2011 Portland Poetry Slam team

Want to work to get off book

Amazed at the last 3 weeks at Port Veritas.

We have a very, very dangeous slam team.

Congratulations to: ‎2011 Port Veritas/Portland, ME Poetry Slam Grand Slam Champ is Sean Mcgovern-Waite. He, Tui Scanlan, Ryan McLellan, and Wil Gibson are your team. William Antony Trix Bruno is the alternate.

I am impressed by all of you .. and of all 20 semi-finalists.

ed

Hear our voices

Sing

Sing in the cold
sing in the warmth
sing in the rain

Feel the heart song
Feel the rhythm of the soul

Feel the beings
Feel the land

Feel

Listen to the wind
Listen to the rumble
Listen to the quiet
listen to the peepers

Listen

See the green
See the spring
see the waters
see the smiles
see the spirit

See

Touch the ground
ground thyself
Let yourself be at peace
let yourself rest

Ground

Taste the water
taste the spirit
taste the fire
taste the energy

Feast

Feel the spirit
feel the flow
Create the space
create your memories
create deep friendship

Trust

Bring it out into the world
We need the healing energy
We need the positive spirit
We need to feel the trust

We are all one
we are all one

(c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn

Hunter

Shy cat
quiet soul

Lovely eyes
gorgeous black fur
Isis

Loving
adored Lanna

Love to play
love to lick the wet food

Enjoyed Trance
found on a fire escape

Gone too soon
much too soon

Wish I could see him scatter again
with the doorbell
See him warm up to guests slowly

Lovely cat
Gone too soon much too soon

We miss you Hunter "Socks" Thompson

Gone too soon
all too soon

You were right back in my dreams at Twilight

Lanna needed a new cat
I needed two gorgeous new cats

Lenny and Squiggy
bringing play
Bringing the nuge

Loving me
Loving Lanna

We miss you
you were gone too soon
and a beautiful spirit.

Hunter "Socks" Thompson
RIP
2003-2010

(c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn

Rhythm

Music is the medium,
Rhythm is the message

Feel the rhythm
Feel the flow

Feel the drum
Feel the dance

Feel in your heart
Feel in your soul

Be moved
In body, mind or spirit.

Let the rhythm let you sing
Let the rhythm make you dance
Let the rhythm help you play
Play with the rhythm

Dancer, Drummer, Singer, Shaman

Play with the the rhythm
Let nature hear it
Let nature play

Let nature inform the circle
Music helps us play
Fire helps us play
Created space help us play

Feel the rhythm
Feel the music
Hear the message
Play with the beat

Play
Listen
Dance
Be still

All are part of the song
All are part of the spirit
All are part of the harmony

The circle is open, but not broken

Feel the music
Feel the play

Listen to the rhythm
of your heart
of your breath
of the sky
of the trees
of the creatures
of the water
of the drum
of the dancer
of the sleeper
of the ones who create the space

Let it enter you
Let it enter you

The rhythm is the message, the music is the medium

(c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn
Dedicated to Rites of Spring 2011

Tired

Yes I'm tired

Really don't want to write a poem

But that is the challenge a poem every day.

Doesn't matter if it's good.

Don't matter if it's coherent.
The key is to create.

To learn
find a voice

Find a way.

I guess this is a poem.

They don't have to all be good.
Sometimes they just have to be.

So be it.
F**k it!

(c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn

People on Saturday

Have a couple other poems I wrote for NaPoWrimo -- saving "Hey, Charlie" to premiere live at Port Veritas off book (ie not reading but performing" -- and the "Improv/Poetry" poem just wasn't very good.

This one is dedicated to anyone who has ever worked in a call center.

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I think I'm annoyed now

People on Saturday
people on Saturday

The office is closed, dude
I can have you talk to a nurse

People
I am letting you know what I can do

The office is closed on Saturday

Don't get annoyed with me, don't get frustrated
I do what I can

The office is closed on Saturday.

Please don't yell.
Please don't scream.
The office is closed on Saturday.

Would you like to talk to a nurse? Maybe leave a message.

No.
Ok, well I'm sorry but the office is closed on Saturday

(c) 2011, Edmund Davis-Quinn

Lucky

I am lucky
Good parents
Grew up in a good town
with good schools

Lucky
awesome wife
smart, tall

Lucky

I have had it pretty easy
my parents had money
I was able to go to college and graduate school

Lucky

Able to have a car
have a place
have shiny things

Lucky

Sometimes though I wonder how my life would be different with struggle
If I didn't have it so easy
If I was really down and out

Sure I have been unemployed
been underemployed
But I was able to ask for help and get it

I'm lucky

So lucky
that one missed blinking light at midnight
and one ticket can throw me off

Feel like it's time to move forward
time to use my talent for good
time to keep creating
time to stand up proud

I don't need to slouch
don't need to just get by

I need to be all I can be
even if I don't know what that is.

Or maybe I just don't know yet.

I do know I have to step forward
face rejection
face things not being easy

One step at a time
Life can be what you create

Let's move forward
Let's use my creative mind
Let's use my sense of play

Play for a better way
Play for a better way

(c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn

Let the book go/ Need to

Wrote this at Blue on Tuesday night, meant to post as yesterday's NaPoWrimo poem.

It's really more of me trying to get myself on the process of reading poetry off book.

________________

Need to go from wordplay to performance
Need to make things better

Need to create
Need to develop
Need to learn
Need to create
Need to make
Need to create

Speak out
Play
Play hard
Play big
Play in the amazement
Play with words
Learn
Play
Trust yourself

Let yourself fail!
Let yourself get better
Not fear rejection ...

Not fear, not fear

Perform better, way better
Speak directly with the audience
Let the net go
Let the book go

Perform
not be perfect

Not be just right

Let the words play
not just read the words
perform.

Be big
Be vulnerable

Be small
be funny

Be yourself
be daring
be creative

Be magical
you can do it

Seriously
you can!

So bloody well fucking do it

Go from reading to performance

Perform, Play, Perform, Play

You can do it!

(c) Edmund Davis-Quinn 2011

Dedicted to the slam poets who destroyed at the semi-final slam on Tuesday, April 12th.

Jaded

I'm not jaded
not me
I'm a kid from Jersey
they're
never
jaded

Nope, optimistic
that's what we are

Happy thoughts
head in the sand

No looking out
no looking to New York City or Philly
or even the big house up the block or the next town
Trying to do something, anything to get there
To get out
to see somewhere else

To be somewhere else
maybe a city kid
maybe an ex-patriot
maybe
maybe
maybe

New Jersey
is not Jersey Shore
It's not just tanning and hooking up

It's struggle
It's old tough grimy industrial cities
like Trenton, Newark, Camden and Paterson
Gorgeous old buildings, rotting, beautiful
Tough neighborhoods

Insanely rich places like: Short Hills, Rumson, Princeton ..
With manicured lawns, big properties and nothing for kids to do

New Jersey
ain't easy
it's cynical as hell
it's a state of mind

Dirty Jersey
Brutal Jersey
Pretty Jersey

It's a fucking crazy ass state to grow up.
New Jersey and you, fucked up together.

(c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn

Poem went over awesome tonight at Port Veritas

Bittersweet

Its a bittersweet
Symphony that's life

Follow your bliss
Life will show you the way

Follow your dreams
Believe the universe will provide.

Endless self-esteem
Endless you can do its.

Terrible training for life.
Life is hard
Life is struggle
Life is getting by.

Do the best you can
Make do
Create
Play
Read
Learn

Life isn't supposed to be easy,
Nothing worth doing is.

(c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn

Hey Buddy

Hey Buddy
Tell me a story

Hey Buddy
Read me a poem

Hey Buddy
Open up to me
Open up your soul
Open up your hurt

Travel around the world
Travel for years
Travel for month at a time

Live out of car
Not be rooted
Perform, excite, dazzle an audience

Thank you Buddy
Thank you so much

You deserve your time to breathe
Your time to be off the road
Your time to be in love
Your time to get rooted

Thank you.

(c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn

And dedicated to Buddy Wakefield

Circle

Circle
Staying Warm

Circle
being comfortable

Finding any pile

Making it a bed

A lap works
A bed
A chair
A pile of clothes

Kitty nap

And it's adorable

Wish I could sleep as easily
and be as content

Power of the circle
Power of comfort

Power of kitty!

(c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn

Not tired

I am not tired
I am wide awake

I am not tired
Not at all

Look at all my energy
I got to the armchair

Look at all my energy
I got a beer

And I moved forward and grabbed the remote.

Look at all my energy, I am not tired.
I am petting a kitty.

And taking a nap.

(c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn

Laundry

Laundry day

Have to
don't really want to
Leave the house

Have to
don't really want to
Bring the clothes

Always an adventure
always oddballs

Always better when I get there
then what I fear

Listening to my music
sometimes dancing
sometimes reading

Laundry day

DVR Day

Yesterday's poem -- and yes I was this lazy.

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Armchair
Cats

TV
nap
sleep

Rest
Not doing much

Crash
drool day

Seems odd
seems to help

Crash day
DVR day

(c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn

Wisdom

Whisper words of wisdom

Let it be

Let the seasons be

Let the anger drain out

Think
Stop
Think
Slow down

Let the squirrels take their acorns
Let nature renew itself

Learn to let things go
Learn to let things grow

Let yourself find the next step
Let yourself move forward.

Follow the path
or explore
There is so much to see

The world is a huge place
An overwhelming place

The universe is so much bigger
Bigger in a way that we can't comprehend

Billions and Billions
Billions and Trillions

Let it be
Let us see
Let us create
Let us not hate

Sometimes liberating ourselves
is as easy as
Starting with let it be

Let it be
Faitful words of wisdom

Let it be
and let us see

(c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn

Monday morning 6am

Trying to do a poem on the fly -- usually do them in the notebook first.

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Sun up
I am not

Coffee brewing
Bagel toasting

Morning slowly rising

Kittens decided was good to rouse me in the night
Poor sleep

Working soon

Looking forward to Mama's Crowbar tonight
Good beer
Good poetry

Birds glide in the clear morning
Workers go to finish new building

Morning awakens in Maine
May I awaken soon too.

(c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn

Fire

I've seen fire
and I've seen rain

I've seen drum circles,
worshipping fire in the rain

Feel the warmth in the drizzle,
seeing the fog hit the faces

Seeing the shadows
Feeling the spirits

Touching the land
Feeling the fire

Feeling the drum
Hearing the rhythm

We are part of a rhythm nation
Living in the love of percussion

Love of the drum
Love of the rhythm

Love of the reverberation
Love of the callous hand
of the hand drummer.

Talking through the drum
to the drummers
to the dancers
to the chanters
to the listeners keeping the spirit

Slap, bam, slap, bam, slap

Slap, bam, slap, bam, slap

Feeling the rhythm build
Warmed by the fire
Warmed by the spirit
Kept by the firetenders
Dancing through our bodies
Dancing with rhythm

Bam, slap, bam, slap, bam
bam, slap, bam, slap, bam

The rhythm moves through our hearts
Hits our nerves
Moves through the touch
Moves through the sound
Moves through the skin
Moves through the eyes
We can taste the fire, we can feel it deeply.

Dance with the fire
Dance with the rhythm
And let our spirits soar.

c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn

Labor

I wrote this poem at Local Sprouts tonight after seeing reproductions of the Department of Labor mural on the windows of the cafe.

Labor

11 panels
a commission

A symbol
of struggle
of workers
of injuries
of organizing

It's not anti-business
Its pro-people

Pro struggle
Pro change
pro remembering

Maine is a tough place
A cold place
Long winters, Short Falls
Short Springs, Short Summers

Tough economy
Tough people

Warm people
But not easy

But not mean, spiteful and petty

This is not Maine
Lets not be mean, pathetic, greedy

LePage -- he fills me with rage.

c) 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn

Blue

I believe I can fly

I fly in my dreams

See things from above

See the space
See the air
See the cars

See the open ness
See how small we are

Really see.

Glide through the air
Sometimes it talks
Perspective to really
See things right

I believe we can fly
I believe we can
touch the sky

And sometimes knowing we can soar, makes us humble,
Makes us realize we aren't that significant with the mass of the earth.

Learn how to fly,
Learn how to soar

Our dreams, help us fly

Be humble and let yourself
dream and grow and even fly
Really seeing the world for the first time.

NaPoWrimo

Starting with this poem: I am doing a poem a day all month on this blog for National Poetry month and NaPoWrimo (napowrimo.org)

This one I wrote last night after deciding to embark on this poetry adventure.

All poems copyrighted 2011 Edmund Davis-Quinn