The Best of Mad Swirl : 12.31.16
"An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language." ~ Henri Matisse
••• The Mad Gallery •••
“And She Danced” (above) by featured artist William Zuback. To see more of William's mad snaps, as well as our other featured artists, visit our Mad Gallery!
••• The Poetry Forum •••
This last week in Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum... we forgave our souls like Christmas Scrooges; we prayed our prayer like hi-tech stooges; we found enough in a life changing pome; we ate harsh words which came back home; we roamed as wolves through storied lives; we gazed at stars in wondrous skies; we made ready for change, just left of strange. We'll come 'round new; new me, new you! ~ MH Clay
One world to the left by Kristine Spinner
A new blood pulses through my veins to the off time beat of syncopated disbelief. I am trying to establish a rhythm, a rule; but, it eludes me just now. There is an incorrigible effervescence just below the skin on my cheeks. I am changing, melting, melding into something unrecognizably grand. I won’t be long, I’m just around the corner, one world to the left.
December 31, 2016
editors note: For any New Year naysayers. “Yes!” comes right, from the left. – mh clay
Seasonal Skies of Wonder by Harley White
http://madswirl.com/author/hwhite/
Skies of wondrous starry nights
all aglow with shining lights,
we look up to you with awe
thus to inspiration draw…
Fortunate we earthlings are
on a planet not bizarre,
close enough but not too far
from our solar system’s star
beaming its apricity,
swirled in synchronicity
to nocturnal shimmerings
lit by lunar glimmerings
as the moon reveals her face
gazing down at us from space…
(Though we know how shine those rays
still her luminescent ways
stir our fancies, as in dreams…)
Poets with their reams of themes—
tragic, magic, comical,
even astronomical—
marvel as stargazers do
with celestial aperçu
at galactic scenes on high
querying ‘where, when, and why?’…
This our orbit round the sun
of twelve months again has run
out of time in earthly flight,
and a new one looms in sight.
Looking back, I’ve seen some dreams
lose their way, or so it seems.
There’s been gladness, sadness, fear.
Now we face a coming year…
Skies of wondrous starry nights
all aglow with shining lights,
may we keep your stellar view
in our ken, beyond the blue,
with musings, self-reflective,
lest humans lose perspective!
December 30, 2016
editors note: We are the true tale spinners! Our New Year’s story will be reflected in the stars. – mh clay
Did I Ever Tell You The One About Growing Old? by James Diaz
The force of it all
a century of wolves roaming
strangers
dipping into the conversation
as we fall apart
the golden coast
somewhere
a dark vein touching
against the shatter
tell me your sleep is troubled too
north of the body, breaking
bread, land masses pulled apart
the beautiful truth
is we will die
with out hearts intact
stories roaming the river
like a bad dream
we’ll sigh into each other
counting the hours
between forgiving & forgetting
the last language we’ll ever speak
a longing
still framed
and glistening.
December 29, 2016
editors note: Bittersweet! The future holds wonder if we will. – mh clay
Aces Low by Ian Mullins
Our words lead lives
of their own; while we sleep
they hang around bars
and get into fights,
spend time on their knees
down dirty back alleys
getting down with
other words
before crawling back home
and slipping behind
our teeth and tongues.
When we wake up
we want to spit them out
like flies in Coke,
wondering why a word
sober on Monday
can smell like a drunk
come Tuesday afternoon
when we throw it on the table
like a joker or an ace,
but the game won’t turn
our way.
December 28, 2016
editors note: Let’s play our cards well in the days ahead; especially you folks in the big game, with us as their big stakes. – mh clay
THIS POEM WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE by Beate Sigriddaughter
It will — you did look, didn’t you? —
remind you of your dreams. It will
remind you the world owes you nothing
and you owe nothing in return. Life is
a gift, not a duty; it glides like a river
that doesn’t carve canyons for love. No
deference, no duty, no obedience.
It will remind you of your skin and how
it shelters dreams and bones. How beautiful
you are, exuberant when someone
unexpected crosses your path, a lizard,
a hawk, a lover, and you know even God
isn’t God in order to be loved. You can
breathe now. There are waterfalls
you yearn for you will likely never see,
and dances you will likely never dance
again, though they were dazzling and
perhaps still are in someone else’s bones.
But if you get up early in late summer
you may already find winter’s beloved
Orion in the eastern sky. You are enough
to make things happen.
December 27, 2016
editors note: Yes! Orion floats above us, the coming year is full of hope. Yes! – mh clay
Lord’s tweet by Timothy Pilgrim
r dad up hi
u r super
u r way cool al ovr
give us bred 2day
4giv breakins we do
& WTF no luring
fedx evil away
u r very great
rule on
amen
December 26, 2016
editors note: amen – mh clay
seasonal affectation disorder by Rob Dyer
there are no seasons for me
days
like torn pages of a dark novella
repeat the story line
a tired hero staring,
in search of the villain in his head
yet, as I indulge in a bowl of warm bread pudding,
I somehow am taken by a tinge of Christmas
my memory bank stepping around time bombs
and settling on smiles once bestowed to me,
as I ripped through wrapping
and peered into the hearts of the few who Loved me
the Scrooge in my soul pardons himself
and you’ve caught me believing in Santa one more time
December 25, 2016
editors note: (no) Bah! (no) Humbug! God bless us everyone. – mh clay
••• Short Stories •••
Who needs-a-read on this last day of '16? Well, we got one that just might be a perfect topper to the emotional roller coaster that this passing year was.
Here's what Short Story Editor Tyler Malone has to say about Brandon Hansen's story "Pain":
"Madness isn’t always ridiculousness, but when it is, it’s never silent as unhinged visions seep under closed eyelids."
And here's a lil slip down memory lane to get you goin':
photo (above) "Under Eyelids" by Tyler Malone aka The Second Shooter
There’s this show on MTV called Ridiculousness, where Rob Dyrdek, 42, is the coolest, most quick-witted, snap-backin’est, high schoolin’est adult ever, and he spends 22 minutes of a half hour around 10pm laughing at and narrating videos he selected from the part of the internet where people get hurt. He wears snapbacks bearing the Monster Energy Drink logo and overlarge sweatshirts bearing the Monster Energy Drink Logo, and he rolls the sleeves up to his elbows. He is always ready to skateboard.
His co-star, Chanel West Coast, is Los Angeles beautiful. She laughs like a mule.
Tonight, I’m watching Ridiculousness, limp, mouth slack. The videos go like this...
Get your trippy dream read on right here.
••• Open Mic •••
Was your New Year’s resolution to create more madness in this world? Wow, that was ours too! Then join forces with Mad Swirl & Swirve this 1st Wednesday of January (aka 01.04.17) at 8:00 SHARP as we continue to swirl up our mic madness at our mad mic-ness home, Dallas’ City Tavern!
Come on out, one & all. Get a heapin’ helpin’ of musical mad grooves from Swirve, share in the Mad Swirl’n festivities, & if the spirit is movin’ ya get yourself a spot on our open mic list. Come to be a part of this collective creative love child we affectionately call Mad Swirl. Come to participate. Come to appreciate. Come to swirl-a-brate!
Catch us swirlin' up our madness at The City Tavern located at 1402 Main Street • Dallas, TX
P.S. If you're a Facebook'r and want to get on our pre-list, visit our event page and let us know you're gonna be there.
•••••••
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...
Speakin' It,
Johnny O
Chief Editor
MH Clay
Poetry Editor
Tyler Malone
Short Story Editor
Madelyn Olson
Visual Editor
••• The Mad Gallery •••
“And She Danced” (above) by featured artist William Zuback. To see more of William's mad snaps, as well as our other featured artists, visit our Mad Gallery!
••• The Poetry Forum •••
This last week in Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum... we forgave our souls like Christmas Scrooges; we prayed our prayer like hi-tech stooges; we found enough in a life changing pome; we ate harsh words which came back home; we roamed as wolves through storied lives; we gazed at stars in wondrous skies; we made ready for change, just left of strange. We'll come 'round new; new me, new you! ~ MH Clay
One world to the left by Kristine Spinner
A new blood pulses through my veins to the off time beat of syncopated disbelief. I am trying to establish a rhythm, a rule; but, it eludes me just now. There is an incorrigible effervescence just below the skin on my cheeks. I am changing, melting, melding into something unrecognizably grand. I won’t be long, I’m just around the corner, one world to the left.
December 31, 2016
editors note: For any New Year naysayers. “Yes!” comes right, from the left. – mh clay
Seasonal Skies of Wonder by Harley White
http://madswirl.com/author/hwhite/
Skies of wondrous starry nights
all aglow with shining lights,
we look up to you with awe
thus to inspiration draw…
Fortunate we earthlings are
on a planet not bizarre,
close enough but not too far
from our solar system’s star
beaming its apricity,
swirled in synchronicity
to nocturnal shimmerings
lit by lunar glimmerings
as the moon reveals her face
gazing down at us from space…
(Though we know how shine those rays
still her luminescent ways
stir our fancies, as in dreams…)
Poets with their reams of themes—
tragic, magic, comical,
even astronomical—
marvel as stargazers do
with celestial aperçu
at galactic scenes on high
querying ‘where, when, and why?’…
This our orbit round the sun
of twelve months again has run
out of time in earthly flight,
and a new one looms in sight.
Looking back, I’ve seen some dreams
lose their way, or so it seems.
There’s been gladness, sadness, fear.
Now we face a coming year…
Skies of wondrous starry nights
all aglow with shining lights,
may we keep your stellar view
in our ken, beyond the blue,
with musings, self-reflective,
lest humans lose perspective!
December 30, 2016
editors note: We are the true tale spinners! Our New Year’s story will be reflected in the stars. – mh clay
Did I Ever Tell You The One About Growing Old? by James Diaz
The force of it all
a century of wolves roaming
strangers
dipping into the conversation
as we fall apart
the golden coast
somewhere
a dark vein touching
against the shatter
tell me your sleep is troubled too
north of the body, breaking
bread, land masses pulled apart
the beautiful truth
is we will die
with out hearts intact
stories roaming the river
like a bad dream
we’ll sigh into each other
counting the hours
between forgiving & forgetting
the last language we’ll ever speak
a longing
still framed
and glistening.
December 29, 2016
editors note: Bittersweet! The future holds wonder if we will. – mh clay
Aces Low by Ian Mullins
Our words lead lives
of their own; while we sleep
they hang around bars
and get into fights,
spend time on their knees
down dirty back alleys
getting down with
other words
before crawling back home
and slipping behind
our teeth and tongues.
When we wake up
we want to spit them out
like flies in Coke,
wondering why a word
sober on Monday
can smell like a drunk
come Tuesday afternoon
when we throw it on the table
like a joker or an ace,
but the game won’t turn
our way.
December 28, 2016
editors note: Let’s play our cards well in the days ahead; especially you folks in the big game, with us as their big stakes. – mh clay
THIS POEM WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE by Beate Sigriddaughter
It will — you did look, didn’t you? —
remind you of your dreams. It will
remind you the world owes you nothing
and you owe nothing in return. Life is
a gift, not a duty; it glides like a river
that doesn’t carve canyons for love. No
deference, no duty, no obedience.
It will remind you of your skin and how
it shelters dreams and bones. How beautiful
you are, exuberant when someone
unexpected crosses your path, a lizard,
a hawk, a lover, and you know even God
isn’t God in order to be loved. You can
breathe now. There are waterfalls
you yearn for you will likely never see,
and dances you will likely never dance
again, though they were dazzling and
perhaps still are in someone else’s bones.
But if you get up early in late summer
you may already find winter’s beloved
Orion in the eastern sky. You are enough
to make things happen.
December 27, 2016
editors note: Yes! Orion floats above us, the coming year is full of hope. Yes! – mh clay
Lord’s tweet by Timothy Pilgrim
r dad up hi
u r super
u r way cool al ovr
give us bred 2day
4giv breakins we do
& WTF no luring
fedx evil away
u r very great
rule on
amen
December 26, 2016
editors note: amen – mh clay
seasonal affectation disorder by Rob Dyer
there are no seasons for me
days
like torn pages of a dark novella
repeat the story line
a tired hero staring,
in search of the villain in his head
yet, as I indulge in a bowl of warm bread pudding,
I somehow am taken by a tinge of Christmas
my memory bank stepping around time bombs
and settling on smiles once bestowed to me,
as I ripped through wrapping
and peered into the hearts of the few who Loved me
the Scrooge in my soul pardons himself
and you’ve caught me believing in Santa one more time
December 25, 2016
editors note: (no) Bah! (no) Humbug! God bless us everyone. – mh clay
••• Short Stories •••
Who needs-a-read on this last day of '16? Well, we got one that just might be a perfect topper to the emotional roller coaster that this passing year was.
Here's what Short Story Editor Tyler Malone has to say about Brandon Hansen's story "Pain":
"Madness isn’t always ridiculousness, but when it is, it’s never silent as unhinged visions seep under closed eyelids."
And here's a lil slip down memory lane to get you goin':
There’s this show on MTV called Ridiculousness, where Rob Dyrdek, 42, is the coolest, most quick-witted, snap-backin’est, high schoolin’est adult ever, and he spends 22 minutes of a half hour around 10pm laughing at and narrating videos he selected from the part of the internet where people get hurt. He wears snapbacks bearing the Monster Energy Drink logo and overlarge sweatshirts bearing the Monster Energy Drink Logo, and he rolls the sleeves up to his elbows. He is always ready to skateboard.
His co-star, Chanel West Coast, is Los Angeles beautiful. She laughs like a mule.
Tonight, I’m watching Ridiculousness, limp, mouth slack. The videos go like this...
Get your trippy dream read on right here.
••• Open Mic •••
Was your New Year’s resolution to create more madness in this world? Wow, that was ours too! Then join forces with Mad Swirl & Swirve this 1st Wednesday of January (aka 01.04.17) at 8:00 SHARP as we continue to swirl up our mic madness at our mad mic-ness home, Dallas’ City Tavern!
Come on out, one & all. Get a heapin’ helpin’ of musical mad grooves from Swirve, share in the Mad Swirl’n festivities, & if the spirit is movin’ ya get yourself a spot on our open mic list. Come to be a part of this collective creative love child we affectionately call Mad Swirl. Come to participate. Come to appreciate. Come to swirl-a-brate!
Catch us swirlin' up our madness at The City Tavern located at 1402 Main Street • Dallas, TX
P.S. If you're a Facebook'r and want to get on our pre-list, visit our event page and let us know you're gonna be there.
•••••••
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...
Speakin' It,
Johnny O
Chief Editor
MH Clay
Poetry Editor
Tyler Malone
Short Story Editor
Madelyn Olson
Visual Editor
Comments