Posted on by waxyandpoetic

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 17

Spoken word artist Lloyd Garrison is back again, this time reminding us of something we often forget or deliberately ignore. Everyone is living a story, the full details of which aren’t always obvious. And everyone faces struggles and difficulties that we don’t, and can’t possibly know. Mr. Garrison gives at least one view of how we can overcome these things.

This Hill

I am standing
on this hill,
locking arms with millions of brave men and women
of all races and different faces
who have given me
the motivation, determination, and support
to continue pushing forward
even when I could have given up
a long time ago.

You have served as my reason for remaining focused
on my journey to prove
myself right
and the doubters like you
wrong. 

To this day, I still can’t understand why they left me for
HIM
HER
THEM,
I kept going despite some people 
saying “I wasn’t good enough" 
or "I was wasting my time." 

I am not ashamed to admit there were times 
where I felt alone with no 
where to go, 
but your presence allowed me to see light in dark

I have respect for the man or woman
who is not afraid to humble themselves and ask 
for what they lack…
not everyone has their shit together
not everyone can choose between living in the suburbs
or sleeping underneath a bridge. 

The meal that defined my youth:
Fish sticks, crinkle cut fries, and orange soda
now represents the hill I had to climb to arrive at my today. 

Universities don’t give out degrees for overcoming adversity, 
otherwise millions would have plaques on their walls. 

I may not be in the terminal yet…
but the plane I am flying now has a destination. 
All those nights I stayed up wondering

how

if

when
 
were only setting my rise. 

You can wipe the blood, sweat, and tears off my face,
I knew my journey was never promised to be easy.
But I am on this hill
so we can stand on the same level…
I’m not saying I am better than you
or anyone else…
I just want to officially introduce you to 
the person you doubted for all these years
the person you said would never finish school while taking care of 2 kids,
the person you said would never come back stronger after that horrific car crash almost took me out, 
the person you thought was done once my ex-left, 
the person you placed limitations on due to my gender, 
the person you assumed was no competition 
because you confused age with ability.

I am on this hill to make the picture clear 
to you 
to your face.
I am not afraid, 
I am not less fortunate, 
I am not less deserving, 
I am not less equipped,
I am not less willing to conquer whatever obstacles you place in front of me. 

I am happy. 
I am the new owner of a bright future, 
a successful present, 
and a past filled with smoke.
I am leaving it
where it belongs: 
in my rearview mirror.

©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 16

Today’s piece is presented without commentary, with the poet Rafal Borynski offering his thoughts in the bio:

The Flame

To light a flame, all needed is for a spark over a torch to hover
That flame, it can enlighten and  inspire at any hour, even dire
Guide from a dark room to a darker alley to the door
Discover new desires
But before you rejoice in your newfound  power
Remember
Remember to hold that flame straight
For even a quiver of your wrist in the face of bad weather
Or the thought that, as the torch-bearer, you have every right to be higher
And that pure lantern, touching even just a piece of paper
Becomes a funeral pyre
No more a sacred procession, but a trail of desolation good enough to cry over
That all you once knew would last forever is no more
Gone, all because you wanted more

©Rafal Borynski – 2021

*****

Rafal  Borynski is a teacher, artist, and metaphor developer based in Queens, New York.  He feels that a flame is the perfect metaphor for power; fire is beautiful, useful yet dangerous if not kept straight.  He is  optimistic  about the new administration yet  emphasizes the need to keep a watchful eye on all leaders, at all times, to make sure they “hold that flame straight.”

https://www.instagram.com/xcitynski/?hl=en
https://medium.com/@rafal.t.borynski

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkqzli4nfffUaamXnJR2EUw

*****

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 15

In 21st Century America, we have a capitalism problem, which poet Daniel Olsson takes to task. How long will we value profits over people? How much, or how little, is a life worth?

Land of the Dollar

In my country,
The land of all knowing,
It costs a dollar to be human…
Those of elder wisdom claim they remember the day when a heart cost only a nickel,
Not an outrageous dollar…
A dollar must be paid to break the leg,
To shatter the bone and make the memory of pain nightmarish for moments on,
The poor cannot afford weak bones…
A dollar must be given to pass go,
The get out of jail free cards expired with the loss of the radio and the death of activist circles,
Those of the downtown neighborhood laugh at the idea of free cards,
Being an animal is always free,
Being human is what costs money…
You must donate a dollar to speak freely,
The illusion of your voice was the only free thing the schools will give you,
The bill-board tramples the alto,
A TV can rob their ears and give only eyes to see your skin-tone,
And the internet forges the bubble of dollar-filled admission tickets…
Please surrender the dollar for your vote,
Who are you to tell us how the world should turn?
No claim to fame, no parents of willing might,
Only a one-bedroom apartment and a bus ride to work,
Stay home and let the rightful pick the process of our future…
In my country,
the land of the free,
A dollar must be stolen to salvage today,
To breathe was never a right of life,
But a right of passage if you earned your dollar…

©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 !

Posted on by waxyandpoetic

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 14

Over the weekend, it was reported that police in Rochester, NY pepper-sprayed a handcuffed nine-year-old girl–a girl shoved into the snow so she could be handcuffed. Of all the many, many things that need to be addressed by this new administration, at or near the top of the list should be monumental changes for the way we fund, train, manage, and hold accountable the police who should be protecting and serving us.

Common Contributors 
To the Breathing Problems 
Of the Average American

It is asthma.
It is emphysema.
It is COPD.
It is COPs.
It is the stench of GOP hypocrisy.
It is a high life of smoking.
It is an era of burning brush.
It is a lifetime of burning bridges
& smoking enemies.
It is the noxious haze of racism.
It is asbestos & ozone & mustard gas.
It is clouds of over-cooked coal
& toxic rivers of white fragility.
It is the fetid fog of the undrained swamp.
It is buses and trucks and traffic jams.
It is planes, trains, & autoerotic asphyxiation.
It is vehicular & respiratory congestion 
with congestion prices to pay.
It is oleoresin capsicum; it is mace & capsaicin.
It is the foul fumes of the rotting corpses of theirstory.
It is the brume of brutality, the corrupt cop pollution.
It is chlorobenzylidene malononitrile.
It is the smoke & smog of privilege.
It is the murk & must of injustice for just us.
It is the peasoup of oppression.

It is the noose.
It is the knee.
It is the nation.

© David Siller 2020

*****

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 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 !

Posted on by waxyandpoetic

#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 !

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 !