TO THEDA DETLOR...THANK YOU FOR SHINING A LITTLE LIGHT UPON US FELLOW POETS...NOW YOUR LIGHT BELONGS TO THE STARS...

Theda
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008



flowers dance
flowers arc
why are some flowers
set in the dark?

flowers whirl
flowers spin
why does the winter time
seem to never end?

flowers open
flowers toil
flowers meet up with flowers
to form a bouquet
upon a wall...

flowers dance
flowers bend
some flowers break off
and get tossed
...by the wind

A GIFT FROM JAY CHOLLIC...

THE FOURTH
by Jay Chollic



I found the house
climbed four steps up
and stood there
but, preceeding me, my timid
knock, was slight,
was subtle-almost there
this creature, pale
to bloodlessness, he

Bloodied me. hard trumpets
hid it; banging drum
a slow tormation
gathering,
and banners in their
brilliant surge
cried dead [truly?]
stillsweating; flushed
while I turned winter
on the blade-all warmth
was mocked! And
the eye that could have
wept, was glazed-all blood;
all breath;
all life;

Finis

FROM CYNTHA TORONTO...

CYNTHIA TORONTO, a California transplant, is a seasoned character actress who has appeared in most mediums including stage, film, television, voice-overs, radio, video, and nightclubs. She is versatile, having developed original productions and performed extensively in experimental theatre, theatre for young audiences, dance theatre, and improvisation-based-on-audience suggestion companies on both coasts, as well as stand-up, sketch comedy and as a singer/lyricist in alternative rock music bands. A member of Spotlight Productions here in New York, she created the award-winning title role of Timtu in the premiere of Edward Crosby Wells’ Helga Schmidt’s Pussy.

Also recognized as a forerunner of cutting-edge Spoken Word Performance on the West Coast, she has pioneered a form combining elements of poetry, music, theatre and media in work that portrays unique glimpses of urban life. Her poetry has been called ‘jolting, shocking, Dr. Seuss-like, relevant, profound, and often hilarious’. An award-winning poet, she has written seven books of poetry and been published in several anthologies and literary magazines, as well as being featured in three documentaries on Los Angeles poets. She has also been featured in several New York poetry venues including, The Cornelia Cafe, The Bowery Poetry Club, Stark at Times Square Art Center, Gathering of the Tribes, Otto’s Shrunken Head, and the national Poets for Peace readings.

She holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Theatre from New York University, and as a Teaching Artist, has created and implemented performance education programs in residencies sponsored by The National Endowment for the Arts, The California Arts Council and Arts Alaska, in addition to public and private schools, and arts/community organizations in California and New York. For the past seven years she has taught at several colleges in the greater New York area, including Spoken Word Performance at New York University; and currently teaches Acting and Speech as an Adjunct Professor at City College of New York and LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York sites, as well as continuing to perform her solo shows and pursue an acting career.




OTTO'S EXPANDING HEAD(in tribute to Otto's Shrunken Head poetry venue)


He's seeping into the cracks of these walls
He's sliding in between our words and phrases
He's urging each of us to reach high
with skydiving leaps of faith
into limitless boundaries of
no categories
no expectations
and no assumptions
of what is correct or
literarily acceptable

Otto is HERE, patiently waiting,
pumping us with tropical pulsations
of mango, rum and Kalua
with his shrunken head
wanting to expand
into a new sense of
passion and wonder
that he has reserved for us
in this darkly lit intimate space
where poets spill ink onto
their receiving playmates
sitting at their small tables,
ready for a big idea that will
light their way into another day
as Otto's shadow is seen
just around the corner
of the next image.

Cynthia TorontoCopyright 2008

AT THE PUBLIC LIBRARY...

Misty
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c. 2008



i saw jack kerouac today
and i'm misty
drops of fallen rain
against the gurgle of
a waterfountian
leaves me misty

beat poet's existential hunger
for emotion and pain
beat poet's eternal hunger
to be down and out
and i'm misty

broke
empty pockets
empty bed
full of 'bennies' and booze
empty head makes me wonder
was herbert huncke misty?

luminous mysterious lines
play on my sanity bringing
me solice in my solidtude-
existential way
and i'm misty

mystic new jersey life
filled with karaoke blues
filled with karaoke booze
made me ponder
'am i a really a mystic'?
-misty

mysterious words scribbled
on discarded notepads
saved in paneled glass
in a side show makes me
feel misty

i saw a jack kerouac
in a side show today...
-and i walked away
feeling very
misty-

PAYS TO BE AROUND...

Where's Daniel?
by "OBSIDIAN!!!" c.2008

where's Daniel at?
in alleyways
and sleezy barbacks
on cheapened souplines
with hands in pocket
against the wind

where's Daniel at?
in porno-shops
brothels and
opium dens
sleeping in libraries
and bookstores until 10

in central park after
dark with a bottle of
coors scribbling poems
with discarded pens
looking for a pair of
shoes with vagabond
blues on street corners
way after the sun's gone
down

where's Daniel at?
in front of churches
and synagogues that
pass their time giving
away swag in paper bags brown

in smoke-filled bars
playing movie star
in poetry joints
at liquor stores
in front of cigarette machines
and waiverly's public assistance
haunts

on concrete floors
bodega stores
wooden park benches
piss corner stenches
stairways
and alleyways leading to
county jail stretches

i'll tell you where
Daniel wasn't at!
at a funeral parlor
as the chorus rose louder
roses adorning
your body lifeless and grey
where friends and family met
with handkerchiefs wet
as the pallbearers carried
your body away

THE POET AMIN...

The Poet Amin lives in Connecticut. He was an actor for The Second Step Players and one of New London's Backroom Poets. He had a chapbook produced in New London, ENTITLED: "THE BIRD THAT FLEW OVER THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS."




Not Interested

Look at all the pretty ladies in the short dressesI am focusing on cleaning up my messes So I'm not interested

How about that one over there with the big breastsI wouldn't care if she was chest less I'm not interested

I have a bucket of apples you can pick the freshestI have a bucket of pears I'm not interested

They say George Bush is a killer in the danger waters he testedLook, I'm a rebel without a cause I'm not interested

What about all the children that are being neglectedI don't work for DCF I'm not interested

Why is it that only Caucasian men that are elected presidentJesus was against politics I'm not interested

Do you create your poetry with a certain methodIf it's not a positive creationI'm not interested

Arabs are planning to burn the oil in TexasI wouldn't care if they blew up the countryI'm not interested

It seems to me that you're purposely acting indifferent That's because they teach that the word Nigger means ignorantWell, since it is two mes can you be a litte clearer The true definition for the word Nigger means builder

I really think you will be a disgrace to poetry publicationWhat if I give my manuscripts away for freeWouldn't that be interesting

-The Poet Amin