Sunday, February 28, 2010

Spring Gathering for Nps Poets

Dear Nps poets,

I will be hosting an informal gathering on the 6th of March (Saturday) at 7pm for all the Nps poets.

Let this gathering nurture our creative juice, collective voice, and poetic spirit. We are doing another "round table by the imaginary fire" type of reading.

The theme for this gathering is "Three Universal Needs of the Soul", which I will discuss next Tuesday night.

Let the soul speak freely, both on stage and outside of End of the Line. If you don't read, but are interested in participating in the theme, please come and join us.

Location will be announced later in the week.

Sincerely Yours,

Priya

Thursday, February 25, 2010

A Synchronistic Gathering of Poets

Naja, Q, John Ellis, Morgan and I gathered after last poetry night and we formed a round table of synchronistic poetry; synchronistic meaning no planning, but Nature orchestrates the beginnings; the Way is already inherent in Nature, there is no Force pulling or pushing, but only a gathering designed for all of our highest interest, which is a sharing of Love via its many faces through the Spoken Word.

Come and be the Way for the new poets, we are important in history, we are not minute in a way we perceive ourselves in daily lives, let go the fear and the anger and the frustration and the sad moments of what was, and rise above all to get in touch (and in sync) with a higher level of creativity.

There is a book called The Artists Way by Julia Cameron, I am thinking about writing something similar (eventually) called "The Poets Way", designing to tap into higher states of creativity for all poets and lovers of the Spoken Word.

It is my love for poetry AND poets that have brought me here, I would not be at Nps without Patrick's dedicated and consistent effort to keep Nps going, my appreciation goes out to him first.

May I suggest that we become ONE BREATH with all the poets that have gone before us, all the great ones before our time, they were great and we are the continuation and the keeper of the Power and Beauty of the Word; it is a privilege to BE A POET, my goodness, it is a full-time profession in the eyes of God.

I thank you all humbly, with all my heart and gratitude for people that brought their talents to this Time that we live in.

In Grace,

Priya

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

After Poetry Night on 02/23/2010...

Magic, Synchronicity, Power, Historical Significance, Grace, Love, Beauty, Timing, and Purpose have united and set off the Quantum Fire.


(brief pause) ring ring!

T.S. Eliot gave me a call from the Dead Poet Society and said, "NPS is ready."


"The New Renaissance is here, all poets congregate by the Force. Peace is the Tao, the Spoken Word is the instrument. I lead the Way. -Priya Lin"


Patrick is still the leader of Nps, I am assuming leadership of the Way, John Ellis will follow. -P.L.




February Twenty-third, Two thousand and ten

Good afternoon, blogosphere. Last night, our very own New Poet's Society had a spectacular Open Mic at End of the Line Cafe. As usual, the talent was electric from the first reader, our very own Fearless Leader P. Hudson and his Anomie blood blue moon poetry. From there, the audience was 'wow'ed by Q's magnificent cadence, backed-up by Naja's spectacular vocals. Her performance was met by a sea of applause from the crowd. Next came the enigmatic Rylan and a particularly cryptic piece that earned him the moniker 'that fox guy' from dumbfounded smokers outside the cafe. Dustin followed with an interesting conceptual silence titled 'The Poem Between Poems,' or somethin along those lines. The two new readers this week went by the names Charles and 'Pepaboy Trill McCoy'...great job to them. Just as they were finishing, Kent appeared from the shadows, hopped up on a magnificent cup of coffee, spilling forth hurricane-fast rhymes about a world of paper before rushing out the door. A smile of fulfillment hung beneath his mustache as the crowd celebrated his verbal dexterity. The comedic Morgan brought forth some beautiful short pieces last night, along with frequent contributor J.D. Ellis. Both of these young poets bring vitality and talent to the open-mic sessions. Priya Lin, with her ubiquitous Apple laptop, handed out dedications and metaphors while keeping her screen illuminated with the slighest tap of her finger. Gary read a fantastic poem reminiscent of 'Dune,' and his wife Katherine stood with strength as she offered us a bouquet of poetic language. Meg gave us something to think about with her three page poem, written on scraps of paper that added depth to her performance. Naja had some of that 'old to me, new to you all' stuff that really made us swoon, especially her last poem that came completely out of her memory banks. Per tradition, Spirit finished out the night with his usual verbal gymnastics. In all, the night was full of great artistic merit...a collective favorite line came from Naja, who coined these appropriate words:
"Poets are my preachers/and church is an open-mic."
Look at the time! See everyone next week........I hope you all found joy in this long-winded post.

Best,
barrett

(http://nyquilchug.blogspot.com)

Monday, February 22, 2010

02/16/2010 - Feb. Contest - 17 readers


The night started off with a 'Collection of Fever Dreams'
by our recently relocated friend,
Ty Cummings, read by his younger brother Travis.

My favorite:
"The distance between us shattered like broken flower pots, &
we lay in the soil reaching for eachother."


We built along, both Q and Naja delivering powerful performances
after relating some Black History Month facts, as they have all month.

Spirit showed up with notebooks and conveyed a different side of himself,
lucid and somber in opposition to the freely erratic and emotional side
normally displayed by his improvisation.










As everyone should be aware, we held our Feb. Contest last week.

The 8 contestants:






John D Ellis









Dusty T






Priya












Cole Amick








M.K.







Scott Mayo











AlexB





John Ellis won
11 votes out of 22 with

"To Understand and To Be Understood, let's not get this confused."
-J.D.E. (2010)
kumbaya, my lord, kumbaya
kumbaya, my lord, kumbaya
kumbaya, my lord, kumbaya
o lord, kumbaya

we hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable duties,
that among these are to understand
and to be understood.

yes, to understand
and to be understood
these are the two inherent responsibilities
bequeathed to us by our fatherless forefathers

to understand
and to be understood,
these are the hopes and dreams
of man and man alike

to understand
and to be understood,
these are the debts that are owed
of the people, by the people, for the people

to understand
and to be understood
this is the burden placed upon us,
the children of maize, of tortoise's back, of clay and mud.

so, do not confuse this.
do not confuse this as
the rhetorical inbreeding of misguided attempts
to subjugate others by the good ol' boys that
were raised by the trailer park code of hammurabi
no, this is not "I for I" but "I owe you"

not to be confused with reparations,
for i never wished nothing bad on no one
and the only money I have,
has been invested in bonds;
bonds between my brothers and sisters
(can i get a) hallelujah, amen!

but do not mistake these bonds for chains,
for i would never trade my kin to become
freedom's whipping boy, no,
do not misunderstand me,
this message is not so black and white,
but i hope to understand and to be understood.

so kumbaya, and gather 'round
we shall beat a new drum,
a drum of revolution
beat the rodney king drums no longer
beat the reginald denny drums no longer
beat the tasha hill drums no longer
beat the james chaney, andrew goodman, and michael schwerner drums no longer
beat the drum of compassion
beat the drum of knowledge
beat the drum of liberation
beat the drum of truth
beat the drum of equality and virtue
beat the drum of your heart
beat the drum of your mind
beat the drum of art, of poetry
to understand and to be understood.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Updates/News by Dustin.

Hello all. This weeks context was postponed due to unforeseeable events that we were not made aware of. John, John and myself will recite our competitive pieces this coming up week (assuming we are all there), in which those present will be able to vote on their own personal preference.

Great poetry last week... I enjoyed it myself, I must say.

Davis St. Blues

Jazzy'z playin' blues 2 blocks down davis
Front 'n' Center
rustic vocals
a low barbeque fog fermenting
an' kickin' up as ee plays

Me tappin' keys
acquiesce to banality
as filigrees drift through
cigarette smoke blinds
mixing steam emanating
bore rain-water coffee

Tuesday afternoon always feels like morning
Jazzy'z noted denote the moaning
bucking typewriter clanks through the droning
of another cool fall mourning

blues hanging twixt
autumn orange brown leaves
and dropping.

We extoll
Jazzy 'n' I
as yet another sad letter
forms filigrees then floats
on the bellow of an old song with a whiskey tan
and tangential traffic swooshes
drowned in drawling deference.

"Damn Blues camn an' gotme again.."

He sings for eyes
a sight for a dime to may be paid

"Gotta make it through
these god-damn Davis St. Blues
another autumn another day."

Jazzy could play pulled pork out of his pocket,
and if it's pullin' pay from your's,
the shade of his day could change
but it's gray like cooking skin smog
like that empty restaurant
2 blocks down Davis

"Just another day, another fate for old songs
and their blue singers.
Jazzy don't even know,
we've been writing the same verse
over and over again
only to find
the world
a little less impressed by our accomplishments
a little more
by our failures."

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

For NPS: See you all Tonight!

In search of a gathering

Somewhere in the jungle and tugged amongst the trees

Where you will find only the most sincere seekers

Of the mystics in themselves

Those that embarked on such trails

Trails of Bliss

Of hidden paths

Of ecstatic joy and abundance

Every step along the way...

(to be continued, this legend we call NPS)

See you all tonight!

-Priya Lin

Friday, February 5, 2010

2 February 2010 - Poetry Night/Contest Announcements


As my first post, and the first post for NPS in the new year, I would like to say that Poetry Night has been a wonderful and illuminating experience. That being said, this night was every bit as wonderful and illuminating. The revolving door that has been NPS over the past couple weeks welcomed back Q and Naja, as well as Iceiss and two new readers, Kent and Rylan. We had a total of 13 readers, and essentially everything that I am trying to say about this night can be best captured in what I would call the quote of the night (maybe even the decade). It was spoken by one of our new readers, Kent, and I hope he won't mind me including it here.

Without further adieu, the quote of the night-

"...the collective talent in this room is fucking staggering."
(This is Kent)






Now on to the contest rules for Tuesday, February 9th, 2010.
The rules are very simple. Write a poem about an aspect of February. Any aspect at all.
The poem could be related, but not limited to:
  • Black History Month
  • Breast Cancer Awareness Month
  • Valentine's Day
The winner, of course, gets the respect and adoration of everyone at Poetry Night for one whole night.
The stakes are high, so start writing.

Wishing NPS continued growth and success,
John Ellis



pics by priya:







Thursday, February 4, 2010

Poem for Trevor

“Raconte-Moi” (Tell Me)

~a service piece, serving one of the NPS stars, Trevor, this poem comes to me when I listen to one of my favorite French songs

Tell me

Your life stories

Your unseen sorrow

Your dreams and despairs that only you and your buddies know

And perhaps

None of your buddies know

It’s still hidden quietly

At the secret garden of your innocence

Those who can enter

They bring you a rose

A miracle of love

Wise and young

Old and innocent

Cherished and adored

Kind and forever sweet

Your nature shines like the sun

Dimming the light

I saw the man you are meant to become

Even if the light is still dim

Around you

And it seems to be a bit too dim

For the star dusts that you carry in your pockets

It’s just a note

That you picked it up one day after a long day

It says

I know you

The magnificent child and the man to be

There is one thing more you need to know

And I am going to whisper this to the Universe

My beloved

Your essence is non-stoppable

The timeless piece that is You

Those of us who cherishes who you are

Will hold it gently in our hands

Nurturing every cell of yours

Until one day

Your truth comes

Majesty is your last name

Forget Not

-Priya Lin