The test blog is now closed. So don’t go there.
Also, my sample poems page, Six Poems You Need to Read, has been refined and is now an actual online mini-chapbook, Open the Door.
-Nicole
Monthly Archives: February 2010
February 2010 Read Write Poem Mini-Challenge Poem #5: The Devotee
Midnight. I trace the borders of this town with my two feet
under a blanket of stars. Darkness clings to me,
washed away by scattered pairs of headlights
shining like broken beads spilled onto the road
and rolling past me as I walk. August smells like
spent bonfires coughing up their burnt wood ghosts and
warm rain spilling its heavy and humid funk onto
dirt and concrete. I am naked; I am wet;
but I don’t care.
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Writer’s Block Hosts WoWPS Kickoff @ Callahan’s, March 10, 2010
Writer’s Block Poetry is hosting the kickoff for the Women of the World Poetry Slam at Callahan’s on March 10 (View Map).
The night will begin with the traditional Writer’s Block Open Mic from 8:00 PM until 9:00 PM, followed by the Last Chance Slam from 9:00 PM until 11:00 PM. Ladies, if you missed your chance the first time around to slam to get into WoWPS, this Slam is literally your LAST CHANCE to try to compete in WoWPS.
All of this is followed by the Welcome Party, which begins at 11:00 PM and goes until whenever.
For the full schedule of events, see the WoWPS 2010 Schedule of Events.
Women’s Panel and Workshop @ Writing Wrongs, Thursday, March 11, 2010
The folks over at Writing Wrongs Poetry say, “stop by for an incredible workshop and panel with four of Poetry Slam’s most amazing Ladies!
Dee Matthews (Detroit), Gypsee Yo (Atlanta), Sonya Renee (D.C.) & Mahogany L Browne (Brooklyn) make up an amazing panel of poets that will be conducting a workshop during the Women of the World Poetry Slam. This event has been one of the highlights of the past couple of years and this promises to have the same impact.
Admission is Free for participants, volunteers and staff for the Women of the World Poetry Slam. $5 for General Admission.”
When: Thursday, March 11 from 1:30 – 4:00 PM
Where: Urban Spirit Coffee Shop, 893 E. Long Street, Columbus OH (View Map)
Rachel McKibbens Features @ Writing Wrongs, March 9, 2010
THE Rachel McKibbens will be featuring at Writing Wrongs Poetry on March 9, 2010.
Yes, you read right.
She will feature there, shortly before the Women of the World Poetry Slam. She is also competing in the slam.
The founders of WW have this to say about the show:
“Rachel McKibbens is many, many things including the author of the beloved ‘Pink Elephant’ and the 2009 Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion. She is coming back to Columbus to do a full set for Writing Wrongs and you don’t want to miss it.
There will also be an 8 woman slam off comprised of some of the nation’s best.
All this plays up to a night you CAN’T miss.”
When: March 9, 2010 @ 8:00 PM
Where: Writing Wrongs Poetry Slam @ Urban Spirit Coffee Shop, 893 E. Long Street, Columbus OH (View Map)
February 2010 Read Write Poem Mini-Challenge Poem #4: You Don’t See It
You don’t see it, but some days
I drag moonlit danger behind me like a veil of milky dust
casting itself off of my crown. I balance
armies of fire on the backs of my arms and
use them for wings. I hear
the stars rubbing their legs together for the want of music
and hanging gold fiddled notes on Venus’ earlobes. They
chime, making love in the solar wind.
I strap bass lines onto my back;
wrap chain mail angels around my chest;
strap thunderclouds to the soles of my feet;
and I dance.
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February 2010 Read Write Poem Mini-Challenge Poem #3: Delirium
This is my third piece for the February 2010 Mini-Challenge over at Read Write Poem. This month’s challenge directed us to gather a poet’s work around us, pull out or underline lines we really liked, and then construct at least two centos, or patchwork poems (one each on days one and two, of course) from those lines. On day 3, we have the option of either writing another cento or parting ways with the lines and writing our own poems based on or inspired by our chosen poet.
I chose to do another cento using Arthur Rimbaud’s lines.
And you can read all of my February Mini-Challenge Poems here.
-Nicole
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I have swallowed a fabulous dose of poison. On my
hospital bed, an overpowering smell of incense wafts over me:
guardians of the holy oil, confessors, martyrs. I have a
pillow over my mouth, they can’t hear me, they’re
phantoms. I’m no longer in the world; life’s clock
has stopped. Yes indeed, I’ve shut my eyes
against your light;
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February 2010 Read Write Poem Mini-Challenge Poem #2: The Prophet
This is my second piece for the February 2010 Mini-Challenge over at Read Write Poem. This month’s challenge directed us to gather a poet’s work around us, pull out or underline lines we really liked, and then construct at least two centos, or patchwork poems (one each on days one and two, of course) from those lines. On day 3, we have the option of either writing another cento or parting ways with the lines and writing our own poems based on or inspired by our chosen poet.
I chose Arthur Rimbaud.
And you can read all of my February Mini-Challenge Poems here.
-Nicole
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I have a horror of all trades. In my vision I saw
a million charming creatures moving in time to
beautiful church-music, Power and Peace, noble ambitions, and
lord knows what. These, it was promised, would
bury the tree of good and evil in absolute darkness, would
banish despotic proprieties, freeing us to love purely
in the pure land. It’s the vision of numbers; eternity, the
shoreless ocean in the sun.
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February 2010 Read Write Poem Mini-Challenge Poem #1: The Fire This Time
This is my first piece for the February 2010 Mini-Challenge over at Read Write Poem. This month’s challenge directed us to gather a poet’s work around us, pull out or underline lines we really liked, and then construct at least two centos, or patchwork poems (one each on days one and two, of course) from those lines. On day 3, we have the option of either writing another cento or parting ways with the lines and writing our own poems based on or inspired by our chosen poet.
I chose Arthur Rimbaud.
And you can read all of my February Mini-Challenge Poems here.
-Nicole
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The epic of a madness. Ecstasy, nightmare, sleep, in a
nest of flames. I summoned pestilence so I could choke on
sand, on blood. I buried the dead in my bowels. I’ve got a
taste for almost nothing anymore but dirt and stones. Feed on
broken bricks, on bits of scree and the old stones in churchyards; I have
faith in poison.
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Come Over to the Test Blog…See The New Design for RWP!
Hello RWP Readers:
I just wanted to let you know that I have completed (most of) the design changes for Raven’s Wing Poetry. I set up a test blog to try everything out before it goes live on March 1. Please come over, look around, and let me know what you think!
Phantasmagoria
This poem was written for Read Write Poem Prompt #114: All Over The Map. I decided to continue the narrative that began in “Endgame” and continued in “Emmaus”. The words led me to a dream sequence experienced by the character in both poems; it is constructed in three Six Sentences pieces with two short interludes in between. I hope you enjoy the read.
And BTW, please feel free to look at this poem over on the test blog too.
-Nicole
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I. A Dead God’s Chest.
Your mind unfolds, tumbling out jewel-wrapped candy like a cracked-open piñata minted inside a pirate’s fiction. This is the stuff of little boy and girl pretend, of cinemascope phantasms dreamt alive in the dark. It is made out of crowns, galleons, doubloons, and blessed by curses like the clown-painted Aztec god grin baring teeth at you from the face of an underbreath promise: take my treasure and you die, mortal. You laugh like the sunset dancing diamonds upon the water that holds your ship aloft, but a sword swishes wet and red in your ear, drawing its double-dog-dare-you onto a blueprint that looks just like your neck. It’s the eggshell crack that you never hear until your boots break through a wretched, open floor. And on the way down, you will see those boots embedded inside that grin, lodged between eyetooth and incisor as a testament against you, just before your back splits apart upon Hell’s floor.
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Video Performance of “Angels” On YouTube!
I just posted a performance of “Angels” that was taped at Writing Wrongs Poetry on January 26, 2010. I performed a slightly ad-libbed version of the poem during the open mic that night, which preceded the 2nd Annual All-Ohio Battle Slam. You can watch the clips below:
