Poetry Appreciation (do NOT post your own poetry)

Awake


The tip of you jumps at my touch
The brush of my lips against velvet
Coat my tongue leaving notes of life

I nip your flesh and you shudder as
Heavy hands fist my hair. How many
Have known you so well

Tracing you carefully, sketching you from memory
Every curve, every dip
Is imprinted on my softest and strongest muscle...

T.S. Snowden
 
SAY


So he says he wants to make love to my mind….
Take his time, feeding me images and words
Like fauna and flora, mental bursts of pleasure
I've come to treasure
Birthing new rhymes, a beat I can tap my feet to
Creating lullabies, I want to fall asleep to

Make love to my mind…Seep into my psyche, enticing me
He doesn't hesitate, never procrastinates, only regulates
His flow, smooth, like silk, sweet tender etchings
At my door, and I ain't gonna lie, I want more

I tremble and shake, trying not to wake, trying not to quake
Too soon,
But I can't hold, can't stop, won't stop
The orgasms of thought, birthing mad verse
Food for the universe…and me

His words
His words
Free me

He says he wants to make love to my mind….
And I'm thinking, yeah…one more time!
 
“Yesees and Noees”

The Yesees said yes to anything
That anyone suggested.
The Noees said no to everything
Unless it was proven and tested.
So the Yesees all died of much too much
And the Noees all died of fright,
But somehow I think the Thinkforyourselfees
All came out all right.​

-Shel Silverstein
 
No One Wins : 3 in 1

My mind is empty, my heart is still, no longer do I breath.
My eyes are closed, my brain shut off, no longer do I feel.
My voice is quiet, my soul is closed, no longer does it dwell.
You've taken what you've wanted, nothing is left of me.
You've taken all I've offered, and left me here to bleed.
You've taken everything I loved, and tossed it to the side.
I try to work things through each time, and seem to make it right.
I try to gather up the thoughts, and find the love inside.
I try to capture every breath, and hold it close to me.
You will not see me for the person that I am right now.
You will not know what you have done until the day I'm gone.
You will not know what you have lost, until it is too late.
We'll look behind us and stare into the past.
We'll hold out our hands, and see nothing but the pain.
We'll walk away grasping for the air.
No longer will I wonder, about the love we had.
No longer will I be alone even though you were with me.
No longer will I take the beatings of words that you twist and turn.
I'm done. You have won. I'm beaten, and I concede,
but as I go, I must ask... who is the victor? You or Me?
 
Falling stars
like tears
from the sky face
when I look up
there’s all blue
so blue
I see
with clouds casting by
the wind on my skin
tickles me so
and
I laugh
knowing
it’s gonna be
a beautiful day.....
~
©2008 Kai C.
 
Heartsong

If all i had to give you was my eyes...

they would pour into you like water, seeking your soul

making you whole

If all i had to give you were my lips...

they would kiss you deeply, tenderly, softly, gently

allowing your breath to enter me, like a summers breeze

a tender moment seized


If all i had to give you was my voice...

I would sing you a song, a serious beat, a staccato edge, a soprano's treat

swinging to the words of life, the heartbeat of love

the beautiful vision of a flying dove


If all i had to give you were my words...

I would write a poem for you, a story of two

a dream of a lifetime, a scene from a fantasy, a novel, romance, thriller

of you and me


If all i had to give you were my ears...

I would listen intently to your voice, your dreams, your vision

and i would envelope all that i hear into a melody

If all i had to give you were my arms...

I would embrace you with all that i have, hold you tight, so tight

squeeze you, touch you in places you have never felt

so that you would know that my arms will wrap around this world to hold you

If all i had to give you were my legs...

I would stand for you, stand beside you, stand behind you, stand in front of you

in your time of need

If all i had to give you was my heart...

I would love you like no other, seeking no other, giving no other

the way i give to you

you will wallow in my ocean

take pride in my devotion

and even when you were alone

you will always hear my song

even when i am gone

you will always hear my song

My heartsong...for you!

-Mizrepresent
 
A Cup of You

If I could pour you in a cup
It would be a hot
An, oh, so potent fluid
Sliding down my throat
Sustaining me
Giving me warmth
Traveling down my chest
Past my heart to
The center of my soul
A flavor so succulent, sweet
Teasing, tantalizing
My tongue
If only I could savor you
Bottle you up
Unfortunately
I am at the last drop
So I swirl you around my mouth
Wishing I could lick
The bottom of the cup

© Shai Lynn K. Davis
 
She Won't Cry

by Jppoet



You see the pain that lies in her eyes,
But, alas, her eyes are dry,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see the anger that burns from her gaze,
The madness that sets her eyes ablaze,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see the fear that closes her eyes,
The smile she wears is but a disguise,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see the hope that is finally dead,
She cannot trust for her heart has been bled,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see the love that lies within,
But she shall never love again,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see death's hand that has glazed her eyes,
No one saw her die inside,
They won't cry.
No, they won't cry.
 
I found this years ago and wrote it in a little book covered with Chinese embroidery with rice paper pages. I've always loved it. It says what I want to say, but probably wouldn't:

Will You Be My Friend - James Kavanaugh

Will you be my friend?
There are so many reasons why you never should:
I’m sometimes sullen, often shy, acutely sensitive,
My fear erupts as anger, I find it hard to give,
I talk about myself when I’m afraid
And often spend a day without anything to say.

But I will make you laugh
And love you quite a bit
And hold you when you’re sad.
I cry a little almost every day
Because I’m more caring than the strangers ever know,
And, if at times, I show my tender side
(The soft and warmer part I hide)
I wonder, will you be my friend?

A friend who far beyond the feebleness of any vow or tie
Will touch the secret place where I am really I,
To know the pain of lips that plead and eyes that weep,
Who will not run away when you find me in the street
Alone and lying mangled by my quota of defeats
But will stop and stay-to tell me of another day
When I was beautiful.
Will you be my friend?

There are so many reasons why you never should:
Often I’m too serious, seldom predictably the same,
Sometimes cold and distant, probably I’ll always change.
I bluster and brag, seek attention like a child,
I brood and pout, my anger can be wild,
But I will make you laugh and love you quite a bit
And be near you when you’re afraid.

I shake a little almost every day
Because I’m more frightened than the strangers ever know
And if at times I show my trembling side
(The anxious, fearful part I hide)
I wonder, will you be my friend?

A friend who, when I feel your closeness, feels me push away
And stubbornly will stay to share what’s left on such a day,
Who, when no one knows my name or calls me on the phone,
When there’s no concern for me – what I have or haven’t done-
And those I’ve helped and counted on have oh, so deftly, run,
Who, when there’s nothing left but me, stripped of charm and
Subtlety, will nonetheless remain.

Will you be my friend?
For no reason that I know, Except I want you so.
 
Black DeNiro said:
She Won't Cry

by Jppoet



You see the pain that lies in her eyes,
But, alas, her eyes are dry,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see the anger that burns from her gaze,
The madness that sets her eyes ablaze,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see the fear that closes her eyes,
The smile she wears is but a disguise,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see the hope that is finally dead,
She cannot trust for her heart has been bled,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see the love that lies within,
But she shall never love again,
She won't cry.
No, she won't cry.

You see death's hand that has glazed her eyes,
No one saw her die inside,
They won't cry.
No, they won't cry.
Click to expand...

So sad. :(

Good poem, BD. Thanks for posting.


chesbaygrl7 said:
I found this years ago and wrote it in a little book covered with Chinese embroidery with rice paper pages. I've always loved it. It says what I want to say, but probably wouldn't:

Will You Be My Friend - James Kavanaugh

Will you be my friend?
There are so many reasons why you never should:
I’m sometimes sullen, often shy, acutely sensitive,
My fear erupts as anger, I find it hard to give,
I talk about myself when I’m afraid
And often spend a day without anything to say.

But I will make you laugh
And love you quite a bit
And hold you when you’re sad.
I cry a little almost every day
Because I’m more caring than the strangers ever know,
And, if at times, I show my tender side
(The soft and warmer part I hide)
I wonder, will you be my friend?

A friend who far beyond the feebleness of any vow or tie
Will touch the secret place where I am really I,
To know the pain of lips that plead and eyes that weep,
Who will not run away when you find me in the street
Alone and lying mangled by my quota of defeats
But will stop and stay-to tell me of another day
When I was beautiful.
Will you be my friend?

There are so many reasons why you never should:
Often I’m too serious, seldom predictably the same,
Sometimes cold and distant, probably I’ll always change.
I bluster and brag, seek attention like a child,
I brood and pout, my anger can be wild,
But I will make you laugh and love you quite a bit
And be near you when you’re afraid.

I shake a little almost every day
Because I’m more frightened than the strangers ever know
And if at times I show my trembling side
(The anxious, fearful part I hide)
I wonder, will you be my friend?

A friend who, when I feel your closeness, feels me push away
And stubbornly will stay to share what’s left on such a day,
Who, when no one knows my name or calls me on the phone,
When there’s no concern for me – what I have or haven’t done-
And those I’ve helped and counted on have oh, so deftly, run,
Who, when there’s nothing left but me, stripped of charm and
Subtlety, will nonetheless remain.

Will you be my friend?
For no reason that I know, Except I want you so.
Click to expand...

Love this, Ches. Very moving. Thank you for posting it.
 
Lady, I will touch you
with my mind.

Touch you and touch and touch
until you give

me suddenly a smile
shyly obscene

(Lady I will touch
you with my mind.) Touch
you, that is all,

lightly and you utterly will become
with infinite care

the poem which I do not write

-e e cummings
 
We Are Living
by Brendan Kennelly

What is this room
But the moments we have lived in it?
When all due has been paid
To gods of wood and stone
And recognition has been made
Of those who'll breathe here when we are gone
Does it not take its worth from us
Who made it because we were here?

Your words are the only furniture I can remember
Your body the book that told me most.
If this room has a ghost
It will be your laughter in the frank dark
Revealing the world as a room
Loved only for those moments when
We touched the purely human.

I could give water now to thirsty plants,
Dig up the floorboards, the foundation,
Study the worm's confidence,
Challenge his omnipotence
Because my blind eyes have seen through walls
That make safe prisons of the days.

We are living
In ceiling, floor and windows,
We are given to where we have been.
This white door will always open
On what our hands have touched,
Our eyes have seen.
 
House

by Eugenio Montejo


In the depths of a woman's body

a house is constructed

amidst murmurs and pauses.

There are shadows of stones to collect,

fragile scaffolds, in this act

of imitating the sparrow.

Above all when she sleeps,

smiling in dreaming—

to survey her completely

don't wake her up;

trace the slope of her hips,

the sweep of her hands.

Along the dunes containing her dream,

those turbulent settings,

high walls are raised

to keep out the rain, and the wind,

year after year.

A gesture sometimes informs a wall;

from a whisper a window is born;

and after wandering we dismount at the door

and tie up the horse.

In the depths of her body the house

awaits, the table fitted with plain

words for living, or for dying perhaps,

no one can say—

nobody who enters ever leaves.

Translated from Spanish by Kirk Nesset
 
Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

--Emily Dickenson
 
Grief

"Fierce hunger reigns within my breast,
I had not dreamt that this whole world,
Crushed in the hand of God, could yield
Such bitter essence of unrest,
Such pain as Sorrow now hath hurled
Out of its dreadful heart, unsealed!

"Each sobbing breath is but a cry,
My heart-strokes knells of agony,
And my whole brain has but one thought
That nevermore through life shall I
(Save in the ache of memory)
Touch hands with thee, who now art naught!

"Through the whole void of night I search,
So dumbly crying out for thee;
But thou are not; and night's vast throne
Becomes an all stupendous church
With star-bells knelling unto me
Who in all space am most alone!

"An hungered, to the shore I creep,
Perchance some comfort waits on me
From the old Sea's eternal heart;
But lo! from all the solemn deep,
Far voices out of mystery
Seem questioning why we are apart!

"Where'er I go I am alone
Who once, through thee, had all the world.
My breast is one whole raging pain
For that which was, and now is flown
Into the Blank where life is hurled
Where all is not, nor is again!"

-William Hope Hodgson
 
We All Bleed Red

I walk into a restaurant
for a sub and a coke
I see you girls
you sneer you laugh and you joke
you judge me by my skin
without knowing the me within
you make comments most unjust
because my paleness you don't trust
I show my love in the way
my heart says I must
You hate me because of my man's skin
but let me tell you this
my man,
has a pure heart you need to wise up
and realize this fact
it is the 21st century
remember this
to get back on track
a fact we all must concede
when you are cut
what color do you bleed?
In the grave it won't matter much
whether you are pale or you are dark
we might just be neighbors
you and I
in that cemetery park
When we get sick
we go to the same place
the doctor, the hospital, the morgue
and when we are cut
what color do we bleed?
Yes, I give my love
to a black man
and yes I have white skin
but if you take the time to heed
you will see
when we are cut
what color do we bleed?
we all bleed
RED

-Kate Trice​
 
Tamstrong said:
We All Bleed Red

I walk into a restaurant
for a sub and a coke
I see you girls
you sneer you laugh and you joke
you judge me by my skin
without knowing the me within
you make comments most unjust
because my paleness you don't trust
I show my love in the way
my heart says I must
You hate me because of my man's skin
but let me tell you this
my man,
has a pure heart you need to wise up
and realize this fact
it is the 21st century
remember this
to get back on track
a fact we all must concede
when you are cut
what color do you bleed?
In the grave it won't matter much
whether you are pale or you are dark
we might just be neighbors
you and I
in that cemetery park
When we get sick
we go to the same place
the doctor, the hospital, the morgue
and when we are cut
what color do we bleed?
Yes, I give my love
to a black man
and yes I have white skin
but if you take the time to heed
you will see
when we are cut
what color do we bleed?
we all bleed
RED

-Kate Trice​
Click to expand...

Great poem, Tammy. This is my answer to racism - the outside shouldn't matter; on the inside, we all bleed red.
 
"My Beauty, Do Not Sing For Me"
~Aleksandr Pushkin~

My beauty, do not sing for me
The songs of Georgia, of grievance:
My thoughts immediately flee
To another life and shores in distance.

They bring to me -- your cruel tunes --
Alas, the sad and clear vision:
The steppe, the night -- under the moon,
The poor and very distant virgin.

While seeing you, I could forget
The image so sad and fair,
But, look, you sing -- and it is set
Again before my eyes in air.

My beauty, do not sing for me
The songs of Georgia, of grievance:
My thoughts immediately flee
To another life and shores in distance.​
 
To the Beauty
~Aleksandr Pushkin~

She’s all just harmony and wonder,
Higher than passions and the world,
She rests, with her sweet shyness, under
Her beauty’s ritual abode;
She looks around self in silence:
There’re no contenders hers, no friends,
Our beauties’ circle, pale and blend,
Fades out in her dazzling brightness.

Wherever weren’t you hurry, yet,
Even to date with your beloved,
What sense with weren’t your heart upset,
Even with song of highest sound, –
But having met her in alarm,
You suddenly shall stop, embarrassed –
In ecstasy, like one of prayers,
Feeling the holiness of charm.​
 
chesbaygrl7 said:
Great poem, Tammy. This is my answer to racism - the outside shouldn't matter; on the inside, we all bleed red.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Ches. It reminded me of a song (by Prince of course ;)) called "Race". I couldn't find any video, but here are the lyrics:

Race

Lie down, fair one and come away
Till the rain is over and gone, gimme the beat now
Face the music
Lead line
Face the music

If the air is a little thick in this room tonite
I reckon it's the result
Of an onslaught of separatist rookies
Overcome by this colorful sight

Talkin' so fast that even they
Talkin' so fast that even they
Don't know what they mean

Of all the things that base a rhyme
How is it that you every time
Regurgitate the racist lines
That keep us apart?

Thank God
This ain't monopoly
You'd make us all go
Back to start

Race in the space I mark human
Face the music
Race, face the music
We all bones when we dead

Race in the space I mark human
Face the music
Cut me, cut you
But both the blood is red, I gotcha

Race, race
Check it

Three seats over there's a lady black
Entrusted to her care is a little white girl
And the fact of the matter is

Before her momma or another kid at school
Tells her about the fallacy
That one race rules over the other
She'd be a much better off left fool
Face the music

If we never heard about the evils
That those before us committed
Then how my dear, tell me now how my dear
Tell me now how now would we know

And then the band say
Race in the space I mark human
Face the music
Race, face the music
We all bones when we dead

Race in the space I mark human
Face the music
Cut me, cut you
But both the blood is red, I gotcha

Race, race
Face the music

Down with H I S T O R Y and all this BS propagandi
Keepin' you from me and me from you as we grow
I don't wanna know, I don't wanna know
Why those before us hated each other

I'd rather believe they never did
I'd rather believe, I'd rather, I'd rather believe
That there's hope for a kid

And if he imitates the best
I guess that's what I'll try to be
And I will let the rest dissolve
With my guitar underneath the sea

Race
Face, face, face, face, face
Face the music
Face the music, now
Face the music

Race in the space I mark human
Face the music
Race, face the music
We all bones when we dead

Race in the space I mark human
Face the music
Cut me, cut you
Both the blood is red, get it?

Race, got it

Race, face the music
Race, race
Face, face the music
Race, race

Face, face the music
Race, race, race, race
Face, face, face the music
Race
 
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