Vogue

They can rebuild half a face
Freeze up frown lines
Suck out fat
Cap the teeth
Extend the hair
Tuck the tummy
Lift the brow
Plump the lip
Wax
Exfoliate
Expilate
Exorcise the human
Leave only the shell

Vogue

Any wonder why
Midwestern
Middleaged
Matrons
Pubescent and pre
Obsess and cluck at
Magazine photoshop dreams
Cut themselves
Off or up
Puke misery
Pilfer purgatives
Swallow it all
And nothing else

Vogue

Feste

From Twelfth Night by WS
When that I was and a little tiny boy
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man's estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas, to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still 'had drunken heads,
For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world began,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you every day.

Cool Tombs

Carl Sandburg

WHEN Abraham Lincoln was shoveled into the tombs, he forgot the copperheads and the assassin … in the dust, in the cool
tombs.

And Ulysses Grant lost all thought of con men and Wall Street, cash and collateral turned ashes … in the dust, in the
cool tombs.

Pocahontas’ body, lovely as a poplar, sweet as a red haw in November or a pawpaw in May, did she wonder? does she
remember? … in the dust, in the cool tombs?

Take any streetful of people buying clothes and groceries, cheering a hero or throwing confetti and blowing tin horns …
tell me if the lovers are losers … tell me if any get more than the lovers … in the dust … in the cool tombs.

my sweet old etcetera

ee cummings


my sweet old etcetera
aunt lucy during the recent

war could and what
is more did tell you just
what everybody was fighting

for,
my sister

Isabel created hundreds
(and
hundreds)of socks not to
mention fleaproof earwarmers
etcetera wristers etcetera, my
mother hoped that

i would die etcetera
bravely of course my father used
to become hoarse talking about how it was
a privilege and if only he
could

meanwhile myself etcetera lay quietly
in the deep mud et

cetera
(dreaming,
et
cetera, of
Your smile
eyes knees and of your Etcetera)

Personal Pet Peeve

My personal pet peeve
when people talk when I’m talking
or when I’m interrupted
before I have the chance to say anything

My personal pet peeve
people
who are prejudiced
unreasonable
illogical
who don’t respect others

My personal pet peeve
arrogance
gossip
conceit
backstabbing
being ignored
overlooked
being the butt of insulting jokes – racist, homophobic, sexist, ageist
feeling powerless to change

My pet peeve
when people make annoying, disturbing noises
people who whine and complain about the government
make no effort to improve it
sad or angry people who make everybody else around them
sad or angry
people who adopt views they don’t understand
just to fit in
people who pout about petty problems
those who are self-absorbed
those who will not accept something new or unusual
who make fun of it because they are afraid

My personal pet peeve is regret
it annoys me to no end
but when I regret something
I feel awful –
and then I realize
how silly regret is in the first place

My personal pet peeve is on a crowded subway
those people who stand in the way
with large backpacks on
and headphones playing around their neck
instead of quietly in their ears
Makes me want to shove past them
into the aisle
while stealing something
from their packs
and cutting the headphone wire
And maybe step on their toes
or elbow them while I’m at it.
Instead I just complain loudly to friends
about people who do such things.
Or I write about them.

My personal pet peeve
people
who shop while on cell phones
who drop their cigarette butts wherever they please
even if those butts are still smoking
who try to push their religion on you
who chew with their mouths open

My pet peeve
people who misspell the names of
their so-called favourite bands
when it’s quiet in a classroom and someone sniffs

My personal pet peeve is toast crumbs in the butter
SERIOUSLY!

I Was Most Courageous

I was most courageous
when I joined a group and I didn’t know anyone

Courage is
walking for an hour with a kneecap
that had split in half
not that I had much choice
going to your uncle’s wedding
when you know he is dying of cancer

I was most courageous
when I took the risk
to read my writing out loud
without stuttering
when I sang for someone
other than my bedroom walls

My most courageous moment
was when I led the group
to search for our adversary
at first step
I instantly became a proud warrior
in his fierce will to live
I found the reserve to go on

I was most courageous
when I came out to my parents
when I finally disclosed my experiences
about sexual abuse
when I allowed myself to smile again

My act of bravery
when I was there to hold her hand
learning not to judge others
sending a difficult letter
opening up to people
telling a boy/ a girl I like him/her

I was courageous
when I truly discovered
how ill my mother is
she sent me to bring her medication from the dresser
I was still able to breathe
even after I counted the bottles
and when I watched her die…

Wish for the World

My wish for the world
that we learn to live in peace
harmony
so that we finally get along
with each other
with the natural environment

that we set aside our avarice and petty arguments
so that tolerance is the norm
not the exception

that actions be motivated by morality
not personal greed

My wish for the world
Peace
Love
Art

I wish that there will be no more rude comments
snide remarks
that good will be extended to the world

I wish that third world countries would not be
Exploited
Plundered
Raped

I wish to be happy

I wish for unity

I hope that computers will not replace people

I hope the future
has more imagination
free will
spontaneous people

My wish?

That there could be just one moment when everybody
everybody
smiles

Outside my window I see

snowy swept scapes
winter wonders
wind in the waking wood

branches of trees in silhouette
dusky winter morning
landscape aglow
sky alight with fire

snow untouched by human footprints

the world I’ve been ignoring
children, broken, still smiling
smiles that carry more than one meaning

my future my tomorrow
turmoil of the present
blank canvas of a world waiting to be
hope that cannot be contained indoors

birds flying over the mountains of my triumphs
sunlight tickling the tops
open spaces and audacity

torsos of trees
beauty and possibility
a sun that shines upon the entire world
jubilant victorious dawn

the jigsaw puzzle of the world
where I might actually have a place
I might actually call home


Group poem by the WordsWorthians 2009

I Kissed a Girl

Katy Perry, Dr Luke, Max Martin and Cathy Dennis

This was never the way I planned
Not my intention
I got so brave, drink in hand
Lost my discretion
It's not what, I'm used to
Just wanna try you on
I'm curious for you
Caught my attention

I kissed a girl and I liked it
The taste of her cherry chapstick
I kissed a girl just to try it
I hope my boyfriend don't mind it
It felt so wrong
It felt so right
Don't mean I'm in love tonight
I kissed a girl and I liked it
I liked it

No, I don't even know your name
It doesn't matter,
You're my experimental game
Just human nature,
It's not what,
Good girls do
Not how they should behave
My head gets so confused
Hard to obey

I kissed a girl and I liked it
The taste of her cherry chap stick
I kissed a girl just to try it
I hope my boyfriend don't mind it
It felt so wrong
It felt so right
Don't mean I'm in love tonight
I kissed a girl and I liked it
I liked it

Gentle is the Air

Gentle is the air
Peaceful is the song
Skipping rocks
Feet walk among rocks
Sharp edges
Paths unknown
Woven words
Sounds of water
Waves of time
I see pink skies with sailor’s eyes

Before: Distressed

Before, distressed, shifty, enclosed.
I was trapped. I was broken.
Hurt and missing.
In this room, no longer trapped.
We are all alive.
Singing out, sweating out
The air is full and fast
We’ll make music together
Find peace
Trust
Beauty
Union
We’ll find power
Today, we are power

Lovely

Do you remember when everything
was so lovely?
When we spent each day together,
lying inside of sunshine shells,
and everything was perfect

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

A man on a sail boat
Against the sky
A man with the wind in his hair
A man with a gaze
A gaze at the moon

A man with the breeze in his hair
Watches and waits for what’s never there
Wishes and dreams for the mermaids
Hopes and prays for the gods of his days

A man with a dream
A dream of the moon
A man with a wise kind of wink in his eye
As the waves go by
As the waves go by

The End of the World

So apparently, it’s the end of the world. How do I know? Man, just look out the window. Check out the chaos. That’s quality Armageddon shit right there. Really, who even said that the End was gonna be like math class?

1 screw-balled military missile launching experiment

minus

1 forgotten piece of important data

plus

1 national statement of oops

equals

Kaboom

Scars

Purge the expendables-endables-endables-endables
Gas the undesirables-irables-irables-irables

They are the ones we'll blame
Crush their shoulders with our shame

Pick a plough
from Mao
damn the dao
Disallow
Disavow
Listen now

Let them burn
just like the stars
Bathe in ashes
to heal your scars

It's just a bit of pesticide

Night

Night.
A taxi, idle.
From a furtive
radio, trickles
static and conversation.

Ferry the uninitiated
through arches of
cobblestone fire
and glide

Inhale the pastels
roses and scarlets
of the dawn
and heed

until night ebbs behind
and the taxi is run
aground in its shadows.

I am Singing a Song

i am weaving magic
with a flick of my hand
undecipherable, non-sensical symbols
strange sounds, throaty emissions
my spells
a sorceress, I

I am singing a song
and you are listening
to the dulcet stammering of my voice
i can sing high as a soprano
low as a bass
loud as thunder
soft as whisper

i want to
let you hear
the kinds of
words

you make
me think in

short staccato sounds
screaming soaring simultaneous
between horizontal rests in silence
anticipating with stilted breath my cue

i want to
let you hear
the music when
words

are played
but you’re tone deaf
to the tintinnabulation
of the thousand subtle rhythms
that toll for thee

Ode to Alana

O, creature vexing awesome
I envy thee thy tresses golden
Legs limber lithesome long
Breasts gargantuan yet falsely, too
Thy skin fair, orbs bluely luminescent
Thy breathing sweetly shallow
And mind at a loss for words intelligible
And yet the sweet shepherd harkens
To your siren call
Alas, the poor shepherd, dupe and clown
In her poison’d embrace all fools must drown

Click

Camera ready:
blank film
24 empty frames
unexposed

Click

That girl her Louis Vuitton bag
Prada shoes

Click

Light glancing from a glossy cover
blonde hair
blue eyes

Click
Ads shouting
Buy me! Buy me! Buy me!
Be me

Click

Television images rushing

Click Click Click

Click

Not so many
empty frames
left

Click
Click
Whirrrrr
Film winds back

Pass it over the photo counter
surrender the
unexposed images

Expose them

Click

There Was An Old Woman

There was an old woman
Who lived in a shoe
She was the grandmother of twenty and two
Her children are gone
To the ravage of AIDS
And she’s all that’s left to care for the babes
She gives them some broth
She can’t afford bread
And after they sleep
She cries in her bed

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe
Had not much to live on and less to eat
Her husband had left her for some other maid
Her shoes were so ripped barely stayed on her feet

She was spread so thin every penny was spent
No food and no hope and no money for rent
There was an old woman
Who lived in a shoe
She riots for rice
She’s nothin’ to you

The U.N. is crying
And babies keep dying
While leaders are lying
With NGOs trying

A three-car garage
Closes out the barrage
Right-wingers forswear it
But the shoe fits, you wear it

Hope is

Hope is
a word
a good word

Hope is
the piece of my soul I’m afraid to let anyone see
lest it be crushed
that spark that makes you realize
you’re human


Hope is
finding beauty in the oddest things
a sunbeam in winter
sunlight melting the frost
a chickadee’s song in the chill air

Hope is
making chicken cordon bleu
without the recipe

Hope is
seeing yourself in the mirror
and not shuddering

Hope is
sleeping on the breeze
it’s up to us to wake it

Hope is
staying forever young
while evil, hate, sorrow
grow old


Hope is
holding on when things look bleak
faith in what you cannot see
refusing to acknowledge the impossible

Hope is
that little thread
you get to hang on to
when the floor disappears

Hope is
learning how to save the world
with little more
than pens and graphite

Reena Virk

Ring around the rosie
A pocket full of posie
Husha husha
We all fall down

on the playground
they seem harmless
play at hopscotch
ring around the rosie

there’s the new girl
she’s got dark skin
she’s got weird clothes
a pocket full of posie

push her sideways
throw her books down
here comes teacher
husha husha

after school then
meet you later
underneath the bridge where
we all fall down