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The curtain on the
CPAC convocation rolls back,

as the revolution
in Tahrir Square boils.

America’s theater
of deadly political

absurdity commences;
to witness demagogues

recite holy scripture to
evangelize a religion of war.

A heavily invested
audience marvels

at the marionettes
pirouetting on strings

jigged along by hands
of invisible puppet-masters

donning dark masks of
clever 503C llcs

disguised in self serving
hues of red, white and blue.

This grand folly of masquers
conceals a fatal pantomime,

a cast of reactionary characters,
Neo-Conmen auditioning for

the leading role in a lurid play
of a deadly nation projecting
a dying imperial preeminence.

The martinets engage zero
sum games where the victor
belongs to the despoilers,

and the merchants of death
richly confer multimillion dollar
reasons for being, underwriting
the gilded egos of candidates

and their infatuation with the
vanity of feigned power.

These master rhetoricians
skillfully lather up the crowd

by pandering to basest
xenophobic nationalist
instincts and fantasies
of laissez-faire proclivities.  

Slathering on the partisan
pretense in layers so thick

a master chef, armed
with the sharpest Ginsu Knife

couldn't slice a hock tip
of blood red meat

hurled into the crowd of
gobbling Republicons

howling and yodeling
it’s derisive acclaim.

The rankled party line,
gibberish talking points

are hammer blows of
incessant propaganda,

so cocksure that any room for
doubt is crowded out by the

phantasmagorical McMansions
of hyperbole they ***** in

the pliant minds of their
gibbering minions.

The candidates preening for
president show off their

falangist affectations
in eager duels of oratorical

one upmanship; constantly
jockeying to outflank their

other Neo-Conmen opponents,
always concluding their brutish

diatribes with a solemn
denouement of a Republicon

psalm ending with a
Holy Hosanna Hallelujah

to the Ronald Reagan
Heavenly Buddha.

Punchline of the holy Amen
“what would Reagan do?”

to remind the faithful
to remain the faithful

bearers to the fiction
of dead Reaganism.

Evoking anything
Ron and Nancy

induces sanctioned
comportment of a

slow simmering
******* eubellence

providing a welcomed
relief of repressed
libidinal energy.

The mention of Goldwater
sends GOP acolytes to

pause in reverence,
envisioning Barry and

Ronnie looking down
from heaven upon the gathered,

inciting immediate ruminations
of falling dominos and

the viability of a
tactical nuke strike

against Ayatollah’s
underground
uranium factories.

The host of Neo-Conmen,
new age Falangist pitchmen

belch from the dais,
in ever increasing alacrity,

the stirring drum beats
and slick videos,

of glorious warriors
winning the battlefield

with the rippling glory
of the Stars and Stripes

flowing in a continual
loop behind them.

Romney,
Bachmann

Gingrich
take center stage,

goose stepping
to the roll of piercing timpanis.

Words slither
out of their mouths
like poisonous snakes.

Lies, hiss through
their teeth.

Open mouths
expose Black Mamba
fangs, dripping with venom.

Eyes squint
as their reptilian brains

implore the besieged
to flee from the
light of truth.

Seeking refuge in fear;
yet on the ready

to coil and strike;
while trembling

in ignorance,
exalting loathsomeness

worshiping violence;
they remain

poised to unleash
first strike armies;

boastfully evoking moral
platitudes of Bush Doctrine
prerogatives.

Trembling in ignorance
worshiping violence

exalting fear,
these dogs of war bay

to unleash armies
against the

Godless apostates
that threaten

to expose the
stasis of their

Capitalismo-Judeo-Christian
view of the world.

They have hijacked
the great faith traditions

to serve a narrow
political aim

and relish any
opportunity to

demonize Islam
in service to their lies.

Watch as they
they crouch down

on the dais to
open the nest

of vipers welling
deep within the
bowels of their souls.

They find relief
by excreting their

spawn of deadly asps
into the veins of

cable news networks;
scoring political points

with the terrorized
children of Faux News

capturing battalions
of straw men villains

to rise atop meaningless
straw polls.

They agitate for a second
American revolution

by injecting the venom
of fear and lies

into the body
politic.

Ron Paul
stands alone,

perplexed why
American's love

war as much as
they hate civil liberties?

Cheney and
Rumsfeld brood.

The people of
Iraq and Afghanistan

fail to embrace their armies
of liberation that run up

unfortunate collateral damage
body counts required to sustain
the American way of life.

Ever the defender of
democracy and liberty,

Gingrich slams Obama's
condemnation of Suleiman

"hes an able diplomat."
Gingrich  forgot to add

that Suleiman is a
skilled torturer and

an able tyrant any self
serving democracy would
be proud to call ally and friend.

Cheney and Rumsfeld
remain flummoxed.

Their armies of liberation bogged
down in the marshy Blackwaters

of intractability;  trying to solve
the conundrum of the diminished

equity returns of asymmetrical
warfare.  Spinning the math

to justify building aircraft carriers
to **** a gnat.

The families of dead soldiers
surround them and wave dime

store flags hoping the plastic
eagle remains fixed atop the pole.

Perpetually smiling
Michele Bachmann
raises the specter
of Muslim Brotherhoods
taking over Egypt.

The persecution of Christians
and the escalating war on

Christianity have the Crusaders
up on their seats waving Excalibur
once again.

Gingrich pink cheeks
flush with the cash

of a Zionist casino
entrepreneur

doubles down, stacks
his chips high.

“The Israeli Embassy
in Cairo was overrun
by angry mobs.”  

“Is this a precursor of
cancelling the peace treaty
signed with Sadat?”

“The pullout in Iraq hands the country to
radical Shiites effectively handing our
hard won victory to Iran.”

“Israel is threatened and will not
permit Iran to acquire nuclear

weapons. A nuclear empowered Iran
will not stand!”

“We mustn't let do nothing Obama
threaten the safety of our good ally
Israel.”

CPAC willingly holds the deadly asp
to the breast of a proud nation.

Urging, coaxing it to gently sink
its teeth into the sacred heart
of our dear republic...

John Lee ******
Crawlin King Snake

CPAC 2011

Matthew 23
Brood of Vipers


jbm
Oakland
2/10/11
To me you show choir is really cool. There are 16 singer dancers' 1 drummer' 1 piano' 1 guitar' And string instruments. Of course I am auditioning for drummer. Because I am one. Everyone will think I am phenomenal. Because I am. I will blow people's mind like tnt mixed with grenades ' bombs'C4' And Fire. I am that good. But is it only 7th and 8th graders. So next year they will need a drummer. And next year that part will be mine. And no one will take it for me.
I love bands.
Bryce Jul 2018
I got an award
For being the stupidest young boy
With a wax soul
And impressionable.

I thought I'd find something
Nestled here amidst the trees
And I did,
But in no halls but the hall of god
Speaking to me
Dancing between the leaves
Singing with every whispered breeze
And yet when I stepped
Past the threshold and into the
"real world"
I was sold
A maniac of utter delinquency.

Everybody there
Waiting for their turn
Auditioning for the favor of hearts
They'll never win
Can't see
Laughing and wondering
Reading without comprehension
Sticking their *** in the face of the classics
Lap dogs licking the milk from
Professed *******
Thinking they'll be next

Its not resentment--
Is it fair to be bent
Towards dollars that've never been spent?

All those silly parks
Divided from the civilized lands
Frontiers of the past
Left to be little staging areas
For that invisible hand

Kids go on spring break
Take pictures between the towns
Maybe a stop along
On the way
To Vegas
Deep in the desert where it'd **** any other day

I cannot escape the unfathomable beauty of that place,
Living off the world in a way God said
To toil and love the pain
In a way nobody does

I am guilty of pride and
Stuffed like a pie full of anger
Cooking it into solid joy
And trying hard to scrape the cancerous crust away
All the dark sides we avoid

But screaming the heat away is good
Thermal induction is the name of the game
Entropic fizzlements like bubbles in the wind
Sublimating all that ever stood.

Yet soon enough I'll be born anew
And what I leave behind
Lifted up
Nautoloid shell
With a sparkling abalone interior
Someone will place on their shelf
And think,

"I wonder where that thing had been."
sheloveswords Sep 2013
There's an elephant in this room, there's no denying that
No allegations, no assumptions
Just here to state the facts
I see all your dirt
And the **** you try to hide
But what I don't see is your respect
Did it die along with your pride?
And the love you say you posses
Or did it get erase along with all the traces of your text?
Yeah, you thought I didn't see all the lies that you succeeded in
And I played it blindly like I reside in Stevie's skin
And what really irritates my soul, is I could've played that role
The difference is I was investing in commitment
While you was the one auditioning
Now aint that bout a *****
Either resistance was too hard
Or even with a straight flush in your hand you were incompetent in playing your cards
February 22
Where were you that night?
I laid peacefully in my bed, eyes closed tightly, thanking God for sending me a wonderful man
Instead of being April's, I was playing your fool
Swimming foolishly and open in your deceitful pool
Drowning
in 12 feet
But I still wouldn't get out if I could
The irony.
Man, I swear your ******* be so good
I respect everyone's privacy
like there's a No Disturb sign on the door
But your cell phone has been ringing vigorously and that
I wont ignore
I gave you your space
You could've freely ran away if you wanted to explore
You give a person enough rope they'll hang themselves
And right now your toes are dangling 57' from the floor
I'd slave to bake your cake.
Let you eat it wholly.
And you still want more!
Selfish
I bet you didn't even think of me as she laid in your bed naked
or if when you slipped on that contraceptive
Emphasis on the IF just in case I stand corrected
The betrayal
The wonders living in my mind roams in a frenzy
In a million years I never suspected you
Faithful is what you pretended to be
And when I bring it unto your attention
You're worse than an evidently guilty man crying innocent
Obviously, you love to play with fire but when I deliver it you can't sustain
That's like constantly running to get an umbrella when you "claim" you love the rain
You can't handle the truth
BE A MAN
every moment its time to defy it you coil
Just face the aftermath with your ten toes planted on the soil
Because every word you deliver, every punch you throw
Will travel through this universe and manifest to your soul
You didn't like that huh?
Your emotions sings that you're ******
Storming out the door like a madman
But where's he going at a time like this?
To get some fresh air?
To **** another *****?
Men offer me pleasures that I happily resist
But now that the truth comes out he can't handle the ****
He wanna throw his hands up and be a little boy
Hell, I might as well go to K-Mart and buy his *** a toy
Or run to Priscilla's and get me one as well
**** being deceived, I'd rather indulge my own pleasure and be by myself
But the way he makes my legs shake
My heart flutter
My soul yearns for more
Makes me reconsider to stay
Did he do it ruthlessly?
Was it a mistake?
I'm all out of thoughts, I don't know *** to think
All this **** is unbearable
I'm going out for a drink...



                          Copy Right 2013
                                ©Patty Ann
judy smith Sep 2016
Local designer Vanessa Froehling has denim on the brain. Stonewashed, herringbone print, chambray, stretch and black denim, to be sure.

In her home studio, Froehling flips through hangers of designs, including sailor-style high-waisted women’s shorts, a men’s blazer and a women’s jumpsuit.

“It’s something that’s in everyone’s closet and it will never go out of style,” says Froehling of the French-born fabric (denim’s etymology comes from “de Nîmes,” the French town where Levis Strauss first procured the tough cotton twill for your 501s). But, she adds, “people are stuck on what denim can do.”

The line is called Carpe Denim and it’s Froehling’s entry into FashioNXT (self-described as “Portland’s Official Fashion Week”) — not to be confused with Portland Fashion Week — three days and nights of runway shows in early October. She will present Carpe Denim in the UpNXT competition, the “emerging designers accelerator,” alongside four other Pacific Northwest designers the evening of Oct. 5.

The fashion week has a cozy relationship with Project Runway, the fashion-designer reality show running since 2004, and, in fact, two of the judges assessing the competition are Seth Aaron (winner of Project Runway season 7) and Michelle Lesniak (winner of season 11).

In 2015, Froehling applied to both Portland Fashion Week and FashioNXT, but was only accepted by the former that time. She says auditioning in front of the FashioNXT judges was intimidating.

“My nerves were like, ‘What do I do with my hands?’” Froehling says, shaking her hands by her sides and laughing. The judges were tough, she recalls, and they recommended that she develop the marketability and cohesion of her line.

Over the past year, she took their advice to heart and decided she would try out again, this time with a denim ready-to-wear line, a departure from the couture gowns that have distinguished her style. She took inspiration from the city — recalling watching the denizens of Portland walk by, falling in love with their street-wear style — and the layers of people, buildings and traffic.

Eight jean looks — five for women and three for men — will walk the runway, but rest assured, this will be no **** of Canadian tuxedos. Although denim is the common thread, the designs feature smart juxtapositions against black leather and a colorful textile that looks like a cross between gas puddles and graffiti.

The self-taught designer has also developed several innovative details: a woman’s denim peplum jacket that unzips at the waist, transforming it into a more casual cropped jacket; women’s stretch leather pants that zip open at the knee, a nod to ripped jeans; and a men’s chambray shirt with the illusion of a double collar creating a fresh origami effect.

This summer, the judges welcomed Froehling on the FashioNXT train.

Froehling says one judge told her that she’s the first designer to return the following year to try out again after being rejected.

“It’s the highest fashion production in Oregon,” she says.

The winner will be announced at the after-party Oct. 5, and the prize package secures a spot for the designer in the main runway show in 2017 and includes business mentorships, feature stories inPortland Monthly and Portland Mercury, and a strategic marketing course at Portland Fashion Institute.Read more at:http://www.marieaustralia.com/short-formal-dresses | www.marieaustralia.com/red-carpet-celebrity-dresses
A ride in the metro
is always an adventure.
Getting coins for departure.
Waiting for the trains.
with baggage in hands.
Roughed up buns.
Messed shirts.
Oversized sweaters.
skinny jeans.
converse shoes.
Green bag.
Glasses on.
earphones in.

The metro runs like a bird
running for rescue
of her child in trouble.
Blows off all the hair.
trying to gather balance,as
it almost blew me off.

getting in is a mission.
for first timers like me,
we like to be polite
and let others get in
and get out
before we could.
even if it meant you have to
wait for another to come in.


Getting in was an
ACCOMPLISHMENT.
with all people staring at you.
like you are welcomed as
an angel in hell.
i manage to get a hold of a handle.
surviving till your stop is
horrendous.
ranging from
smelly armpits
to foul smelled oiled hair
to watching cheap gel
used on scanty hair,
to seeing weird chick humming songs
as if nobody;s watching them lip sync
as if they were
auditioning fro their life's
biggest concert
to people staring you
like you'll just get *****,
to guys reading scandalous and
****** news
deeply interested
to people who like it
when girls fall on them.

Its a funny trip.
to girls talking about how
romantic is their friend's boyfriend
to couples getting an excuse
to get close to each other
and holding hands.
Wow.


A metro ride is
a new adventure
altogether.
everyday.New people.
New places.
New experiences.
NEW life.
NEW everything.

I liked it today.
for a change.
sigh.
a normal ride from the metro for shopping my new glasses .and while the trip,was the above mentioned,funny and interesting new experience.
M G Hsieh May 2016


                     Who notices prepositions
                      unless they dangle

                      like earrings
                      begging the spotlight.

                      They act
                      like auditioning extras

                      or photo-bombers.



                       Of the people, for the people, by the people,

                       what does that even mean
                       when we, the people
                       are simply people

                       trying out humanity.



                       My nephew goes blah blah blah,    
                       which is cute and could
                       mean anything when
                       spoken randomly _ an 18-month old,

                       like prepositions
                       _  the people:

                       _ God, we trust.





Meaghan G Dec 2012
Today she told me she made it through every

try out round for

America’s Next Top Model and when

she went home to tell her girlfriend that she made it on the show,

she got her face beat in so bad, Miss Jay didn’t even

recognize her the next day.

She wasn’t on the show.

——

Today is roses,

wilted petals,

flowers from I-don’t-know-where

that have landed in our bathroom,

have sunk themselves in an empty bottle of ***,

two handles on the side,

the better to smell them with.

——

Today I am covered in a museum collection of

bug bites and lumps and

scratches and bruises

and leg rashes

and I don’t know where anything has come from,

not even

me.

——

Today he asked me how the poetry is coming.

I said it is slow.

——

Today I wanted to kiss a boy because it was his birthday,

and I don’t think he’s ever kissed a girl before,

and I think he should

if he wants to

on his birthday.

——

Maybe I will tomorrow.

——

Today has barely begun, is three hours in

was 6 minutes too late to buy

gas station beer

but we bought two cigarillos

and on the drive back,

talked to three kids who had just seen a UFO.

I missed it.

——

Today he threw a tomato at my face,

and it slid off and landed on the floor with a splat as I screamed.

There were customers.

——

Today I had to explain why I keep

leaving people.

I have to be alone, I said.

——

Today I dressed for myself.

Thank God.

——

Today I listened to country music and covered my ears

because they hurt but also it hurt

to not listen to it with my Dad in the truck, driving

anywhere

but today I picked a boy up and taught him how to swing me around

and he picked me up and spun me in his arms and

I think that’s how you do country.

——

Today my cis, male, white, Mormon, wait-till-marriage-to-have-*** English teacher

talked about **** shaming

and the patriarchy

and he gets it

and thank God.

——

She is auditioning to model, again.

There is no one to take her face away.
Kurt Philip Behm Sep 2020
Auditioning for myself
the lights went down
the sound amped up
my head turned round

Auditioning for myself
the handbill flew
into the seats
the chosen few

Auditioning for myself
last line unread
the words reborn
inside my head

Auditioning for myself
I begged my leave
the stage door open
—a last reprieve

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2020)
The voice Nov 2012
Maybe I should try it
Maybe I should not
It's a risk I can take
It's an opportunity that came to me

Two sides insidE my head
One saying I should
I should tell him I like him
I should run out there and sing
I should audition for the school play

But the other,
Ohh the other side.
telling me I could fail
I could get rejected
Or hit a bad note
Of do a horrible job while on stage

Who or what should I do
Who should I listen too
They both make a point
I don't want to fail
I could take a rejection
I couldn't handle the embarrassment

But I know one thing
I cant loose if I don't bet
But I won't win either
And if I loose, I will know what love is
I will practice more with high notes
I would be a better actor

What's the worst that can happen
Rejection
Laughs
Disappointment
But that's life
I won't ever know

In the future I will regret it
Like I regret now
Not taking my chances in the ropes coarse
Not going up the caves
Not auditioning for the right plays

Besides it's now,
Later I will be better
And more prepared
And if I fall again  
I will know how to get up easier
The harder my first fall is
The easier it will be o get up on the next fall

I can do it
I will do it
I did it
Brent Kincaid Jan 2017
I’m not going to make money by
Creating some clever gadget.
That costs too much for advertising
To fit in my future budget.
I’m not going to write a book yet
Because they are hard to sell.
I decided against self-help seminars.
Sitting through those is hell.

I’m not going to learn hairdressing
So I can be a pricey hair ******.
I’m not going to write recipes to show
A hundred ways to use a blender.
I ruled out auditioning for **** flicks
I’m far to shy for all that.
I won’t be trying to make viral videos
Of adorable fuzzy little cats.

You won’t be hearing any hit songs
Written by me, myself and I.
I can’t carry a tune and can’t rhyme
So, right away I won’t even try.
I can’t paint and I can’t draw at all
So, I won’t be a world-class artist.
I won’t become a rocket scientist
In math I was never the smartest.

I'm not going to start some con game
And leave them all in the lurch.
Well, in a manner of speaking I am,
Because I'm starting a church.
I’ll spend tons of money on my home
And make a big flashy cathedral
Then spend lots of time bragging
How it’s all so very spiritual.

People will send me lots of cash thinking.
That will get them into heaven.
I’ll make more money selling God to them
Than owning a thousand 7-11s.
I’ll only need to convince my followers that
I have the get-out-of-hell-free card;
That I am the path to understanding God
And that just can’t be that hard.
Nat Lipstadt Oct 2017
<•>

Preface
___

early Sunday morning her head, half pillowed, half my-chested, in the shady, darkened room with just enough entering daylight to clarify the assortment of miscellanea you are mind visualizing, ordering...it's the exact time when the disguised passing thoughts traverse mixed in with the ordinary of the day ahead, the day passed, your passionate emails, that require complete, non-hasty, contemplative answering, the onerous chores, the pretend-someday-additions to the reading list, the running time for the my little pony movie (wasn't awful), the chances we will be a football team with an 0-5 record (we are) at the end of the day when god ******, well lit,
it sly sneaks in,

I write for women

auditioning as a possible poem title
and just to be sure, it performs a singing audition, we hear it loud and clear, as it snaps fingers and makes Pandora play:
"Your love keeps lifting me higher
Than I ever been lifted before,
So give me love, Which is my desire"

caught, exposed, *******, brain chiming, nails chewing, cylinders firing, pas de choix, and it's now my fingers turn, not to snap,
but to obediently tap
the truth about me, man

10/9-17 8:29am

<•>

I write for women (give yourself away)

alternating currents, one electrical impulse sparkling sparking
to prove I am among the living, and that the engine, yet revving, the beating, the heart toe-tapping, and the next,
is an explication explosion for each and everyone, for you, just, you,
why, I write, for women, for to give myself away

please say your name out loud
right now, right here, don't process, proceed, if you can't...
then
répète après moi,
"he writes for me and no one else"

it is not sorrowful but it could be,
it is simple words but not simple in the slightest,
for constantly falling is a ******* the soulfulness,
hard, too, is in the re-collecting the absences, the aloneness,
even as hard as the opposite, the constant awrying of the daily plan when so much bountiful beautiful
makes an ordinary crazy extravagant delightful,
so so necessary, so **** elemental - it is true oxygen of sustaining,
so necessary to be beyond

to write that every moment is a possession (yours) would be an
understatement, even wrong...for I am a molecular composite of your mystique mystery, each time i am writing-returning  
one bone chip excised as an accounting, the untainted marrow where-the-will-from-where-I-came from, which is from you,
one birth mother,
but so many names many origins all one cell subdivided

each livre is an escapee, a de-lightening runaway, of me,
and in the emptying is my creating
a happy self conception
a Benjamin Button reversal, as was intended

this is the hardest poem I have written in my abbreviating
years, but if not now, when?
I hand-wring cause
I cannot successfully explain well enough the
why

easy understood, why and try rhyme so naturally

I will once more walk the city streets, each espied
a dream mind-see to connect,
distributor to each of an odd shaped token,
a failed self-explanatory thank you for existing,
no whys or wherefores,be given-out  
regardless of creed, color and age,
but not ***, for absolutely this is all about ***,
repaying the grieving and the believing.
the obligation
the happy diminishment
I sing because I like it, it is fun to do.
I sing out loud even though I'm not good.
I sing for myself and not for you.
I sing because it puts me in a good mood.
Don't make fun of my singing, it's not perfect I know.
It's not like I plan on auditioning for a show.
I sing for the heck of it, to please myself.
I sing for me and nobody else.
So I shall sing with pride, sing for all to hear.
I'll sing till I die 'cause it brings me such cheer.
If you don't like my singing then you're out of luck.
I'll be singing forever and you can't shut me up.
Dylan D Jan 2012
I took out a pen and some paper, looseleaf,
Not worth the words I sponged onto it but it’ll do
I wrote down my feelings about everything
The silence of people on a subway ride to work
The closest star to us that isn’t the Sun
How the Bermuda Triangle got its shape and why the other ones
Weren’t cut out for it
Were it not for the clocks in my room, serving as reminders
That time still existed and would far outlive me
I swear I would have written forever
I swear I would have

Sometimes I would write letters to friends and never send them
Instead cram them into envelopes and into larger envelopes
And stack them in the fireplace, under the wood
And sometimes light it, other times just hold out my hands
And feel invisible warmth

The ones I did send, though, felt hollow
Words typed or written but not the words I needed
Or wanted
To say then. I’d rather ask you how your day was than to receive
A strange ****** expression because a question concerning
Cosmic dust and how it rushes together to create man
Doesn’t really serve as a good icebreaker.
Most of the unsent letters were to you
You and the clouds that guide you around, shifting rain
Back toward the sky

I wrote how are you today?
And meant I want you to keep auditioning for dance because you’re wonderful
I wrote doesn’t this weather feel strange?
And meant get a bigger umbrella so I can be under it too
We should try to go for dinner
We need to have an excuse to be together
Are tattoos a bad thing?
Look, topics to occupy us
My house is empty tonight
Where are you so late and what do you think about?
I miss the vase we sold
I miss you
I feel like today is longer than yesterday and will be shorter than tomorrow
I miss you

And they stacked, one upon the other
The spaces between each squeezed under the weight of the next
The weight of the words compounded more than the previous
Filling the spaces of my apartment to the point where
I could not see out the windows

“Today is Monday the 16th.  To whom it may concern, I’ve contemplated the ideas laid before me and can finally take confidence that I’ve chosen the right one. Many people say that virtuosity is next to solace and I believe that. Many people also claim that it takes a life to learn how to live, and I believe that too. I’ve so many things to say to everyone, even the people I’ve only met once or twice. But those people are just as important.

I can hear echoing between the televisions between the open rooms. The same words delayed by seconds but still audible and clear.  The reactions aren’t echoed, they’re different, variant on the person and how they feel about it. To make sense of my claim, I guess it’s just a matter of perspective, and now my perspective is clear, and now I want it to echo between the people to whom I send these letters. Whether the variation between reactions will be the same or not I am all-around unclear, but I know the reactions may have enough weight to keep me held to the ground, or even a bit lower than that. Either way, I’ve spent my life reacting to things as if acting on an echo.  I want to change the channel now. I want to close my door so the sound can fill the room and make the stacks of unsent letters shudder. I want to keep it there and turn the air the color of the closest star to us other than the Sun. I want to-“

I wanted a lot of things, to do and to say
But that letter and those that followed joined the others in the quiet spaces
Spaces which kept the frays of this life muffled and still
Like an ocean scooped into a bucket
Or the world’s smallest word
Backspaced by one letter
Barton D Smock Oct 2013
there’s a mattress on the side of the road that everyone pulls over to jump on. hell, some get half a mile down and come back having thrown their shoes out the window.  others go all the way home to get their unattended children or oldest relation.  some of the cars seem to be auditioning for destitute

rucksack
clowns.  also hell I saw recently a two person bike with no one on it give over and rest on the mattress.  my worst thoughts you beat with a broom.
Andrea May 2016
fall, (v.)

what i did.

home, (n.)

when i am with you, there is nowhere else i'd rather be; and i am a person who always wants to be somewhere else.

hurt, (v.)

i have vague memories of what i said the night i lied to you that i did not love you, but i remember my voice hitching in my throat. i remember it hurt.  

kiss, (v.)

our faces are inches from each other. you freeze, and i giggle before calling you a coward. i rarely kiss first; but if i didn't, then i don't think that distance between us would've closed at all.

lost, (adj.)

i was willing to let you go, and yet, at the same time, i have never wanted to be so /selfish/ in my entire life.

love, (n.)

you.

mine, (n.)

what i want you to be.

name, (n.)

your mother's maiden name was the same as my ex' middle name. i remember laughing until my sides hurt once i found out.

prom, (n.)

"you're all mine on prom night." prom night never happened, but it's the thought that counts.

song, (n.)

all those corny tunes on the radio have been reminding me of you lately.

sick, (adj.)

you, too very often. i wish i knew how to take care of you but i can barely do that for myself.

sing, (v.)

my most vivid memory of you includes you auditioning to our glee club with *together in electric dreams
. you ******. we would laugh about it later on.

stay, (v.)

you make it so hard to leave.
Lee Nov 2015
What's really the cause of its arrival:
"it"'s questions.
"I"'m music.
I'm the part where words are said
that's to say not sung.
The context of my head's no more object than thought.
We'll take a while to talk about it.
Assuming "it", "talk", and "we" are any realer than the words within them.
If not then flesh, now you've eaten.
This is where it becomes convoluted.

uuuuhhhh

Is its own stanza
this "uuuuhhhh"'s in your voice in your head now.
In or outside,
your heads still a part of it strange enough.
Out or inside,
my hands still a part of it strange enough.
strange enough
my hands outside or in "it".
"it"'s been explained.

I want "you" to picture"me" holding a rock to the sun
asking why neither are thirsty.
"you" want "me" to be a rock in a picture of the sun,
"you" don't need to ask to be thirsty,
"i"m niether.

Water and a handful of pennies
makes a mouthful for a moment.
Last nights moment's a *** of coffee in my mouth,
told to self I really was trying to sleep.

How many "you"s in this poem's really "you" "you"'ve asked.
I'll say so much as to know the answer's the sun,
that said that still I'm not sure.
How many "I"'s in this poem's really "I" "I"'ve asked.
You'll see so much as to guess the answers: under pain of death.
That's your words, my head.

Set your things on top of me,
I'm auditioning for the part of a table made from a different table .
I've played the part of the one who built it.
Neither move.
Lines please.
M Elee Jan 2015
All the world, a stage
And all the stage, an act
And all the act, a script
And all the script, a lie
And all the lie, the world!
The audience directs
while the actors watch
The globe theater of
ever-changing roles
Auditioning for parts
Without knowing their lines.
aisyahaffandey Jun 2017
Are you Houdini?
Captivating illusionist
Superior performer
Dramatic entertainer
You caught my eyes
Held my gaze
I couldn't look away
My souls caught on fire
Round of applause to you

A bitter solace
You occupied my mind
And here I am, trying out my luck, fingers crossed
Auditioning for a role in your life
When you have another woman auditioning for my role

You are a silence, begged to be understood
You are a whole new galaxy, waiting to be named
You are a field of dandelions, filled with a hundred wishes
You are a sun, burning bright deep abyss my gloomy core
You are a chaos in your own mind, but still
You dwell in mine, tranquilly
You left your traces, my heart is now a stained glass
You took it all and left the tattered remnants to me
Alexander Coy Apr 2016
I wake up as She
and she's auditioning soon;
vying for a part no one can play
but everyone auditions for anyway.

And so we all sit in those
steel foldable chairs that never
get folded back into their original
form, because the bodies always
keep them warm.

The original selves
long for something else to be;
troubled souls in search for
broken homes; like the hidden
shadows of the known unknown.

I am her lips as they
part, close together
like the jaws of a shark,
reciting lines back to the director
crooked and parallel, aligned
waves of soft sounds; they reach
the peaks of receptacle body language
only to suddenly fall back down
barely scathing the director's emotions.

The director sees that there is talent
that lies within the woman;
I am her, and I was
a father of three darling daughters
not too long ago...

But I stand before the director
as her, and there are others
patiently waiting,
like the anchored piranhas
of the binary forest,
the Stygian vultures
of the neon desert;

and they vouch for
each other's safety
until they have landed
the Oscar award winning
scene; the all white cast
beams like the headlights
of an oncoming car.

Their hands free of guilt
washing the darkness away
from my rising star, my ship
no longer corroded brown
but assimilated, organized,
gentrified;

a man redesigned,
retrofitted and recombined
standing before the petrified
live audience as Her
in an ocean blue
dress;

a blood capsule
ready to burst with
finite increments
of happiness.
Over 7 Billion People living in this world.
7 BILLION.
And each and every one of them is trying to “FIT IN” in their societies.
They tried.
And tried.
AND TRIED.
But they just don’t seem
To overcome that obstacle.
We’re broken.
We’re just broken.

I am one of them.
I have tried to put myself out there
Over and over again
With the result of ME being REJECTED
Or worse, DEFEATED
Several times.
It happened to me when
I’m APPLYING for
JOBS,
AUDITIONING for an ACTING ROLE in
THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS,
COMPETING in a global
ALL-FEMALE MUSIC COMPETITION
A few months back,
Or any other individual competitions
A few years back,
WRITING a BUNCH of POETRIES and PERSONAL NARRATIVES,
TRYING to BE ACCEPTED to or BECOME a part of
different kinds of social groups
(Sometimes it gets awkward),
TRYING to get some people to
Sign up, contribute, and support a
Campaign that I’m involved in,
With the result of me
NOT FITTING IN.
It even happened to me
When I’ve made a lot
Of MISTAKES,
Both big and small,
And not LIVING UP
To their STANDARDS.
Also even when I TRIED
To COMMUNICATE my ideas and opinions with
Other people,
I would ALWAYS get
SHUT DOWN.

I’m CRUSHED,
HEARTBROKEN,
A FAILURE,
UNSUCCESSFUL,
And I just feel like that
I JUST WANT TO GIVE UP.
NOBODY is paying ATTENTION
To ME.
NOBODY CARES
About ME.
Even my family’s RELATIVES
Or someone else,
Don’t CARE with what I’m
DOING WITH MY LIFE,
And it’s all because
THEY DON’T ASK ABOUT ME.
Sometimes they’ve
MISTAKEN me for my
Older sister
Or someone else’s daughter
that looks like me.
I’m also ALONE
Because most of my “come-and-go” friends
ARE TOO BUSY
Living out their own lives
Just to HANG OUT WITH ME.
I JUST WANTED SOMEBODY
TO TALK TO OR TO HANG OUT WITH.
I don’t have one TRUE BEST FRIEND.
It’s kind of hard for me to find just ONE.

Sometimes I feel like that my life
Is SO NOT WORTH IT,
And that I just want to DIE.
What’s the use of me
LIVING THIS LIFE?

Many people are exactly like me; trying so hard doing what they love just to get a foot in the door and yet they don’t feel right at home because the society doesn’t want them just yet. Some of them are alone and need a friend, like me.

I feel like I’m experiencing “quarter-life crisis”

I am ready to start living my life doing what I love or get a job so that I can start taking care of myself; why is anyone not paying attention to me?

Worldly problems: Politics (Democratic/Republican), Christianity (Catholic/Protestant), Religion (Christian/Muslim), Gun Violence (Debates of Rights to bear arms), War on Terror, Protests (Occupy Wall Street or any major U.S. city), Homosexuals/Heterosexuals, Abuse (Physical/******), Human and *** Trafficking, Abortion, People Hating Other People, etc.

We need to set aside our differences so that we can work together and come up with a solution that will help solve our problems

We need to be open to other opinions, not only defending our own opinions.

We need to start loving each other no matter what side of the worldly problem we are on.

What’s with the arguments? Can’t we at least get along like regular people?

Each and every one of us is like a broken puzzle piece because we are having a hard time trying to get along when it comes to worldly problems/issues, trying to fit in with the society, and we are struggling to get to where we are going in our lives or to overcome our obstacles or rather come to an agreement. We are also trying to figure out who we are as human beings (Social Location).

We need to just piece together ourselves and then help each other out to piece together this world. We need to bring everything together and come together as one body, one diverse melting *** and become one loving group. It’s not going to be easy, but we need to start somewhere.

We need to become one big jigsaw puzzle which is the world and we will try hard at whatever we’re doing to help keep it that way as well as taking care of our surrounding environment.
Simon Nader Jan 2019
And it is now sold
Borrowed
Underneath the hands
A relished possession
In the pockets for the greed

Auditioning the green
While laughing at feeble ones
Everything here is made for profit
Whenever the darkness does hit
No care to this planet at all
Selling the shoot star's fall

From the breath
To the fire
Drink of water
And the turf to bury the dead
Everything goes green from the red

From the trees come the notes
To buy the beauty of lands
No more fighting
Just up-for-grabs

(Bridge)---

Going once - What am I to you again?
Going twice - How are you going to reign?
And gone - Taken by the man with the cigar
----------------

(Chorus)---

Everything must go
Liquidate this Earth
Paying the ultimate due
To our really final hour of death
Life and death are not for sale
Discounted down to our souls
--------------------

For pleasure comes the pain
When the dollar signs blinding this world
Becoming enslaved to the symbol
The symbol of death
In which wars have been fought
The heights of the egos
Killing the eagles in the skies
Many shall fall as they die

The rain of the notes
Collected by evil hands
Just to destroy with
When did this land
A God-given land
Became a profit to the greed
We must take heed

There seems to be no hope in sight
What else are you looking for?
Humans becoming their own enemy
When the rich becoming the poor in the mind
In their own abyss, they become so blind
As they fall forever in their own holes

“Did you hear that?
Eden has been discounted
ON ALL PRODUCTS!!”

The riches of the Earth
Which used to be
Now, it is all become for greed
Since the new babe’s birth

(Bridge)---

Going once - What am I to you again?
Going twice - How are you going to reign?
And gone - Taken by the man with the cigar
----------------

(Chorus)---

Everything must go
Liquidate this Earth
Paying the ultimate due
To our really final hour of death
Life and death are not for sale
Discounted down to our souls
--------------------

(Guitar Solo 1)

Cut the trees
Pollute the seas
All in the name of cash
Oil the skies
Smoke do rise
All in the name of cash

Paint with green
All in between
All in the name of cash
Extinct the wild
Trash the tides
All in the name of cash

Marketing overflowing
Burn the forest for your paper money
Which flies in the wind
To the east, west to send
Who care about the atmosphere
When the dollars are so clear
To the Scrooges devouring our world
Our would shall be stabbed
BY THE GOLDEN SWORD

(Guitar Solo 2)

Earthy-earthy-earthy
Mine! Mine! Mine!
Earthy-earthy-earthy
Money! Money! Money!

Just the symbols of death
Roaming around the globe
With numbers and figures
And you… devoured by the glutton ones

No genuinity
No morality
When the flesh is been bought
From the animals to the human kind
“We want the coins for the daughters”
Children are sold
From hand to hand
Nothing is safe from the greed
Give me more
Give me more
AND **** ME AGAIN

SO…
Sing with me

Earthy-earthy-earthy
Ours! Ours! Ours!
Earthy-earthy-earthy
Money! Money! Money!

MONEY TALKS LOUD!!!

(Guitar Solo 3)

Swines of this Earth
Will sing their victory songs
Over the blood
And broken bones
Of the ones trying to survive

Asking the questions:
“Is my land for sale?”
“Is my soul for rent?
“How can I survive?
“Is what life is about?”

To pay money, money, money
To a world that is never enough
TO BE FED
WE ALL SHALL END UP DEAD

Without the phony riches
OF THIS EARTH

HEY MOTHER!!!
As we ask
WHY
ARE
YOU
SO
EXPENSIVE
TO LIVE
TO LIVE
TO LIVE

I… WANT… TO… LIVE

Death is cheap?

How are we going to break the silence
When louder comes the cash flow
In which direction will this wind blow
Humankind shall resort to violence
After they reach for their pockets
With emptiness inside
As you are being going up to Heaven
Ha! Ha! Ha! No!
Are you kidding?

YOU ARE GOING STRAIGHT TO HELL!!!!
TO HELL!!!
HELL!!!!
WITH NOTHING TO GAIN

HA! HA! HA!

As we ask those questions
ONCE AGAIN

(Bridge)---

Going once - What am I to you again?
Going twice - How are you going to reign?
And gone - Taken by the man with the cigar
----------------

(Chorus)---

Everything must go
Liquidate this Earth
Paying the ultimate due
To our really final hour of death
Life and death are not for sale
Discounted down to our souls
--------------------

Welcome to planet Earth, human!
HA! HA! HA! HA!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Erin Beer Jan 2019
Trying to do well but knowing you can't,
Always trying to impress dressing for the best.

Getting called up in class waiting in line,
This feeling I get seems to twist up my insides.

You'll pick on me in class trying to catch me out,
But I'm stronger than you think won't knock me down.

My friends waste their time on boys and clothes,
Me I'm over here auditioning for shows.

I know it's for the best but can't help but overthink,
What it would be like if I'd never met you and all your links.

This place will be the thing that'll break me,
But I won't let it fill me because this is what I think,
I'm a balloon floating through the sky,
You won't ever catch me I'm far too high.
Ryan Gonzalez Jan 2015
Screaming out of a dream
tears drying on my face
screaming at a brick wall
that was once a bomb shelter

The gunfire still in my ears
of words spoken months ago
empty shells on the ground
now no power left in them

Old paintings behind my bed
abandoned and yellowed memories
unchanging like food rations

I get out of my bed quickly
escaping from the visions
a reaching hand, saving me
from falling off a chair

I run to my door and grab
the handle being a lever
for the overflowing boiler

As I exit the room anxious
like an auditioning actor
I feel the sun greet me
that's when I know
They say that the twenty first day is the worst,
I thought the first was and the second and third,
word on the street is
' no one can beat this '

I never believed them boyz in the 'hood,
always up to no good, never giving a ****,
I growed me a while and word is,
I'm a man.

On the fourteenth day when they say that the curse hits you hard
I was reading a sonnet penned by the 'Bard' wondering if his life was as hard as the times that he lived in, wonder if he ever gave in,
a saving grace here is that stupid dies and has no respect or fear of fear.

I survey the wreckage and yet I survive, a
high five to the gods of the day.

And Santa is coming they say, but that's on the twenty fifth day, they're auditioning wise men who are all in disguise, men freed from the nine to five, men who are on their way home.

Anyway the twenty first day ain't too bad,
I ain't as crazy, it's the World that's gone mad.

It only takes a miracle and the rest is passé
except for today and word is
twenty one is
lucky for some.
Aeryn Mar 2019
Tears drowning chestnut eyes
As I sing brokenly along to "sing!" playlist,
Wincing inwardly at my awful voice,
Which is caught between male and female,
No, no, stop, no,

Don't even think about auditioning.

A career stopped in its tracks
before I can even dream.
It always happens.
Barton D Smock Oct 2014
in a childhood
some child
had

as if late
in locking
the gates
of the orphanage

as if drunk
on a long
history
of being average
in isolation

as if auditioning
for one
of four
sounds
a baby
simultaneously

makes
like
not exactly
this:

stork poor radio drama)

the father
pitches himself
to a scribbling
god

whose image
left little
else
jeffrey robin Mar 2015
Luv
( or ,

the illusion of luv )

•                        •
•   •

You know

I guess that what I am trying to ask is

Something like :

2 people meet

It's a wonderful thing

BUT THEN

EVERY ******* EVENT !
EVERY ******* EMOTION !

EVERY ******* THOUGHT OR FEELING
GETS

ANALYSED !
LABELED !
ACCEPTED OR REJECTED !

AND THEN COMES THE UNBELIEVABLY
FALSE **** ABOUT

BEING LEFT !
BEGGING / PLEASE COME BACK !

THE / I' M BROKEN / HORSESHIT !

||||

Like you're in some tv reality show
Playing to an audience

In the rom / com genre
Of perpetual immaturity

AND YOU ACTUALLY COMPETE TO SEE
WHO IS BETTER AT WRITING THIS CRAP !

instead of just

Meeting

Getting to know each other

Knowing each other's lives
Families
Friends

Exploring your own perspective
Of life

Trying to understand someone else's

Practicing to be patient
Generous
Kind



Instead of acting like

Zombie robots auditioning for the part

Of ******* demon from hell

••

It IS baffling

//

And a bit ugly

Watching you die
you asked for 15 minutes
to play with clear glass marbles
and grieve in it;
but instead twirled with dragons
in a clever patchwork and
a rodeo in your bandwagon.
light killed you on a crucifix
auditioning to give your spirit a lift;
started it all when you were six.
rented a loft to store your tears
hide hair ribbons in nail holes
that have been dead for thirty years.
you wanted to release hammers between sets
but you were stuck making french fries in coffee shops
and you hadn't told your husband yet.
now the clock reads eight and you're on your knees,
praying to saint margaret,
begging her to cut your cheek.
a poem based off of a few monologues featured in "talking with..." by jane martin.
What is this mania of over the top
self-absorption that appears to be
running amok, this social dementia
annoying egotism, where it seems
everyone is constantly posing and
publicly auditioning for attention.

Cellphones and Social media two
of the abetting culprits, deluding
the populace that constant selfies
a star does make. Get a blog, be a
celebrity, go on TV? Self-promotion
and crass Exhibitionism has become
a vexing preoccupation. Striving for
LIKES and Followers sending and
Trending, seeking the adulations of
strangers out in the cloud that they
will never actually meet.

What happened to modesty, or
self-restraint? Have we all lost
our minds? When did being an
average normal well-adjusted
human become not enough.
When did humility become
undesirably passe? Are we all
truly that insecure?
itsall iwrite Oct 2018
flush east finchley commuter toilet  - vile pic included  below 25.10.18

thank you for providing
need one in every town
for sure would drop a few for sliding
categorically as always in kentish brown.
not sure if its got a sprinkler
2018 should have all mod cons
what will cover my henry winkler
to young poetry addicts google the fonz.
where goes the smell
i suppose full on air conditioning
can not see no pipes for swell
this bog has hidden features auditioning.
gold bog and not least
all commuters lining up actually
if george was here he would head east
LA toilets are open in finchley.
https://ibb.co/e1edJA

— The End —