Two Poems by Jack G Bowman "After Watching 'Behemoth'' and "Impeachment Proceedings"

After Watching Behemoth

Phosphorous, radium enlightenment

Uranium 238 smile,

the scientist from the NRC

watches the sky,

mystery crashes in the atmosphere

wonders in sci/fi;

‘if aliens are changing the atmosphere so it’s easier for them to breathe’

or if that’s just another excuse for greedy, heartless sapiens

to pollute the planet 

sad, acid, fog tears, burns, scars

Earth trembles

waits for another large asteroid,

already past due

or some new dangerous giant to come up from the ocean depths

to do a little payback.

Impeachment Proceedings

His peacemaker role now becomes a resistance martyr

flames of frightened villagers march to storm the castle

he sees them, feels the mob blood rise

it is exciting, easy to join in

so he backs off

his one reflective desire

to observe; takes over,

intellect overrules the immense emotional wave

there cannot be too many mistakes

or the castle will send its soldiers to stomp the rebellion

storm troopers and with vengeance and sharpened blades

death, makes the man curious,

to watch at a distance

they no longer pretend to listen to him

the walls must come down,

the king must be tried and hung

and the land must become fertile again

maybe… maybe.

Jack G. Bowman is a licensed psychotherapist (LMFT MFC42855) poet, composer, artist and performer in Southern California. His poems have been widely published in small presses across the US, UK, India, Mexico, and on the internet since 1991. He has written reviews for Poetix and poeticdiversity, and he was a member of the poetry groups Third Person Singular, Duotribe, and The Furniture Guild Poets. In recent years, he's been published in Altadena Poetry Quarterly, Spectrum Anthologies, and Fevers of the Mind. In 2016, he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Poetry Collections

1. Thanatos on a Southland Freeway

2. Paranormal Libido

3. Incarnate Canals of Mars

4. Unnatural Fire

5. Diamonds in the Sand

6. Vision and Presence

7. Moths Singed by Moonlight

8. Serpents in the Stratosphere

9. A Walk into Darkness

10. Red Velvet Apocalypse

11. Other Realms of Being

12. Incandescent Silence

13. The Troublesome Tales of Frank Macabre

14. Ego Syntonic Jasmine

15. Metamorphic Consequences

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The Dilemmas of Men

Reading People

Sheila E. Murphy's "Reporting Live From You Know Where"

My introduction to political poetry came with the Poets Against the War movement, back in 2001, within weeks of 911.

Since then, political poetry has been part of the mainstream, wth many anthologies and collections published every year. Reporting Live From You Know Where, by author and poet, Sheila E. Murphy, is a chapbook length hay(na)ku sequence of poems written after 45 was elected president. Winner of 2018 Hay(nu)ka Book Prize, it spans 65+ pages in a seamless and imagist narrative, but it also goes beyond the polemics required for political poetry.  

Reporting Live is written in the hay(na)ku style (a 21st century poetic form invented by Eileen R. Tabios. It is a six-word tercet with the first line being one word, the second line being two words, and the third line being three words - www.eileenrtabios.com). Murphy’s distilled the vast gulf of rage and chaos that currently divides the United States into a series of powerful, raw micro-moments the reader can immediately relate to, even beyond the political context:

    

look at what

You have

destroyed

forgiveness

was never

the right reflex

Within Reporting Live, Murphy brings to light those issues 45’s base patently ignores: sexual harassment and accountability (you claim inevitability/I should/know, sides/of her/face suspiciously unmatched); 45’s constant assertion of lies as truth (those/ declarations of/what he thinks, spare little old/us from/this, ongoing/figurative aggravated/assault on sensate); the fake news epidemic (loss glossed over/decibels functioning/as, smoothness/for perps/seeking confirmation everywhere); and GOP’s dismantling of democracy (why/are you/here to explain, these inquiring others/seeking just/relief, from/you, your/spontaneous theft swiping, what we have/worked years/for). Murphy’s vision and lyricism are laser focused through the hay(na)ku sequence, which makes Reporting Live a quick read, at first. A second, and then, third reading of Reporting Live will give the reader a deeper appreciation of Murphy’s skill with rousing the reader to empathize with the frustration that she, and the reader, as citizens, experience under 45’s regime.
Beyond the concern and rage expressed, is a clear warning in Reporting Live: to be vigilant against the “new normal, and to hold onto the real real truth of who each of us is, in an era where everyone else is too beaten down to care. This is why, in my opinion, Murphy’s words need to be memorized, as a mantra against the dark:

here i am

aged and

desirous

of

incessant earth

tones deliciously intoned

the only one

I can

hear

said

the conductor

is Sheila Murphy

an epic misunderstanding

my musical

weltanschauung

Reporting Live From You Know Where, Sheila E. Murphy, © 2018 Meritage Press/i.e. press and xPress(ed), 70 pages,  ISBN 978-1-934299-12-8, $12.00 US.

© 2019 marie c lecrivain

(previously published in Issue 40 of Clockwise Cat)

National Women's Month: Gwyndyn Alexander's Poem "America Year Zero"

The taste of ashes in my mouth today is bitter. Yesterday, I awoke full of hope, listening for the sound of breaking glass as that final ceiling shattered. Instead, we all heard the first echo of marching boots, of the kicking in of doors, of the rattling rumble of tanks last seen in Tianamen Square. The ashes I taste are from waving amber grain burning in a firestorm of hate and lies and bigotry unleashed. The lady in the harbor has doused her torch. Yesterday I was a woman full of hope. Today I am an unperson in Putin's America. Today I am small and frightened and tired. Today I am ashes and sackcloth and mourning robes. Tomorrow, though, I will look ahead to a future I will help build. I will ignite the fires of hope and anger and love. I will spit out these ashes. I will change my cerements for feathers. Tomorrow the struggle begins. Tomorrow I will create and build and strive. Tomorrow I will fly.

©  2017 Gwyndyn Alexander




Bio: Gwyndyn Alexander is a poet, activist, and bad influence. She lives in New Orleans with her husband, and her cat Scout. Her personal motto is "Be the parade you want to see in the world."

Visit Gwyndon's Amazon page for more information, and to purchase her books of poetry.

Terry McCarty's "Interloper: New Poems"

      Terry McCarty's new chapbook, Interloper: New Poems, (copyright 2011/2012 McCarty Press), contains a collection of works that successfully make the case for narrative poetry, and poetry as social commentary. McCarty, an integral part of the L.A. poetry scene since the mid-1990's, is the kind of poet whose work will be appreciated by those who will listen to the voice along with the message. McCarty has an illuminating voice; unadorned, honest, and unapologetic. McCarty, to coin an oft-worn phrase, “tells it like it is.”

      McCarty's poetry does not contain the usual language tricks; i.e., rhyme, cleverly misspelled words, etc., though, he does employ bits of poetic satire when the occasion calls for it, as in the poem, “Herding Occupy L.A./ Out of Sight/ Out of Mind Blues”:

get along little protesters

get out of the street

get onto the sidewalk

fold your banners

and pack up your tents

because you are making

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

and television journalists mad

as Heck

now the hounds are baying

for Charlie Beck

to tear off his peaceful-

interaction

make-them-disappear-by-

attrition-mask

and emerge as the Incredible

Two-Headed Hybrid of Darryl

Gates and Ed Davis

crying havoc

and unleashing the tasers and

batons

get along little protesters

business must do whatever it

wants

we're not going to listen to you

Occupy people

since our city is not a city of “the

people”

but a city of, by, and for

the Very Important People

of AEG

      Interloper, as a whole, is cohesive. McCarty's intelligent, caustic style dovetails well with short, direct lines of verse that lead the reader through a unique perspective of Americana on both a personal, and political level. There is also an engaging vulnerability in McCarty's poetry: not the “poor me,” confessional doggerel deliberately designed to elicit sympathy, but, a vulnerability that is more universal, and immediately appreciated; the struggle to come to terms with a part of ourselves, the part that does not let us instantly divine who we are/what our ultimate purpose may be, as in the poem, “Dropping Anchor”:

Threw my weapons overboard.

Wrenched my hand from my

throat.

Opened the galley refrigerator.

Enough rations to survive.

There will be books to read,

clouds to watch,

chances to say hello

to temporary people

who come for day-trips

in other boats

and stop to eat, drink,

wade in the shallows.

When they are gone,

maybe I'll learn to listen

until I hear the music

inside the silence.

     My recommendation: make room on your poetry shelf for Interloper:New Poems. You'll be glad you did.

Note: You can purchase Interloper: New Poems (copyright 2011/2012 McCarty Press, All Rights Reserved) at the following places:

1) Terry McCarty's blog:

http://poetry-arts-confidential.blogspot.com/

2) Beyond Baroque Bookstore

http://beyondbaroque.org/

poems copyright 2012 Terry McCarty

article content copyright 2012 marie lecrivain