JANUARY 2021 – THE CITY POETRY
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Each Person Can Open the Door
1.

I used to be in a dark place
All the
Time
Because of what I experienced
I was lost in the dark
All the time

I never really could feel
Anything I was doing
I wasn’t feeling
Anything

I was numb

Sometimes you have to
Dynamite through

And at the
End
Of the tunnel there’s this

Light

It felt like I was able to take something back.

2.

It’s not so much about
What we do
It was more about
How I felt when I was doing it

I felt
My heart and
My soul

Even though I was in a room
Full of people
I could close my eyes and be alone

Then open my eyes
And still feel safe
Even though
There were other people there

There was a connection
A mutual sense of respect
Survivors

An unspoken sense of compassion
That made it feel okay to talk
Be honest
Say how you were feeling

It made us want
To support each other
And lift each other
Up

I was able to take something back.
This is what I want to do.
This is how I feel.

3.

Being in the moment
And being
In the experience
Not making sure that I was
Perfect in what I was doing

I learned
Slowly
To do my own thing
If I felt like doing my own thing

Paying attention

I learned that what might be right for another person
Is not necessarily right for me

The old me and the new me
Looking at each other saying, “What are we going to do here?”

Today I felt comfortable with doing this
And then next week I felt comfortable with doing this and this
I just built off that . . . learning to trust myself

Putting myself into the experience
I let myself really feel
Everything

As my body
Was moving

I was able to take something back.
This is what I want to do.
This is how I feel.

4.

The know-how of feeling
Knowing how to get to that
Feeling
Definitely stays

Those simple body movements
Give you knowledge
Knowledge
Of what you’re actually going through

Now, it’s like
Well, what’s going on, body?
What are you doing, body?
How do you feel?

Body
Emotions
The complexity of being human
Getting to know
These women
More closely every time

There was a connection
A mutual sense of respect
Survivors

An unspoken sense of compassion

I felt it in my hands
My open hands
There was a strength
From inside of me
Pushing itself outward through my palms

My spirit let go and let loose and went with the Sun Breath
It was an ecstatic kind of thing
My spirit and my body were
One

I was able to take something back.
This is what I want to do.
This is how I feel.

5.

As a whole
In time
As we’re all healing through this
We work together to inspire others to heal

Not running away
Not escaping
Not feeling that I shouldn’t be
Here
Now
I think, “No, you’re here for a reason, and you matter.”

Each person can open the door
For someone to realize

“I don’t have to stay like this.”

There was a connection
A mutual sense of respect
Survivors

An unspoken sense of compassion

I learned how to pay attention to my body

I was able to take something back.
This is what I want to do.
This is how I feel.

6.

Sometimes you have to dynamite through
And at the end of the tunnel
Light

I learned that what might be right for another person is not necessarily what’s right for me

The know-how of feeling
Knowing how to get to that
Feeling definitely stays

Those simple body movements
Give you knowledge
Knowledge of what you’re actually going through

I was able to take something back.
This is what I want to do.
This is how I feel.

The old me and the new me
Looking at each other saying, “What are we going to do here?”

Today I felt comfortable with doing this
And then next week I felt comfortable with doing this and this
I just built off that
Learning to trust myself

~ Wendy Shaffer
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If the Dogwood buds’
Tightly shut eyes
Would open
They would see that spring
Is speaking full sentences

But they wait
To hear the frogs singing
First.

– Heather Ann Shepard
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Love Is A Lot Of Silly Refurbishing

I have a feeling that she doesn’t like me,
but I am afraid to ask. She’s older than me
and has had plenty of guys in her room.
She says she likes sitting with me
at the senior center, but she does not ever
smile when I say her name. One time I
asked her if she wanted my babies. She
did not smile as she told me sex was now
out of her nature. That day she sounded
like the ingredients in a bottle of ketchup.

But I still love her though she still does not
know it. The one time she told me I was
cute has formed itself upon my chest. She
lives in a small neighborhood near Solon.
I live in a 2 bedroom bungalow on the other
side of town. I went to her church once,
but did not see her in the first service. She
must have slept in that Sunday. One day
I will walk up to her and ask her to marry me.
She will say yes, and come sleep with me.

Daniel Gallik

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birds chirp. & trees bark.
skies open wide & wonder
why I’d close my heart.

~ Maxwell Shell, from haikus to hide you with

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FEVER

Talking to her was like recalling
A landscape I had seen in a fever. The
Summer was upon me and I had been
Feeling the rhythm of July.

The heat had hands and often held me too
Tightly making me think I had heard something
I had not, but was sure I had. Her voice
Seemed to find distances within me
That had real substance, overly familiar,
Even intimate.

She disappeared into a silence
I could not comprehend.

~ D.R. Wagner

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In the August mural

Your thighs open
Your birthday cake is made from light
Your mother tilts the thrift store mirror
the telephone rings
pennies roll from heaven
water rolls off a duck’s back
the world is born the turtle returns
the smiling week leaves its seconds
the church is a brewery
the crow brings honey
the temple is of corn
the sunflowers riot
the earthworm fingers the soil
that nurtures the potato’s heart

~ Lady

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WEN I WUZ EATING

Genghis Khan
wen suddenly materialize before me

in da fast food restaurant
wen I wuz eating my meal.

He told me dat he wen kill moa warriors
and bagged moa women

den I could evah hope to
in one hundred lifetimes.

I wuzn’t impressed

and I wuz actually moa irritated
wen he kept asking me

why I nevah like mayonnaise
on my burger.

He keep pressing da issue
on how much he enjoyed it

so I had to tell him
if he liked it so much

den moa bettah
he go order one foa himself.

Genghis got angry wit me

and two huge bodyguards wit daggers
instantaneously appeared at his side

and dey wuz staring me down.

I told him and da adah guys,

“Eh, Temujin,

no try muscle in on me wit your goons
especially wen I minding my own business.”

Genghis wen go ballistic
wen he heard dat

and he started ranting and crying
cause I wen use his kid name

dat wen remind him
of his rough and unfortunate boyhood.

I heard he had to wear wun big yoke
around his neck foa awhile

but I nevah have anyting to do wit dat.

Howevah

making him aware of his past
wen work foa me

cause Genghis

went storming out
da front door of da fast food restaurant

taking his bodyguards wit him.

Now I could at least enjoy my meal
in peace.

Dats wat I taught

until Attila the Hun
came out of da restroom

and sat down in front of me.

Maybe because of his bloody reputation

he kept asking me
ovah and ovah again

why I put so much ketchup
on my French fries.

I almost wen answer him

wen Alexander the Great
wen burst through da front door

and immediately pushed to da front
of da line

so he could order wun strawberry shake
and wun new world taco.

I tell you

dis is da last time
I coming to dis place on Halloween.

~ Joe Balaz

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