POETS PLACE
SEPTEMBER EDITION
It’s hot! Super hot!!! September is my birthday month and my day usually falls on or there about Labor Day. Birthdays are a celebration of self. A day just for you to do and act however you want. A gift we can give ourselves. It’s a day of permission. So why don’t we give ourselves permission to be kind, loving, happy and self nourishing everyday? I wish I had the key to that answer. It’s also a difficult time for everyone right now since we are in a state of flux and worry about the upcoming election. No one can really predict the future, so it keeps us in a constant state of fear and anxiety, which keeps the cortisol chemical in our brains on high alert mode. A state of fight or flight. I’m trying not to freak out. To use my meditative skills to calm myself, and self sooth. Creative distraction often helps. So do drugs and alcohol. Yoga is a healthier distraction. It has many benefits for the mind and the body. So let’s get out our mats, lay down, stretch and breathe. Let’s pray to the Gods that we can get through this cluster fuck of nauseating fear mongers, liars and cheats. And dig our way out with the help of Om.
Namaste, Linda :0)
On closer inspection
By Linda Kaye
No matter how much you clean the dust particles remain
the mind races unable to sort out the constant barrage of toxic influences and stupid rhetoric as if bombs are exploding behind the retina of the eye
creating images of death diseases religious fanatics beheadings weddings starving dogs and weeping children
senseless behaviors flooding the world as we speak
a wrath of dearth with loads of rhyme and incomprehensible reason
On closer inspection
look up to the sky and ponder
grab a blunt get high on life's gifts and presents of love that surrounds abounds with infinite wisdom the Dalai Lama-isms
"Silence is sometimes the best answer"
Reflections of experiences passed
on guilty pleasures
unlocked treasures
buried deep
underneath
trying to escape through the barriers of imperfections
mirrored inspections that resemble that familiar face
smells of that place
the repression that holds tight
squeezes with all its might
Upon deeper inspection colors appear brighter when the fear peels away revealing untapped resources of gold and markings of scars that have actually healed but remain buried encrusted as a trusted friend although developmentally delayed and frightfully stayed
Oh the possibilities of new skin
a fresher look of perception
unclouded visions
transcendence of soul
unconditional love and acceptance of self of humanity
respect of thy neighbor
thy friend, nature, the earth.
A Hoot and a Holler and Two Cahoots Away
By Alex S. Johnson in collaboration with Alea Celeste Williams
"Everybody should have an Alea-esque person in their life"-- A Josh Cookieman
So
there's this
kinda
Unusual
Chica
In
Monroe
Michigan.
She has dark hair
Dark eyes
peering at the world
Curiously through
big
Frames.
Her eyes look like
Smoke
Seen on a deliciously
frosty
Fall day when the leaves
crunch
on the path before you
And your nerves are all a tingle because
Magic
Mystery
and perhaps a ghoul may
Just
May cross your path but
Her breath if I could put a glass box around it put
It in
Artistic context make it into
A Bauhaus type
functional yet
beautiful
Mass produced
object
put it in artistic context and
sign it
L.H.O.O.Q.
French readers do yo stuff
(spell it out phonetically for a million in prizes!!!)
Let me tell you
People would pay a
Frightening lot of
Do
Re
Mi to
Collect it
Doom Hippies of all
stripes bell
Jarred bottom feeders and
Sizes of daughters n' sons would
Hitch thur buns to a
traveling chaos
Star like
Freddy
Mercury or
that guy whose
poetic philosophy inspired
Also Sprach
Zarathustra and
The hurling of a bone into
a smash cut military machine
Sponsored by aliens
sponsored by aliens
sponsored by aliens
sponsored by aliens
Upgrade upgrade upgrade the
glistening bolts of the
New
machine-man
Slot into
their
Places places places
Bob Fosse
On your remarkable
sets
go go go
like Antonin Artaud
the Theatre of Cruelty
Like Friedrich
Nietzsche on
The Original Mother
Music
The Birth of Tragedy and
Let me tell you
like an old and
Deere John tractor tread
Fren
It wasn't
Wagner
who saved us all with his
architectonic vision of
Total Fucking Theater
With Death from Above
Raining blood all over our
Split diopter
screen
In a fever dream of
espionage by
Brian De
Palma
Will I win the Academy Award for
best
hallucinatory
vision to
Instantiate
Live deconstruction of malware addicted guts
like an experimental
contest,
object
a night in the ruts....
No
Bitch
We
ain't
dead
yet
No,
Bitch
We
ain't
dead
yet
Because we're from
the West
the
West
The West is
the best, the best, the best, the best.
Alex S. Johnson is a neurodivergent activist, author, music journalist, artist, songwriter, novelist, editor, publisher and poet. His singular poetry and prose has been widely published, including such venues as Drinker's Corner, Borderless Journal, Cease, Cows, Bizarro Central, Horror Sleaze Trash and Black Noise. John Shirley, Bram Stoker award winning author, co-creator of the Cyberpunk genre, lyricist for Blue Oyster Cult and co-author of the screenplay to the 1994 cult classic horror film The Crow, wrote of Johnson's dark poetry collection The Flowers of Doom, "Alex S. Johnson is the Baudelaire of our time; the poet of the underground." His poetry collection Skull Vinyl as well as his dark satire collection The Doom Hippies were acquired as culturally significant by the Widener Library at Harvard University. His upcoming books include a series of dark poetry chapbooks in collaboration with critically acclaimed author and artist Sandy DeLuca. Together with Alea Celeste Williams, he founded Coalition for the Better Timeline. Johnson runs Nocturnicorn Books and resides in Carmichael, California with his family.
Alea Celeste Williams is a well-known UFOlogist, a poet, artist, activist, lover of nature and peace, thinker, philosopher, dyslexic and dyscalculiac healer and founding member with Alex S. Johnson of Coalition for the Better Timeline. Her work appears in several Nocturnicorn Books anthologies including We Are Gregor: A Disability Rights Anthology. She lives in Monroe, Michigan with her cat, Zaku Salem and her boyfriend Michael Akers.
IF YOU COULD SEE ME NOW
5-14-2024
5:10 a.m.
By Mary Cheung
Mom if you could now see,
what I've become.
I think you'd be proud,
seeing where I am and what I've become.
As a mom, I don't need to guess.
I'm walking in your shoes
And everyday is a test.
Of my strength, of my patience
Of my unconditional love.
Only it comes with conditions and there's no manuals, there's no rest.
And you do what you must
Because of the love
and they're your own flesh and blood.
And you only hope you get it right.
Some days are a really big high.
Other days a really low, low.
On those days you remember,
the early years.
When you were your kids sun and they revolved around you.
Bringing only sunshine no rain.
In their eyes you brought them only joy, no sadness or pain.
Then before you know it
Toddlers years become elementary school kids.
Drops offs and pickups
Lunch boxes and field trips.
Homework and school games.
Halloween, scholarship and school yard parades.
You do it all while juggling work.
And sleeping fewer hours.
It all feels impossible and insane.
But you realize ... you did it all.
And you did it with less help.
Hey I never heard you complain.
Because it was never a job to you.
Being a mom was a reward to you.
Oh and when those hugs and "I love you's " came.....
It felt like the biggest gift.
Nothing else would ever compare.
Mary Cheung is a multi-disciplinary artist. She has been creating art since she was young. Grew up the youngest in a family of eight. She came to America at the age of 2 and grew up in San Francisco. Attended American school during the day and Chinese school at night.
Mary has an AA degree in Fashion Design and a Best Costume Design Award from the NAACP. She often creates costumes for her art narratives and creations. Sometimes building the sets as needed.
Mary was the Producer for the Santa Rosa Spring Festivals 2011 and 2012 which incorporated live performances and festival games.
She produced the EVOLUTION Music and Arts event in 2013.
LUSCIOUS, Music Art, Live Body paint Art Event IN 2014 followed by
OPEN FLOOR IMPROV EXPERIMENT whose purpose was to engage the community, encourage local business growth and artists involvement. Her real passion and drive come from being able to engage the community while bringing hope, healing, joy, and human connection.
It is her goal to be able to continue to do this while making an impact on society’s values and thinking.
“I hope that I can be a role model for others to find their own true voice in life through my art."
After prostate surgery
Looking at a bowl of wildflowers
By Bill Fishman
I don’t think this is final
I don’t even know if I remember this right
Did I read this somewhere?
I wake up sobbing.
This is a heart you don’t know
Trapped in a body that cannot endure
Seeking an ending that cannot deliver.
Bill Fishman has lived 30 years in Eagle Rock, 75 years on the planet, 75 years in L.A. I could have used some of the now-possible ways of coming out, like, 70 years ago. Everything in the poem actually happened. It’s about mortality.
Survivor of Past Moonlight
By R. G. Carrillo August 2024
Laura Nyro on my wall
Like a musical crucifix
My long haired
New York Madonna
I cling to my
Youthful sensibilities
Dreamlight
To mystic
Moonlight
Melodic romance
Peace on Earth
A benefit dance
For homeless
Gay teenagers
Mantra to marijuana
Tendaberry
To Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles
Heartland
A wasteland
Filled with saints
And sinners
Angels minus wings
All trying to be
Winners
Devils covered
In sheepskin
Roaming the Earth
Like packs of wolves
A piano interlude
Of epitaph
The blues
Crash down
Upon me
Like blue rain
Writing on the wall
Of my rebellion
Tears and blood
A heretic’s ink
Ignoring red flags
Along my way
The luster
Of this lifestyle
Superficial
Shallow
But swallowed
Me in a game
I could not win
I sit opposite death
Drawing in
Stubborn breath
How we ignore
The flaws
Beneath their sheath
Of beauty
Our vision
Blurred
By passion’s
Flame
Our instincts
On the blink
We sink to base
Primal function
With wisdom
And hindsight
Returned
Earned in youthful
Battles with love
We develop
A third eye
We acknowledge
The physical
Magnificence
Now tempered
In our reverence
Our minds
Coveting flesh
Our souls
Looking toward
The glory
Of God
A communion
Of beings
Not to be denied
Free will
Personified
Foreboding
Piano notes
Chinese wind
Chimes
Softly tinkling
In the morning
Breeze
The steam
Of Oolong tea
Melodic melancholy
Her Captain man
Her devil adversary
My romantic worries
A bellyache of sorrow
Heartbreak wishes
Unanswered
Depression
And dirty dishes
Sink me in illusion
Demons in the New York
Puerto Rican night
Looking for something
Akin to love
My spirit defeated
Sad mutilated
American dove
High on marijuana
Overindulged
Cocaine freak
Featherless
Terror stricken
Heroine
Methamphetamine
War sicken
Drop cluster bombs
On those
Fanatical ones
Stars and stripes
Burned in Bagdad
Land of Allah
Whose god
Is greater
No more war
60’s protesters chant
Save the country
March on D.C.
Kill the
Great Satan
Their followers rant
The president
On vacation
Golfing at his
Country Club
The nation
Out of gas
How do
We escape
How do
We evacuate
How do
We resuscitate
Our constitution
Survivor of many
Ravages
Sweet catholic
Altar boy
Raised up
By savages
Sacrificed
By irresponsible
Parentage
Baptized
In Cathedral blood
Disciple
Of Louis John
Betrayed by
Frank-in-Sense
Misunderstanding
God
My life
Resilient
My path
Less brilliant
A thorny
Journey tread
Resurrected
To a new
Prosperity
The wood
Is aged
The fruit
Is good
Blessings
To all I meet
Looking back
On a few regrets
Never smoked
Mainstream cigarettes
Puffed the cancerous
Fires of self-hate
And fatalism
Tempted heretical
Suicide
Authored my own
Life catechism
Opted out
On a bride
Retreated to
My room
Musical groom
Always at my side
I have survived
Now the
Honeymoon
Ronald G. Carrillo is a native Lincoln Hts Angelino, living in Eagle Rock and a retired LAUSD educator and influencer. He writes of his passion and rebirth into the golden age of living. He has been writing since high school and was initially influenced from the songwriters, Keith Reid, Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, Neil Young.
Two Love
By Don Kingfisher Campbell
from opposite sides of the dining table
single hands finger meander like cats
looking to nail nuzzle each other
one slips on top of one upturned
palm lying flat like a survival raft
as fingertips slide and meet wrists
there they go back and forth to create
soft friction sensed by skin, faster
and faster to generate welcome heat
then thumbs stroke sides, eight digits
latch in the middle like a train coupling
clench cut nail edged fists into palms
shimmy and release so whole hand can
turn perpendicular and embrace, lock
on to push up and down a squeezy kiss
Don Kingfisher Campbell, MFA Antioch University L.A., taught at USC and Occidental College Upward Bound, board member California Poets In The Schools, publisher Four Feathers Press, host of the Saturday Afternoon Poetry reading and workshop series in Pasadena, California. For awards, features, and publication credits, please go to: http://dkc1031.blogspot.com
Child Of The Cosmos, February 2021
By Bee Appleseed
To be a child of the cosmos
One with the stars
Is to be a little chaotic
As the universe itself is chaotic
For life is but chemistry and physics
Infused with spirit
Somehow finding balance
In all the unlikeliness of this incarnation
Here on Earth
Bee Appleseed is a prolific singer/songwriter, poet, musician, entertainer, audio archivist, and recording engineer from Canby, Oregon, living in Los Angeles, California.
and here's my website: www.beeappleseed.com
Thanks for joining us! We will continue to host writers and poets of all genres.
Please submit your written work to: lindakayepoetry@icloud.com
and include a short bio
Linda Kaye writes poetry, curates poetry, produces films, produces spoken word and art events and produces a poetry column POETS PLACE for the online publication LAARTNEWS throughout the Los Angeles area.
Linda’s poetry events have included several summer poetry salons, and shows at the Align Gallery, 50/50 Gallery, Gold Haus Gallery, Ave 50 Gallery, and Rock Rose Gallery in Highland Park. The Manifesto Café in Hermon, Pilates and Arts studio in Echo Park, and Native Boutique, Zweet Café in Eagle Rock, The Los Angeles Makery in Little Tokyo. And at the Neutra Institute Gallery and Museum in Silverlake. Her first short documentary film “BORDER POETS” was a socially and politically inspired event with poets and musicians filmed at the border wall near Tecate, Mexico on the Jacumba, Ca. side of the US. The film co-produced by MUD productions is available for viewing on her website and on youtube. https://youtu.be/5Te4-dlhxco
Her rap music video project in collaboration with Mary Cheung, “ERACE-ISM” can also be seen on youtube. https://youtu.be/NfrbveNUBgg This video was accepted into the Ontario Museum of History & Art show “We the People” Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. February 2- April 16, 2023. So honored!!
And… February 19, 2022, she debuted her staged poetry production of “20 Years Left” at the historic Ebell Club in Highland Park! Two sold out shows with 2 standing ovations!! Check out the links to reviews and the video!
https://thehollywoodtimes.today/20-years-left-new-show-performance-poetry-music/
20 Years Left youtube live stream 2/19/22
Linda Kaye is a native Angeleno who grew up in the San Fernando Valley. She claims to be both a first-generation Valley Girl, and The Original Hipster. Educated at Antioch University and Cal State Long Beach in psychology and social work. Linda, now retired from medical social work, was working for her last seven years of employment as a psychotherapist and licensed clinical supervisor for an out patient mental health clinic. She was a licensed medical social worker for 30+ years working on the front line of healthcare, a private consultant for Physicians Aid Association and for skilled nursing facilities throughout California and Arizona. She was also an adjunct assistant professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. Oh yeah.
Twitter/Instagram: lindakayepoetry
http://voyagela.com/interview/daily-inspiration-meet-linda-kaye/https://
shoutoutla.com/meet-linda-kaye-poet-poetry-and-theatrical-producer-filmmaker/