Poetry Sunday (5/12/24 edition)

 

EmpressMaera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

There is a Girl Inside 

by Lucille Clifton

there is a girl inside, 
she is randy as a wolf.
she will not walk away
and leave these bones
to an old woman.

she is a green tree
in a forest of kindling.
she is a green girl
in a used poet.

she has waited
patient as a nun
for the second coming,
when she can break through gray hairs
into blossom.

and her lovers will harvest
honey and thyme
and the woods will be wild
with the damn wonder of it.

 

Poetry Sunday (5/5/24 edition)

With all of the meltdowns going on over whether women are safer in the woods with a man or a bear, I thought this one timely...

Gregory "Slobirdr" Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

men and bears 
both reek of danger 
they want you on their plate
but the beauty of a bear is this—
he’ll finally hibernate 

because when a man 
runs wild 
a woman always dies
at least bears can’t talk
or lure her in 
with pretty little lies 

so leave the woods
to men and bears
and walk with me through 
space

take a shooting star 
to heaven 
and look god 
right in his face 

say “god please tell me sir
it’s time that you admit
that bears and men are dangerous,
when women don’t submit.” 

and look god in his eye
and click your tongue
and curse
and get back on your shooting star
and set it to reverse 

and when you get 
back down to earth
don’t grab a tent or pack 
the woods don’t need your body
the men don’t need a snack

grab a match
and fan your flame 
and save yourself the trouble
of waiting on an absent god
to find you in the rubble

pick up your torch
and set the woods 
alight across the earth
watch the fire illuminate 
your beauty and your worth 

and when the bears and men 
come out 
lead them to their traps 
lock them up and prosecute 
don’t leave them any scraps 

put the bears in a cage
and coo at their cuteness
then put the men on a stage 
and boo at their rudeness

and if this seems harsh
or too judgmental
i don’t know what to say
at least with bears i’d have a chance
to live another day 

#poemsfortheresistance

From Kaitlin Shetler Poetry

Poetry Sunday (04-21-24 edition)

 

NiteTyme | DeviantArt

Scars aren’t proof

that you’ve been hurt

scars are proof

that you have healed.

-- Ziggy Alberts

Poetry Sunday (04/21/24 edition)

 

faux

i'd rather be alone than form convenient

connections disguised as friendships.

my soul steers away from anything

unauthentic and disingenuous.

-- from Flowers on the Moon by Billy Chapata

Poetry Sunday (04-14-24 edition)

 I AM THINE AND THOU ART MINE 

Eternal Life is gained

by utter abandonment of one’s own life.

When God appears to His ardent lover,

the lover is absorbed in Him, and not so much as a hair of the lover remains.

True lovers are as shadows,

and when the sun shines in glory the shadows vanish away.

He is a true lover to God to whom God says

“I am thine and thou art Mine.”

- Rumi

BLOG HOP and GIVEAWAY: The Day the World Ends by Ethan Coen

Welcome to the "No Strings Attached Giveaway Hop", hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer. As Kathy explains: "This hop is for all the people who hate jumping through hoops to enter giveaways. This is a no strings attached, no requirements to enter hop."

You may not be aware that April is "National Poetry Month", and in honor of this I have something special up for grabs today...

Synopsis

Ethan Coen’s screenplays have surprised and delighted international audiences with their hilarious vision and bizarrely profound understanding of human nature. With his brother, Joel, Coen has written, directed, and produced some of the most original and beloved movies in the history of cinema, including Raising Arizona; Miller’s Crossing; Barton Fink; The Hudsucker Proxy; Fargo; The Big Lebowski; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; Intolerable Cruelty; an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men; Burn After Reading; and—most recently—True Grit, which was nominated for ten Academy Awards. Coen has also written collections of critically acclaimed plays (Almost an Evening), short stories (Gates of Eden), and poetry (The Drunken Driver Has the Right of Way), all presented in his distinctly humorous and oddly brilliant literary voice.

Coen’s eccentric genius is revealed again in THE DAY THE WORLD ENDS (Broadway Paperbacks Original, on sale April 3, 2012), a collection of poems that offers humor and provides insight into an artist who has always pushed the boundaries of his craft. THE DAY THE WORLD ENDS  is a remarkable range of poems that are as funny, ribald, provocative, raw, and often touching as the brilliant films that have made the Coen brothers cult legends.

Short, accessible, and nearly the same price as a movie ticket, this new poetry collection is a perfect treat for Coen’s legions of fans.


About the Author

When not writing plays, poetry, or short stories, ETHAN COEN makes movies with his brother, Joel Coen. After thirteen films, the Coen brothers have one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed bodies of work in the history of cinema.

GIVEAWAY: In celebration of National Poetry Month, Crown Publishing Group is offering up a copy of this off-beat book of poetry to one of my readers! This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada only, and will end April 22, 2012. To enter, just use the Rafflecopter form below:

Last Will and Testament of Joe Hill

This morning I was thinking of one of my favorite old folk songs, as performed at Woodstock by Joan Baez: Joe Hill. It got me to wondering more about the history of who Joe Hill really was, so Wikipedia to the rescue!

Joe Hill was an immigrant labor activist, as well as a songwriter. He was, most feel unjustly so, accused of murder and executed by firing squad in 1915. As his last will and testament, he left this behind...

My will is easy to decide,
For there is nothing to divide.
My kin don't need to fuss and moan,
"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone."

My body? Oh, if I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce,
And let the merry breezes blow,
My dust to where some flowers grow.

Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again.
This is my Last and final Will.
Good Luck to All of you,
Joe Hill