The Bad! Slam! No! Biscuit! stage is always set up with two microphones, but usually only one of them gets used. This was a poem for the other one.
You're a little left of centre but I like you that way The ignored wallflower that stands mute But with a word you arc up And amplify thought That's not to say you repeat without question You're prone to distortion And occasionally what you think is gentle feedback Is enough to overwhelm and annoy us all But I love you, standing stage right Backed into a corner We can strike together And set fire to the night ------ In the remnants of the ashes I will cradle you as a child Singing sweet lullabies into your ear Until we both fade out... Our love is like a play
Where the actors have been given different scripts And are madly trying to fit the right words together So that an ending is reached For a moment there I'd thought I'd lost you Trusted your love to another's soft arms Sacrificed your soothing words for the sake Of some dear soul in greater need of Your deep wisdom and your comforting thoughts When I scanned the room and could not find you The curve of your spine seemingly absent My heart dropped like a lead weight in the sea Had I in my rash haste cast you outwards? Had I chosen to share you, lend your love? I have, in the past lost many like you But you are one I could not bear to lose My life is a list of borrowed lovers Who have left my doorstep and not returned Names gathering dust in far off houses Fear overwhelms me and in panic I scour my house for a trace of you Conjuring your faint image to my mind I throw my anxious self about the rooms Frantically searching high and low for you For a moment there, I'd thought I'd lost you Placed your pages in another's soft arms But there you sit, hidden, partly obscured Awaiting my touch and my devotion Ready to tell your stories My hand caresses the curve of your spine Opens your cover, and your words spill forth Curled against cushions, gazing at your face You are mine and I am yours once again And we rediscover an old friendship. Bonus: Actual performance of the poem. ACT Poetry Slam Finals 2010.My performance starts at 4:46 - but if you watch the full video, you'll see that my competition included quality poets like JC Inman, Darian Isaac and CJ Bowerbird (Australian Poetry Slam Champion). No wonder my performance was terrible. No excuses for the crappy suit and haircut though.
This was the first poem I performed live, back when I was living with Josh Inman who dragged me along to the infamous Bad! Slam! No! Biscuit! at the Phoenix Pub in Canberra. It was very well received. Perhaps I should have quit while I was ahead...
I am getting up later in the day When the sun is firmly lodged within the sky And the remnants of the nighttime rainfall Have long since vanished. What reason can I conjure up or say To justify my prolonged languishing Is not the warmth of my soft mattress Good reason enough? I cannot blame the winter morning's cold That casts the air as sharp as tempered steel And hardens up the blades of grass That crack underfoot. Nor can I be so forward or so bold To speak of fears of howling, bitter winds That press against blue-lipped tired faces Of pedestrians. No mental bonds restrain me to my bed; I am happy, depressive thoughts are gone. The choice is mine to leave my slumbered pose And go face the world. No. What keeps me here today is your fair head Laying gently upon my naked chest And as your eyes open up, I smile. The day can wait. |
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