Category Archives: Poetry

Girl and the Sea

by The Presets

Tonight the
Tonight the hills are watching her
as she runs towards the sea
Yeah she runs so she’ll be free

And of all the friends and enemies shes made along the way
They are nowhere in her thoughts
as she dives beneath the waves

And he’s the one that you’ve seen sometimes on TV
and his shirt is on the ground
while he’s tackled by police
And the parcel that he throws across the bridge into the creek
It’ll flow towards the sea
It will meet with her tomorrow

No place,
some time
We’ll clear
our eyes
And when
you’re down
I’ll come
around

And all the
places shes been along the way
Flames are licking at their walls
Night glows with their remains

From far away the animals come and gather round to see
But she knows not how they feel
and she knows not what it means

When she was young we’d ask her what she’d like to be
and she’d close her eyes and dream

Now we’re nowhere in her thoughts
as she dives beneath the waves

A place
I’ve found
could be
all ours
but I’ve seen
where you
would rather be

U Turn (lili)

by AaRON

Lili,
Take another walk out of your fake world
please put all the drugs out of your hand
You’ll see that you can breathe without no backup
So much stuff you got to understand

For every step in any walk
any town of any thought
I’ll be your guide

For every street of any scene
any place you’ve never been
I’ll be your guide

Lili,
You know there’s still a place for people like us
the same blood runs in every hand
You see its not the wings that make the angel
just have to move the bats out of your head

For every step in any walk
any town of any thought
I’ll be your guide

For every street of any scene
any place you’ve never been
I’ll be your guide

Lili,
Easy as a kiss we’ll find an answer
put all your fears back in the shade
Don’t become a ghost without no color
cause you’re the best paint that life ever made

For every step in any walk
any town of any thought
I’ll be your guide

For every street of any scene
any place you’ve never been
I’ll be your guide

Praise song for the day

Inauguration poem for President Barack Obama, by Elizabeth Alexander

Praise song for the day.

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others’ eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, “Take out your pencils. Begin.”

We encounter each other in words, Words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; Words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, “I need to see what’s on the other side; I know there’s something better down the road.”

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by “Love thy neighbor as thy self.”

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp — praise song for walking forward in that light.

Evolution of a Banksy

A collaborative investigation takes on new meaning via Flickr discussions:

Some folks just didn’t agree with Banksy’s opinion of the military so they painted out the two figures. Whoever buffed the figure on the left took great care not to spoil the window (it’s not real, Banksy painted it) but the figure on the right was badly botched, although the shopping cart was preserved.

Click on the image to see the evolution and discussion: