Poetry


• Venice Love Song - Mary Getlein
• Patiently I sit on the sand - Jim Mussio
• Crime Scene - Sherman Pearl
• How many more need to die for a lie? - B.B. Shapiro
• bird talk - Hillary Kaye

VENICE LOVE SONG

by Mary Getlein

I had fun today!
listening to the drums and Ibraham’s singing
listening and dancing to the drums,
The saxes, the guitars,
loving it --
happy happy drumming--
lovely dancers, dancing on the boardwalk Ocean breezes blowing in
Tourists walking walking walking past
Little kids and young girls stopping to dance,
to vibrate with the drumming of the drums
happy happy drumming
Beautiful young girl dancing with her pet snake
Beauty all around us --
Just stop + look + you will see --
You will hear the music vibrate to your soul
The drums will shake you up and make your
heart move ----
You need to hear the jungle beat to live,
to lighten up, to move
to get up and shake your body to the Earth’s
rhythms...
My favorite birds, seagulls, sailing over our heads,
while below,
us land animals are dancing around,
the only things flying are our spirits,
and the music we make,
the songs we sing,
The love we flow to each other ....
Smiling happy people possessed with the
power of music, running, strumming to the beat
Hearing the magic of the music and not
letting go of it --
holding it and passing it back and forth
to each other
letting it run up and down in our heads
and our bodies...
the drums build and build to a wall of sound
and come crashing down again and move
back up --
Kind of like the waves behind us
building up and crashing down again ...
Yeah, this is why I live here,
because I can come here on the weekends
and be a part of this...
Keep dancing, you crazy music people.

-----------

Patiently I sit on the sand
With nothing but emptiness holding my hand
beautiful things surrounding my space
expressions of loneliness shaping my face
with no stability in thought, I often question my time
a search for purpose and reason to live on
but all of a sudden, captured in the corner of my eye
a wave so perfect one could hardly deny
a powerful splash breaking down at the end
only to drift off having accomplished its plan
And only then -- did it occur to me
how there are so many signs that I fail to see
I too came in this world for a reason you see
Just like the powerful wave -- once lost and alone at sea
I must keep growing into the man I'm supposed to be
For when the time comes for me to be seen
only then will I realize what it means to be me.

Jim Mussio

------------

CRIME SCENE

By Sherman Pearl

Yellow police tape strung coast to coast, border to border --
do not cross, do not disturb the environment --
investigation in progress, bodies of martyrs and polar bears
outlined in chalk, DNA drawn from fallen trees.

Justice in progress here, closing in on the terrorists.

All we need is clear evidence. All we have now
are suspicions, the secretive atmosphere,
whispered rumors
that so-and-so was declared an enemy and carted away.

Who's to blame for this suffocating air?
Who raised sea levels so high that democracy drowned?

No shortage of suspects--we've traced footprints
to Washington,truth-sniffing dogs circle the White House
and still,convictions elude us.

You who stand gawking at the remains of old glories

Move along! Nothing here you can't see at home.
Go back to your own neighborhood.
Yellow police tape surrounds your house.

------------

HOW MANY MORE NEED TO DIE FOR A LIE?

By B.B. Shapiro

How many soldiers need to have died?
Americans and Iraqis killed on both sides
How many, how many more?
Before we realize, we are fighting the wrong war.

At first we were told it was “WMDs”
And then it was for “Peace in the Middle East”
Now Bush says it’s for the sake of Democracy
Is Iran next? What is it going to be?

After all, shouldn’t we remember
It was Al Queda who attacked us on the 11th of September
It wasn’t the Iraqis as we were led to believe
How much longer must we continue to grieve?

How many more must die for the wrong reason?
And yet those against the war are accused of treason.
The war in Iraq was a perfect disguise
A political tactic to create fear with lies.

How many soldiers need to have died?
While our own Democracy, is being denied.
Waging this war is pure hypocrisy
What’s worse is justifying it, for the sake of Democracy.

Democracy can’t be achieved at a point of a gun
By sacrificing the lives our brave daughters and sons
“Exporting our Democracy is Good” we are told
But Democracy isn’t a commodity to be bought and sold.

How many parents have lost a child?
How many orphans are there on both sides?
How many casualties and amputees?
How many unnecessary deaths are there going to be?

How many soldiers need to have died?
Americans and Iraqis killed on both sides
How many, how many more
Before - we realize, we are fighting the wrong war?

-------------

bird talk

By Hillary Kaye

the birds will talk, they will frighten you
with their ability to speak out frighten you with their
unreasoned methods and tireless rhythms.
the air folds up and is taken away....on stretchers
the earth recoils and gives with equanimity....
it speaks to the dawn and the nighttime....both holy moments
the hummingbirds are small but mighty they live in midair extravagantly
oh how low to the ground we are in our search
we miss so many stars
the sky is full of meteors
infinity touches us even when we don’t notice

Posted: Sun - October 1, 2006 at 01:30 PM          


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