Sometimes, I miss you…
Like slow dances in the hallway to music heard only in our heads;
Like late nights curled up by the fire with a glass of wine and the
Sophisticated musings only Family Guy could provide.
I miss you like all-day text message conversations because our schedules
Don’t always allow us to see each other;
Like finally seeing each other and still having so much to say
Because every word from our mouths is important.
Like waking up and seeing you next to me and every time feels like the first.
Sometimes, I miss you like road trips to Louisiana, East Coast waves in July,
And sleeping on the air mattress in the guest bedroom at your mom’s house…
Alone.
I miss you like love-making on a beached catamaran that was too quick
Because we were both so nervous, but still amazing.
And sometimes…sometimes I don’t miss you.
I don’t miss you like double standards and unearned mistrust.
I don’t miss you like I can’t get lunch with another woman,
In public, I might add,
Whom I had known for five years before meeting you;
Like you can go on a four-day surfing trip with two men
I’ve never met and I am supposed to be ok with that, which I was…
I don’t miss you like Valentine’s Day blizzards when you are angry
Because I won’t drive across town in blinding snow to cuddle;
Like you thinking I forgot your birthday because
I was still awake at midnight but didn’t call you like your friends did.
I don’t miss you like…like…like a migraine;
Like you coming on to me only 3 times in nearly two years;
I don’t miss you like constantly questioning my own self-worth;
Like trying to live up to the man I think you deserve
While being constantly compared to the man your
Father failed to be.
Sometimes I miss you…but most of the time, I don’t.
9.03.2010
8.18.2010
poems i like 2
So I have posted on here in almost two months...depressing. I know I want to write, but I cannot seem to find the inspiration to just sit down and do it. Time for forced free-writing...
In the meantime, here are a few pieces by other authors that I have recently enjoyed...
"The Shoes" - John Mole
These are the shoes
Dad walked about in
When we did jobs
In the garden,
When his shed
Was full of shavings,
When he tried
To put the fence up,
When my old bike
Needed mending,
When the car
Could not get started,
When he got up late
On Sunday.
These are the shoes
Dad walked about in
And I've kept them
In my room.
"About His Person" - Simon Armitage
Five pounds fifty in change, exactly,
a library card on its date of expiry.
A postcard stamped,
unwritten, but franked,
a pocket size diary slashed with a pencil
from March twenty-fourth to the first of April.
A brace of keys for a mortise lock,
an analogue watch, self winding, stopped.
A final demand
in his own hand,
a rolled up note of explanation
planted there like a spray carnation
but beheaded, in his fist.
A shopping list.
A givaway photgraph stashed in his wallet,
a kepsake banked in the heart of a locket.
no gold or silver,
but crowning one finger
a ring of white unweathered skin.
That was everything.
"in Just-" - ee cummings
in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
whistles far and wee
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee
In the meantime, here are a few pieces by other authors that I have recently enjoyed...
"The Shoes" - John Mole
These are the shoes
Dad walked about in
When we did jobs
In the garden,
When his shed
Was full of shavings,
When he tried
To put the fence up,
When my old bike
Needed mending,
When the car
Could not get started,
When he got up late
On Sunday.
These are the shoes
Dad walked about in
And I've kept them
In my room.
"About His Person" - Simon Armitage
Five pounds fifty in change, exactly,
a library card on its date of expiry.
A postcard stamped,
unwritten, but franked,
a pocket size diary slashed with a pencil
from March twenty-fourth to the first of April.
A brace of keys for a mortise lock,
an analogue watch, self winding, stopped.
A final demand
in his own hand,
a rolled up note of explanation
planted there like a spray carnation
but beheaded, in his fist.
A shopping list.
A givaway photgraph stashed in his wallet,
a kepsake banked in the heart of a locket.
no gold or silver,
but crowning one finger
a ring of white unweathered skin.
That was everything.
"in Just-" - ee cummings
in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
whistles far and wee
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee
6.17.2010
until death comes (extended)
This is an extension of a piece I wrote a while back that was short, found in my "short collection two." The other day I was reading through and more came to me, so here is the extended version:
Until death comes
Until my final breath comes
I'll breathe deep from wells sprung
from mouth
Swallow doubt and reach out to
East, West, North, and South; all around
At the very least I'll speak
My mind in time with verse and rhyme
And listen in kind
On this page, mine is yours,
Yours is mine
Until death comes.
Until life ends
Until all strife ends
I'll strive to love in ways
Only God can comprehend
Storge – affection, a love expected
Philia – friendship, a love respected
Eros – romance, a love connected
Agape – without condition, a love perfected
Build frameworks for spires
Smelted by heart-fires
Towers of selflessness and devotion
Devoid of all emotion save adoration
Because hate destroys nations
And so through my mouth I'll try and
Speak salvation
Until life ends.
Dum spiro spero – While I breathe, I hope.
Until death comes
Until my final breath comes
I'll breathe deep from wells sprung
from mouth
Swallow doubt and reach out to
East, West, North, and South; all around
At the very least I'll speak
My mind in time with verse and rhyme
And listen in kind
On this page, mine is yours,
Yours is mine
Until death comes.
Until life ends
Until all strife ends
I'll strive to love in ways
Only God can comprehend
Storge – affection, a love expected
Philia – friendship, a love respected
Eros – romance, a love connected
Agape – without condition, a love perfected
Build frameworks for spires
Smelted by heart-fires
Towers of selflessness and devotion
Devoid of all emotion save adoration
Because hate destroys nations
And so through my mouth I'll try and
Speak salvation
Until life ends.
Dum spiro spero – While I breathe, I hope.
6.15.2010
on ducks and shooting stars
Lone ducks are hard to spot at night
Floating on Lake Wateree (Windsor)
But plentiful feathers on its tail are white
And they well reflect the pale moonlight
Thus making them slightly easier to see.
Back and forth the lone duck does swim
In an unverifiable figure eight
His summoning quacks echo in the moonlight dim
As he calls his lover back to him
Though she never arrives, so patiently he'll wait.
When looking up at the star-freckled sky
Wondering what celestial beings there may be
The pale dust trail of a meteor goes by
As the lone duck's lover may quickly fly
Overhead, his solemn call her ear cannot yet reach.
And so my eyes, and yours as well
Call the heavenly sent bodies our own;
Wishes upon them made. Don't tell.
We'll depart on seeing three strikes of the bell
And leave the duck to his paddlings alone.
Then off to bed we both retire
I to mine, and you to yours
Somewhere else two minds now conspire
Of wishes wished and stars admired
While up above a meteor still soars.
Floating on Lake Wateree (Windsor)
But plentiful feathers on its tail are white
And they well reflect the pale moonlight
Thus making them slightly easier to see.
Back and forth the lone duck does swim
In an unverifiable figure eight
His summoning quacks echo in the moonlight dim
As he calls his lover back to him
Though she never arrives, so patiently he'll wait.
When looking up at the star-freckled sky
Wondering what celestial beings there may be
The pale dust trail of a meteor goes by
As the lone duck's lover may quickly fly
Overhead, his solemn call her ear cannot yet reach.
And so my eyes, and yours as well
Call the heavenly sent bodies our own;
Wishes upon them made. Don't tell.
We'll depart on seeing three strikes of the bell
And leave the duck to his paddlings alone.
Then off to bed we both retire
I to mine, and you to yours
Somewhere else two minds now conspire
Of wishes wished and stars admired
While up above a meteor still soars.
life song
People say that music is life but
I contend that life is music.
Everything you're composed of composes
a unique composition so open up your
Mind's mouth and use it.
When I write a song it's more than just
Ink on pages with notes and musical phrases;
It's me celebrating what today is by adding
Parts of myself in stages.
A heart beat bass drum, treble tears, and the
Trembling tremolo of my shaking fears to start.
I want to combine my assonance and consonance
To create a dissonance that causes your
Tympanic membranes to dance.
I want to whisper with crashing cymbals and
Produce a din with something as thin as
a tin thimble; form overtones that you
Can only hear with your chromosomes.
The curvature of your backbone is a saxophone
And notes slapped out in a funkadelic style
Come together to form your spinal chord,
The air made hazy with the smoke from a
Parliament, of course.
Take a hammer to your brain cells and hear
Bells echo in your cerebellum.
I want to wrap my hands in paper and play
Guitar till my fingers bleed,
Red florets writing out my life's song for you
To play back to me, soulfully, allowing every
Note to reach into memory and conjure up the
Reasons I wrote that song in the first place.
I want to touch your soul's face with melodies
That return your spirit's grace to how it is in
Its innermost space. Eyes closed, mouth agape;
Letting words and notes take the place of breath,
Inhalation and exhalation, exultation
A total tonal intellectual invasion.
Reverberation digestion, taking in aurally and
Regurgitation orally, an ominous vomitous flow
From me; never ending, no pretending that the heart of me
is just part of what you're starting to see.
So listen closely to this lyrical flow presented to thee.
It may be an unfinished symphony but don't worry.
My life has only just begun to be.
People say that music is life but
I contend that life is music.
Everything you're composed of composes
a unique composition so open up your
Mind's mouth and use it.
I contend that life is music.
Everything you're composed of composes
a unique composition so open up your
Mind's mouth and use it.
When I write a song it's more than just
Ink on pages with notes and musical phrases;
It's me celebrating what today is by adding
Parts of myself in stages.
A heart beat bass drum, treble tears, and the
Trembling tremolo of my shaking fears to start.
I want to combine my assonance and consonance
To create a dissonance that causes your
Tympanic membranes to dance.
I want to whisper with crashing cymbals and
Produce a din with something as thin as
a tin thimble; form overtones that you
Can only hear with your chromosomes.
The curvature of your backbone is a saxophone
And notes slapped out in a funkadelic style
Come together to form your spinal chord,
The air made hazy with the smoke from a
Parliament, of course.
Take a hammer to your brain cells and hear
Bells echo in your cerebellum.
I want to wrap my hands in paper and play
Guitar till my fingers bleed,
Red florets writing out my life's song for you
To play back to me, soulfully, allowing every
Note to reach into memory and conjure up the
Reasons I wrote that song in the first place.
I want to touch your soul's face with melodies
That return your spirit's grace to how it is in
Its innermost space. Eyes closed, mouth agape;
Letting words and notes take the place of breath,
Inhalation and exhalation, exultation
A total tonal intellectual invasion.
Reverberation digestion, taking in aurally and
Regurgitation orally, an ominous vomitous flow
From me; never ending, no pretending that the heart of me
is just part of what you're starting to see.
So listen closely to this lyrical flow presented to thee.
It may be an unfinished symphony but don't worry.
My life has only just begun to be.
People say that music is life but
I contend that life is music.
Everything you're composed of composes
a unique composition so open up your
Mind's mouth and use it.
nomenclature
My name is Blaine Eugene Young II.
European blood runs through my veins as
Strongly as the names that represent that heritage
Flow from my mouth.
Blaine from Gaelic meaning “strong and lean.”
Eugene from Greek meaning “well-born and noble.”
Young from Old English meaning…well, meaning “young.”
And the II, a numeral of Roman origin to signify that I
Proudly bear the entirety of my father’s name.
And this is what bothers me…having that privilege, I mean.
Because while I have that right, I repeatedly meet
Black men, women, and children who share my Old English
Last name. How is it that men with blood from Africa coursing
Through their bodies to a beat of hearts pumping since the
Creation of Man can share this trait with me?
My deliberation leads to consternation as I realize that
It’s because Youngs from generations past decided that
Their Anglo-Saxon nomenclature was superior to that
Of the ones shared by generations unfamiliar to them.
This is for the men who lost their family’s
Last name legacy to slavery;
Men who had the right to give their sons
Something to pass down taken from them by force
Locked down by bars and chains,
By bushel baskets and whips.
This is for the men who were forced to wear
The name Young on their backs, etched by bits
Of stone, bone, and glass; surpassing human tolerance
And renaming not just mind but body,
Calling it “Owned.”
Can you see them? See the hands of wives
Rubbing a homemade salve into the raised flesh,
A human Braille, spelling out a name given
By white men to erase African roots.
Can you hear them? Free men taking on the name
“Freeman” to regain a sense of independence
From so-called men who feared what they
Did not understand.
Well I don’t understand either. And I never will.
Because my name is Blaine Eugene Young II,
The name of my father. And I will call my son a Young.
And I never thought that I’d be one to call for reparations
Because money cannot erase hundreds of year of subjugation
But I am calling for them now…appellation reparations.
But how do you give someone their history back?
I don’t know. Maybe my son can figure it out.
European blood runs through my veins as
Strongly as the names that represent that heritage
Flow from my mouth.
Blaine from Gaelic meaning “strong and lean.”
Eugene from Greek meaning “well-born and noble.”
Young from Old English meaning…well, meaning “young.”
And the II, a numeral of Roman origin to signify that I
Proudly bear the entirety of my father’s name.
And this is what bothers me…having that privilege, I mean.
Because while I have that right, I repeatedly meet
Black men, women, and children who share my Old English
Last name. How is it that men with blood from Africa coursing
Through their bodies to a beat of hearts pumping since the
Creation of Man can share this trait with me?
My deliberation leads to consternation as I realize that
It’s because Youngs from generations past decided that
Their Anglo-Saxon nomenclature was superior to that
Of the ones shared by generations unfamiliar to them.
This is for the men who lost their family’s
Last name legacy to slavery;
Men who had the right to give their sons
Something to pass down taken from them by force
Locked down by bars and chains,
By bushel baskets and whips.
This is for the men who were forced to wear
The name Young on their backs, etched by bits
Of stone, bone, and glass; surpassing human tolerance
And renaming not just mind but body,
Calling it “Owned.”
Can you see them? See the hands of wives
Rubbing a homemade salve into the raised flesh,
A human Braille, spelling out a name given
By white men to erase African roots.
Can you hear them? Free men taking on the name
“Freeman” to regain a sense of independence
From so-called men who feared what they
Did not understand.
Well I don’t understand either. And I never will.
Because my name is Blaine Eugene Young II,
The name of my father. And I will call my son a Young.
And I never thought that I’d be one to call for reparations
Because money cannot erase hundreds of year of subjugation
But I am calling for them now…appellation reparations.
But how do you give someone their history back?
I don’t know. Maybe my son can figure it out.
5.29.2010
lover, please
I know I might be a little too late
But allow me a moment to try and explain.
See, I lost my head and I wound up dead.
And now as you're standing over my grave, I'm asking
Lover, please
Lover, please
I need you to be strong for me
So wipe those tears from your eyes
Only tears for me now are from the sky
Lover, please...keep on loving me
I'm sorry I never made it home
Sorry I left you and the kids alone
I made the wrong man mad; I didn't know he was so bad
And he told me for this world I didn't have too long, so
Lover, please
Lover, please
I need you to be strong for me
So walk away from this hole in the ground
Don't look back, don't ever turn around
But lover, please
Please keep on loving me
I know it will be hard to move on
But like my arms around you, baby
As you hear the words of this song
Can't you feel me in the air
I'm not really gone
Lover, please
Lover, please
I need you to be strong for me
So wipe those tears from your eyes
Only tears for me now are from the sky
So lover please, keep on loving me
Lover, please...keep on loving me
But allow me a moment to try and explain.
See, I lost my head and I wound up dead.
And now as you're standing over my grave, I'm asking
Lover, please
Lover, please
I need you to be strong for me
So wipe those tears from your eyes
Only tears for me now are from the sky
Lover, please...keep on loving me
I'm sorry I never made it home
Sorry I left you and the kids alone
I made the wrong man mad; I didn't know he was so bad
And he told me for this world I didn't have too long, so
Lover, please
Lover, please
I need you to be strong for me
So walk away from this hole in the ground
Don't look back, don't ever turn around
But lover, please
Please keep on loving me
I know it will be hard to move on
But like my arms around you, baby
As you hear the words of this song
Can't you feel me in the air
I'm not really gone
Lover, please
Lover, please
I need you to be strong for me
So wipe those tears from your eyes
Only tears for me now are from the sky
So lover please, keep on loving me
Lover, please...keep on loving me
5.26.2010
first feature performance
Ladies and Gentlemen,
IF you can be in the Columbia, SC area next Monday, May 31st, then you're in for a treat (as am I)!
The Unusual Suspects Presents: In The Beginning There Was The Word
Featuring: US's own Scooter! (that's me)
When?: Monday, May 31st, 2010
9:00 pm
Where?: Pandora's Lounge
8605 Two Notch Road
Columbia, SC 29223
Cover: $5
Drink specials if you like, but mostly just some awesome spoken word. Open mic after feature performance, and most likely before. Come on out if you can!
IF you can be in the Columbia, SC area next Monday, May 31st, then you're in for a treat (as am I)!
The Unusual Suspects Presents: In The Beginning There Was The Word
Featuring: US's own Scooter! (that's me)
When?: Monday, May 31st, 2010
9:00 pm
Where?: Pandora's Lounge
8605 Two Notch Road
Columbia, SC 29223
Cover: $5
Drink specials if you like, but mostly just some awesome spoken word. Open mic after feature performance, and most likely before. Come on out if you can!
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