April 23, 2009

• ElectricPoetry: National Poetry Month Part 3

  

  BEHIND THE POETRY: This is my third ElectricPoetry Post in honor of National Poetry Month. As stated earlier, I am not penning a “poem a day” but I have posted three “spontaneous poetry” posts consisting of all new poetry. The first can be found HERE and the second HERE. Today I am mixing a couple of older but favorite poems with some new work. First is “Like Ships That Pass Etc.” from 1971, followed by “State of Mind” from 1983, and then some new stuff.

  My good Xanga friend and writer Jeff Markowitz has posted an interview with moi over on his blogsite doahsdeer today, as part of his Nat’l Poetry Month series of interviews with Xanga poets. Thanks so much Jeff! Also, I’d like to point out that my personal website, AllThingsMike, which turns ten years old on May 1st (not so coincidentally on my birthday) has been featured on the Forever Friends webring as site of the month. Thank you Forever Friends! MFN/ppf

  ---

  “Like Ships That Pass Etc.”
  Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
  1971 (17 years old)

  
  We come here every day
  And sit and stare
  And work
  And occasionally I steal a glance at you
  And you look back.

  Then we turn away
  To what we were doing
  And concentrate
  And feelings pass through our heads
  And we don’t know what it means.

  You are so beautiful
  I say quietly
  I curse
  And watch you patiently never knowing
  That you watch me too.

  We come here every day
  And we wonder
  Why we falter
  In grasping each other’s emotions
  Then we turn our backs again.

  And silently cry.

   

  “State of Mind”
  Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
  February 7, 1983 3:35 p.m.

  
  I might feel happy, I might feel real sad
  Think life is ripe, think all the vibes are bad
  Might feel a surge, a rich romantic hold
  Might feel as if my turgid soul is sold.
  It’s all as if I have my own detector
  But the knob fell off of the channel selector
  Don’t send your love to the P.O. box this time
  Because I no longer live in my own
  State of Mind.

  
  I glimpse the children playing on the street
  No misdirection clawing at their tiny feet
  I claw my brain, a lump climbs up my throat
  They look so happy but I just missed the boat
  It’s all as if I am my own detractor
  I lost the device to measure this important factor
  Don’t look me up if you’re afraid of what you find
  Because I lost the address to my own
  State of Mind.

  I might stay quiet, I might say a lot
  I might think it’s right but the meaning’s not
  Might lose the grasp to my own solutions
  While wading through the mire of the others’ pollutions
  It’s all as if I don’t care what’s correct or
  Maybe lost the keys to my own private sector.
  Don’t call my number cause there’s no one on the line
  Because I’m tearing up the map to my own
  State of Mind.

  “Epitome”
  Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
  4/22/09 8:47 p.m. pdt

  The shiniest apple on the tree
  The largest raspberry on the vine
  Fastest gazelle
  Most cunning fox
  Elephant with the deepest memory
  One stands out above and beyond
  Distinct
  Free of most flaws
  A shining celebrity
  Well remembered leader
  Courageous hero
  One stands up above all
  Special
  The epitome

   

  “Driving Home the Point”
  Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
  4/22/09 8:53 p.m. pdt

  Fast, faster, supersonic, almost to the redline
  Needle wavering unsteadily, yet steadily inching forward
  Tires are spinning chronic, rubber tracks intwine
  Car is rushing readily, and steadily speeding toward

  Wind in the face, who’ll win the race?
  First to get home wins the prize
  Dozens of cars, all of them driven by stars
  Sleek silhouettes, shouting goodbyes

  Driving through disdain, through sun, hail, or rain
  Fishtales of fantastic fervor, spunout of glory
  Speed, brash fast lane, no need to complain
  First to pass the finish line will tell the story

  Swerving through complacency
  Grand Prix of the mind
  The car’s really stuck fast in traffic
  A sea of red taillights is all we will find

   

  “The Cancerboy Diaries: Entry the Last
  (For Joel)”
  Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
  4/23/09   4:48 a.m. pdt

  You probably thought I’d written you off
  after the last poem you couldn’t read,
  even though you never did get the time
  to read the rest of them anyway.
  Well, perhaps you are reading them now
  and now it’s time to write the last entry in the diary.

  I told you I couldn’t close this particular book of life last year
  You remember, don’t you, on the night you died?
  It was too soon, too close, too sad.
  Your adventure might have ended for you
  but not for me  (for us)
  Yet, as the adventure ended so suddenly,
  I couldn’t find the words showing through the hurt
  I couldn’t finish the sentence
  seeing as how life had placed it’s period on your’s forever.

  It’s so difficult to really believe you’re gone
  You always seemed to be in the shadows,
  reading a sci fi book series,
  or listening to those Who cds
  (You know I saved your cds,
  and I can’t find the fourth one in the Who box
  Let me know where it is if you remember)
  Endlessly flipping channels on the bigscreen
  And
  Always with an blustery and unchanging opinion

  You loved those two cats.

  I had to let the cats go,
  I couldn’t check back up on them after I took
  them to the kitty cat shelter
  I couldn’t bear to hear they had been put to sleep
  So now I live alone,
  and I’m liking it

  But

  The quiet is almost too.
  You weren’t that social,
  but you were a good friend,
  and I miss you at times like this
  when the memory of your
  seeming irrationality overbears
  the solid truth of now.

  The back cover of your book of life
  is slowly closing,
  your ashes sit in a silver urn
  in the top corner of the mausoleum
  You questioned your afterlife,
  and now you’ve had a year to know
  to see
  to experience life as it’s lived without you
  Good bye my dear iconoclastic friend
  Maybe soon we’ll play another game of chess
  Or listen to the heavenly angels sing punk music
  in the clouds.

  ---

  NOTE: ”The Cancerboy Diaries: Entry the Last” is the belated last poem in the Cancerboy series, poetry dedicated to my friend Joel, who passed away in July of 2008. The rest of the series, which consists of ten poems, can be seen HERE. All of my poetry is online, chronologically presented by decade on the ElectricPoetry website. MFN/ppf

  • 8:34 am
  • 16 Comments