Poetic Vibe, November 30

What Mondays Are Made Of - so says the FB page & so it is, with our host D. Colin. She likes to begin these events with a poem of her own, this night she read two short ones, the first a praise poem for a friend’s birthday, then one about wanting a lemon tree for her yard so she could make lemonade from her own lemons.

Then on to the sign-up list, Aiysha Simon read “All You See is Tip” an extended metaphor about what’s hidden beneath a relationship.

I haven’t read here in a couple months, although I have tuned in a number of times, read a Thanksgiving poem “The Birds’ Poem of Thanks” from my 2011 chapbook Poeming the Prompt, then my most recent poem “Ancestry.com.”

Fatima read a long essay titled “From Days to Days,” dealing with colonialism, the Earth, playing on the etymology of words like “base” & “paradise.” 

Marie Kathleen read a couple of poems from college, “Time Capsule” written early in the quarantine, & “Simple” how a term she saw as negative she now sees as positive. 

Mojavi popped up, read 2 short love poems apparently without titles, “If I could write the sky …” & “I want you to become intoxicated by the essence of me…”

John began with an untitled piece on what this poem is “not”, then one titled “The Wall” filled with images of bees. 

D’Naia began with “Rainy Days” about how we should embrace them even though/because they are messy, then a ranting response to someone who I guess had the initials “ABW” which was the title.

Danielle takes lines she likes from the open mic & at the end turns them into an instant cento,  creating a soup, a gumbo, of the words of the open mic poets.

Tonight’s featured poet was Greg Wilder who signs up as “Slay the Dragon.” He has been out & about in the open mic poetry scene reading not only here at Poetic Vibe, but also at Poets Speak Loud at McGeary’s, at Brass Tacks at The Low Beat, & at the Social Justice Center where I had hoped to schedule him this year, but COVID-19 changed all that. His reading tonight centered around his recently self-published book Slay the Dragon Presents … Pink Cloud Poetry: Poems from Early Recovery, with a few others not in the book thrown in. He began with “A Universal Monster” using elements from 1930’s black & white horror movies & TV shows, using Zoom’s screen sharing to show images, a story of a drug overdose & a broken arm. Other poems from the book included “Forecast” addressed to a “sexy weather girl,” also one he said he had not read out before “A Drowning Man,” & one of my favorites “Addicted to Poetry” set like being at an AA meeting. The pieces not from the book included another favorite of mine, a love poem to Emily Dickinson filled with humorous sexual wordplay, wordplay being one of Greg’s most used tools in his poetry tool box, & a new poem finished just his morning a pandemic poem titled “The Virus” with TV graphics, like his first piece, & panic buying, Zombies, just like the real thing.

You can find Greg’s book on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pink+cloud+poetry&ref=nb_sb_noss but also perhaps elsewhere if you’re willing to look.

Poetic Vibe is every Monday — find it through Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/384091225094826/about