10 Lines

The sly reeds whisper to the night
By the secret smudge in the back of your soul
An aimless smile that hovers in the air
Her hardest hue to hold.


police cars cockroach through the tunnel streets
Whose backs are scorched by the flames of the shining sky
I shall not see the shadows,
she crawls, it flies …

And into ashes all my lust:
Beauty is not enough.


[“Her hardest hue to hold” – Robert Frost, Nothing Gold Can Stay
“By the secret smudge in the back of your soul” – John Ashbery, Just Walking Around
“Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,
And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts
An aimless smile that hovers in the air” – T.S. Eliot, Morning at the Window
“The sly reeds whisper to the night
A name-- her name-” – James Joyce, Alone
“When she crawls, it flies, and when
she crawls, it flies …” – Kobayashi Issa, A butterfly, a child
“police cars cockroach through the tunnel streets” – Dennis Brutus, Nightsong: City
“Whose backs are scorched by the flames of the shining sky” – Po Chü-I (translated by Arthur Waley), Watching the Reapers
“I shall not see the shadows,” – Christina Rossetti, Song
“And into ashes all my lust:” – Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress
“Beauty is not enough.” – Edna St. Vincent Millay, Spring]

Favorite Poem?

Dunno if this is my favorite poem, but it's short and easy to memorize, and also, it's awesome.

Nothing Gold Can Stay
--Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.


p.s. not too sure of the punctuation ...

p.s.s. "Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold" (where's that from? come on, how many Ponyboy's are there in the world)

Black Mountain Poetry

http://www.poetspath.com/transmissions/messages/funkhouser.html


Interesting. LAYERED EFFECTS IN MULTIPLEX POETRY SINCE BLACK MOUNTAIN

Tell Me What’s Wrong with Society

This bitter earth
land of the thief and home of the slave
blood on the leaves and blood at the root
our freedom of speech is freedom or death
murder was the case that they gave me

heaven is under the earth
like a prisoner tied over alligator waters
hell is still overburdened
anger and agony are better than misery
sometimes they tell lies and put ‘em in a truthful disguise



Crazy-Simple Plan (Title)
This Bitter Earth-Dinah Washington
Uncle Sam Goddamn-Brother Ali
Strange Fruit- (Lewis Allen as sung by Billie Holiday)
Fight the Power-Public Enemy
Murder was the Case-Snoop Dogg
Get UP Stand Up-Bob Marley
Dragon Days-Alicia Keys
Overburden-Disturbed
Pain-Three Days Grace
Message to the Messengers-Gil Scott Heron

My effort

Fill me, fill me ‘til I choke


Of the uncounted kisses

intellectualism

like salt boiling in the sand.

The earth and heaven are one,

Pancreatic, visceral

How does it diminish me!

First vague shadows of surmise

Dawn enters with little feet

even of oblivion.







Akua Lesli Hope – Songs They Could Sing #789 Erotique Noire

Bessie N. Price – Pin-up Poems

Nikki Giovanni- Intellectualism

Nancy Morejon- To a Boy

Edward Dowden –The Secret of the Universe
Robert Peters- Sea-Fire

Kahlil Gibran- Soliloquy-Tear and a Smile

Ralph Waldo Emerson- Give All to Love

Ezra Pound- The Garret

DH Lawrence – Ship of death