Posted on by waxyandpoetic

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 13

Let’s hope you’re still fired up. Poet and musician Faizan Syed returns to keep us motivated, keep us questioning and bettering who we are, and keep us focused on everything that needs to be unphucked in these next four years.

Dear Supposedly Existent Consciousness In Human Shell,

 The seeds of discontent have been sown. It’s time to harvest & cull
 that gnawing desire we mistook for pride eating us from within. 
 It’s time to erase every debt & forgive every student loan, it’s time
 to shut down the oil & the drones, to declare war on war until peace
 is the only way we accept & move on. If any of this is real after all. 
 If you’re not just a voice in a head. For now, we go on in our masks
 and wear another mask on top of that. For now we stand 
 six feet apart in solidarity. We can’t nourish anyone 
 with hatred. We can’t afford to finance & recreate
 the horrors. Of Vietnam, Iran, Afghanistan, 
 Syria, Yemen, Palestine, & countless others, of 
 crony colonialism shoved down protesting throats.
 Are you a protester or are you protested?                                           False.
 We are false for as long as we are blind to each other’s nakedness. 
 Now
 it’s time to defund the fucking war machines
 & the banks that roll them, the fat cats that control
 us, & the criminals in uniform, once and for all. 
 It’s time to repaint the White House 
 using every color under the sun 
 and infrared to boot. I had a dream 
 too. That for the first time in history,
 wealth itself would be redistributed equitably.
 It’s about time. Get greedy & you lose. 
 Them’s the new rules. Welcome to the era
 of equanimity. Can you see it too, friend? 
 A future, like mine? Or any future 
 at all? Or is my machine
 imploding again? Virtual,
 like Mr. Robot, I can’t stop. 
 I won’t drop this dream, Pops.
 I learned how to trust the hard way.
 So, take my word for it, we’ll adjust. 
 I know you must be real, friend.
 If you aren’t, then
 why would you
 even bother
 to read
 this
 to 
 see
 this
 through?
  
 Who 
 aren’t 
 you?

©Faizan Syed– 2021

*****

Faizan Syed, MD is a writer, musician, and psychiatrist based in Queens, NY and is a member of the Queens Poetic Alchemy Collective. He was awarded the Folger Adams Jr. Prize for 1st place in Poetry and the Graduating Poet’s Award from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has been featured on Humans of New York. Faizan’s work has appeared in Montage Literary Arts Journal, Newtown Literary, Cosmonauts Ave, & Empty Mirror. Poems he’s written in collaboration with Matthew DeMarco have been published in Jet Fuel Review, Dogbird Journal, and “They Said,” an anthology of collaborative writing from Black Lawrence Press. One can find him on Instagram @docfaizan or on SoundCloud at https://soundcloud.com/docfaizan.

*****

For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.

If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021.

Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !

Posted on by waxyandpoetic

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 12

Performance Poet Dee Allen makes a timely return. The US Government, through the National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin, declares that we must be alert and vigilant to the movements and machinations of the domestic antigovernment terrorists. Dee Allen makes sure we pay attention to what they’re saying, what they have been saying, lest we be caught unawares.

Rolling Out


“DUE TO THE ELECTION
VICTORY OF OPPONENT
JOE BIDEN, OUR PRESIDENT’S
STAND-BY ORDER HAS BEEN RESCINDED.

WE’RE ROLLING OUT.”

Rolling out
To save Western Civilisation—
They love to blow
On that dog whistle

Rolling out
To prevent White genocide—
They obviously
Don’t read statistics

Rolling out
For the Whites who built Western society alone—
They've obviously
Forsaken the slaves who raised wood, mortar & stone

Rolling out
To give multi-cultural populace
Their own racial reckoning
For the loss of a “fearless leader”

Rolling out
To keep America great—
On the streets, like no other—
Maybe Hitler’s Brownshirts* and Nazi skinhead gangs

Rolling out
With American flags in their horde—
Proud to sow intimidation, reap domestic terror
Quasi-military boys so proud to be so damn wrong—
 
W: Thankstaking 2020

*Das Sturmabteilung [ SA - “Storm Unit” ].

©Dee Allen – 2021

*****

Dee Allen is an African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California. Active on the creative writing & Spoken Word tips since the early 1990s. With 35 anthology appearances [including Your Golden Sun Still Shines, Rise, Extreme, The Land Lives Forever, Civil Liberties United, Trees In A Garden Of Ashes, Colossus: Home and new from Chicago-based MuseWrite Press, Impact] under his figurative belt so far, he is also the author of five books, which can be found via the links below.

BONEYARD [ 2010 ] >  Dee Allen (poormag.info)[Book is currently out of print.]
UNWRITTEN LAW [ 2012 & 2020 ] >  Dee Allen (poormag.info)   [2012 edition is out of print.]  and   UNWRITTEN LAW: POEMS [ 1994–2011 ] | poorpressprensapobre[2020 edition.]
STORMWATER  [2017] >  Storm Water | poorpressprensapobre and   Stormwater – Poetry by Dee Allen | flapperpress
SKELETAL BLACK [2019] >  Skeletal Black | poorpressprensapobre and  Skeletal Black – Poetry by Dee Allen | flapperpress
ELOHI UNITSI [2020] >  Elohi Unitsi: Poems [2013 – 2018] (conviction2change.com)


*****

For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.

If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021. Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !

Posted on by waxyandpoetic

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 11

Spoken word artist Lloyd Garrison returns with another piece, looking for sense in the case, looking for comfort in a topsy-turvy world. How do you cope? What do you turn to when the answers seem elusive? Where do you look when the questions are relentless?

Karma

KARMA

I will be the first one to admit…

if KARMA wanted to…it could wear red lipstick and 9-inch heels just to gain the attention that comes with being an undercover celebrity…but it chooses to ride clean with low profile tires and hide in the shadows. All KARMA needs is space and time to send a direct facebook IM to the world that reads: “men lie…women lie, but the eye in the sky always tells the truth.” 

I know what you’re thinking…if Karma is so real…why are some people able to get away with a crime and serve no jail time? But I can’t even ride around the block without being stopped by a cop for having a busted headlight. How does that make sense? 

Why do all the best jobs go to the most unqualified people? But there are millions of qualified people who are unemployed and hungry in the midst of  global pandemic. How does that make sense? 

Why are some people able to storm the capital and live to tell their story? But others would have been gunned down for the same 15 minutes of fame. How does that make sense? 

Please tell me I’m crazy…because life is just so confusing to me at times. All I can tell you is you aren’t crazy…life, never promised, serves us lemons and lemonade depending on the day…but a fair shake was never part of the agreement. But the great thing is…life is worth living when you live it the right way….by treating others  with the same level of respect you expect and deserve from them…or you can wait for Karma to come knocking on your door one day. It may not arrive today…or it may arrive tomorrow…but unlike UPS…it still remembers your address….and Karma always delivers on time. 

You may not understand what I am about to say to you…but I am going to say it anyway because you need to hear this…KARMA is that bitch you don’t want to fuck with…the one that slashes your tires in the middle of the night while you are sleeping. Don’t take my word for it…everyone is entitled to their own opinion....and I respect how you feel….but some people still feel what happens in the dark should stay in the dark…but do me a favor: tell all those people who feel they can sweep all their dirt underneath the rug….to keep having birthdays…one day someone will blow out all of their candles from an undisclosed location…tell all those people who operate from a position of arrogance instead of humility to keep taking the people they claim to love for granted…one day someone they love may refuse to love them back…tell all those people to keep ignoring the law…one day someone may help them close on their new home…a 6 by 7 cell next to a drunk. 

Somewhere along your timeline there was a time, a place, a face, a name, and a game you began playing when you thought Karma was a joke. But you forgot you never know who is watching you. KARMA can show up on anyone’s doorstep at any time, any place, anywhere without a search warrant. All Karma needs is a reason to pay you a visit. 

I heard you when you said that part-time job you had at Taco Bell fired you for no reason, but did you really think you could get away with your drawer coming up short every week?

I heard you when you said you were just keeping that rumor alive about your co-worker…but it had nothing to do with them trying to commit suicide twice in one calendar year…but at least now you know you never know what someone is going through. 

I heard you when you said checking out those Instagram models during your downtime is harmless…but you got a WHOLE WIFE and kids at home who love you more than life itself…maybe that’s why you get the cold shoulder every time you roll over and try to “get some.”

I am not here to judge you…what you do behind closed doors is your business…I’m just saying…whatever you do...just be careful…
KARMA has a license to carry in all 50 states. 
KARMA may not get you now….but when it comes for you….it shoots to kill….and it leaves no bullets in the chamber…
Karma is and always will be the real deal….
whether you choose to believe it or not.

©Lloyd Garrison – 2021

*****

Mr. Lloyd L. Garrison is the CEO of Hidden G.E.M.S. by LG. Lloyd received his Bachelor of Arts (2001) and Master of Arts (2005) degrees in English from Miami University in Oxford, Oh. LLoyd’s goal is to spread messages of hope, love, peace, and truth through the power of the spoken word.  

*****

For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.

If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021.

Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !

Posted on by waxyandpoetic

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 10

As the great Allen Ginsberg once said, I’m sticking ‘my queer shoulder to the wheel.’ So should we all. It’s time. Are you up to the task?

after it all implodes

and the debris litters the psyche & the sight
and the shitstains have stained skin & scarred skull
and disclosed truth, fog-dense, weighs the air inbetween
and the inside thoughts outed shout too clearly
  across rooftops & rest stops, pastures & plots
and lumps form from swung fists that had connected too solidly with nose tips
and the stench of burned flags & standards
  & burned bridges & tunnels
  permeates the garbs & the getups & the guise
  of each & every one

grab a rag and broom and dustpan
grab soap and gauze and bandages
get paint and spackle, get hammer and nail

roll up sleeves, protect your face, glove your hands
the sun’s coming up
  and there is backbreaking work to be done
  vexing vital overdue work

©David Siller – 2021

*****

For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.

If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021. Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !

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#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 8

Take the only Western industrialized uber-wealthy democracy to not have Universal Health Care. Toss in a global pandemic. Stir. Poet Daniel Olsson shows us why we must be mindful of this lack in our society, and that we must address it before it’s too late.

 
 

Nation of Sickness

  
 There was once a sickening
 at the site of the healthy undone…
 Sick were broke but not broken
 or bested by the givers of health bills…
 A mother takes the child to the clinic,
 The mother cares for sickness within,
 Only for a second can the care last
 as the nurse carries forward the check
 of monumental burden…
 Stay away from the doctor,
 Turn away from the medicine,
 Money won what should have
 always been undone by the intellectuals
 who govern the halls of our human rights…
 We were scared termites eating away
 at a house ready to fall down upon us,
 Believing the theft of true health was
 not sacred enough to be cared for,
 Warnings ignored by mothers of old to be
 true to the lungs,
 Be soft upon the heart,
 Carry love for the marrow in the bones…
 We calcified a cancer in our mind so
 few could climb the mountain of greed
 and ignore the dead bodies entrenched
 in the streets of their ascent...
 And for what the dying doctor spoke,
 The parents I serve have grown tired in the day,
 The children I love grow sickly in the night,
 My nation has fallen to its knees where the business
 venture stands tall…
 A country of experiments in wealth,
 And no conscious for health,
 So much freedom we were told,
 Unless freedom of body, mind and soul
 Never count in the view of our leaders…

©Daniel Olsson – 2021

*****


Daniel Olsson is a poet from Bloomington, Indiana who has been writing poetry for the past eight years. Daniel’s writing revolves around contemporary society, including the topics of economic inequality, environmental justice, social issues and international relations. He can be found on Instagram and Tumblr as @apoeticcookie .

*****

For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.

If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021.

Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !

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#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 7

Today’s piece by Lauren Miller reminds us of the work that has been done, and of the labors still to come. May we all strive for this, and be inspired by this.

LEGACY

with homage to Dr. King


And I know that myself is positive
And I know that myself has hope

And I know that I am capable, of all that I am called to do…
of all whom I am called to love

I shall not set my beams to high
Bright, in retaliation
Bent, to mutual destruction, from too much light in the road


I will search for sense on this highway


A bicentennial ago, a dirt path--une expérience
                                               ...evolved...
Destiny, manifested as the snarl of traffic at a toll booth 

How shall my legacy be written?
Where shall my children stand, or my children’s children?

And I will stand on the side of light
And I will walk in Love

©Lauren Miller – 2021

*****
Perpetually on the lookout for the sacred in the ordinary, Lauren Miller is a student of politics, education, and French. TX>AZ>IL>TX. A nature lover and mom of four, she and her husband celebrated 28 years together in 2020. On IG @laurenebmiller, where she sometimes posts pictures from her backyard.

*****

For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.

If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021. Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !

Posted on by waxyandpoetic

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 5

Valerie G. Keane, with both humor and poignancy, makes a plea for taking a moment to breathe. And manages, also, to turn us to love, and away from, well, see for yourself.


Jesus had a penis

I know, 
it makes me uncomfortable too. 
I didn’t ask for this, 
it came to me deep in meditation  
on a silent retreat 
when I was supposed to be focusing 
on breathing. 

The breath in. 
The breath out. 
And suddenly, 

there was Jesus’ penis. 
And I tried to come back 
to the breath 

but there he was 
shaking it around 
watching it flop and dangle, 
horrifying all the Catholics. 
I tried to come back 

to the breath 
but there he was 
touching it, exploring it, 
the shaft, the little hairs around the base, the head,
the foreskin, circumcised. 

Jesus was Jewish, right? 
Here I am in a room full of Buddhists, 
thinking of Jesus, of bris, of penis. 
I tried to come back
 
to the breath 
but there was Jesus, holding his penis, 
urinating in the snow, steam rising, 
spelling out “TRUMP SUCKS” 
and here I am trying to meditate.

Once, some westerners asked Maharaji,
“How should we meditate?” 
He answered, “Meditate like Christ.” 
They asked, “How did Christ meditate?” 
Maharaji closed his eyes and paused a long time, 
then one tear fell down his cheek and he answered, 
“He lost Himself in love.”
I tried to come back

to the breath 
but now I’m wishing that all penises 
would lose themselves in love.
 
Maybe then the title of this poem 
wouldn’t be so funny 
and instead, would be a prayer. 
And we would all breathe 

a little easier.

©Valerie G. Keane – 2021

*****

Valerie G. Keane is a poet from Queens, NYC and is the founder of Poetry & Coffee, a discussion of great poetry over food and drinks (and now Zoom!) where no previous poetry experience is required – only life experience. She speaks at schools and in communities about how to love poetry from the bottom of your soul without an MFA and her work has been featured at numerous reading series throughout New York, as well as in various journals. If you’re interested in reading radical and relevant books with Valerie and discussing them with a bunch of really great people, you should check out her website.  In her other life, she is a Productivity Specialist and Professional Organizer specializing in working with people with ADHD and neurodivergent clients. Find out more at www.valeriegkeane.com & www.poetryandcoffee.com & www.lotis.solutions .

*****

For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.

If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021. Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !

Posted on by waxyandpoetic

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 4

Poet Maureen Medina directly engages the dialogue and slogans of MAGA supporters, confronting the double standards and ironies of their (unjust) cause. Responding to their narrow, inflammatory language, she reworks their words into a new, more inclusive message.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Life and Liberty

 
America is under attack
 
Let us pray
 
In the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit
Please God, protect the supremacists
MAGA terrorists, better known as patriots
Alt right, white is right
To hell with their colored compatriots
Camp auschwitz, erase the indigenous
6 million wasn’t enough
4 centuries and counting aren’t enough
Insurrection wasn’t enough
 
Impeachment wasn’t enough
 
Let’s ask McConnell
Blue Lives Matter except at the capitol
USA, KKK, parlay
What did the Fox say?
It’s all on Parler
 
They say All Lives Matter
Except the black ones
Except the brown ones
Except the female ones
Except the trans ones
Except the queer ones
Except non-human ones
 
All Whites Matter
This isn’t the America they know
Born of justice and peace for their kind
But there is no justice, no peace
When we are murdered in our sleep
When we say we can’t breathe
When our necks are crushed by knees
Gunned down wearing hoodies
Gunned down buying candy
Destroyed for existing
 
Systematic genocide
Stand back and stand by
Orders by 45, who’s now been impeached twice
Stop the steal
Yes, stop the steal
Stop stealing the peace of a fairly won election. Concede. We chose Biden.
Stop stealing lands and identities and calling it colonization
Stop appropriating our culture, our grief, and calling it assimilation
Stop stealing our dignity - or attempting to - because that’s straight up degradation
Stop your stealing, suppressing, and sedition
 
Stand back and stand by
Orders by 45, wholly incapable of abiding by Democracy
Incite all the proud boys and girls
Grab ‘em by the motherfucking pussy
Including the first female VP
Oh, Harris. They want the sugar without the spice
 
You are the first in the house but not the last
Shatter the glass
There is no ceiling
Let’s move forward
Please, no blasts from the past
No more mass deportation
No more mass incarceration
Let’s change the system where the currency is our lives
 
Change the climate from ICE to FIRE
Because we’ve been hungry long before the strike
And if hate is all we’ve got
Where does that leave our melting pot?
Scorched with gunshot residue
 
This election can’t just be another shot in the dark
Enough with the oligarchs who condemn anarchy while inciting violence and patriarchy
 
In a country
Divided by rhetoric that fits in a 280 character limit
There are no filters, there are no limits
Tweet-sized FASCISM.
 
Shhhh, shhhh.
Can’t we all just get along?
Left, right - Let’s put aside our differences because we are all very special.

 
Go home. I love you.

©Maureen Medina – 2021

*****

Maureen Medina is an advocate for both human and non-human animals, and asserts that all oppression is connected. In alignment with the idea that none of us are free unless all of us are free, Maureen has created an initiative called Leave in Peace (LIP), which focuses on the human victims of animal agriculture. To learn more, please follow them on Facebook (Leave in Peace) and Instagram (@leave_in_peace), and visit linktr.ee/LeaveInPeace.

*****

For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.

If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021.

Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !

Posted on by waxyandpoetic · 2 Comments

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 3

Spoken word poet Lloyd Garrison addresses head-on an issue that will likely vex us for the foreseeable future. Just how divided are we?


Worlds Apart?

There is no doubt in my mind that we are still worlds apart. But King’s Dream is still attainable as long as we put aside our pride and finally learn to work together. 

What if we actually opened our ears to hear what he was really trying to tell us?

I know he’s not here anymore…but he left one hell of a blueprint for us to follow in his footsteps. We’ve only had 53 years to pick up where he left off. I won’t bother asking you if you think life is fair…because we both know it’s not…but it sucks even more for people who look like me. Whether we stream it live or see it happening right in front of our eyes…the world as we know it is in a dark place. But at least I can say I’ve met at least one person who cares as much as I do. 

But how can a person begin to justify an injustice? 

How can a person explain the pain that has followed black and brown people for centuries?

I know you can hear it in our voices when we are talking to the media about another lost life…I know you can feel it in our spirits that used to be so full of life and energy. Protesting keeps us in the fight, but our goal is to bring awareness to those who think we are somehow intimidated…we’re not…and never will be….

We just don’t want or need to lose more innocent lives. 

We are just tired of having to step over and beyond the limitations that were never reasonable for us in the first place. Most of us just want our kids to graduate, find a job, and live a peaceful life away from drama and street life.

On the bright side, you’ve shared some things with me that have changed my outlook on life. 

I know now that you had no control over the family you were born into…not everyone was born into riches, burns crosses, and celebrates their misguided viewpoints by watching Birth of A Nation with no commercial breaks. 

I know now that you had no control over the color of your skin…not everyone wants to live in a world that treats some people like animals and others like human beings. 

I know now that just because someone is white doesn’t mean they can’t fight for equal rights…not everyone uses their privilege to support a racist agenda.

We’ll, I’m here to tell you that

I am and always will be worthy of equal treatment and so are you,

I am and always will be worthy of feeling safe whether I am at home or away and so are you, 

I am and always will be worthy of being viewed as an asset and not a liability and so are you. 

All I know is…the more we get comfortable talking about issues some people are scared to confess or address…the closer we will be to giving America what it really needs: A MAKEOVER.


*****

Mr. Lloyd L. Garrison is the CEO of Hidden G.E.M.S. by LG. Lloyd received his Bachelor of Arts (2001) and Master of Arts (2005) degrees in English from Miami University in Oxford, Oh. LLoyd’s goal is to spread messages of hope, love, peace, and truth through the power of the spoken word.  He’s on the web at hiddengemsbylg.com .

*****

For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.

If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021.

Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !

Posted on by waxyandpoetic

#100Days100Poems Of What’s Next!? Day 2

Performance poet Dee Allen, swirling around five words, takes us on a whirlwind recap of 2020 and conjures some hopes for 2021.

FIVE WORD CHALLENGE

This year 2020
Left us rushing
Toward apocalypse
With multiple causes
Unseen vapouriser of billions
Coronavirus leading the charge—
Humanity travelling on slalom course of ice
To the end most disbelieved

Some wildfires here,
Some super storms there,
Tail end of tyrannical
American rule right in the middle—

Gone is the schadenfreude*
Spewing from orange face,
Repeated by loyal
Flag-waving, red cap bigot followers

And here’s to hoping

Gone will be our increasing isolation,
Our lockdown situation—
Vaccines are appearing, pharmaceutical lab
Works-in-progress—
I’ll trust one
When the new vice president 
Herself takes a needle shot—
 
W: 12.14.2020

©Dee Allen – 2021

*****

Dee Allen is an African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California. Active on the creative writing & Spoken Word tips since the early 1990s. With 35 anthology appearances [including Your Golden Sun Still Shines, Rise, Extreme, The Land Lives Forever, Civil Liberties United, Trees In A Garden Of Ashes, Colossus: Home and new from Chicago-based MuseWrite Press, Impact] under his figurative belt so far, he is also the author of five books, which can be found via the links below.

BONEYARD [ 2010 ] >  Dee Allen (poormag.info)[Book is currently out of print.]
UNWRITTEN LAW [ 2012 & 2020 ] >  Dee Allen (poormag.info)   [2012 edition is out of print.]  and   UNWRITTEN LAW: POEMS [ 1994–2011 ] | poorpressprensapobre[2020 edition.]
STORMWATER  [2017] >  Storm Water | poorpressprensapobre and   Stormwater – Poetry by Dee Allen | flapperpress
SKELETAL BLACK [2019] >  Skeletal Black | poorpressprensapobre and  Skeletal Black – Poetry by Dee Allen | flapperpress
ELOHI UNITSI [2020] >  Elohi Unitsi: Poems [2013 – 2018] (conviction2change.com)


*****

For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.

If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021. Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !