Welcome to the second installment of Indigo Kalliope: Poems from The Left
Join us every Monday evening for drinks at the new Kos community political poetry club. Drop by and speak your mind in rhyme or blank verse. Let’s use language to scream our passion to the world. Bongos, berets and turtle neck sweaters are optional. The keypad is mightier than the sword. This new weekly community diary is a poetry reading, a jam, a workshop and a classroom.
Formats
• Individual hosts presenting their own politically-themed poetry
• Theme diaries; for when we have collected enough original poetry on a particular theme
• Poetry workshops, including tips on how to make poetry work, how to choose words, how to decide whether to put it in form or use free verse, how to pump the brain when there is nothing there but writer’s block, and so on
• Presentations of a favorite conscientious poet’s work in the public domain
• Other ideas for diary formats are welcome
Comments
• Poetry and verse are always welcome in the comments
Inspiration can be instantaneous, totally absent, or simmering slowly inside like a soup, cooking till the flavors are full and ready to serve. It can come from nature, people, deep sadness, great joy, beauty, ugliness, love, desperation, frustration and exasperation. I will talk about what inspired some of my poems, and you can think about where your inspiration comes from.
This one was easy for inspiration. I had hepatitis and was really sick for several months, which will be obvious once you start reading. Have you ever noticed how your physical health can affect your view of the world? I have written some really strange things when I was ill.
Reality Sucks
Distorting, afflicting, seeping infections
Affecting the masses in a thousand dimensions
Devoid of significance of any real consequence
Invading the mind, destroying consciousness
Dismembering beauty to a plastic attraction
Reducing nature to a mere distraction
Spewing Earth and space with garbage strewn obstacles
Annihilation promised consuming decaying fossils
Opiated humanity transfixed on internet, god and TV
No one complains if they have electricity
Society creeps with lies and complexity
Destroying the meaning of truth and simplicity
This is a new poem reflecting my weird inspirations. I bought Obama’s children’s book “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter To My Daughters” for my grandchildren for Christmas, his vision for his daughters of how he sees America. I liked it, the pictures most of all. Then, I recently reread Brave New World. The line “Oh brave new World that has such people in it” is repeated many times and stuck in my head, and I thought about Huxley’s future and where we are now. I decided that line described America and used the title Obama chose for my vision of our country. I like to play with form and except for the first line, none has more than two words in it. Sing along....
Of Thee I Sing
Oh brave new world’s
shining seas’
slick glistening
spilling oil
upon dreaming
dying pelicans
god under
amber monsanto
grain waving
noble free
heartland grasping
angry Bibles
clinging clung
guns praying
beseeching wailing
save us
from ourselves
magicians crooks
spending promises
weapons lying
distant shores
endless war
soldiers liberating
ideals meaning
losing reason
freezing season
bells rung
setting sun
twin pillars
wicks burning
shame fame
fame greed
greed power
less more
rich poor
huddled masses
dreams flaming
becoming ashes
none welcoming
bright phoenix
rising fallen
proclaiming crown
king corporation
money won
denied justice
death hung
live long
divisible anger
lost liberty
long live
brave souls
dead democracy
worshipping altar
kneeling keening
capitalism almighty
freedom
done
singing
America
There’s been a lot of talk about empathy since Obama brought it up in the national conversation. It seems to be a quality the right has little regard for and derides. I’ve always had empathy. Here I describe what it is like:
Empathy
I’ve tried the power of positive thinking
I’ve tried to visualize beautiful worlds
I’ve tried to hold on to magical moments
I’ve tried to build walls between my thoughts and emotions
but the reality of what I feel and see, still depresses me
Why can’t I put on blinders and just look straight ahead
not on edges where darkness lurks
or in corners where poverty lives
and into hearts suffering wounds of rejection
disease, loneliness, sorrow, oppression
by a society caring only for fame and fortune
There are two worlds side by side
the chasm between them growing wide
one in the spotlight, one unseen
by the multitudes passing by
My eyes see disparity
My ears hear screams of frustration
My body feels pangs of hungry children
the cold of homeless freezing
hurt in eyes of dogs abandoned
and it makes me cry
Why can’t I ignore the truth around me
it seems so easy for most of humanity
Why can’t I do it too?
This amazing power seems to elude me
My mind knows only too clearly
the ones who are
sad, poor, abused
I feel their pain
as if it were mine
Keep the inspiration fires burning. You never know what will move you. When it does, don’t let it go.