Kurt Cobain by Jackman Still

This fib chain was written, actually, for both of the Rocking Chair Prompts this week: “What’s really on your mind?” and “What days in your life will you always remember and why?” Enjoy.

-Nicole
—————————————————-
for
some
it was
Kennedy
gunned down in a car
in broad Dallas motorcade daylight

for
some
it was
Doctor King
a giant cut down
death on a motel balcony

for
some
it was
John Lennon
brilliance in words
silenced forever by bullets

for
me
it was
Kurt Cobain
as MTV News
announced his terminal silence

and
that
moment
forever
remains frozen fresh
in my seventeen year-old mind

Written 7/18/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

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Nanda by Rick Moss

This was written for two prompts, actually: Read Write Poem #36 (”Ekphrastic Extravaganza”) and Totally Optional Prompts (”Ghazal”). The painting is “Nanda” by Rick Mobbs and is from his blog “Mine Enemy Grows Older”. Enjoy.

-Nicole
———————————-
Wordless thin lips form a short line on a sunken face -
a folded wire woman draped in yards of soft black.

The contrast between hijab and skin gives my eye pause;
were it not for her pale skin, she would fade to black.

In stillness, only her eyes move as camera lenses
focusing beyond her corner of muted earth-brown and black.

I cannot travel behind the eyes or the cloth;
both halt my curious journey with shields of unyielding black.

“Nicole, you have your secrets. I have mine”, she declares -
I am left to speculate of the world behind the black.

Written 7/17/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

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SP 10 Waiting for Disaster by THS Acid

This fib chain was written for Poefusion’s Friday Five prompt. This week’s words were: wail, hay, scrawl, clobber, and encourage. Enjoy.

-Nicole
————————————-
stones
lay
scattered
tornado
scrawled our homelessness
onto to the land in rock letters

it
made
hay of
this town – the
clobbered brick houses
wail open-mouthed laments skyward

we
stand
under
blue sky roofs
and encourage each
other to silence the wailing

Written 7/17/08
&copy 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

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This was actually written a few weeks ago, but I’m posting it for the ghazal prompt on Totally Optional Prompts. Enjoy.

-Nicole
————————————-
The milquetoast father, polite and serene
never dared to raise his voice or holler.

His unheard child became a ghost unseen -
she never dared to stand and holler.

Unvoiced words stuck in her throat as regret,
lodged forever as a decaying, unheard holler.

Through a kiss, I reached in and pulled the words out –
then she never ceased to stand and holler.

Silence once slit my throat and stole the sound
and from my lips came forth no song or holler.

She searched my lips for my missing honey song,
but turned and walked when she heard no holler.

Watching her leave, I feared that I had lost the words to call her;
sorrow rose up in my throat, loud and full like a field holler.

It rushed up, a river pushing my silent mouth open –
“I love you!” poured forth when I stood and hollered.

She stopped, then turned and walked back to me;
now our enjoined hands serve as our in tandem holler.

Written 6/24/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

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Interracial Love II Revised by Haiku Loves Yuri

This sestina was written for this week’s Three Word Wednesday prompt: to use the words “narrow”, “history”, and “spent”. Enjoy.

-Nicole
————————————————–
History may record the firecracker chaos
born of steel wills clashing in these
Birmingham streets, the clashing of love
and hate, bigotry and tolerance, law
enforcers and law breakers. It may speak
of water hoses, dogs, nightsticks, angry

old men with fear-chiseled faces, and angry
women upholding banners of hatred; of chaos
created when men and women dare to speak
of a new future but are yet opposed by these
hoses, dogs, clubs, people, and unjust law;
and hands, shoulders, and wills joined in love,

forming bridges and walls. Yet of our love
history may not speak, but we still confront angry
words and stares outside, and ancient, dusty law
which all but forbids our love. I hold hot chaos
in my heart; it swirls and scalds, the result of these
wounds of wicked hatred. I don’t dare speak

lightly of our love, but I will dare to speak
to widen dark alleys within narrow minds. Love
compels me, love propels me, to speak these
truths, truths that bind me to you against angry
protest, even from my family. I’ll take the chaos,
I’ll take the pain, I’ll take the risk of offending law

and parents. I can only live by one law,
and that is the law of love; so I will speak
your name in public spaces and brace for chaos;
I will cling to you in daylight, and I will love
you. What else can I do? I’ve spent angry
currency in your defense, I’ve spent these

nights with you under moonlight, and these
daytimes by your side, watching as law
and people try to cut you down with angry
swords of words and denials. I now speak
of forever, of shoulders strengthened by love
as mountains to lean upon and weep, of chaos

spent like dollars when we made love. These
and other moments make me speak against
angry people, unjust law, and moral chaos.

Written 7/16/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

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This was actually written for three prompts: Poefusion’s Title Tuesday (“Stung by the Splendor of Sudden Black”), Writer’s Island (“Farewell”), and Simply Snickers (use the words “standing” and “still”). I wrote this entirely in American Sentences. Enjoy.

-Nicole
——————————————————-
Stung by the splendor of sudden black, I failed to
bid farewell to you. Nothingness erased the
last still frame where you stood and painted it
black. I called your name, but Silence devoured my
cries into its belly. An obsidian wall separated life
and death – and therefore, us.

Shocked by the brilliance of sudden light, I froze
in my own still frame. Light erased Nothingness
from my view with a sudden, tender violence. The air
sang out my name in sonic colors silent to earthly
ears. The wall was now a two-way mirror through
which I saw you, standing still.

Slapped by the shock of sudden death, I winced,
my soul smarting from the pain. Pain vibrated in
contrast to the rainbow song and unearthly light.
My unsaid farewell to you caught in my throat and
held the pain inside. I looked through the mirror
and saw you, weeping, demanding my return.

Chained by the weight of sudden regret, I screamed
your name into the air. The song and the light absorbed
the pain which poured out of my soul. The unsaid
farewell followed, floating through the mirror to
you below. I lingered upon your image one last time
before walking away.

Written 7/15/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

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Shed blood disappears into hot, harsh sand - but not from their memories.

Written 7/14/08
&copy 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

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Here is a performance of “I’m Half Here” on YouTube (filmed at Writer’s Block Poetry at Kafe Kerouac):

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Dark Guitar by New Jack Rhyme

This chain of regular and reverse hay(na)ku was written for Poefusion’s Monday Mural Prompt (the mural is above). Enjoy.

-Nicole
——————————————————-
one
night I
had a dream
I walked the
streets of
Memphis

electric
buzz twang
and sandpaper song
slithered into my
open eager
ears

and
wrapped themselves
around my heart
they pulled me
to Beale
Street

and
that’s when
I saw him
written in neon
the lingua
franca

of
honky-tonk
blues and jazz
as he sat
on the
steps

he
wove a
guitar string tapestry
which cradled the
full Memphis
moon

and
brought it
down to me
then he vanished
into the
night

I
was left
still holding that
moon in my
bare cold
hands

I
stored it
inside of my
heart-shaped box
it still glows
casting Memphis
moonlight

on
neon wishes
and musical dreams
where I gladly
sing the
blues

Written 7/13/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

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Johnny Cash - Personal Jesus by Ivan Ulmann

This sedoka was written for One Single Impression Prompt #20: Myth. Enjoy.

-Nicole
———————————————–
side one: tall, weathered
a black-clad clarion call
notorious sinner singer

side two: gentle, wise
examining the world around
him for fingerprints of God

Written 7/12/08
&copy 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

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