January 5, 2005
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ElectricPoetry Post: Asst. Poems from the late 70s-80s
“The Intellectual Responds”
Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
© March 21st, 1978 7:00 p.m .
We never know
we never know
we never know
…..How, in the course of an ordinary year,
Can so many people change
Can hope turn to fear?
How, with the passage of splinters in time
Can all of our dreams vanish
Can we pass our prime?
How, indeed.
we never know
we never know
we never know
…..Why, when I look in the mirror at night
Do I hardly know myself
Do I close my sight?
Why, when I ask if the world is alive
Do the people disappear
Does the answer never arrive?
Why, indeed.
We never know
we never know
we never know
We never know
How much we didn’t know
When what we knew
We hardly knew
And what we thought we knew
We never knew
At all.
“The “Not You” Conspiracy”
Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
© April 3, 1983 11:30 a.m.“I’m not you”, you scream
As you do the same things I did
And I view the same scenes
I’ve seen before“I’m not you”, you cry
And you slip inside yourself nightly
Just like I did
Not too long agoYou aren’t me – and yet you are
Because you’re human just like me
And I refuse to reach out and touch you
Maybe because I’m afraid of finding myselfIsn’t it a pity
That each one of us tells the world
We’re so open, so enthusiastic
to the needs of others
So caring
But we’re not really
We close and lock doors real quickly
I know I do
Even if I’m not you.“A Turn At Urgency”
(Undisputedly the Mixed-Up Tale of the ’80′s)
Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
© July 21, 1983 4:00 p.m.
If any of you read my monologue
So long ago
You’d shake your heads andListen for a minute
While I try toIf smiling happy eleven year old boys
in knickers and baseball caps
chase summer’s end to their deaths
then who am I to claim
responsibility for our feelingsWe are what we need
I said
“I do need all of you”
But I meant to say
“I’ve been through this before.”The muted strains
Undiluted rock & roll trains
Heed no painstaking gains
“Tryin’ to get to you.”Memory is all any of us
have leftI left my identity in my other
pair of pantsIf any of you even understand
Then you are to be congratulated
for I won’tPass some smoke
and let’s forget humanity’s foiblesA diaphanous faerie on gossamer
wings
Wakes to wild headaches after
weekend long flings
But come Friday evening
a voice in her singsWe celebrate not with our
minds
But we fly fairly oft without
wings.We are what we plead
I gave up on pleading a long
time ago.Please come over
Please help me
Please please me (oh yeah)If any of you read the article
See the movie
Read the credits
Credit yourself with extemporaneous
Brilliance
Light up the sky with your ignoranceWhat am I but
What am Ibut a poet
and I’ve told you this before
I’ll just leave a few
words on the pageBut I’ve got many more
in store.
Comments (5)
Hi Michael,
All three of these are really good but I especially like the middle one since it seems to be the largest source of conflict between my father and me. I’m getting to be more and more like him and have repeated many of the mistakes he made and learned from and yet I hesitate to take his suggestions or advice and try so hard to push him out of my life in spite of all of my love for him.
I wish I could respond more critically to the work of others rather than relate to it as I usually seem to. That way I’d be able to critique the work and be able to help myself and others improve but I have a hard time doing that. I really enjoyed all three of these poems for very different reasons. Sometimes I like your older work better then the newer stuff because it seems a bit more raw. Less carefully crafted and controlled. Maybe less cautious? It strikes me at a gut level that I really enjoy. On the other hand, I like your newer stuff for the exact opposite reason which suggests I have no idea what I’m talking about.
It has been a while since I have checked out your Xanga site. Sorry about that. I’ve been concentrating on our other group but there hasn’t been much of substance posted there recently so I’ll be sure to come back here more often. As always, thanks for your ever helpful and honest comments. I’ve learned a lot from you and, in my opinion, improved quite a bit because of your comments and suggestion.
Have a great day,
Andreas
those first two are great and definatly my fav’s…i like how the questions are left unanswered (in the first one) and the reader is forced to come to their own conclusions…
“The Intelectual Responds” is definately my favorite. The formatting helped pull me through the words, the words pulled me into the meaning, the meaning was and wasn’t all at once …………
All three are good works. I enjoy some of your turns of phrases. I was on a site once where that a unique turn of phrase was dismissed as poor poetry. I never figured it out. Your poetry speaks to the heart, and that is what I really enjoy reading…words from the heart.
Hi Sweetie,
Very cool, You and I think quite a like
xanga.com/home.asp?user=supergirl2