Second Draft of a New Poem
November 28, 2007 at 11:18 pm | In Angels, Art, Artistic Nudes, Autumn Fair, Chemistry, Delaware, Downfall, Drafts, Dream, Dreaming, Dreams, Heaven, Love, Oranges, Performance, Poetry, Rabbits, Second Draft, Seraphs, The Police, Thoughts, Vivid, Whispers, Wilmington, Wilmington, Delaware, Wish, Women, Wonder, Wordpress, Worship, Writing, XXX | Leave a Commentviolin strings hang a man with the deafening song of a sunset,
and an artist goes mad in the study of your rib cage darkening
you’re trying to figure out
how to make this girl an angel
you wonder if you have the colors you will need
and the brushes, and the knives, and the eye
why are you trying to figure out
how to make this girl an angel?
you can’t think; hard to be sure if a little black
mixed in with the blue will be enough
why do you think you have what it takes
to make this girl an angel?
what marriage of darkness and light will,
with the clarity of a dream, show how far into the morning she flies?
who are you to make the dark, pink flesh
emerge from the canvas like blood from a cut?
the iron gates at the base of heaven
are chained shut: no one in, no one out
was it wise to make her try to rise up
into a sky full of rain late at night?
and you gave her mere tatters of white lace, billowing
barely enough to cover her breasts and her sex
you could change the color of her wings
in your creation
but you let them stay gray,
and began to work on the lightning behind her
what is her name,
this angel your brush
has trapped between heaven and earth
and
who do you think you are
A New Poem (a draft, be kind, if you read it)
November 28, 2007 at 4:51 am | In Angels, Art, Delaware, Drafts, Musings, Newark, Performance, Poetry, Seraphim, Seraphs, Thoughts, Wilmington | Leave a Comment
you are trying to figure out
how to make this girl an angel
you wonder if you have the colors you will need
and the brushes, and the knives, and the eye
why are you trying to figure out
how to make this girl an angel?
you can’t think; hard to be sure if a little black
mixed in with the blue will be enough
why do you think you have what it takes
to make this girl an angel?
what marriage of darkness and light will,
with the clarity of a dream, show how far into the morning she flies?
who are you to make the dark, pink flesh
emerge from the canvas like blood from a cut?
the iron gates at the base of heaven
are chained shut: no one in, no one out
was it wise to make her try to rise up
into a sky full of rain late at night?
and then you gave her mere tatters of white lace, billowing
barely enough to cover her breasts and her sex
you could change the color of her wings
in your creation
but you let them stay gray,
and begin to work on the lightning behind her
what is her name,
this angel your brush
has trapped between heaven and earth
and
who do you think you are
“…that’s just turbulence, dear, nothing to worry about….”
August 2, 2007 at 9:18 pm | In Announcements, Art, Blogs, Books, Bridge, Bridge Collapse, Delaware, Erotica, Events, Life, Love, Michael Vick, Newark, Nintendo, Pat Tillman, Performance Art, Poetry Slam, Slam Poetry, Spoken Word, The Crimson Moon, Wilmington, Wonder, Writing, XXX | Leave a CommentI just sent over to the folks at the national poetry slam my new “poet’s bio”. Here is what I sent:
A member of 3 poetry slam teams (Worcester ‘95 and ‘96, Washington, D.C. in 2001), this is Rich’s fourth trip to the National Poetry Slam. Rich has published some books of poetry and for 7 years hosted an open reading & slam in Newark, Delaware. He has a lot to learn.His page influences include James Tate, Charles Simic, and Wallace Stevens. His stage influences include Bill MacMillan, Sean Shea, and Lea Deschenes. His interesting blog, Apocalyptic Rabbit Speaks, can be found here: mannabozo.wordpress.com. The Nintendo Wii has helped him to sii, and now hii is frii.
With things like this, I always wonder (and worry) about how “professional” the bio needs to sound. These are all crazy-ass performance poets, these people, and I like to hope that in some ways I am of them, and that in other ways I am not of them. But I think the bio tells you just enough so that if you read the program you might just find enough in there to pique your interest and maybe you’ll stay in the bar, have another beer, and have a look-see at what this Rich Boucher character has to say when he hits the mic.
In other news, the fundraiser at the Crimson Moon Tavern went very well last night. Thank you so much to Chris Malinowski of The Collingwood and to Gina Degnars of Stygian Veil for coming and performing for the crowd. It was a great, huge crowd and you really missed a helluva time if you weren’t there. Standing room only. In a bar, for poets.
*
Yep.
*thanks to Perfect Velvet over at http://www.oceansandgalaxies.com/galleries/alberta/index.html for the image!
ROTFLMWWJD/Halo 2
July 14, 2007 at 1:01 am | In Art, Classical Art, Death, Delaware, Elderly, Halo, Halo 2, Humor, Life, Living, Microwaves, My Life, Newark, Sadness, Sales, Statues, Women, Work | 2 Comments
An old woman stopped me on my way to my desk this morning, before I could get myself really “ready” to talk with my first potential customer of the day, and told me that she needed me to help her select a “good and cheap” microwave. I walked along with her to the microwaves.
And then, the second sentence out of her mouth was, “I don’t need it to do a lot ’cause I’ll be dead in five years.”
POETRY ON TV IN DELAWARE: BIG EXCITING NEWS ALL OVER THE PLANET! COME TO THE CRIMSON MOON TAVERN WEDNESDAY, JULY 11TH AT 8 PM!
July 10, 2007 at 3:16 am | In Announcements, Art, Blogdom, Blogging, Blogs, Books, Bush, Cheddar Cheese, China, Creative Writing, Delaware, Delaware Poetry, English, Feminism, Friends, Gardening, Literature, MTV, Newark, Delaware, Performance, Poem, Poems, Poetry, Poetry Slam, Reading, Salman Rushdie, Shakira, Slam Poetry, Spoken Word, Sports Illustrated, The White House, UK Terror, Wilmington, Delaware, Writing, iPhone | Leave a Comment
So. I’ve got confirmation that we have a local television company coming to film us at the reading for a big profile this Wednesday, July 11th at the Crimson Moon Tavern in Wilmington, Delaware! I’m so excited about this reading that I’m practically ready to lose continence (will keep you all posted). I’ve been hoping for so long that we could catch back some of that momentum we had going a while back, and this is our chance. So, any of you people out there within reach of downtown Wilmington, Delaware who like to read poetry, who like to write poetry, who NEED to read or write poetry, if you like to listen to poetry; PLEASE come. Be a part of the true beginning of a new area in the local culture.
I expect there to be a lot of poets there. I expect there to be a lot of sexy men and women there getting their good time on. And to all of you Delaware bloggers, the ones who read my little corner of TEH INTARWEBS, please come and check it out! Maybe you’re not into poetry so much. Maybe you are. But please, this could be a special night. Please help me make this a special night and come to the reading! Dress your best! We’re gonna be on TV!
please come to the reading -
The Crimson Moon Tavern is located at:
1909 W 6th St
Wilmington, DE 19805
(302) 654-9099
Oh! And, hey! I’ve been published online! Three poems of mine can now be found at (a very nice-looking website indeed) www.depoetry.com. Please go there and check it out!
Poetry: Tonight it’s all going to go down on Union Street in Wilmington, baby
June 27, 2007 at 8:04 pm | In Advertising, Announcements, Art, Blogging, Books, Collaborative Writing, Culture, Delaware, Haiku, Hollywood, Hot, Literature, Miscellaneous, People, Poems, Poetry, Random, Slam Poetry, Spoken Word, Updates, Wilmington, Delaware, Writing, YouTube | Leave a Comment
Tonight is the Delawhere? Open Mic & Slam at the Crimson Moon Tavern in Wilmington. Please come and check it out. It’s only $2 at the door, with a minimum purchase of $5. That’s a grand total of seven dollars. For the cost of a Sunday newspaper and a pack of cigarettes (two things that you will throw away when you’re finished with them and forget all about) you can check out the poetry of any number of amazing poets from all over Delaware (and Philly too!) Slam poets from Newark and Wilmington will converge on this spot and have a nice little World War of Words. Dreamstreets poets from the vaunted halls of Delaware’s storied poetic history come on any given night to lend their voices to the chorus. Newcomers to the craft, we always need you! Long-time stage pros slicking up the mic with their explosive, comedic and intense deliveries. Have a beer and a sandwich and watch the sparks fly. Check out a girl. Check out a guy. Socialize and listen to riveting “verbage“. Break out that poem you have about the underwear you happen to have on at the time. Break out that poem you have about that secret crush you have on the Pope. Break out that poem you have about how much you want to crush the Pope’s head. Seriously. How else could you spend that little and have that much to carry away after?
I mean, c’mon. For goddamn seriously: can we really allow Delaware’s politics take center stage all the time? Can we really afford to do that, in a time when legislation is getting all the press and poets are getting close to none? How can we allow Paris Hilton and House Bill 177 to get so much attention when there are poets pouring their hearts out and getting 10’s and 3’s on a Wilmington slam poetry stage?!
And finally, let me say a thank-you to my friend Fran for hipping me to this awesome clip on YouTube:
First team practice: Sunday, June 10
June 10, 2007 at 10:45 pm | In Announcements, Art, Culture, Delaware, Friends, Life, Life in General, Literature, Newark, Delaware, Poems, Poetry, Pop Culture, Slam Poetry, Spoken Word, Wilmington, Delaware, Writing | Leave a CommentHey, whats up, world—
I’m at the lovely home of Matt and Hannah and Nigel (and Sherrod just arrived) about to have our first team practice for the National Poetry Slam in August….
…I feel like I’m standing on the edge of a diving board looking down,
towards the deep end of some pool down there I can’t quite see…
*and with a loud “sproi-oing!” Rich’s feetz leave the board*
….whoopee!
When was the last time….
June 7, 2007 at 8:15 pm | In Art, Culture, Faith, Islam, Life, Literature, Poems, Poetry, Pop Culture, Religion, Writing | Leave a Comment….that you heard something really shocking and new at a poetry reading?
Wish You Could Have Been There
April 25, 2007 at 1:26 am | In Art, Baltimore, Delaware, Haiku, Humor, Life, Life in General, Literature, My Life, Poems, Poetry, Reading, Slam Poetry, Spoken Word, Writing | 3 CommentsThe show last night in Baltimore went great. I was very grateful that Matt, Hannah and Nigel were up for the trip down for the show. It had been quite a while since I’ve done any sort of feature spot, and it felt good to have a little spotlight on my live poetry again. I was actually feeling nervous, because of the high-profile nature of the event, and because I was a little rusty at doing a feature. Turns out I needn’t have been nervous at all. It was great fun. I forgot how good it feels to get a good bit of “momentum” going in a live performance. The crowd (about maybe 30 or 40 people crammed into a smallish-mediumish basement level cafe) was very into it, laughing at all the right humorous bits of the poems that had humorous bits in them. They were with me even when I tried a new one, a poem which I expect I might just put up on here sometime called “These Are My Underpants”. What do you think, Heather? Should I post it?
Here are the poems I read, in the order I performed them:
bling bling
Maiden Forms
Rocket Scientist
These Are My Underpants*
Haiku For Overhearing The Neighbors’ Loud Sex at an Early Age
Mercury’s Children
* This one, “These Are My Underpants”, is one I’m really pleased with, as far as how it turned out. Sometimes I think my own comedic instincts in a given poem are way off, and I found out in a live setting how off my instincts are – last night things went the other way and I was right on and the place was howling. That’s such a good feeling. I didn’t have any “product” (a slam poet’s colloquialism for chapbooks or cd’s) to sell, so, I really was just thrilled to perform my guts out for the place.
The kind of performing where they’re still applauding well after you’ve taken your bow and sat down, your back covered in sweat. Yeah.
Wish you could have been there.
Video: “…The Angel That I Used To Be…”
April 7, 2007 at 6:37 pm | In Art, Bizarre, Culture, Delaware, Feminism, Humor, Movies, Music, Pop Culture, Video, Videos, War, YouTube | Leave a Comment
Here’s a new video for you. I hope you like it. I’ve been working on it for some time now. Can you dig it? Is it can we has Swedish girl-pop Chinese misdiplomacy tiem nao?*
*That last sentence composed in cat macro english, a new fascination of mine.
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