The Best of Mad Swirl : 02.07.15
“There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast.” Charles Dickens
••• The Mad Gallery •••
“Cheap Tricks” (above) by featured artist William Zuback. To see more Mad works from William, and our other contributing artists, please visit our Mad Gallery.
••• The Poetry Forum •••
This last week in Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum... we emptied white from the Winter night; we wrapped it round a wizened tree for recreation; we imagined the sun inside out, fun; we enlisted ink to present a view of our quintessential brain tattoo; we eschewed clean-up duty for apparent gem stone beauty; we lost our love for a luxury berth, felt fear instead of luxury mirth; we found a boot-kicked convict saved by a love song broadcast radio wave. It's a frequency fraught waste land. Tune in, turn up, take heart! ~ MH Clay
Blunt Rules
There is nothing difficult,
Just difficulties
That bed themselves in
Daily, sometimes hourly.
Thrice, one hour
When she put her boot
Into his amnesty
With the force
Of a brass tongue
And begged Hammurabi
For a fat sentence.
So he wears her love
Like a Friesian landscape,
Kiss soft
Statement strong
And blind-eyes
The words he sloppily jirbles
Like distasteful beans,
Leashes song words
Midstream;
For radio is his saviour,
His highway to reality.
- Gene Barry
(3 poems added 02.07.15)
editor's note: Windows down, volume up, foot to the floor; dial your difficulties to your favorite station. (Two more mad missives from Gene on his page; about a vacation and a victory - check'em out!) - mh
The Bus Seat
Sitting on this Nepalese domestic bus,
I am not thinking about
who sat on this seat before me
an hour, a day, perhaps even a few weeks ago.
I am also not thinking about the inebriated man.
A bloodsucking bug, saliva, yellowish fluid.
Except, there is a state of fear.
And it is coming from nowhere
but this 2X2, comfortable, luxurious
passenger seat.
- Santosh Kalwar
(1 poem added 02.06.15)
editor's note: Luxury seat of another's fear; not so comfortable after all. - mh
BEAUTY
If it were
a green stone,
I would pick it
up for its beauty.
It was wadded
up chewing gum.
I passed.
- Beate Sigriddaughter
(added 02.05.15)
editor's note: Chew on this... :) - mh
Extortionate fashions
Tattoo, tattoo;
I know my brain.
I’m going to let people see it.
I’m going to make
an irreversible decision.
I’m going to buy personality.
Surely if I have
curly-wurlies or barbed
wire bicep badges,
I’ll be praised down the pub
and considered cool.
Ken will have transformed me.
I’ll be a sheep.
I’ll post a Facebook status
saying I NEED another tat.
It will be hard
to go under the pin.
I’ll literally
be a martyr.
I know my brain.
I know my fucking brain.
I’m going to tattoo my forehead.
You can’t top that.
I’m the daddy now.
When I hit sixty I’ll be proud.
I could have been an artist
or a cellist, or a saint,
but I wanted to line Ken Fleck’s pockets.
I’m fucking cool. I’ve got a tiger in my tank.
Your lack of ink must be boring.
- Michael Holme
(1 poem added 02.04.15)
editor's note: It's all the rage; from tabula rasa to illustrated man. Ink, Baby! Ink! - mh
Wall
So rare inside the sun:
Perfection,
Heavenly darkness.
So much outside the sun:
Imagination,
Misty grass.
- Atri Majumder
(added 02.03.15)
editor's note: My shades are fogged over... - mh
Sugar Maple
Dead things
are merely things
ready to be new
Sugar Maple, winter is becoming to you
your bare bones reaching past chilled skies
tall and immovable
Changeable statue of the earth,
you throw your leaves off like they are timeless
And they are!
cracked yellow and browning
decaying, integrating into January mud
becoming, once again, the wholesome sheath
you spread your rooted legs beneath
Sugar Maple, you are so close to death
and yet you breathe
fearless in the frost
you wither, naked
yet you are crystalline in the crusting of snow
A halo of sunlight and wisdom surrounds you
an untouchable glory
You are a god among bush and beast
Ancient and undisturbed by the inevitable
decease and recreation of things -
All things that pass
- Sunya Chavi
(1 poem added 02.02.15)
editor's note: A mad mandala; bitter and sweet! - mh
January
A landscape stretched
______ to suspended dreams
Candles burning
behind secrets
The white of clouds
Emptiness
It fills
a world
of white
Radiant constellations
In crystal frost skies
A recluse moon
And the laughter of winds
Falling
through
time
- Susan Dale
(1 poem added 02.01.15)
editor's note: So sweet to see an emptiness so full! (We welcome Susan to our Contributing Poets with this submission. Read more of her heavenly madness on her page - check it out.) - mh
••• Short Stories •••
Need-a-Read? Don't look now but is that... yep, it is! And by "it" we mean the latest addition to our short stories library, "Meeting the Replacement" by Anthony Keers!
Here is what Short Story Editor Tyler Malone had to say about this pick-of-the-week tale: "What's devastating about facing memories? Sometimes they don't even look back."
Here's a quick glimpse:
photo by Tyler Malone
I sank deep into a worn out couch that had felt the weight of more bodies on it than the world’s shoulders. I glanced around the room whilst taking a sip of my drink. Saturday nights always drew large crowds into the city. The stresses of paid slavery seemed to drive the people crazy and they loved to pound them to dust against the punch bag of the weekend.
As I looked over towards the entrance, I saw her walk in hand in hand with my replacement.
“Jesus, shit,” I whispered, “shit!”
I pulled the drink away from my face and sank further into the couch. I turned left then right, hoping to find a hole to jump into with my beer and hide until she left. There has always been an eternal judgement that hangs over the lone drinker and I didn’t really want her to pass my final sentence. I felt my heart race with panic as my eyes twitched from looking at the floor and seeing a three year memory walk over towards the bar.
Get the rest of your read on here!
••• Open Mic •••
A fine time was had by all who filled the Lounge this past 1st Wednesday! Huge GRATS to our feature last night, genius guitarist and swirlin' songwriter David Crandall! Always a treat to have him on our stage and blessed to have jammed to a whole set of his musical madness.
Thanks to ALL mad ones who came and appreciated our feature set and participated in our mic madness by sharing their words, their verses and their fine light with us. It truly was a fine night to be alive and in our Mad Swirl world. In case you missed this Mad action, here is the line-up (and a picture show, thanks to Dan Rodriguez) of who was who…
Feature:
David Crandall
Hosts:
Johnny O
MH Clay
Mad Cast:
Konnichiwa Zach
Opalina Salas
Paul Konieki
Cj Critt
Chris Zimmerly
Maggie Smith
Carlos Salas
Victory
BA aka Zipline Shazam
Merlin the Magical One
Roderick Richardson
Josh Weir
Kristine Jessup
Jasmin Kinard
Jake Kinard
Megan
Yoli
Paul Junior
Johnna
HUGE thanks to Swirve (Chris Curiel, Gerard Bendiks, & Tamitha Curiel) for keeping the beat til the wee hours of the night. We got taken to another dimension of time and space on the wings of their jazzy madness!
And as always, big THANKS to the patron saint of the loco local mad ones, Kevin Christensen, owner of Absinthe Lounge, who has given 122 reasons to give him all the mad props and love that we do!
If you missed the madness, no worries, we captured the swirlin' scene via our Mad Swirl UStream Channel!
We look forward to ALL the m-adventures to come! Stay tuned for...
March: Harry McNabb
April: Merlin the Magical One
May: Opalina Salas, Maggie Smith, Desmene Statum
June: Brendan McCormack (from Ireland)
July: John Kelly & Stefan Prigmore
•••••••
The whole Mad Swirl of everything to come keeps on keepin' on... now... now... NOW! Every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every week, every month, every year, every decade, every every EVERY there is! Wanna join in the mad conversations going on in Mad Swirl's World? Then stop by whenever the mood strikes! We'll be here...
Shinin’,
Johnny O
Chief Editor
MH Clay
Poetry Editor
Tyler Malone
Short Story Editor
Madelyn Olson
Visual Editor
••• The Mad Gallery •••
“Cheap Tricks” (above) by featured artist William Zuback. To see more Mad works from William, and our other contributing artists, please visit our Mad Gallery.
••• The Poetry Forum •••
This last week in Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum... we emptied white from the Winter night; we wrapped it round a wizened tree for recreation; we imagined the sun inside out, fun; we enlisted ink to present a view of our quintessential brain tattoo; we eschewed clean-up duty for apparent gem stone beauty; we lost our love for a luxury berth, felt fear instead of luxury mirth; we found a boot-kicked convict saved by a love song broadcast radio wave. It's a frequency fraught waste land. Tune in, turn up, take heart! ~ MH Clay
Blunt Rules
There is nothing difficult,
Just difficulties
That bed themselves in
Daily, sometimes hourly.
Thrice, one hour
When she put her boot
Into his amnesty
With the force
Of a brass tongue
And begged Hammurabi
For a fat sentence.
So he wears her love
Like a Friesian landscape,
Kiss soft
Statement strong
And blind-eyes
The words he sloppily jirbles
Like distasteful beans,
Leashes song words
Midstream;
For radio is his saviour,
His highway to reality.
- Gene Barry
(3 poems added 02.07.15)
editor's note: Windows down, volume up, foot to the floor; dial your difficulties to your favorite station. (Two more mad missives from Gene on his page; about a vacation and a victory - check'em out!) - mh
The Bus Seat
Sitting on this Nepalese domestic bus,
I am not thinking about
who sat on this seat before me
an hour, a day, perhaps even a few weeks ago.
I am also not thinking about the inebriated man.
A bloodsucking bug, saliva, yellowish fluid.
Except, there is a state of fear.
And it is coming from nowhere
but this 2X2, comfortable, luxurious
passenger seat.
- Santosh Kalwar
(1 poem added 02.06.15)
editor's note: Luxury seat of another's fear; not so comfortable after all. - mh
BEAUTY
If it were
a green stone,
I would pick it
up for its beauty.
It was wadded
up chewing gum.
I passed.
- Beate Sigriddaughter
(added 02.05.15)
editor's note: Chew on this... :) - mh
Extortionate fashions
Tattoo, tattoo;
I know my brain.
I’m going to let people see it.
I’m going to make
an irreversible decision.
I’m going to buy personality.
Surely if I have
curly-wurlies or barbed
wire bicep badges,
I’ll be praised down the pub
and considered cool.
Ken will have transformed me.
I’ll be a sheep.
I’ll post a Facebook status
saying I NEED another tat.
It will be hard
to go under the pin.
I’ll literally
be a martyr.
I know my brain.
I know my fucking brain.
I’m going to tattoo my forehead.
You can’t top that.
I’m the daddy now.
When I hit sixty I’ll be proud.
I could have been an artist
or a cellist, or a saint,
but I wanted to line Ken Fleck’s pockets.
I’m fucking cool. I’ve got a tiger in my tank.
Your lack of ink must be boring.
- Michael Holme
(1 poem added 02.04.15)
editor's note: It's all the rage; from tabula rasa to illustrated man. Ink, Baby! Ink! - mh
Wall
So rare inside the sun:
Perfection,
Heavenly darkness.
So much outside the sun:
Imagination,
Misty grass.
- Atri Majumder
(added 02.03.15)
editor's note: My shades are fogged over... - mh
Sugar Maple
Dead things
are merely things
ready to be new
Sugar Maple, winter is becoming to you
your bare bones reaching past chilled skies
tall and immovable
Changeable statue of the earth,
you throw your leaves off like they are timeless
And they are!
cracked yellow and browning
decaying, integrating into January mud
becoming, once again, the wholesome sheath
you spread your rooted legs beneath
Sugar Maple, you are so close to death
and yet you breathe
fearless in the frost
you wither, naked
yet you are crystalline in the crusting of snow
A halo of sunlight and wisdom surrounds you
an untouchable glory
You are a god among bush and beast
Ancient and undisturbed by the inevitable
decease and recreation of things -
All things that pass
- Sunya Chavi
(1 poem added 02.02.15)
editor's note: A mad mandala; bitter and sweet! - mh
January
A landscape stretched
______ to suspended dreams
Candles burning
behind secrets
The white of clouds
Emptiness
It fills
a world
of white
Radiant constellations
In crystal frost skies
A recluse moon
And the laughter of winds
Falling
through
time
- Susan Dale
(1 poem added 02.01.15)
editor's note: So sweet to see an emptiness so full! (We welcome Susan to our Contributing Poets with this submission. Read more of her heavenly madness on her page - check it out.) - mh
••• Short Stories •••
Need-a-Read? Don't look now but is that... yep, it is! And by "it" we mean the latest addition to our short stories library, "Meeting the Replacement" by Anthony Keers!
Here is what Short Story Editor Tyler Malone had to say about this pick-of-the-week tale: "What's devastating about facing memories? Sometimes they don't even look back."
Here's a quick glimpse:
I sank deep into a worn out couch that had felt the weight of more bodies on it than the world’s shoulders. I glanced around the room whilst taking a sip of my drink. Saturday nights always drew large crowds into the city. The stresses of paid slavery seemed to drive the people crazy and they loved to pound them to dust against the punch bag of the weekend.
As I looked over towards the entrance, I saw her walk in hand in hand with my replacement.
“Jesus, shit,” I whispered, “shit!”
I pulled the drink away from my face and sank further into the couch. I turned left then right, hoping to find a hole to jump into with my beer and hide until she left. There has always been an eternal judgement that hangs over the lone drinker and I didn’t really want her to pass my final sentence. I felt my heart race with panic as my eyes twitched from looking at the floor and seeing a three year memory walk over towards the bar.
Get the rest of your read on here!
••• Open Mic •••
A fine time was had by all who filled the Lounge this past 1st Wednesday! Huge GRATS to our feature last night, genius guitarist and swirlin' songwriter David Crandall! Always a treat to have him on our stage and blessed to have jammed to a whole set of his musical madness.
Thanks to ALL mad ones who came and appreciated our feature set and participated in our mic madness by sharing their words, their verses and their fine light with us. It truly was a fine night to be alive and in our Mad Swirl world. In case you missed this Mad action, here is the line-up (and a picture show, thanks to Dan Rodriguez) of who was who…
Feature:
David Crandall
Hosts:
Johnny O
MH Clay
Mad Cast:
Konnichiwa Zach
Opalina Salas
Paul Konieki
Cj Critt
Chris Zimmerly
Maggie Smith
Carlos Salas
Victory
BA aka Zipline Shazam
Merlin the Magical One
Roderick Richardson
Josh Weir
Kristine Jessup
Jasmin Kinard
Jake Kinard
Megan
Yoli
Paul Junior
Johnna
HUGE thanks to Swirve (Chris Curiel, Gerard Bendiks, & Tamitha Curiel) for keeping the beat til the wee hours of the night. We got taken to another dimension of time and space on the wings of their jazzy madness!
And as always, big THANKS to the patron saint of the loco local mad ones, Kevin Christensen, owner of Absinthe Lounge, who has given 122 reasons to give him all the mad props and love that we do!
If you missed the madness, no worries, we captured the swirlin' scene via our Mad Swirl UStream Channel!
We look forward to ALL the m-adventures to come! Stay tuned for...
March: Harry McNabb
April: Merlin the Magical One
May: Opalina Salas, Maggie Smith, Desmene Statum
June: Brendan McCormack (from Ireland)
July: John Kelly & Stefan Prigmore
•••••••
The whole Mad Swirl of everything to come keeps on keepin' on... now... now... NOW! Every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every week, every month, every year, every decade, every every EVERY there is! Wanna join in the mad conversations going on in Mad Swirl's World? Then stop by whenever the mood strikes! We'll be here...
Shinin’,
Johnny O
Chief Editor
MH Clay
Poetry Editor
Tyler Malone
Short Story Editor
Madelyn Olson
Visual Editor
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