Extemporaneous Open Mic Poetry Thread

[peruban]

“Soul Interruption”

Uncommon belligerence withheld in modern ways
Discussing a common style, a sway within the lines
Can the wasted years chase us until we change ourselves?
Into grounds left unopened and stampeded about

Stances we held, stances we became, just as the heart
Of the lion stays with every prey it kills, and every one thereafter

She says it’s not easy to hold my hand, it’s not easy
To build a home inside these walls if plaster and molding
Quandaries again and again in my hands we hold out
For all to see for all have been in ways and days a bit of range

Just another day, just another fight, just another blissful
Change of ways interred into newly found jaded sight

The nothingness resounds aloud and clear to all of those
Who wish to hear, the grating effect of constant pithy
“Don’t”, she says to me, “it kills the moment.”
Shale and rock can sediment into earth to take away the sky

The done was done and held beheld to opaqueness it flew
Like thousands of pigeons blocking out the sun overhead

Let’s wrap around our midriffs a woolen shawl and tie
It with a bow to show to all the paleness of our flesh
The golden boys of winter make not a shine into glimmering
Eyes which search about wildly for nuances gone forever

The tank of will is fading fast, the lack of sight, it will not last
And sorrowful is the left behind task of renewing the harmony cast

This was my life, this was my fate, this was the way in which
We spoke of what was to be and what we would abate
Speak not to me of untrained souls, or age, or reason told
Speak only rhymes we fling about and rage in furious days.

These days, nothing seems to move the pendulum hanging overhead
It used to swing and sway, but now, we just watch as it sits and stays.

-peruban
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, this is where I usually give my synopsis on what I just wrote but right now I have no clue as to what this one's about other than something lost and reminisced. Maybe with time I'll come more to terms with the words. Otherwise, post away folks!

[peruban]

1. shameless self kick

I figure somebody's got something to get off their chest. Get creative, people, don't leave me hanging here.

[peruban]

2. Bueller... Bueller.

Seriously? Nobody got nuthin' tonight? Oh, well. There's always tomorrow.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. my Muse is on vacation...

sometimes, given a certain subject I can bounce a few lines. That is about it.

[peruban]

5. S'cool.

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you just bust one. :P

[Tuesday Afternoon]

9. do you mind if I ask...

are you some kind of teacher, professor, professional writer, published poet...?

[peruban]

10. Not at all. I wish.

I'm an amateur at best, I'd like to think I was a poet seeing as how I've been writing them seriously since I was twelve or so. I dream of publishing some day, but, then again, doesn't everyone who puts pencil to paper? I just don't think I'll ever organize anything substantial enough to present for publication. I read poetry for fun, I have too many favorites but I guess I could say T.S. Eliot, Arthur Rimbaud, Sylvia Plath, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Byron, Keats, Anne Sexton, Vallejo, Dylan Thomas, and Shelly are my main favs. There are plenty more on my shelves, though.

I like to play around when I'm not obsessing over the craftsmanship of a particular piece, that's why I like my open mic threads, I just compose on a whim and hope others do, too. I love reading others' work and really enjoy analyzing them and hearing what the author tries to convey. The subtleties of meaning really get me off, and seeing the different ways different people express similar emotions and feelings gives me insight on just about everything, from relationships to philosophy to perspectives on current events.

In the early nineties I used to play poetry tag in AOL chat rooms, that's where someone tags you, gives you a topic or title and you just compose something on the spot and under pressure. It's pretty challenging and really forces you to dig deep for meaning. When you're done you tag someone else in the room and give them a topic or title and it went around from there.

I was actually a mathematics/science major in college, I just took a few literature courses as electives but I was a theater geek in high school and loved to do Shakespearean monologues for extra credit in drama class.

So, in answer to your question, none of the above, lol. I hope that answers your question. :hi:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

12. ok...thanks and as a follow-up

are you employed in the field you majored in college?

One thing about posting on the net...is it true that once you put it on the net, a person can no longer get it copyrighted?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. My dear Tuesday Afternoon!

Allow me to jump in here...

I believe that posting on the internet does not negatively impact your ability to copyright your work...

As far as I know...

:shrug:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

15. How can you control it? Once it is posted anyone can copy and

paste...

[peruban]

16. No, sadly, I dropped out short of five or so classes and now collect disability, long story.

A few nervous breakdowns, a couple failed marriages, and a disabling psychiatric diagnosis. Now that I look back at things it all makes sense and things seem to fall right into place. How could I have not known there was something wrong? Well, live and learn, I suppose.

I did work as a biochem lab tech for about five years while still in college, something I'd like to go back to, even if at least just for part time. I also worked in web hosting technical support position for five years, I'll never do that again. When I left that job I dropped off the net, and the face of the earth for that matter, for about four years, lost all my resources, web pages, e-mail addresses, and even my original DU identity, kixot, which I had had since 2001 when DU started. You can actually still look up my profile for that identity, I had reached 2,722 posts. I just got back into it about late September this year and am having fun not having to take the 'net seriously like I did when I worked as a tech support monkey behind a desk in a cubicle.

As far as copyrights are concerned, I'm not the best person to ask about that, but my guess is that once it's out there it's fair game for anyone to use. I keep my serious work in pencil and paper or word documents. Stuff I put on the web, as much as I may like it, I pretty much just kiss goodbye. So if you have something you're really proud of, keep it to yourself if you're serious about it. Use the net to practice and get feedback, that's what I do. You may be able to copyright something you've already posted on the net but I'd research that if I were you.

There's always the "poor man's copyright", though. That's when you send yourself a copy of your work in a certified letter which you keep unopened in case of a legal challenge. You can then present the unopened certified letter to the court as evidence of its existence prior to the challenge. When the judge or officiator opens the sealed and dated envelope there's the proof that you produced the work prior to whoever is challenging your ownership rights. Simple, cheap, and completely indisputable. Unless the other party can provide evidence of the work's existence prior to the post office's date of the certified letter you have a solid case. Hope that helps a little.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

17. yes. I have heard of this "poor man" copyright...

interesting life story you have going.

I am a little leery of posting any of my good stuff...(what I consider good, anyway)

[peruban]

18. Hehe, sister, you don't know the half of it.

"Interesting" is a good way of putting it. I'm guessing most poets led interesting lives, the ones I've read about certainly did. Arthur Rimbaud and Dylan Thomas have very interesting biographies. Dylan Thomas literally drank himself to death in a New York bar at the age of 39. Arthur Rimbaud wrote all of his works before the age of 21 or so, then developed an interest in physics and engineering before dying of cancer at 37. That gives me about five to seven years left to work on, if the estimates are correct, lol.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

19. My math calculations

put you at 32.

Did you ever see the film about Rimbaud with Leonardo DiCaprio and DAvid Thewlis...the title escapes me at the moment...something, something ....Moon.

[peruban]

20. "Total Eclipse"

Your calculations are spot on. I did see the movie, thought it was great, not sure why it didn't get much of a release here in the states, though. My friend in England told me about it about a year after it was released and I had a bitch of a time trying to find it here for rent. It's still a pretty obscure movie. I can't find it on any of my usual torrent download sites.

Found it on IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114702/

[Tuesday Afternoon]

21. yes, that is it...

blew me away!!!!

good talking to you tonight. Time for me to call it a night.

[peruban]

22. 'Night.

:hi:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. This is still very much a work in progress...it's not finished...

Not done, not by a long shot...


"The Darkness Within "

There is darkness within me
I am afraid to see it
Its inky softness tempts me
To deeds I hardly dare regard

It coils and uncoils
I hear it hissing
I feel it uncoiling
Inside

The wickedness surrounds me
I feel its strength
I always thought I was good

Now it seems I’m a mixture

Darkness and light

[peruban]

6. I like where it's going.

I can relate to the emotion, keep me posted on how that one goes, 'k?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. You bet I will keep you posted!

I started it last night, and I was tired, so I stopped...

I could not tell what I was doing.

And then today, when I got up and was fresh, I looked at it again...

And I felt a sense of awe!

I thought...YES.

So I will continue to work on it...bit by dark bit.

BTW, I won't be here tomorrow night since Tuesdays are my open mic nights...

I won't be back on DU till very late, probably 11PM PST...

Just so you know.

:hi:

[peruban]

11. Ok, see you around soon.

[trackfan]

8. To the Telphone

The telephone, which quietly lies untouched
upon the desk that only this year I built
because my wife created too many stacks
of junk and papers strewn all about, above
and - yes, it's true though I blush to tell - below
the table which had stood in this space before,
seems useless, but connects to the internet,
so thus retains a true purpose after all.

[peruban]

13. An ode to change by necessity?

The desk was created to manage the stacks of junk and papers for which the table no longer served?
But it's not about the table or the desk, is it? It's the telephone which is the key here, methinks, no?
The lifeline to the world. A clever misdirection or a meaningful detail hidden from the obvious?