistening in the sun

In an instant, once was shattered,

the other was on the floor.

It won't be like that anymore.

Who do I do this to myself every time?

I try to convince myself that the bottles are mine.

If they were just left alone, everything would be fine.

All bottles hold a different gem

one day it will be the sweetest thing ever tasted

The next, sour wasted.

You get the bottles hoping one with have the gem of eternal life.

You take a gamble because with very bottle, you risk eternal strife.

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

BLIND COFFEE
Khalil Hanoun

Don't waste your finger

Don't touch the face.

Time is so stupid

and my blind coffee too.

Why waiting you ?

while i can stand up and fly away

away from my deserted heart

away from your windows and skies..

O your lips:

the killing fields.

throne of thousands of demons.

The perfect tools of sadness.

For a while

close your body

open my soul.

Your Hand is

under my moon

but you prefer my teeth.

Pain is pink

like your underwear.

pink

like my blind coffee.

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

Today I saw my Child's Child
Kirpal Devgun

I held the little body

I kissed the little hands

I smelled the old familiar smell

Only a grandmother can.

I touched her silken hair

I counted ten perfect toes

Dear God your miracles never cease

You have just blessed me so

This woman child

With eyes so bright

With pink shell ears

A smile that delights.

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

You came into the world and the first to hold was I
You gave your first cry and the first to soothe you was I

You gurgled for the first time and the first to hear you was I
You gave your first smile and the first to see it was I

You cut your first tooth and the first to admire it was I
You took your first step and the first to help was I

You took your first fall and the first to catch you was I
Your first day at school and the last to leave was I

You won your first race and the first to hug was I
You won your first prize and the loudest to cheer you was I

For you are my precious child and stand by you always must I

Submitted by: Kirpal Devgun

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

Horizons
--Ronda Anderson 1999

The waves come crashing in

raging in the air, a soft breeze called wind

brushes my face with intense force

my feet walk on the sand while feeling course.

Rain penetrates the once scarce land

and once again, my feet feel the sand

sopping in between my toes

reminds me of the brush of a rose.

As it slides down my luscious lips

I am aroused in which brought on a kiss

the rough stubble on his face

only the feel of the pressure no other man can replace.

I rise from the warm comfort of my bed

only to remember the rose was red

a small blooming flower with such a strong scent

remembering the rose was time well spent.

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

"Mojave, Somewhere Between Barstow and Needles"
Aaron Dye

Nothing here,

Just scrub brush,

And sand.

Like some twisted state of sleep.

In a dream,

Yet so real.

So real, as if the hills themselves were

Reaching and crying for something

Greater.

Like twisted limbs, contorted,

But reaching for the

Endless sky.

Still, there is nothing here.

A small scar of a truck-stop,

And the occasional drunk,

Rambling on about his leg

He lost in the War.

(His stein of beer looks like

a crying eye to see through)

Blurred vision,

And hot cheeks,

Naked and vulnerable

To the world.

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

Forward March
Jo Anna Bella

Don't get bogged down in the trivia of their lives.

Don't stop thinking for yourself, it just isn't wise.

Stand up for everything dare to you,

not just the obvious, the needed the few,

but for yourself, your history, your future.

Don't end up just another hapless creature.

It's easy to be sweet talked into mediocrity.

It's hard as hell to stay the course,

particularly since values change with seasonality.

You have to use your power, you are the force!

Don't be contend with their dreams!

You can do more than their minds have ever seen.

So let go, of these middle of the road comforts.

Re-embark on your journey; Abandon this desert!

Forward March!

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

ON THE ART OF FLICKERING
by Robert R. Cobb

To female folks, those of frivolous flashes,

Who flick and flutter their locks and lashes.

To all the flickers with long fabulous fluffy tresses,

To flirts and fritters who flaunt their fancy flitters.

To flippant flirts who take flights of fancy,

To fly-by-flings on flickers' wings.

To flukey flukes, to flim-flam fakes

To flicker tails, to flirtatious rakes.

Who flex and feign their false intentions,

In mirrors of fluctuating dimensions.

If you must flick...then do so, please,

But without any pretensions!

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

Bridges.
Victoria Vigurs.

Looking on, with the look of someone,

Watching bridges burning,

Am I too late?

Too late to do anything, about everything,

Too late to write anything about me?

Running out of time.

Time unable to be recorded.

No documentation of your existence,

Are you a figment of my imagination?

Never mind the thoughts that reel,

Unrecorded through our minds.

Never mind, for what is never spoken.

For time only brings about confusion.

Shift's of shadows,

Bring about shifts of minds.

For time is your only enemy.

Just another small victory,

Conquered by my ever sleepless nights.

You had profound affects on time.

Over there, there's burning bridges.

Burn your Bridges.

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

"Love is the only dreamweaver"
Matt Kovacs

What would it be like if God were like us?

What would it be like if we were like God?

Would it be odd if we all loved Jesus?

Love weaves the clouds in the skies.

Love weaves the light in our eyes.

Love is the only dream weaver.

What would it be like if we taught angels?

What would it be like if we made Heaven?

Can we see life from all angles?

Love weaves the clouds in the skies.

Love weaves the light in our eyes.

Love is the only dream weaver.

What would it be like if God didn't preserver knowledge?

What would it be like man were not transgressors?

Can we live without the Lords coverage?

Love weaves the clouds in the sky.

Love weaves the light in our eyes.

Love is the only dream weaver.

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

How often do you watch TV?
Cyndisa

Have you noticed?

The logo bombardment

The corporate giants stand to profit

From our children's poverty

We're becoming a goddamn feudal society

The teachers aren't teaching the children to learn

Creative sparks that don't get to burn as bright

Can't put up a fight against the slotting

Into beaurocratic cracks too easy to fall through.

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

A Mourning
carolsdew

The days flow by as if they know

That time must still go on.

But in my heart the end has come

Our time together done.

My soul in desperation seeks

A portal in the storm.

But nothing shows itself to me.

I'm totally alone.

The oceans roar envelopes me.

The sun no longer shines.

How can a life so fragile be

The one left here behind?

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

Late Awakening.....
By Precious Jade.

Like a 'sleeping Beauty', I 'slept' for a decade,

Caring for no one in particular...no one.

Like a still water lake, I ripple only for the breeze,

Come what may, I bore a torch for only one....once.

The Only One who had gone and left me with unfulfilled promises....

The Only One whom I have ever known and given my all.

But like a storm...so unpredictable...he was taken from me..so suddenly.

But now...Like a breeze that seemed so gentle...

I was gently shaken by an unseen force...

After a decade of silence and solitude....he comes...quietly....gently...

Stole into my heart's chamber.. stayed and mended those unfulfilled promises...

Gently...slowly but surely...he shakes me by the shoulder..

Oh...! the feeling...! which was thought to be buried forever with one...

Could so lovingly and preciously be awakened again...by another....

After a decade of 'Sleeping'....

I never thought that I could shaken up to a "Late Awakening"...!!!!!

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

NO REGRETS
Dawn Howell 8/25/99

I've been through fear

I've been through despair

and I wouldn't be "here"

If I hadn't been there

There is sorrow in life

and there is pain

but who could enjoy the sun,

if there was never any rain?

Life is a gift of the grandest kind

you have but only to make your mind,

will you dwell in sorrow, despair, and fear?

Or will you realize "there" got you "here"?

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

THE STATE OF THE NATION
NALINI

There is no poetry in this

This, the state of the nation.

Years, years of death and defile

Torture the very innards,

The fabric, grain and wrap.

Lead from the fore,

Stalled from the aft,

Buffeted by foreign wakes,

No mast, no sail, no map.

Yet why the romanticism, the twinge of pain?

With every twist and surge of despair,

Why, this groping for straws?

As blood is to blood,

Child to its mother,

As emotions entwine;

As disciple to the teacher,

As root to the soil,

Country of my birth!

Embolden!Awake!Empower!

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

innocents
jonas grumby

soldier takes aim takes soldiers life

soldiers life ends in battle days won

soldier sights in moves the crosshairs up left

bullet cuts through bystanders neck oops

soldier pulls trigger

sprays crowd with bullets not right

murderer spraying crowd with guilty bullets

crowd sprayer needs death

my hand to deliver

death of crowd sprayer ordered by my hand

crowd sprayed no more

soldiers life taken in battle days won

bystanders neck shattered oops

crowd sprayed

murderers death

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

The Great Depression
KiAnd Kuit

We craved for trash, left by the man

We waited prior, cans in hands

Our stomach had roared in anticipation

We had no right for expectation

But the food it tasted raw

Our stomach became suddenly saw

One by one we dropped like flies

No one to hear our awful cries

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

A lawn, fresh and green,

uniform in how it grows.

And yet a blade of grass,

stands out from the rest.

He doesn't want to conform,

to a programmed way of life.

To grow straight and tall,

to be cut down once again.

Many others shun him,

as he grows slightly bent.

Many others pull up roots,

as his color's slightly off.

Good Kentucky Blue Grass,

once there he had belonged.

Now he has pulled up roots,

and started his own lawn.

Bill

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

For Family
by Judy Peterson

The young man runs along the shifting sand,

Dreaming of the riches of the life he's planned--

Money, fame, travel, honors--

And he gives no thought to finding time

For family.

The aging man strolls his glorious land,

Enjoying the riches of the life he's planned--

Money, fame, travel, honors--

And he pushes back thoughts of finding time

For family.

The old man hobbles, a cane in his hand,

Bored with the riches of the life he planned--

Money, fame, travel, honors--

And he tearfully laments not finding time

For family.

The withered man lies in his coffin grand,

While strangers steal the riches of the life he planned--

Money, fame, travel, honors--

And he is soon forgotten, leaving nothing in time

For family.

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

Run, Run for your life
Sam Lebow

Run, run for your life

That's all I thought and all I ever dreamed about

I look east, look west

I want to stop and rest

My legs ache and my lungs burn eternally

But no, I must keep moving

For if they find me......

Well, I just won't let them find me

Why do I run and who am I running from

Simple

I run because I must, because it's the only way

I am a jew

A lonely jew in 1942

Their tracking me

I just know it and I can feel it burning from within

I am cold, I am hungry, and I am scared

but I must keep moving

To them I am just a maggot

A maggot that must be crushed instantly

So on I run

No family and no friends

On I run to save my life

Run, run for your life

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

LILIM
Lucas R. Noon

And she says what does not kill you only makes you stronger

And she says if it hurts a bit it will last a little longer

And I touch and I feel

And she pricks a little hole in my heart

So I can tell

Whether or not what she says is true

And she says," Don't turn your head away so you can't see,

But look at me.

Look at me,

So I know it's good.

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

Dreams:
Gineva Payne

Flowing sheets holding secret doors I am afraid to open,

close your eyes and dream, hold the token.

Your true love on a horse, you in a tower,

dream sweet child pay none to the hour.

Unlock your secrets let them fly,

set your self free,

don't fear, TRY!

Awake now sweet child and it is gone,

stay and listen to the robin's song.

Go into the world and live it, feel alive!

And tonight as you sleep your dreams will arrive!

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

"Written"
Darcee Wood

splattered ink explodes

in patches, leaving no

prisoners.

the threads of hatred

weave in and out the

backs of weeping limps.

a cap is removed,

a cloak, whipped over a broad shoulder

a pencil drawn from a crisp pocket protector

the power of a single word can be

greater than any sword or gunshot

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

Mom
Heather Atkins

When I got home

You were there....

When I fell down

You were there....

Whenever I needed someone

You were there....

Now you are gone

You won't be there.....

When I cry...

When I graduate...

At my wedding...

To hold my first child...

No more tucking me in

No more kisses good nite

With out you I feel hollow...

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

Midnight Pleasure
by Shamika Singer

PART 1

As his strong arm caresses my skin, i feel warm inside. his dark eyes are wild with passion. He gives me a sweet passionate kiss. His lips taste like honey. i yearn for him to kiss me again. He unclothes me gently, but oh so slowly. he gives me soft desirous kisses all over my body. he enters me. With every moment I feel lust.

PART 2

The wind is cool against my face. i wake up to find myself alone; naked. My balcony door i open. My lover is no longer here. Was thia all a dream? Where could my beloved be?

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

Perfect Day
Renee

I see you in the distance waiting patiently for me.

With a smile and a wave you come close and hold me tightly.

We need no words to say how we feel.

I stare deep into your eyes and I know your love is real.

Sitting in the grass laughing and wrestling around.

Taking turns pinning each other down.

All I can see is your smiling handsome face.

We kiss and hold each other going at our own pace.

With our good-byes it's the worst thing we could say.

Because being with you is the perfect ending to the perfect day.

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

7.28.99/16.12.44:
sasha dobbs

honeydew sweetness

a ringing bite

HA HA HA HA HA HA

polyplasticate

fingertips salty surface tension

eyes penetrating a sea of faces

throat sweet ouch

vocal chords resonant denial you deny

screaming tick tick

pleading cry of fear

yearning pain

lips tender moving on

feet soft moving on

touch moving on

shoulders shining

smooth YOU HAVE NO DEFENSE.

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

The Last Echoes of the Mind
-Chris

Dawn rises ahead of the shady light

As my crushed soul buries your thoughts in faded black

The tiger leaps-

A fierce attack

The universe lays dead -alone

Its mind is gone,

The stars are thrown

Infinity lies in the palm of my hand

As the stationary spirit does all she can

Everything moves in perfect synch

Without a plan the man must think

The cosmos float in an ocean of dreams

And god motions me down as he creates a scheme

My brain drips thoughts like an endless mist

The flower blooms

And the universe is kissed

The man drowns in his own kind

While I hear the last echoes of the mind

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

MENTAL INVENTORY
Elissa Eaton

poetry in subtler verse

every bone craves comfort

I could lay my head

but there's all the things

I miss in a blink

it's emotional spring cleaning

and I believe I've broken this heart of glass

it's just that I've had a run-in with carelessness

and it's hard to see what you're reaching for

when your head's in the clouds

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

At first the idea intrigued me and now it tickles me beyond my ability to rationalize or resist.

I want to live with you!

Comforted by your oddness

Seduced by your knowledge of exactly who I am.

I want to care for you!

Brush your hair and put aloe on your scars and pat your head at bedtime watching your eyes close slow like a child's. Heavy with a thousand things that filled your day.

Come with me I'll watch you breath and someday maybe I'll let you watch me sleep too.

Elizabeth

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

You, You'd, I, I'm
By Lailani Parayno

You embarrassed me always during the stage when I cared. I'd play radio commando searching for the latest pop single, when I was lame. Pink Floyd just didn't do it for me back then. You'd unselfishly drive me to ballet and you'd never forget to be late. So I could make my grand entrance, you say.

I missed you when you moved back east. Little Lia didn't have many true adventures to share, in her mere 6 years of livin.

I realize I'm on my way to becoming you. I'm quirky now, a blue sheep, if you will. I write letters on napkins containing my daily treks. I mosh like a rockstar even though I'm small. I'll never forget when you came back from a rendezvous with Alice in Chains. You became my idol.

I like reggae and a little jazz. You'd be proud of how broad my horizons are. I try to entertain people with "A Clockwork Orange" I guess they didn't see the same things we did in it. I'm intrigued by people when I walk alone. We'd be quite a superb pair. So tell me did it hurt when you cut yourself and jumped those six stories? Cuz I think it hurt me more.

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

Purgatory
Kevin Politte

An answer to the question is purgatory real;

To me it is because of something I feel;

I mean maybe this is purgatory for you and I;

For as the days fly right bye we are forced to watch our loved ones die;

And in this world filled with murder, diseases, and beatings;

A world engulfed in lying, stealing, and cheating;

A world that gives us hard choices to make;

Choices that decide our future our fate;

For as we wait to pass through that heavenly gate;

We must choose to love and not to hate;

For god will see everything we do;

Yes, he will see if we pull through;

And in the end if righteous we remain;

Then we will enter into his domain.

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

FORTUNATE JOURNEY
Kevin DeLacy copyright August 29, 1999

As I wander through the memories of the Moorlands in my mind,

of that little Isle where I did dwell and since have left behind.

It holds so much of beauty where all around is seen,

from the Moorlands and valleys and her fields with shades of green.

We are of peasant people and so proud to state it so,

for we have served the Lord and Master down to the Saxon foe.

Though hunger was a way of life with each passing day,

it inspired me more as time went on that I must get away.

At thirteen I ran away to escape this awful scene,

just to find that there was water all around this Isle of green.

From our straw beds in slumber we'd be wakened at night,

from that dreadful sound of the enemy plane searching for a light.

We would all run to Mom and Dad and gaze up to the sky,

in silence we would be as one we had no fear to die.

Then came the day for me to go across the Atlantic foam,

as my family cried side by side outside my Irish cottage home.

Now today I am a free man in a place that I adore,

I have made it my homeland to be forevermore.

for there's food and peace in abundance and love for all today,

I am a fortunate immigrant. God bless this USA.

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

From Lust to Lust, and Love.
SirJake2000

You are wide open, my hands are there,

You've seen my light, yet you still dare,

My neverhood thoughts, my feelings true,

From lust to love, from me to you.

A kiss, a smile, of well seeming forms,

Of a passion lost, a crown of thorns,

Of feelings and talking, and holding hands,

Of green grassy meadows, of strange foreign lands.

From my hidden valley, secluded and rare,

Hoping some day, to lead you there,

My centre, my all, my freedom above,

From lust to lust, from love to love.

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

My Sweet Angel
(By Jay G. Freiday III)

Once I found an angel, who's wings were white as snow,

She promised she would care for me where ever I might go;

No matter what I did or said I knew she'd love me true,

A love which never would I find again, of that love there is not two.

She picked me up from the lowest low, and carried me on her back,

She was the good I never had, and the perfection that I lack;

She knows no wrong , but only good, and what is best for all,

She tells what will make me trip, and still catches me when I fall.

She taught me simply how to love, and how to let all know,

That she was my one true love, and that I could not let her go;

Though none may ever believe in me, I know one thing is true,

I will always have my angel to love, and I know she'll love me too

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

Hold Me Tight
Carol Ujan

Hold me baby hold me tight,

Keep me safe all through the night,

Hold me baby hold me close,

My handsome lover, my hardy red rose,

Oh I long so much for you,

To keep me warm in the cold morning dew,

Your big strong arms around me keep,

As we embrace in love so deep,

In this garden our love will grow,

And love's sweet harvest we'll reap and sow,

Our hearts bound by a force so strong,

My love to you alone I belong,

Kiss me darling kiss me sweet,

In mingling nectar our tongues do meet,

Flames of passion raging wild,

As forest fires but as honey mild,

My love I give my love I share,

Without a doubt without a care,

For you alone is my loyalty,

It's yours alone through eternity,

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

devils are really angels

-- by. thom york. --

will to burn the money

a sin to suck away your soul

never to stay, you are put on lay-away

broken and bruised you choose the pain

noise by the god that made you fall

words to crawl into a ball

shoved around like a bloody doll

infamous and dangerous you fly

slow to fast in a flash

something is someone who you forgot

and no one is the one who got shot

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

Guitar Box..
crazeelilme

Hidden in the compartment

With a few mounds of dirt

Lay ten pages of music

Of incomparable worth

Washed up on the beach

From a long since distant shore

From a sullen starving artist

Who finally would have no more

The Romantics of the world

Who take too much and lose

Are a dying breed of failures

Who've walked a thousand miles in your shoes.

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

ANGEL
Raj ji

It is so easy to close doors,

It is so easy to shut eyes,

It is so easy to believe that ...

The sufferer is paying for his sins,

It is all so easy to leave it to the God.

Because we are misers.

We have no love to share,

We have no smile to give,

We only seek love, need joy,

We can only ask, ask, ask....

And find rationale for not

Reaching out.

The Poorest one is one...

Who can not even lend an ear...

To someone's woe.

The Weakest one is one

Who can not even Touch

Forehead of a wounded man.

Blind are we if we can not

Look in to the eyes of dying.

Did The Lord ask us to judge...

Those who are sobbing & crying.

Touch, don't teach.

Prey, don't preach,

Heal, don't hate

Feel, don't frown.

Angel ........ oh !

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

Host
Face1219

Walking these skies bring no love, I

can see the hurting here, from above.

Kissing the hand of god can't cure all

of those empty hearts and tired lives.

I can feel every child's shrill cry,

knee deep in hidden fear, and stabbing

at my mind. I clutch my skull bleeding

in agony failing with all the strenghth

buried deep within me. True life lay

dormant as the seasons pass by, watching

hope shatter sadly has become my past

time.

In single-file formation my pall bearers

give conformation, holding my every pose-

I take baby steps up to the throne, my heart

hangs on a rusty chain that drapes my soul.

As the clouds part I cut my way through the

heavy mist and hit the ice for one last kiss,

maybe this one will reveal the sun.

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

YOU'RE SO VAIN!
Patricia Fritsche

Funny thing

about the "broken wing syndrome,"

it keeps getting broken

in the same place.

Then repaired, and broken again.

Repaired, broken again, and again.

Who is the navigator making sure

the rest of the unassuming flock

have a safe land-in?

Maybe, this time

the broken and repair thing

can focus more in the direction,

of pointing towards

that sign saying.

Yeah, strictly for the birds

lost in flight...

flying into that reflective wall again.

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

Fears of a difference
By Lippy

Waking up to a pale gray room with nothing but a bed,

Remembering a faint spark of a dream in a pale gray room with nothing but a bed,

Waking from a dream of waking to a pale gray room with nothing but a bed,

Looking, desperate to find some thing different,

Waking to a pale gray room with nothing but a bed,

Looking, desperate to find some thing else, anything,

Waking to a pale gray room with nothing but a bed,

Rolling over to go back to sleep not willing to look at the same pale gray room with nothing but a bed,

Slowly raising my eyelids,

Not caring about what I see,

And not even looking at what is in front of me,

Passing over a spec of dirt on the wall because of a fear that it will just be a dream,

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

~Angel~
~Tasha Molnar~

Up above my angel sings

spreading out his handsome wings

my heat aches with love for you

and I know you feel the same way to,

for you have told me many times

and I have heard your heart sing like chimes

your so kind, your so sweet,

I love you more with every heart beat

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

"Far Gone Away"
Kim

I sit here today,

Still thinking about yesterday.

When u were here,

And now your far gone away.

I miss the time we shared,

And the fun we had.

But those days are gone,

And so are the memories.

There's pictures in my mind,

Of your beautiful face.

I know we'll meet again,

But now I just sit and wish.

I always wonder,

What your doing right now.

If your thinking the same,

And I think about the question, How?

Why did you leave?

I hope you come back.

I wonder when it will happen,

Because it hurts so bad.

Your like a dream,

That's always interrupted.

Please don't be long,

I can't wait another lifetime.

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

All By Myself
Corey Jenkins

I'm all by myself

I have nothing to do

I cry, I laugh at some point

But its not what I want to do

I want to have fun with my friends

But there's no way to get there

So I sit somewhere and write.

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

Hush
By Kristen Dickerson

The quiet silence sometimes has a hiss.

A hiss swimming around your ears, it can be full of stories or hollow.

Silence can fill you up with warmth and make you rest inside, relax, sit back, breath in and out.

Silence can make you empty and lonely.

It brings thoughts unwanted, the thoughts that waste your time.

Silence can be torturing.

Gnawing at your chest.

You tap your finger, begging to hear a voice or siren, anything.

Each of these silences have a hiss in different tones, different feelings.

It can make you love every second you breath.

Or it can make you hope you stop breathing, makes you hope for your disappearance.

Silence can be sick and twisted and your best friend.

----------------------------------
Absolute blue, absolute pure (Kelly Gasper)

I want to dive into the clear serene wonder,

Have all my troubles drown in the clouds.

I try and try,

but my legs fail to jump high,

high enough to reach the sky.

Why i wonder is it so high?

To touch the sky, my dream would come true.

To be whole, to be you...why cant i be you?

With your splendor and delight,

you shine with a beautiful light.

sky above, sky so blue

what i'd do, to be like you.

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

Bleeder by Sandi J Sabel

I think I am dying, falling to Earth from the ground below, aware of my atmosphere, beware of my surroundings. hide from my pain, run from my life, I keep running, never looking behind me, headlights shining through the haze, my eyes are fading, a forgiving face, a blurry masterpiece, angel eyes, burning into me, from where I stand, I can see eternity, glazing back into my tired eyes. Can I say it's so? You don't feel the same, that's ok for me, because I see it now, Blurry masterpiece of me, walking in my view, shampoo me, supershined and blackened nose, merry go round emotions, up down, all around, desperate measures, I'll be stuck here again, unless darkness takes me home, insecurities wash me out, dying my guts, hopeful discards of used up apologies, used to be's and yesterdays, There never seem to be enough tomorrows to keep me going. Just yesterday I fell apart, don't worry me this way, don't torture me this way, you already have my troubled heart, beating rapidly, quickly losing blood in your hands, Only you can stop the bleeding, together we can heal our hearts, together I can live, alone without you, I will die. In my arms, you can do no harm, I say this over and over again in my head, My smile, a wretched pink mess, lips spread, angry now, Can I keep you up, high in the sky, stars gloss your eyes, I melt into the shadows, that dance on the walls, So much space above me, nothing inside of me, Only time can tell, but it looks like I'm going to bleed to death.

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

Every heart beats still

a window cracks

and life twists on. . .

slowly shout through the fog

recognize a face you thought you knew

and turn back to the mirror

lies and screaming all along

shouldn't have guessed that you were wrong

trouble is my name incarnate

illegal smiles that slide by

wonder what is what and why

can i change my name again?

maria

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

"My Red Commie Armband" from the desk of Jimmy Beaker
Kennedy Thomas

I'm so tired...

Like I've not slept for 10 days.

I'm tired of repetitive words

From the mouths of the obviously outcasted.

You spew words like a verbal hangover.

Throwing stereotypes and judgments on all.

What makes you think you're any different

Then any of us?

Because you don't play football,

Or you don't vote for the Student Body president?

You're so wrong, and I am so sad for you.

Wearing Gap khakis, or listening to N'Sync

Don't make us who we are.

And it's unfortunate, that one such as yourself

Is unable to grasp this.

You preach about conforming.

I've seen a million kids like you,

Wearing black, or hating us all.

It's not what sport we play

Or how we dance that makes us people.

It's what we think, what we feel,

And how we show it.

I'm so sad for you,

Throwing wrongful accusations at us

Like a football at the Homecoming game.

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

He Walked In
Gigglez11

He walked in.

He stayed awhile to rest his tired legs,

Tired searching,

Tired of looking for the one he thought best.

He stayed awhile to find his way,

His lost mind,

Lost and afraid.

Lost and unknown to the face of the warm day.

He stayed awhile to leave his one behind.

Leave a broken heart.

Leave a scar on the love he designed.

He walked away.

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

(THE FEAR)
WAYNE WHITE

WANDERING, DESOLATE, ALONE...

LOST WITHIN HER CATACLYSMIC, PARADOX...

DRIPPING WET, WITH MORNING ANEW

...AND BITTER ASYLUM.

SHE AWAITS OUR RETURN...

LIKE THE VANQUISHED, SWOLLEN, BRIDE

; OF AN UNFORGIVING OCEAN CHANT.

LOVERS, STROLL PAST ME NOW, WITH YOUNG

EYES A'FIRE...A'BLAZED...SHROUDED IN

MYSTIC LUST, AND "THE FEAR"...

7-8-99 COPY RIGHT BY: "BLUE INFINITY PUBLISHING"

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

HOPELESS
Tiffany Clevenger

He is on the inside looking out

Through the window as he shouts

You are free, I am not

In the morning I get up

Nothing to look forward to

Nothing to see, but the prison guards

Looking back at me

There are walls all around

I am lost in this place I've found

Will you love me for who I am?

Or will you reject me for what I've done

This thing I cannot mend

I want to love, I want a friend

Who will love me the way I am

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

Contemplation
Tim Van Loen

Lying in bed at night

I make myself

A snug cocoon.

Safe and warm

A different world

My Sanctuary.

The pounding rain

I love it

I feel protected.

Alone, but not alone

Just my own thoughts

Keep me company.

Deep thoughts,

Special thoughts,

Sacred thoughts

Kept under lock and key.

This is me,

The secret me,

The beautiful me.

This is the me that no one knows

This is my hour.

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

JUST WAITING FOR MY TIME TO SHINE
BY: WILLIAM C.

Day in the life

prophesied

struggle strive

hustle

yearn to one life thrive

The mountain king of urban mythology

the wound as well as the knife

disavowed of my very humanity

Techno dreams

symphony of blues

other worldly schemes

Rowdy with pride

ain't blind

maybe the light's just too damn bright?

My litany

'tis bittersweet

over a raw undercurrent

beneath silky melodies

Remain cavalier through the madness

as our heroes grow ill

Don't cry for me my brothers

I ain't happy here

Home is truly where the heart is

banished to this curious land

I'm heartless.

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

Times
M. Miller

Sometimes I want to cry

For I can't change the way things lie.

Sometimes I want to scream

For I can find no escape, no light beam.

Sometimes I feel as though I'll burst

For the feelings i hide are strong and seem to get worse.

Sometimes I just don't understand why things are as they are.

When these times come to me

And I can hear no sweet melody

I wonder why I'm here at all

An wish upon every star.

I wish for hope, for strength, for love.

I wish to fly, to soar as the dove.

I wish to find what I long for.

I wish to find and want no more.

I wish these problems, feelings, times would fly, would soar

To places that afterward would exist no more.

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

"Why"
Jennifer Jackson

I sit here now on a black cloud,

and look below

at what I never knew I had.

Friends and family gathered round,

as I am being put into the ground.

As I look down I notice

you are not there.

What happened to us,

and all we had to share?

I hear my family crying why.

How could she kill herself?

Please god,

Tell us why.

I thought you loved me,

and I loved you.

But then you laughed,

and I didn't know what to do.

I sat upon my bed and cried.

I wondered why,

why did you lie?

I watched you win

your little game.

A game I knew of,

but not how to play.

The game of life,

it passed me by.

So I decided it was time,

time to die.

Please don't make the

same mistake.

Instead listen to what

I have to say.

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

Beautiful Thievery
-Ricter

The moonlight catches your auburn hair,

and steals away my very cares.

And this night on with we tread

Steals away my very breath.

Now resting on this moonlit knoll,

I think of when you stole my soul.

And this night so full of bliss,

ever since you stole my kiss.

The moon, the night, the trees all know;

you stole my heart, you stole my soul.

Can you now deny your an auburn thief

after all the proof I've given thee?

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

U lied and Denied
Jeff

Why did i trust u in u

U played me for such a fool

I was warned but i didn't listen

But still confronted u with the question

Would it end this way?

U said u'd never do that to me

U Lied and Denied

U lied and Denied

U Lied and Denied

U put all my anxiety to rest

So i let my guard down

Gave u my complete trust

An investment in you was a total bust

U did exactly what u said u would

First women i ever trusted and now i know why never had before

this relationship has left me sore

Never trusting a women again WHY?

Cause u lied and u denied.

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

Homeless
Dawn Murray

I miss your touch, I miss your soul

it's only you that I want to hold

close to your heart I feel it's my home

but I locked my self out

into the snow and cold

with out the warmth of your body

with out the warmth of your soul

I feel I'll freeze to death

out in this cold

your not here to hold

I've said I was sorry

I still have me key

but you've changed the locks on me

to teach me a lesson

to make me grow old

I'd still rather die

then never to hold

the love that once

(and still if only in my mind)

made me feel at home

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

Help me please
Laura

Release me from these diseased tracks.

Point in the direction of my rising sun.

Pull me out from the rock i've been living under.

Teach me my wrongs,

Bless me for my rights.

Don't let my heart turn upside down

Cuz then,loss of love will arrive.

Help me see this world with 20 eyes,

and help me discard of this harmful pain.

Take me to where peace runs wild

And where my soul can live without these dreams.

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

Roses
tmp_outlaw3

Gather the rose buds while in May

While time is flying

These flowers smile today

Tomorrow these flowers will die

_________________________

Another Place or Time
BettlesLydia 1999

Its so quiet I can hear the stars whispering

As I sit here gazing into the night sky

I dream of you and me and how we used to be

If only we were in another place or time

I long to feel your gentle touch

To hear you whisper in my ear once again

Your kisses still lingering on my mind