Tag Archives: Spoken Word

The Three Muses: Esther De Jong

© MGP&D

© MGP&D

And another muse makes three: Esther De Jong will be reading on Saturday night, in an evening of poetry and music at the Joma Cafe in Shokan.

Esther De Jong has been writing poetry for five years, with last two and a half intensively. She has always read poetry because it’s a great inspiration for painting. “I started reading more and more and one day felt the urge to write it myself. Right now I’m studying the official form, the educational part of it, but before that I was writing whatever came to mind.” De Jong’s poetry career developed because it was more accessible than painting. With painting comes physical baggage to be carried like boxes, easels and brushes. “A notebook fits in the purse.”

CANDLES by Esther De Jong

Two stumps sit on the windowsill

Lost romantics, almost burned out

Their melted wax dripped onto the floor

Still virgin white, just no longer saintly.

 

The Three Muses: Becca Andre

Becca, of The Three Muses, will be reading at the Joma Cafe on Saturday night.

AMTRAK

Sometimes-
I wish I had stayed in St. Paul,
holding on, one night longer, to that stolen kiss
with my crystal flute playing friend.

But then, I would have missed my only night in New Orleans:
arriving late to a B&B,
hanging on the porch dripping of sweat and the blues.

Ahh, there was no resisting
that first barista-made coffee
and the art laden sidewalks of Portland.

Then, there was Dallas.
I never got his name, but that two-steppin cowboy
floated me across the Red River dance floor
making me forget all about my broken heart…
for three minutes, maybe four.

And El Paso, make me smile.
staring across the Rio Grande for a while,
so close to romance with the conductor of a train…
but no, I had to hop a bus to Tucson,
weave my rented Chevy through Sedona,
to stand glorious and triumphant
on the edge of the Grand Canyon.

All this, after my night spent on the wooden bench
of a depot in San Antonio,
listening to the thunder roll from the storm that left me,
delayed and betrayed.
BUT, I was in Texas, so I almost stayed…

And never, never will I forget that ride along the rails
of the Pacific coast.  Landing in Sacramento,
with only my camera and clothes,
standing at the Hard Rock Cafe,
staring at the giant spinning guitar,
(that sidewalk singer,
I swore he called out my name).

Until this day,
I wonder if I should’ve stayed
in Sacramento,
Just stopped right there, started life anew.
This I wonder often…
Yet it is “no” that I conclude,
for none of these places, these cities, these towns would ever do.
Because none of them,
not one,
held the sweet promise of meeting you.

©2014 Becca #43

The Three Muses: Melissa Zeligman

Zeligman_RumiMelissa Zeligman has been writing poetry all her life, but seriously since 2007, prompted by a love affair that unleashed a torrent of creative energy. “I met a muse,” she says. “I had always been a creative person in general, but after that, I started writing poetry, painting and photography.”

After a bout of writer’s block a few years ago, she was inspired by a friend to start publishing three lines of poetry a day for extended periods, which she did on her Facebook page Girl&Muse. The above poem is her “fantasy that Rumi and Mirabai should have gotten together”.

She will be reading on Saturday at the Joma Cafe.

 

 

Poetry in the Catskills

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Urging

A rupture

Unraveling

Steers the bloom…

 

April is Poetry Month and next week there are a couple of noteworthy events to celebrate the season: The Three Muses at the Joma Cafe in Shokan and Poetry in Your Pocket hosted by the Roxbury Arts Group.

For Poetry In Your Pocket day, RAG is celebrating by placing poems in the pockets of community members and encouraging them to read them aloud throughout the day.

RAG “would love the opportunity to highlight the work of our local and regional poets! To be included, send your poem to [email protected] by April 17”.