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 !

Posted on by waxyandpoetic

#100Days100Poems Day 1 Inauguration Day.

Camel Heard Shouting
in Black Lives Matter Plaza Northwest

1 – 20 – 2021

that palindrome date to be read

forwards & backwards

with hope that we we only

move forwards and not back

hindsight showing us 2020

1

20

20

21

attention at the left margin

like a paladin

ready for the good fight

that lies ahead, against the right

lucky because we read left to

right; though our metaphor moves

will be to the left

our direction, progress

our speed on hurry


1 2 0 2 0 2 1

as if prescription number

that palliative first pill

in a 1,460 dose regimen of

antitrumpiotics &

antinaziotics &

anticonspiriotics–

one pill every 24 hours keeps regression away

and day by day the sick body politic

becomes healthy and stronger


1

20

2021

palladium

poised to lift

us up, step by step

stepping us up to

new heights &

new hopes &

new horizons

we are here

ready to work &

build & change

and we will get

louder & stronger


20 – 1 – 2021

palatable and palpable

to the rest of the world

one dash of change, hints of new

perspective

and seeing is believing

chew on that possibility



1-20-2021

the palimpsest

we can not erase the scarscratches

and errors, the wrong words,

the wrongs & the wounds,

the falsehoods & fakeries, the forgeries & fripperies

but we will scribe anew

tales of redemption & reconstruction

resurrection & resolution

resolve & resuscitation

part

“once upon a time…”

part

“on this day in history…”


©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

Let’s get poetical, political, I wanna get poetical, political, let me hear the body politic talk!

For Margo.

W. S. Merwin once said that all poetry is political; Jean-Paul Sartre called for a littérature engagée, engaged in the politics, absurdities, and struggles of the human condition.  From Whitman to Merwin, Prévert to Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg to Chuck D, Gil Scott-Heron to Reg E. Gaines, Baudelaire to Césaire, Guru to Solaar, poetry has long been engaged with some struggle. The best poetry (or any art for that matter) frames for us a way to deal with the difficult; sometimes poets find just the right words to express our outrage or shock.  They speak in our silence, and use silence to speak.  Some avoid rhyme in their efforts to reason, some eschew reason so that we may escape through their rhyme.

Muddled clichés aside, my own attempts to grapple with Boston (and Newtown and Aurora and Oak Creek and Kabul and Baghdad and a million other  cities and lives) are still in process; being thunderstruck at the inaction of leaders and politicians, my own wordlessness still thumbs through Webster’s and the OED, looking for just the right utterance to break the silence.   Others have already cleared their throats, already put pen to paper, already clackety-clacked on keyboards.

So it is with Margo Berdeshevsky, brilliant poet and brilliant photographer; an artist, whose voice sings true, of whom Sartre and Merwin would be proud.  She is also a dear friend and kindred spirit, a “soul mate” in these days of increasing soullessness in our topsy-turvied world.  I share with you a brief excerpt from her “Postcards to the Body Politic” and link you to the full poem, as well as to ma chère Margo giving voice to the weight.  When, in troubled times, the politicos and the press fail to speak truth, to state the obvious, to ask the difficult questions, it is to the poets we must turn, and at this moment, to Margo:

Postcards to the Body Politic

i

But there’s more. First, I cannot write dear. I cannot call you dear. I am too deeply, deeply  — and I have never believed in. Before. But now so much less. No. So much less. Dear illusion of dear. Dear I-could-not-write. You will not mind. You do not love.

Dear body. Dear if-my-right-hand. Dear how can you love only your own soul? Dear why would you feed only one eye? Not the hand. Not the belly. How can you love the head, not skin, not the water?

You make me cry. You make me sadder than women, sadder than men, even sadder than your —No. You, and your guns. Do you even love your hands? Can you love your mind? Body dangerous. I try to call you dear. Enraged at your arms, enraged at your desire, enraged at your eyes. If I am too angry to love you — what, what will we do?

To read the entire poem, simply click here. And the streaming audio of Margo’s words.