Posted on by waxyandpoetic

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 68

Presented without commentary.

If Math Were a Protest Poem

Boulder: AR-15
+
Orlando: AR-15
+
Parkland: AR-15
+
Las Vegas: AR-15
+
Aurora, CO: AR-15
+
Sandy Hook: AR-15
+
Waffle House: AR-15
+
San Bernardino: AR-15
+
Midland/Odessa: AR-15
+
Poway synagogue: AR-15
+
Sutherland Springs: AR-15
+
Tree of Life Synagogue: AR-15
=

Two hundred thirty-nine lives lost
We do not calculate the injured
We do not calculate the trauma
We do not calculate the shame or the inaction
two hundred thirty-nine

©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 67

They Don’t Even Hide It Anymore

White supremacy works its will
(which is actually a won’t)
behind locked doors,
under plantation paintings
flanked by six klansmen of the
coronapocalypse.
And though the black woman
who came knocking,
curious and concerned, 
was taken away,
callously cuffed,
your conniving con
broadcast clear 
through glass walls.

We see you.
We see your shuffle and shift,
your bait and switch,
and these knocks will be answered,
one way
or the other.

©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 63

First, Atlanta. Now, Denver. They follow in a long line of cities. It shouldn’t be this way. But we will, most certainly, if past is prelude, add more cities soon enough. Let us hope the Biden administration tries something different. What we’re doing is not working.

‘Murikkka is Open For Business Baby!

Attention, shoppers!
Manager’s special today:
coupons multiplied by
the number of bullets you take.
Doesn’t count towards your reward card points
and can’t be combined with any other offers.

Attention, shoppers!
Take home bonus today:
Buy one, get one bullet.
Sample shots being served
in frozen foods.
Hurry before they’re gone!

Attention, shoppers!
Fresh meat just gunned and gutted
in the butcher shop.
It’s a great time to get
stew cuts and bull’s eyes
and shell casing steaks
and bullet tips, perfect for
your next funeral.

Attention, shoppers!
Remember the express lane is
ten bodies or fewer
2 for 1s and 3 for 1s
are okay as long as they fit
in the casket.

Attention King Soopers Targeted Team Members
We need a clean up in aisle one
and we need a clean up in aisle two
and aisle three, the spice aisle,
and in produce
and in the bakery
and in the soda pop pop pop aisle
and in customer service
and in seasonal 
and at register nine
and at register ten.

Attention, Shoppers!
With restrictions being lifted
we are open for you!
As you leave home
don’t forget the essentials:
Grab your lists!
Grab your circulars!
Grab your coupons!
Grab your reusable bags!
Grab your keys!
Grab your masks!

And

most importantly

Grab your Kevlar!

©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!? BONUS POEM

The new poem for Day 63 will be released later this afternoon. In the meantime, we revisit a poem that is as prescient as ever, given events of the past week. Stay tuned.

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

you have not yet spilled enough blood
& there is more to spill
you 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
A recorded live reading of the poem.

©David Siller – 2018 ; 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 · 2 Comments

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 62

A cento, sorta, taking some lines from news sources like the BBC and the New York Times, to honor the lives of the victims in Atlanta.

Say Their Names And Something Important About Them
--a cento, sorta

Hyun Jung Grant was playful and fun
and had a young spirit,
“I have the mind of a young teenager,” she said.
Robert Aaron Long is a killer.

Xiaojie Tan, who was an entrepreneur,
was called “the sweetest, kindest, most giving person”
by a customer.
Her friends called her Emily.
Robert Aaron Long is a racist.

Daoyou Feng only recently started working
for Xiaojie Tan. She was quiet and kind,
and her life was cut short before we could know her better.
Robert Aaron Long made that cut.

Delaina Ashley Yaun was looking forward to a date
with her husband, who survived the attack.
She was the “most hard-working, most determined,
most outspokenly good-hearted person.”
Robert Aaron Long is a terrorist.

Paul Andre Michels was one of nine siblings,
a Catholic, and a veteran of the U.S. Army infantry.
He was “a very hard working, loving man.”
Robert Aaron Long is toxic Chrisitianity.

Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz was a mechanic 
and recently married. His 10 year old daughter’s 
birthday is soon. He was shot.
And survived.
Robert Aaron Long attempted his murder.

Suncha Kim was a grandmother
who enjoyed line dancing
in her spare time.
She was long past 
the golden anniversary of her marriage.
Robert Aaron Long is toxic masculinity.

Soon Chung Park worked with Suncha.
She had family in New York and New Jersey.
She was so easy to get along with.
Robert Aaron Long is a misogynist.

Yong Ae Yue was a good mother and
was always there for her two sons.
She was generous and giving, 
even to her ex-sister-in-law.

Robert Aaron Long took lives and liberty:
a thief,
a murderer,
a stain.
May he soon be forgotten,
while we sing the memory of
Hyun & Xiaojie & Daoyou
Delaina & Paul & Elcias
Suncha & Soon Chung & Yong Ae

©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 · 1 Comment

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 59

Presented without commentary.

The GOP Calls
For Another Surge In Their
War Against Women

Republican votes:
172
for misogyny .

Not to be against
violence against women
is to be for it.

©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 58

Presented without commentary.

Why That Nice Christian Boy Stuff
Never Works With People Who Pay Attention

When they say nice christian boy
I remember that
nice christian boys pillaged villages and raped villagers
for kings and popes
&
nice christian boys kidnapped and enslaved
a whole continent of people
&
nice christian boys notoriously hung strange fruit
all across town squares and front yards
& 
nice christian boys were fond of +s doused in kerosene
and inflamed in neighbors’ yards
&
nice christian boys use dumpsters to hide their assaults
&
nice christian boys wrote backstories with cats o’ nine tails
&
nice christian boys become nice christian men who take
nice christian boys to take a knee behind altars
&
nice christian boys celebrate kids in cages and violations
of various and sundry commandments
&
nice christian boys shoot up salons and cinemas and nightclubs
&
nice christian boys are always only white
&
nice christian boys never live up to their namesake
&
i know i know
“not all” and “that’s not christian”
but when it’s a nice christian boy holding the gun
or the knife
or burning the cross
or kneeling on the neck
or waving flags of war losers
or suppressing the vote
or hurting children
you do not say
murderer
rapist
racist
white supremacist
terrorist
you say
nice christian boys

©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 · 1 Comment

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? Day 57

We’re still reeling from news of the evil acts committed in Georgia. This fiery first draft doesn’t do justice to what needs to be said. It does not yawp loud enough to be heard in Brooklyn and in Brownsville and in Long Beach and in Billings and in Bangor. But we must yawp together to fight the fight and get the justice and the change we need.

Hear ye, hear ye!

for the victims in Metro Atlanta

They blew up your church and your life
and you get this poem.
They shoot up your schools & cinemas & salons
and you get this poem.
They get water bottles & selfies & high fives
and you get this poem.
They get burger king burgers & a coke & fries
and you get this poem.
They get swim team accolades & future possibilities
and you get this poem.
They get lawyers who voir dire potentials about murder video viewings
and you get this poem.
They worry about impartial juries & public opinion & public relations
and you get this poem.

They get taken in alive
after your life is taken.
They get their days in court
after your days are cut short.
They get taken in alive
and you get this poem.
They get their fair trials
and you get this poem,
this poem that serves as vow to

get you justice.

©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 56

On March 11, 2021, the New York Times published a special section, called “Teens on a Year that Changed Everything,” with art, photographs and quotes from teenagers across the country. They were responding to the year anniversary of the pandemic reaching our shores and how it affected their lives. Today’s piece is a another cento combining lines from some of their quotes.

Teens on a Year That Changed Everything II
-a cento

My interactions with other people
were all fit neatly
into little rectangles
on my screen.
When uncertainty strikes,
we need connection
and community
more than ever.
We turned to technology
to build and maintain
social connections.
When I was little, I
would always wonder
why my mother’s hands
were so rough
and wrinkly.
These two sides of me
are so different,
yet they both compose
my identity.
It feels as though there is only you.
I forgot to wear the mask.
When I was the only one
to show my face, I felt
weird and awkward.
We felt ourselves becoming
anxious and depressed.
I was angry at the world.
The BLM movement
has encouraged me and
an entire generation of young people
to speak up.
I am slightly grateful to the pandemic.
As I am writing this now,
I still have a stupid ton 
of homework to do.
*Sigh*.

©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 54

On March 11, 2021, the New York Times published a special section, called “Teens on a Year that Changed Everything,” with art, photographs and quotes from teenagers across the country. They were responding to the year anniversary of the pandemic reaching our shores and how it affected their lives. Today’s piece is a cento combining lines from some of their quotes.

Teens on a Year That Changed Everything I
-a cento 

Finding a way to be happy in hard times is essential to making it through.
Flame-colored sunlight would dance through windows, 
and water would trickle below trees.
Politics has dominated everything this year,
from racial, social and economic inequities 
to the simple act of wearing a mask.
No longer do I talk about boys or paint my nails,
but start to recognize the part I can play
in fighting for justice 
and
how to tackle my implicit biases.
We have never ceased to stand upon a needle 
to weave various strings into a solution.
I found the only things I had patience for
were small doodles and quotes.
Despite my best efforts, nobody took me seriously.
I look at the last few months and realize
this is what growing up in a global crisis looks like
for low-income families.
There are only 24 hours in a day,
and seven days in a week,
and I was always missing out on something.
I felt like I was in this by myself,
and no one could help me.
I’ve welcomed the alone time.
If you’re reading this, take five deep breaths.
Being young is about growing and stretching.
“Hands up! Don’t shoot!
Hands up! Don’t shoot!”
The chant quivers its way from my hoarse vocal chords
to join the hundreds of others
echoing through the charged air.
This tumultuous year has left us appreciative
of daily social interactions,
and hopeful for the day the school bus
will return to us again
The air was toxic so you had to wear a mask
when you went outside.

©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 !