so that my fingers

Written 4/14/10
© 2010 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.
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This poem, a cleave, was written for NaPoWriMo #14: You Want Me to Write a What? over at Read Write Poem. Yes, it’s my prompt. I figured it just wouldn’t be right if I didn’t write for it.

-Nicole
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Stumble It!

This poem was written for Read Write Poem Prompt # 105: Borrowed Words.

So here you go. And as always, enjoy.

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Forget that the moon is sliced by the
violence of wire smiles that dangle from
pole to pole. I know you – you notice
these things. Like how
each telephone pole itself is a
victim of modern slaughter, their dead, polished wooden husks
standing on display like
conquered corpses to line this
backwoods Appian Way. Like how
the stalks of corn bend their backs in
submission to the wind and nod their spiked blond heads
towards the city – and you might think
that they are saluting the concrete, iron, and glass supremacy
from which we have just emerged. And like how
even this car seems to intrude this last patch of pastoral
with a certain violence, sounding out its
lustful pleasure from the act in every darkened direction
with its steady libretto of
metal-and-gasoline roar. Forget all of
that. We are newborns here.

And as we silence the engine and leave
this metal-on-wheels cocoon
resting on a square of asphalt, I want you to
see. See how neglect cradles the
trees in her arms, cares for them with the
fecund earth beneath our feet. See how
meteors made the moon beautiful, giving her
darkened eyes that cast water back and forth
from shore to shore. And see
this clearing, as we enter its heart
and pierce the flocculent shadows and velvet
black sitting in taciturn, holy observation and
casting curtains in the air and onto
the floor. Here is an altar, dappled with dirt and
pine needle glory. Here is a
hidden house of God. And
here is

one more place for you that is
unspoiled, just outside the borders of
human hands. You misanthrope. You quote
Ginsberg and Blake like your own breath yet you
hate those flesh souls cradled by the arms of this
earth. You scream about the
legalese bubble that allows the steel mill
sitting inside the town that birthed us in our teenaged frenzy
to puke and shit its
blast furnace, tiny shrapnel, and chemical-and-fire effluence
around it in a self-righteous fountain –
yet you forget

that we are just as much holy as we are the
monstrous hands that created these
metal-and-Moloch giants. You forget
that this life is a tightrope walk on the
thin line where yin and yang meet and that
we wear god and devil masks by turns. You forget
that existence

is an uneasy truce.

Now, put away your cynic’s armor, that
suit of tarnished gray that you paint
with stolen colors – blue, indigo, and violet –
from the dark half of the poet’s rainbow. That suit
of fig leaf that can never hide your longing, your own
shame. That suit that you put on
when you cast the entire world as giants –
and you stand,
dwarf and raging,
with a wet fire in your breast,
and you scream, yet thinking
that your words languish, lying beneath the whispers
of a grasshopper.

And take. Take this holy ground. Take
the needles below your feet. Take
the moon, that ancient lady bruised in her infancy. Take
that handful of metal shavings that you
found fresh at your doorstep before the morning light. And take
the flame from that steel mill smokestack torch that
beacons our town’s name and fame, slapping the night
with a single eye of fire. Take it
all together, and understand that
green can always grow beside the gray. But
I ask you one last question:

how can you grasp that green
if you never bother to open your hands?

Written 12/14/09 and 12/15/09
© 2009 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

Stumble It!

NEW

Joanna says that “instead of our usual feature, we are going to do a theme show for political poetry. If you have new work that you’ve written in the aftermath of the election, bring it on. If you have older work, bring it out and we can switch up readers to give it a new spin! It will be a red, white, and blue extravaganza – and will include new work sent across the ocean by WB ex-pat John Troyer.

We will also have the traditional First Draft Open Mic, where new poems and new poets are encouraged to hit the stage! Come early, as parking will be limited! See you there!”

Stumble It!

Admission for the night is $8.00 and includes appetizers, a raffle ticket for some very exciting door prizes and great poetry.

The featured poet of this night is Miss Barbara Fant of Columbus (originally from Youngstown). According to Say That Again’s host, Kim Hight, Miss Fant “will leave you amazed!!” Poets are also encouraged to bring their best work out for open mic and merchandise if any to sell.

The doors open at 7:30pm. The Urban-Spirit Coffee Shop, ltd. will be open until 8pm for your perusal. You can find out more about the shop at www.Urban-Spirit.com

Urban Spirit Coffee Shop is located at 893 E. Long Street. You can find a map and directions here.

To see the hot card for the event, click on the pictures below:

Stumble It!

-Nicole

Dear Mr. Kinney: thank you for giving
me Excalibur – the knowledge of great words
and how to use them. You showed the living
soul of advanced vocabulary heard

never before by sixth grade ears: words such
as “potentate”. You called them “college words”
and gave a weekly list to study, much
to the chagrin of some – but I loved words

with power and meaning. They were weapons
of mass creation, language swords which spurred
me to arrange them in poetic configurations
and proper prose. So what if I’m a nerd:

For I wield a vocabulary sword.
Thank you, teacher, for an ageless reward.

Written 6/10/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

Stumble It!

-Nicole

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Next weekend is the 2008 Rust Belt Poetry Slam!
http://www.rustbeltpoetryslam.com

Here are…

Top Ten Reasons You Should Come To The 2008 Rust Belt Poetry Slam:

10. The event is revered nationwide.
This is one of the premier Slam events in the country. Few competitions are larger than this one, and this year’s crew is very proud and excited to bring you this event. With ten teams of poets and four individual competitors, it’s a slam unlike any of the ones you may have come into contact with at the local level. Dozens of poets are coming from as far away as Canada and Minneapolis to compete! They aren’t doing this because the Rust Belt is lame.

9. The poets are really, really good.
Many of the poets are veterans of the Slam scene, clocking in appearances on Def Poetry Jam and on various National Poetry Slam stages all over the country. The range of the work that appears on these stages will be vast, and the quality top-notch. I’d blame that on the cash prize for first place winners, but really, the poets are that good anyway.

8. The venues are awesome.
Frog Bear & Wild Boar. The Mynt. The Lodge Bar.
We’re in three great venues that have never had poetry events in them before and they can’t wait to see what a poetry slam looks like. If audience comes out in great numbers they’ll want poetry in those venues all the time and the word will spread. An art scene is always what you make it, and this event gives everyone the opportunity to let the city know that poetry shows can be as compelling as every other type of show venues offer. They’re not sure what to make of all the buzz. Let’s show them why the buzz is real.

7. The venues are close and centralized.
Every aspect of the event takes place within mere blocks. You can park and walk the whole route with no struggle. On Saturday you can park early, catch the early bout, get a bite to eat, hang out, checkout some art, then show up at the Finals venue later…without moving your car! And downtown is an easy drive from every part of the city!

6. The entire event is in the Short North.
Looking for something to do between bouts? We’ve put the event right in the area where Gallery Hop normally takes place, so there’s plenty for folks to do and see all weekend long! Want a drink? Eats? Shop? See some art? Get your dance on? We’re right in the heart of Columbus’s most happening strip.

5. The shows will be on-time and tightly run.
We’ve got an extraordinary volunteer effort pushing this event forward to keep events moving and on time, from the door to the MCs to the score crews to the merchandise tables. All we need is you in seats and we can get this party started!

4. It’s a great event to use to turn someone on to poetry.
Remember what it was like when you first came out to a local open mic or slam? How cool that was, and how it made you want to come back? Or take up writing poetry? Or even start performing?! Remember how cool that was?

Now imagine it all over again with your best friends – because who wants to come to this alone, right? – and multiply it by TEN. You will leave this event so inspired that you’ll be looking for a microphone to share your poetry on as soon as the last poet reads.

3. We have not one, but TWO side events.
Saturday afternoon features the first-ever Wild Card Slam, which is a slam that anyone can sign up for, but in which teams will picked by draw! You could end up on a team with one of those awesome competitors, or better, YOU could be picking a team, coach!

Also, we have a wide-open mic the hour before Finals for as many people as we can sign up in that amount of time. Bring your work out and perform before our great city to heat the big stage up!

2. You don’t have to pay twice for side events and shows.
We want you to see as much of this incredible event as possible, from the cool side events to the barbecue-hot bouts. To that end, we aren’t kicking anyone out of venues just because a side event is over and a bout is about to start. If you pay the five bucks for the Wild Card Slam on Saturday at noon, you can keep your seat for the bouts that follow without paying again! You can do the same thing for eight dollars during the open mic Saturday at 7:00 before Finals…come early, stay for the show, pay once! While the venues have great seating, we’re expecting really large crowds. TAKE US UP ON THIS.

And the #1 reason to come to the 2008 Rust Belt Poetry Slam…

1. It’s going to be more fun than any advertisement could relay.
Really, with poetry from all over the country and beyond on Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Saturday night, this is like the “Burning Man” of poetry in Columbus. This is like “Poetpalooza”. This is the biggest poetry event Columbus will have seen, and it’s going to come and go before you know it. I know we’ve done this event here in the past…forget what you saw before. Bring as many people as you can fit into your car. Buy some poetry from any number of the poets who will be in attendance at our loaded merchandise tables. See what poetry is capable of. Don’t be the person who stayed home while this historic event was going down. Don’t do ANYTHING else that you could have done at any other time while this veritable festival of poetry is unfolding right in your own backyard. Ignorance may be bliss, but I promise you: you’ll be sorry.

On a personal note: I have years of experience hosting or planning events at the local, regional and national level. I have brought that experience to bear squarely on this phenomenal event. I wanted to see the kind of event that I would pay the kind of good money I pay to go to other events, but better. The incredible crew putting this slam on for you believes wholeheartedly that we have created that experience.

See you next week, and please feel free to post this anywhere you can!

Scott Woods
Event Co-ordinator, Rust Belt 2008

http://www.rustbeltpoetryslam.com

(The first person to guess all four of the poets in this flyer that isn’t one of the poets ON this flyer? I’ll leave you a single free pass to the Friday night bout at the door.)