Category: Events

Events at ROMP

Events, Poems

April 22 Birthday: Bettie Page

ROMPoetry

o-BETTIE-570Bettie Page Rant #6

Hurricane,
Insane—
Bettie Page,
Road rage—
Osama,
Oboma—
JFK,
Blown away—
Thin ties,
Tie dyes—
Ernest Tubb,
Beelzebub!

WMD,
Wannbe—
John McCain
Still a pain—
911,
Twenty-four seven—
JonBennet,
Turned away—
Poetry,
Geometry—
James Dean,
Was a queen—
Hurricane,
Insane—
Bettie Page,
Still the rage.

–Glen Enloe

NOTE: In honor of National Poetry Month, each day a person’s birthday will be celebrated with a poem about or by him/her. The poems come from all over the place.


		


			
		
	






	
	

		Events, Poems
April 19 Birthday: Eliot Ness
	


	

							

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eliot-ness_thumb1Eliot Ness Pisses on Crime


You can pretend like

you are Eliot Ness

ripping the river

with machine gun spray.

All the bad guys in the world

are holding their breath

under water,

waiting in the hope that

you will run out of ammo

before they run out of air.

However, as Eliot Ness,

it’s not going to happen.

You have been pissing

from bridges

since time began,

and the bad guys, even

though they dive deeply

are eventually swept

to the surface. It helps

if you’re young, stung

with vinegar, untouched

by the shy bladder.


–Al Ortolani


NOTE: In honor of National Poetry Month, each day a person’s birthday will be celebrated with a poem about or by him/her. The poems come from all over the place.

		


			
		
	






	
	

		Events
April 14 Birthday: Anne Sullivan
	


	

							

			 ROMPoetry		
		
		

			
anneA Quote that is a Poem


What if my hunger is fed with all that seems most palatable, what if my enemies bite the dust…what if my house is full of friends and laughter…what if my garments of finest silk cling and flow—if the endless lives that touch me as I pass are cold and hungry and joyless. My spirit’s light goes out. I grope in the darkness. The world is a windowless dungeon.


–Anne Sullivan


NOTE: In honor of National Poetry Month, each day a person’s birthday will be celebrated with a poem about or by him/her. The poems come from all over the place.

		


			
		
	






	
	

		Events
April 12 Birthday: Anna Kamienska
	


	

							

			 ROMPoetry		
		
		

			
anna-kamiec584skaFunny


What’s it like to be a human

the bird asked


I myself don’t know

it’s being held prisoner by your skin

while reaching infinity

being a captive of your scrap of time

while touching eternity

being hopelessly uncertain

and helplessly hopeful

being a needle of frost

and a handful of heat

breathing in the air

and choking wordlessly

it’s being on fire

with a nest made of ashes

eating bread

while filling up on hunger

it’s dying without love

it’s loving through death




That’s funny said the bird

and flew effortlessly up into the air


–Anna Kamienska




NOTE: In honor of National Poetry Month, each day a person’s birthday will be celebrated with a poem about or by him/her. The poems come from all over the place.

		


			
		
	






	
	

		Events
April 9 Birthday: Paul Robeson
	


	

							

			 ROMPoetry		
		
		

			
paul-robeson_fsPaul Robeson


That time

cool and clear,

cutting across the hot grit of the day.

The major Voice.

The adult Voice

forgoing Rolling River,

forgoing tearful tale of bale and barge

and other symptoms of an old despond.

Warning, in music-words

devout and large,

that we are each other’s

harvest:

we are each other’s

business:

we are each other’s

magnitude and bond.


—Gwendolyn Brooks


NOTE: In honor of National Poetry Month, each day a person’s birthday will be celebrated with a poem about or by him/her. The poems come from all over the place.

		


			
		
	






	
	

		Events
April 7 Birthday: Billie Holiday
	


	

							

			 ROMPoetry		
		
		

			


billieCanary




for Michael S. Harper






Billie Holiday’s burned voice


had as many shadows as lights,


a mournful candelabra against a sleek piano,


the gardenia her signature under that ruined face.


(Now you’re cooking, drummer to bass,


magic spoon, magic needle.


Take all day if you have to


with your mirror and your bracelet of song.)


Fact is, the invention of women under siege


has been to sharpen love in the service of myth.


If you can’t be free, be a mystery.




–Rita Dove








NOTE: In honor of National Poetry Month, each day a person’s birthday will be celebrated with a poem about or by him/her. The poems come from all over the place.