Michael Stefan

Michael Stefan Apr 2020

Inspired by a recent poem by Emmanuel Phakathi titled "Who knows it feels it."

Your brush touches paint the same
Spread simple over varied canvas
Meant to make art for eyes
That ache for scenes of beauty
And such beauty is abound
In every nuanced color of our lives

We paints do not get to choose our color
Lead stepped in manure to produce white paint
never got to choose its fate
Nor did the dyes trapped in cochineal insect
destined to be crimson
Weep for all the ground-up bones
Used to enhance beautiful ebony tones
Or the powdered precious stones
Called ultramarine, translated "beyond the sea"

We paints don't get to choose our medium
Like wooden tapestries of African Artists
Rich and earthy, beyond beauty
Or painstakingly bound hempen thread
A dedication of Italian artwork
Or the unknown fresco origin
Which gave painters joy on the Isle of Crete
To the modern U.S. canvas
Made of cotton, PVC, and ingenuity

We do not choose our color
Red, white, black, green, yellow, blue
We do not choose our canvas
From developed nation to those without
We do not choose our origin
We do not choose our ethnicity
We can only choose our actions

I choose to believe
That we are all beautiful paints
Not meant to separate
But rather to blend together
In truest of beautiful form
And spread vivid hues of color
Across this tapestry of Earth

Emmanuel, your poem really touched me. I have been working on my graduate's degree in Neuroscience and have been delving deeper and deeper into art and history and culture. It is hard to believe some of the tragedies that we as human beings have engineered against ourselves on the basis of difference when there are so many examples of how collaboration is the only way to truly achieve beauty. Art is very much one of those medians. If any of you think you are better than anyone else based on how you were born, you just became less than them. I I truly weep for your untrue perception.

#freedom #color #beauty #love #kindness #collaborate #rainbow #struggle #life #power

Michael Stefan Apr 2020

purple hydras on amino acid trips

Oh I can't stop these words
tumbling and falling
from empty spaces in my head
as they ride the wicked helix
from here to hell and back again
on fettering wings like bats
that get caught in angel hair spaghetti
that gets flushed down the toilet with all the other
goldfish crackers

Each shouting head
surrounds me in rings of fire
with one desire
to watch me burn
as they hula-hoop with rubic's cubes on boomerangs
set for mars or maybe Seattle

Sometimes it's just this way for me
with my mind floating free
like butterflies in nets
or sickly flies in butter
waiting for the spread
but you know it's 10 to 1
and I'm about to get knocked out
I hope you didn't place your bets
on me

I wish the endless stream of consciousness
didn't feel like emptiness
with the only ears that listen
are glued to my head
like Halloween costumes
when Jason stole my candy, called me a dandy,
and ran the hell away

It's really hard to describe
when words won't take logical form
like being gaslighted by my own brain
who wears red ribbons
and plays with ***** of yarn
on rolling farms
as the cow jumped over the moon

But if you think that the cow
was a sight to behold
my imagination's untold secrets
got something for your mental circus
I just saw purple hydras on amino acid trips
riding unicycles
wearing diapers
hanging out with Picasso
who said
"What does this poem even mean, bruh?"

And just to let you know, I was not on drugs for this. Sometimes my brain just starts racing and I have to put what I'm thinking down on paper. I hope it wasn't too confusing.

Michael Stefan Apr 2020

...but a gesture

I
am terrified
by silence
scared
of hollow
romance

I
wish on every
falling star
begging
prophets
from afar

To
feel like
I'm all together
would
only take
one gesture

It's
okay when
you don't notice
when you do
though
I feel hopeless

Michael Stefan Apr 2020

Always That Friend

Glib to a point of maddening
Always quick-witted and ill-informed
You draw smiles on my face
And place gentle hands on my shoulder
Yet in those inadequate moments
As you fuel a rumor-mill to churn
And boundless imagination
Of long-lasting untruths
Just to bend the ear
Of other fools passing in your direction
I will always love you
And despise you
And cherish you
As I wished you were very far away
From me

Michael Stefan Apr 2020

A Palindrome of Life

Quietly droning as you drone on quietly
hiding violent tendencies
and tending to violence
harsh words were written harshly
on paper turned over for space
made of recycled paper
it's obvious your hopeless
but oh so hopelessly obvious
as you love for them
they might love you too
fast forward to happy times
while your mind rewinds
and replays the sadness
as you sit by their side
and they slide away
you've never felt further away
then when you are at their side
things will get better
as you get better things
while you impatiently await
a measure of patience

Michael Stefan Apr 2020

Micro-epic

Scream not and be bidden savagery
as weathered is rock wall in raging sea
when broken is the sword you swung
but held tight is handle in your determined grip

I just wanted to smash together some very quick epic-sounding phrases to build something quick, inspiring, and filled with harsh and inspiring imagery!

Michael Stefan Apr 2020

Filthy

Explicit

It starts with a kiss
and heartbeats are raised
I feel your grip
I spit passionate praise
You claw at my flesh
As I tear at your clothes
With back-alley *******
That no one can know
In dark empty places
That nobody goes
Smash lips into mine
As I grip at your hips
Our rhythm in time
As your fingers strip
Animalistic inflamed
You beg for this one
Our passion's untamed
And we've only begun

I wanted to try my hand at a **** poem and wanted it to have a simple, fast rhyme scheme with incomplete thoughts and vivid, almost violent imagery. Reminds me a lot of... well... you know ;)