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Subversive
Verse
by Mary Ought Six |
“Memo to the Defense Forces”
If they should ask
why you blew up the Elementary School
with your tank
tell them the students were shooting at you
and if they are not gullible
like Americans
tell them terrorists
were using the school as a base.
If they should ask
why you bombed the hospital
tell them the patients were firing rockets
and if they are not gullible
like Americans
tell them terrorists
were shielding themselves in the iron lungs
and you knew they were not patients
because you had cut off the electricity
so the iron lungs
had no legitimate use.
If they should ask
why you blew up the city
tell them the citizens —
even the children —were all terrorists
bent on your destruction
and if they are not gullible
like Americans
tell them terrorists
intentionally hid amidst the populace
to make it look
as if you were committing
atrocities.
If they should ask
why you turned the area
into a walled ghetto
and stopped the shipment
of food, fuel and medicine
so the people were hungry, cold and sick
tell them it was in self defense
and if they are gullible
like Americans
ask them for more aid
and weapons.
--Bob Zahniser
Bob Zahniser poems have frequently been printed in ‘’The Portland Alliance’’ as well as in ‘’Struggle’’ and ‘’Hemispheres’’ (F.I.U.) magazines. He won awards for poetry in the 2006 and 2008 Yamhill County Arts Alliance “Paper Gardens” writing contest and also had a short, humorous piece appear in the July 2006 issue of Byline.
“SMALL TALK”
I don’t like clowns
or puppets, never have
Any expression, frozen
like that,
happy or sad, I find
truly frightful –
Some people spend
their entire lives
in control, rehearsed
just like that; smiles cast
in enamel, wooden
frowns peering out
from a soul curled
under a veneer –
Their credo, some call
small-talk…
When they say, “Hi,”
you know it means
Stay Away…
And looking down,
anytime they pass
you can hear, just
under their breath:
I know you’re there,
but the world’s
too scary –
--Scot Siegel
“VALEDICTORY”
~For any graduating class
If you were not meant
to follow:
Be unconventional,
in a mild-mannered way
Put yourself at risk, emotionally
and intellectually, simultaneously
Take a leadership role:
say unpopular things
while nodding insistently,
and lending a hand.
-- Scot Siegel
These poems by Scot Siegel are from his recent release, Some Weather (Plain View Press 2008). The author will be reading at the Northwest Poets’ Concord in Newport, Oregon, April 23-24, 2009. He will also be reading at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 2 @ Looking Glass Bookstore, 7983 S.E. 13th Ave.; 503-227-4760 http://lookingglassbook.qwestoffice.net/
Books may be ordered through www.plainviewpress.net, or for signed copies send $14.95 to Scot Siegel at 16067 Boones Ferry Road, Lake Oswego, OR 97035.
“Dying Inside”
The raksha came for me every morning, trying to get inside
The subconscious and the conscious are never connected
He finds joy in causing trouble in between two worlds
The intense frustration my soul felt made my minds fight till one of them disappeared
It reached down into my stomach and choked the life-force sitting in my pelvis
I couldn’t even breathe the crummy air we call refreshing
Instead, I inhaled misery from others
My mind was a lump of sore flesh
It accepted the soul to stay alive
Each bit of strength consumed in a matter of minutes
The only thing left to eat was the heart
A sky that covers the earth as a blanket dotted with these pretty diamonds
I couldn’t grab one since my fingers are sewn together
Everyone else already has theirs and smiled like it was Christmas morning
Only one is stood so close to the moon which reached and sighed every night
That one was mine, he couldn’t have it!
This was life for me, getting by while suffering
Internal and physical pain were the only things I could feel
Shifting from one world to the next...
Only fear moved through me like the wind
It’s a snake that smiles creepily while wrapping itself around your arm
Hissing and biting till skin loses moisture and disappears
Life is not something everyone ones
As a matter of fact, I did not know life for many years
Constantly living inside a world fueled by something unconceivable to mankind
The intensity of one’s conscious becomes the weight of my mind
Pulling me to the depths of terror
No…..I couldn’t climb back up
No, no!
I had to be reborn
--Sunil P. Narayan, Beaverton, Oregon
Poetry Events:
Variations on a theme of Peace--Words to Celebrate National Poetry Month
On Sunday, April 19 at 6:30 PM, local authors Harold Johnson, Dennis McBride and others will read their work at Moonstruck Chocolate Cafe in downtown Lake Oswego, 45 South State Street, hosted by Joan Maiers.Contact: 503-697-7097Free and open to the publicDonations welcomed to assist Haitian orphans
Spare Room collective organizer David Abel to read at Cover to Cover Books
Open Mic Poetry hosted by Christopher Luna
7 p.m. Thursday, April 9, 2009 (and every second Thursday)
Cover to Cover Books
1817 Main Street, Vancouver
(McLoughlin Blvd. & Main Street)
For more info call 514-0358 or 694-9653
or e-mail christopherjluna@gmail.com
Always all ages and uncensored
http://christopherluna-poetry.blogspot.com
Featuring David Abel:
“This is the word before the word is”
There is no word before this; that is, before this is
the word nothing like the word is.
The words before the word is become the words after
the word after the word is.
Before before the word was after this is.
After the word before the word before the word
is before before the word is.
After the words after the word is are the words before
the words before the word is.
--David Abel
David Abel is a writer, performer, and multidisciplinary artist, as well as an editor, bookseller, and curator/organizer. Born in Salt Lake City in 1956, he has lived in Utah, Florida, New York, California, New Mexico, and Oregon. As an undergraduate at Deep Springs College, Bard College, and New Mexico State University, he studied language, literature, and music; in 1984 he was a member of the first class to graduate from the interdisciplinary MFA program of the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, where he pursued studies in poetry, music, and video.
Poetry Circle:
Frank Vehafric, Oregon poet and contributor to the Portland Alliance Poetry Page, has created a Facebook group called “Portland Poets Exchange” for connecting to live events and open mics around town. Log in and see what’s up or list an event of your own!
