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

VOTE!

VOTE!

U.S. Code Title 2  §ection  7. Time of election

The Tuesday next after the 1st Monday in November, in every even numbered year, is established as the day for the election, in each of the States and Territories of the United States,

so

Vote! because they’re trying their damnedest to stop you.
Vote! because refugees need refuge not refusal.
Vote! because small counties in small states can’t see past their gated community walls.
Vote! because courts should protect not reject rights.
Vote! because kids should be in pillow forts not cages.
Vote! because presidents should seek neither prophet nor profits,
 and be neither puppet nor poppet.
Vote! because walls make better shelters, not better borders.
Vote! because Black Lives Matter.
Vote! because bodily autonomy is not under the sovereign rule of the fragile
 white man, the melting snowflake, the flaccid cock.
Vote! because mail-in ballots are more valuable than a white male in power.
Vote! because tear gas is a terrible twist on gaslighting.
Vote! because  integrity and honor are better than payment after being on her.
Vote! because plans panned for a pandemic is plain manic, especially when meant
 to avoid panic in the public opinion polls.
Vote! because masks aren’t political, and the unmasked is the mark of the beast.
Vote! because melting ice caps make for swelling white caps on the beaches and
 boulevards of inland towns.
Vote! because the checks and balances need to be checked and balanced, there being
 too much red in their ledger.
Vote! because bankruptcy can’t save the nation.
Vote! because a peached orange has tainted all the produce in the box.
Vote! because it is the least violent of our options.
Vote! because lives and life depend on the ballot box and the weight it holds
 on this
 the first Tuesday after the first Monday
 could lift us from a cold November mourning.

©2020 David Siller ; Twitter/IG @waxyandpoetic ; waxyandpoetic.com
Posted on by waxyandpoetic

Another shooting? How about some…

 

 

 

Thoughts & Prayers

This is for the gun gods
the My AR-15 weighs a ton gods
the doesn’t matter what you did you’ll still get done gods
the church mass massacre calling home the nun gods
the draw in the raffle see what weapon you’ve won gods
the pop the kid with the plastic pistol playground fun gods
the if you’re white it’s alright, if you’re black better reach for the sun gods
the stop!-I’ll-shoot-you-in-the-back-if-you-run gods
the guns got safeties and you got none gods
the present is dystopian w/o the future’s set your phasers on stun gods

we have not yet spilled enough blood
& there is more to spill
we have not yet spilled enough blood
& there is more to spill

we beseech you, grant us
        gats for teachers & straps for preachers
        toolies for tots & toasters for teens
        glocks for girls & biscuits for boys
we need burners & heaters
               heat & street sweepers
        a piece for peace of mind
        a problem solver for algebra time

grant us the weapons we need for
        elementaries & junior highs
        movie theatres & senior highs
for night clubs & churches
for shopping malls & other houses of worships
for concerts & pool parties & county fairs & baseball practice fields

we have not yet spilled enough blood
& there is more to spill
we have not yet spilled enough blood
& there is more to spill

our arms dealer who art in heaven
hollow points be your game
your amendment come, your will be done
in schools as it is in cinemas
give us this day our daily clips
and forgive us our friendly fire
as we forgive those who fire against us
and lead us not into gun regulation
and deliver us from safety
for thine is the gun show
and the power and the gory
forever and ever
bang bang

 

 

Posted on by waxyandpoetic

When Love Drinks Too Much, & Gets Honest

Love Offers an Apologia to Various Bar Patrons
Between Sips of His Fourth Long Island Iced Tea

To begin, there is no alpha and no omega, I just am. And let me dispel the pop culture myth that I’m all you need, because it’s not true. You need more, you really do. (I said tealights and Beaujolais, not tacos and Budweiser.) It is not my fault that you didn’t write down what she said after those margaritas and it is not my fault that you did not meet him when he told you, nor that you did not wear that little charcoal gray number he likes so much. It is not my fault that he smokes cigars, nor that she has a penchant for them. Could you add another shot of gin to this please? I didn’t name the car in that Disney movie, though after further review I think it works. I’ve never once said that you should say it over and over and over, tossing it around like ‘Hello’ or ‘How’s it going?’ It should be almost-sacred, whispered, shouted, intimate (take that as you wish–intimate and cozy, intimate apparel, intimate friends, into mate). It needs a little rum, too. I do not have wings and I do not go around shooting heart-tipped arrows in some serial-loving rampage that’s going to be on the 6 o’clock news. February 14 was not my idea, neither were those little cards you had to buy for Mrs. Morton’s third grade class. I’ve had it up to here with the TV game shows, the classified ads, and Hallmark. It is not my fault she set you up with the guy from IT. I never told you she would be gentle. I don’t honor redos. I don’t encourage cutesy poems and letters in her locker. Say, more vodka please, the ice is melting. I don’t recommend you wait for him after every practice. I don’t like it when you say tough love and I don’t answer calls on the first ring. ‘Hugs not Drugs’ is not mine (does it work?). You can’t me books, TV shows, outfits, money, movies, cars, cities, or Mexican food. You should, whether or not he can dance. If you really do, she should get another chance. And it’s not a matter of whether you keep on your pants. Triple sec, more triple shec, the balanshe is off. My pet peeves are wishy-washy-ness, unfinished business, and people who use ❤. Since the year dot, I’ve only tried to make it go ‘round. Sometimes you guys should pitch in. At first sight is okay, but it bothers me that the French call it a strike of lightning. What’s the weather got to do with it? I protest words that rhyme with me, I am a wonderful thing, even if he can’t sing.

And I’m definitely better than war.

Posted on by waxyandpoetic

#100Days100Poems #TBT Happy 4th!

In honor of today’s July 4th Celebrations, I thought we’d do a little throw back Tuesday to a poem that first appeared during #100Days100Poems. We must continue to #Resist

 

Where Are You, America?

there you are, you
        scientists & park rangers & women & men & immigrants & 
        green card holders & teachers & stay-at-home dads & 
        stay-at-home moms & christians & muslims & atheists & 
        agnostics & taxi drivers & people 
`                with open hearts and open minds and open eyes


there you are

 
wandering
        on the National Mall at the feet of Lincoln
            ferrying the Hudson, led by Lady LIberty’s light
                navigating under the Golden Gate
                    gliding into the Port of Galveston

 


marching
       in Lafayette Park & Battery Park
       in Copley Square & Herman Square

 
       on Market Street & Lavaca Street
       on Fifth Ave & Congress Ave

 

landing and waiting and protesting
        @ JFK & SFO & DFW
        @ LAX & PDX & PHX
        @ PHL & STL & SAN & SEA
        @ IAH & DEN & RDU & ORD

 


speaking out
        from Lexington to Little Rock to Philadelphia
        from Sacramento to Albany
        from Cape Cod to Corpus Christi
        from Memphis to Milwaukee to Kalamazoo


speaking truth to propaganda
        in the Badlands
        in Yosemite & Yellowstone
echoing through the Rocky mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains

 

fist pumping at city halls and veterans halls
        in Houston & Honolulu
        in Burlington & Buffalo & Baton Rouge


America you are everywhere
        and soon you will be back
                in the White House
                                to put right
                                        the alt-right wrong
                                        the poisonous pencer
                                        the burnt orange trump card
                                        the fascist catastrophe


the World will be rooting for you
the World will be waiting for you
                                the true America
                                        the just America
                                                the free America

 

© David Siller – 2017

 

Posted on by waxyandpoetic

A Post-Hiatus Sestina!

Hello, hello! Greetings and salutations! After finally recovering from #100Days100Poems, we return today with a poem using one of my favorite forms. Look forward to weekly (or so) updates: new poems, prose pieces, culture commentary and the like. Feel free to share this post, and let me know what you think!

 

Is the Commute a Place for the Comm or the Mute?

And the first time we spoke was on a crowded
subway car and it was no accident
that I managed to untwist my tongue
long enough for an awkward hello to rise
from the timid lockbox that keeps me separate
from normal human interactions, where I am out of sync.

 

on most occasions where the M.O. is to sink
into myself, better hanging on to straps of crowded
thoughts, I instead jostle human to human to unseparate
my voice from your ears, your song from mine. No accident,
then, that in a few moments of foolish bravery or brave foolery I rise
to move from here to you, green light to expressive tongue

 

And tied it is, this cottoned, hesitant tongue,
where a life vest is not enough to stop me sinking
into my sea of doubt, bay of disbelief–and still I rise
from this too-tight seat on an underground train, crowded
with commuters & dancers & panhandlers. I have accidentally
convinced myself that words will not keep us separate.

 

and this end of the car, the score of bodies separating
us & our initial contact, our first wordsembracekiss, lips & tongue
dancing as if colliding in some mass transit accident
and I wade through the swamp of passengers. My heart sinks
as at first I struggle to make it through the crowd
of head-phoned, book-nosed, ear-budded, phone-focused mass. Hope rises.

 

And as I clamber through a bipedal jungle, as eyes rise
from my solitude to your ‘well, come over here’ glance, I begin to separate
this lumpy undesirable frame from the train crowd,
thought bubbles morph into speech bubbles as ‘hello’ moves from brain to tongue
and my only thought is how to sink
into the seat beside you, willing a welcome happy accident

 

or derailment– re-setting my course to you through accident
or crash through crowd and car, too. Rise
bold and brave in your vision–how I want to sink
into you, merge, mingle, marry, so as not to be separate
whether connected by hand or heart tongue
finding each other on a local, rush hour train, delayed and crowded

And as my tongue rises, clicks a tsk to roof of closed mouth, I sink into my seat.
It is no accident that this crowded commute insists on keeping us separate.

 

**

 

© David Siller – 2017

Posted on by waxyandpoetic

#100Days100Poems Day 99 #TantrumTanka #TruthTanka

We’re almost there.

 

Read This Carefully,
All You F^%&s That Voted for This @$$clown
OR
Holy Thor, Vishnu, Zeus, Osiris, We’re DOOMED!

“I thought it would be
easier.” I thought it would
be easier? You
thought it would be eas-
ier?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?

© David Siller – 2017

.

*****

For the first 100 days of the Trumpet administration, this blog will feature a new poem of protest, by my own hand and by others. 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. If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. All rights remain with the author.

VISUAL ARTISTS ! Do you have something visually poetic that you’d like to submit? GO FOR IT!

Please address any formatting preferences in your email. I will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day. Editing will be limited to obvious errors of spelling and the like.

Read, follow, share, re-tweet, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Day