::: Mad News From the Eye of the Swirl :::

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::: Mad News From the Eye of the Swirl :::



Our Fellow Mad Ones,

Greetings and a very Happy (and belated) 2009 from the mad ones here at Mad Swirl to you and yours!

As the New Year festivities were ringing our ears (or was it the booze?) we got to thinking about that line from the New Year's song...


Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

And we thought to ourselves, "Selves, no, no, no, auld acquaintance should not be forgot...dangit! And definitely, no way no how, should we ever, EV-ER forget auld lang syne! What'cho be thinkin' 'bout?"

So with that being said, we here at Mad Swirl are so adamant about this auld lang syne business that we just have to keep on doing the Mad Swirlin' voodoo that we do into 2009!

That's right our fellow mad ones, Mad Swirl promises to not forget and will continue to whirl round the printed pages, the www's and the dot com's and on the mic every 1st Wednesdays thru double-aught nine!

Ready or not 2009, here we come!

::: Of the Artists, by the Artists, for the Artists :::

The Mad Gallery is a beautiful space where we proudly display the many facets of the visual arts. From the furthest reaches of this mad, mad world we have gathered together just a few of the most maddest painters, sculptors, photographers & illustrators that we could and swirled them all together here.

Currently featured in the Gallery is painter Ellen McMahill. Here's a few words from Ellen:

"Each human being has a story. Each visual artist is telling a different story about a private perspective of the world made public through image - form, color, concept. I am the fruit of my history and the explorer of the present and future. With insight and compassion my history becomes the knowledge I use to imagine my art and the contribution I can make to the world through it.

On a linear, ordinary level my life has been a labyrinth of experiences which seemed to distract me from being a visual artist at all. In fact, those experiences allowed me to understand the world and myself deeply enough to be able to create on canvas my vision of this life on earth."

Also in the gallery since our last virtual meeting are new works from our resident artists Amy Bernays, Kristin Fouquet and Peter Schwartz.

::: Always Swirling New Poets in Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum! :::

Now with over 90 poets (and growing everyday), Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum is truly a poetic voice to be reckoned with. This massive online collection features some of the maddest poets from all over this big blue marble of ours. The Forum is truly a living and breathing entity, growing and flowing every day...so it's best to come by often to view the latest.

Recently, the mad ones at 10K Poets (Glen Still and Bo Blount) have beat-utifully pimped Johnny O's poem Joe. And what a poetically musical swirling collaboration this has created!


Click here to hear the musical collaboration with 10K Poets

Joe

Some folks say there's no voice today that is willing to reach the hearts and minds of the average Joe. You know him. He's the:

The 50+ hours a week with no OT Joe
The let's build our lives on shaky credit with a 21% APR Joe
The one pay check away from living in the car Joe
The American dream that's drifting away Joe
The let's kill the pain with spirits, herbs and chemicals Joe
The fear for our tomorrow's in a world chock full of sorrow's Joe
The class I was born into is going extinct and there's no moving up but only going down Joe
The masses that passes the classes and still works the mailroom Joe
The man on the street with nothing to eat Joe
The barely legal boys with their lethal toys who play GI Joe Joe
The dying too young my song never sung Joe
The teenager dad who wasn't so bad but got dealt the bad hand Joe
The drug addicted fool who sits outside the schoolyard retracing his steps to find his way back home Joe
The lonely poet who has lost his voice by no choice of his own Joe
The can't find it behind them and can't find it in front of them 'cos tomorrow may not there Joe
The living in fear of the 6 o'clock news afraid to hear another 3,000 are struck dead in the name of God Joe
The seeker who seeks and finds nothing worthwhile Joe
The fool who struck gold only to let it go up in smoke Joe
The I'm too tired to deal with this head, sometimes I think I'd rather be dead Joe
The coping and hoping for someone to hear their plea Joe
I hear you Joe. And this one's for us Joe.

(again we urge you to hear the musical collaboration with 10K Poets)

Here are some of the poets who have new poetic additions to the Forum since
we've last met...

Staff Poets: Johnny Olson · Lisa Olson

Featured Poets: Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal · Ra! Gabriel · Ashutosh Ghildiyal · Kenneth P. Gurney · Chris Hamilton · Justin Hyde · Roderick Richardson · Paul Sexton · Glen Still · Mel Waldman

Contributing Poets: Cabe Lindsay · Anna Devine · Kyle Segars · Jeffrey Winke · Mary McLaughlin · Willie Smith · Laura LeHew · Kat Dixon · John Oliver Hodges · Jennifer Bowles · Corey Cook · Claude Barret · Daniel E Wilcox · Sam Meizlish · Ricky Garni · Rebecca McCabe · Rafael Andrade Garza · R Jay Slais · R B Morgan · George Harding · Matthew D Abate · Paula Ray · Paula Mascho · Nicole Lilly · Nicole Kuwik · John Grey · D C Porder · Bernard Alain · Moctezuma Johnson · Melanie Brown · Heller Levinson
· Silvi Saxena · Jack Henry · Heath Aught · David E Howerton · Alexandra Ran · Anne Ransom

...and there's more madness being added every day!

::: Oh the Madness Will Flow at Mad Swirl Open Mic Night! :::

Salutations!
1st Wednesday's the day.
Take off to Mad places,
and Swirl away!

You have words in your head.
You have songs in your groove
The mic is wide open
for which ever you choose.

You are a Mad One.
And you know how to flow.
And YOU are the One
who'll make it all glow.

We call all you mad
poets, musicians and singers
miscellaneous mad ones,
even Elvis dead-ringers!

Come show what you got
and come do what you do
we'll be ready and waiting
this mic's open for you.

You say to yourself
"I'm not a participator."
We welcome you too
you mad swirlin' appreciators!

Come get you a drink
($2 drafts/$5 wells)
and dig on this scene
it's always quite swell

Swirve opens the show
sometime around 8-ish
Then we get starting to roll
don't be too late-ish.

Mad Swirl Open Mic
is the place you should be
every 1st Wednesday
where insanity is free.

Oh! The Madness Will Flow!

As you may or may not know, each 1st Wednesday is a unique madness all it's own. You just never know what you'll see when you go to Mad Swirl Open Mic Night at Absinthe Lounge every 1st Wednesday of the month. Whatever it is, you won't want to miss it. We promise.

Absinthe Lounge is located at 1409 South Lamar Street, in Dallas, Texas.


"So, come on iconoclasts, forward! Already the foreboding sky grows dark and silent!" - Renzo Novatore Arcola


::: Last Call All Y'All to Get Your Hands on Mad Swirl Six! :::

We've beaten the trails, pounded the pavement and just about sold our souls to spread the word about this issue. Time is running out to get your hands on this 28 full-color page, 23-track collection of beat-utiful collaborations between poetry and music.

This issue is Mad Swirl's ode to the insanity that is Mad Swirl Open Mic Night. In this issue, you'll find the poetry and music of some of the most maddest of the mad ones...

Johnny Olson · Lisa Olson · Cheyenne Gallion · Paul Sexton · Opalina Salas · MH Clay · Desmene Statum · Josh Weir · Roderick Richardson · Chris Zimmerly · Swirve · Tim Thomaston · Kevin Foresman

For this very limited time we are offering Mad Swirl Six: The Blue Note Issue for the low, low price of $5!

How do you get your hands on this amazing collection of madness? Easy, click here!

::: MySpaces and Bloggers and Facebooks - Oh My! :::

Are you connected thru just these few of several hundred different ways to stay connected to your cyber-friends? Well so are we! Why not be our cyber-friends and stay up-to-date on the happenings of the mad ones at Mad Swirl? Our connection is just one click away...

Mad Swirl on MySpace
Mad Swirl on Blogger
Mad Swirl on Facebook

::: And Auld Lang Syne! :::

We give you our word, our fellow mad ones, that auld acquaintances shant not be forgotten in the double-aught nine...

...and we look forward to swirling together with both old and new mad acquaintances as we continue spreading the poetical, musical and artistical voo-doo that we do do.

With the most sincerest of praises and respect we would like to thank-you, and thank-you and thank-you up there and a thank-you to all of you mad ones, past, present and future. It will be thru our hands that we created the Mad Swirling creative collective from what it was, to what it is and into what it will be as we move forward into '09.

Syne-cerely
Johnny O
Madman-in-Chief of Mad Swirl

"Begin doing what you want to do now. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and meltling like a snowflake." - Marie Beyon Ray

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Notes of Gratitude to the Mad Swirling Open Mic Ones...

Notes of Gratitude to ALL the Mad Ones...

Auld acquaintance were not forgot,
And t'was definitely brought to mind.
Auld acquaintance were not forgot,
And we honored auld lang syne.

Auld acquaintances were not forgotten this past 1st Wednesday at Absinthe Lounge as we brought in the double-aught nine with a night of beat-utiful swirling madness! T'was a night to remember and embrace...with old and new mad acquaintances spreading the poetic and musical voo-doo that they do do...appreciators sharing their handclaps, fingersnaps, hootinations and affirmations...thank-you, thank-you and thank-you. They all had their hands in the Mad Swirling creative collective that made this 1st Wednesday what it was, what it is and what it will be as we move forward into '09.

With the most sincerest of praises and respect, Mad Swirl would like to thank and recognize the mad ones who brought in '09 with swirlin' vivacity on 01.07.09...

in order of appearance:

Johnny O (host)
Roderick Richardson
Devorah
Gordon Hilgers
John Kelley
Wanda
Opalina Salas
MH Clay
Desmene Statum
Christopher
Poet Echo
Chris Hamilton
Max Earl Blair
James Hargrave
Paul Sexton
D. Anson Brody
Chris Zimmerly
Jellyhead
Cody
David
Tony

A very special Swirlin' thanks to Swirve's amazin' trumpeter Chris Curiel, mad man G-Man Gerard Bendix on skins for keeping us movin', groovin' and boppin' all night long!

And HUGE thanks to Absinthe Lounge owner Kevin for allowing us mad ones to go with our flow for over 4 years now. And a shout-out to the fine Lounge staffers Jennifer and Tracy for keeping the mad spirits fillin' and swillin' for us mad ones.

Our Mad Swirl 1st Wednesday Promise...

We here at Mad Swirl are so adamant about this auld lang syne business that we promise to keep on doing the Mad Swirlin' voodoo that we all the way thru 2009!

That's right our fellow mad ones, Mad Swirl Open Mic will continue to whirl thru Absinthe Lounge every 1st Wednesday thru double-aught nine starting once again on 02.04.09! So, here's how it goes...

Mad Swirl is calling ALL you mad poets, musicians, actors, singers, performers and any other miscellaneous mad ones in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to come and strut-yo-stuff.

Come one. Come all. Come to participate. Come to appreciate. Come to support your fellow mad ones.

Swirve opens the mad festivities 'round 8:00-ish. Johnny O will wake the mic up 'round 8:45-ish and the mic closes when there's no one left standing.

For more information about Mad Swirl Open Mic go to MadSwirl.com

For more information about Absinthe Lounge go to AbsintheLounge.net

Interested in performing? e-mail us at openmic@madswirl.com

And please please please, by all means means means, feel free free free to forward this to any and all mad ones that you know.

Most Syne-cerely,
Mad Swirl

P.S. Whether you make it this time or not, mark your brand-new 2009
calendars now with EVERY 1st Wednesday date...


02.04.09 / 03.04.09 / 04.01.09 / 05.06.09 / 06.03.09 / 07.01.09 /
08.05.09 / 09.02.09 / 10.07.09 / 11.04.09 / 12.02.09

--
Join in on the madness at www.MadSwirl.com

"The whole mad swirl of everything to come began then." - Jack Kerouac

Thanks to the Mad Ones of 12.04.08

There was something going on this past 1st Wednesday...something out of our control...out of anyone's control. Like the moths attraction to the light, we were drawn to Mad Swirl's Open Mic Night at Absinthe Lounge. The mad mic was opened and thru it came swirling words and sounds from poets & musicians & miscellaneous mad ones from all around this mad, mad Metroplex.

Together we unlocked the door of imagination and beyond it found another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. We crossed the line between here and there, lurid and lucid, sane and insane. We moved into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. We went head first into the Mad Swirl Zone.

Mad thanks to those who crossed the line on 12.03.08...
(this months open mic pics coming sooner then later!)

in order of appearance:

Johnny O
Lisa Ohhh
Chris Zimmerly
Gayle Bell
Gordon Hilgers
Devorah
BA
Claude Barret
Max Earl Blair
Shay
Cabe Lindsay
Wanda Su
Christopher
Chris Hamilton
Josh Weir
Jimmy
Justin
Andy Sanchez
Kate

A very special Swirlin’ thanks to Swirve's amazin' trumpeter Chris Curiel, mad man G-Man Gerard Bendix on skins and special guest Kenny Withrow on wailin' guitar for keeping us movin', groovin' and steppin' all night long!

And HUGE thanks to Absinthe Lounge owner Kevin & the Lounge staffers Jennifer and Brian for keeping the mad spirits fillin' and swillin' for us mad ones.

::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: :::

As you may or may not know, each 1st Wednesday is a unique madness all it's own.

You just never know what you'll see when you go to Mad Swirl Open Mic at Absinthe Lounge.

Don’t wish you were there, JUST BE THERE on 01:07:09

You won't want to miss it. We promise.

Mad Swirling Yours,
Mad Swirl

To get you some Mad Swirl visit www.madswirl.com!

Declaration to the Mad Ones of 11.05.08!

Dearest Joe and Jane Mad One’s...

On this day after 1st Wednesday, Mad Swirl dedicates this to those who gave their mad spirits so that madness might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we do this declaration

Thank-you to the insane nation, under-ground, that swirled together in madness – on the open mic of the mad ones, by the mad ones, for the mad ones.

The truth was self-evident - that all poets, musicians, singers, storytellers, comedians, and performers are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are their poems, songs and the collective pursuit of madness!

Monumental thanks to the mad one’s of 11.05.08 (in order of appearance)...

Johnny O
(host)
Opalina Salas
Max Earl Blair
Devorah
Brandon
Shay
John Kelley
Christopher
Roderick Richardson
Janice
Cabe Lindsay
Joey Cloudy
Jolee Davis-Cloudy
Wanda

A very special Swirlin’ thanks to Swirve's amazin' wailin' trumpeter Chris Curiel & mad man G-Man Gerard Bendix on skins for keeping us movin' groovin' and steppin' all night long!

And HUGE thanks to Absinthe Lounge owner Kevin & the Lounge staffers Jennifer and John for keeping the mad spirits fillin' and swillin' for us mad ones.

Interested in Performing?

Are you a mad poet, musician, actor, singer and/or performer? (circus freaks, Tenacious D rip-offs and Elvis impersonators always welcome) Do you live in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area? Then come-n-strut-yo-stuff.

Come one. Come all. Come to participate. Come to appreciate. Come to support your fellow mad ones.

Swirve opens things up around 8:00 and we close the mic when there's no one left standing.

Interested in performing? e-mail us at openmic@madswirl.com for more information.

And please, by all means, FEEL FREE TO SPREAD THE WORD!

Where's this Madness Take Place?

Every 1st Wednesday Mad Swirl swirls thru Absinthe Lounge which is located in the SouthSide on Lamar building.

1409 South Lamar Street • Dallas, TX 75215

Mad Swirl Ranting & Raving Insane Campaign 08

Our Fellow Mad Ones...

One half score and a couple-few days ago, Mad Swirl brought forth on this mad, mad blue marble, a new creation, conceived in Swirling Madness, and dedicated to the declaration that all mad ones are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great creative war, testing whether the mad ones, any of the mad ones so conceived and so dedicated to madness, can long endure. We have come to dedicate a portion of the web, as a final posting place for those who here gave their mad spirits so that this madness might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

Just what's our agenda? Lend us your ear and we'll tell you.

Some Fundamental Madnesses

:: Of, By & For the Artists...
:: Read our Lips, No Old Poetry...
:: Change We Can Believe In...

Of the Artists, by the Artists, for the Artists...Mad Gallery's Promise to You!

The Mad Gallery is a beautiful space where we proudly display the many facets of the visual arts. From the furthest reaches of this mad, mad world we have gathered together just a few of the most maddest painters, sculptors, photographers & illustrators that we could and swirled them all together here.

Currently featured in the Gallery is painter Jimmy Ovadia. Jimmy's art "leads us on a transformative psychedelic odyssey full of unique and creative dreamlike portholes. It takes the mind through twists and turns perceived through levels of consciousness and mysticism. Jimmy's quest is toward an abstract surrealistic art that visually unites the body, mind, soul and spirit. It elucidates and enlightens the individual and the world around them."

Also in the gallery since our last virtual meeting are new works from David Arthur-Simons, Tom Harding, Peter Schwartz, Shelly Pinder and Greg Lamer.

Read Our Lips, No Old Poetry...Always Swirling New Poets in Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum!

Now with over 80 poets (and growing everyday), Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum is truly a poetic voice to be reckoned with. This massive online collection features some of the maddest poets from all over this big blue marble of ours. Now tell us, would we lie to you?

The Forum is truly a living and breathing entity, growing and flowing every day...so it's best to come by often to view the latest. Here is just a morsel, an excerpt if you will, from one of our featured poets Glen Still:

A True Liberator

A tribe of innocents
Lead to the pulpit
Believing in the ghost
To rise up

But a metal sword
Comes dancing through the fire
Cuts them all...
Blood Red Bleeds
The first step to amortize one self
Into the system

I imagined a freer world
I imagined her by my side
I see no one here now
I must go off to fight a war
Try to find a way to defeat this common god
The one that doesn't keep his promises
The one that vexes me against my neighbor
Therefore I refuse to raise the gun

(click here to read and hear the complete poem "A True Liberator")

Here are some of the poets we've added to the Forum lately...

Staff Writers: Johnny Olson · Lisa Olson

Featured Writers: Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal · M. H. Clay · Justin Hyde · Paul Sexton · Glen Still · Mel Waldman

Contributors: Robert Louis Henry · Gayle Bell · Nicole Kuwik · Tom Harding · Bernard Alain · Paul Sexton · Kat Dixon · Claude Barret · Cabe Lindsay · Colin James · Raffi Kiureghian · Ray Succre · Jessamyn Cuneo · Kirsten Reinking · Anne Ransom · Dan Provost · Joe Quinn · Gary Beck · Scott Larson · Nick Orf · Max Earl Blair · Melanie Brown · Connor O'Brien · George Harding · Clive Matson · Kenneth P Gurney · Larry Anderson · Moctezuma Johnson · Gene Barry · Changming Yuan · Jonathan Hayes · Jack Henry · Joseph Reich

and many more...

Change We Can Believe In...Mad Swirl Open Mic Night!

This is the official and unanimous Declaration of Mad Swirl Open Mic Night at Absinthe Lounge every 1st Wednesday of the month.

When in the course of Mad Swirl Open Mic events it becomes necessary for us mad ones to dissolve the mental and physical miles between us and gather together for the madness, which connects us with one another. And to assume among the powers of the host of this madness, the separate and equal time in front of the mic to which the Laws of Booze and of Nature's Tea entitle us. Fortunately, this sometimes enables they that would declare these causes to impel them to poetic revolution. Soooo...

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all poets, musicians, singers, storytellers, comedians, and performers are mostly created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are poems, songs and the pursuit of madness.

And for your support of Mad Swirl Open Mic, with a firm reliance on the intoxication from Absinthe Lounge, we mutually pledge to you our words, our tunes and our sacred madness.

Come one. Come all. Come to participate. Come to appreciate. Come to support your fellow mad ones.

Absinthe Lounge · 1409 South Lamar Street · Dallas, 75215

"So, come on iconoclasts, forward! Already the foreboding sky grows dark and silent!" Renzo Novatore Arcola


Make Your Picks...Mad Swirl Issue Six!

Time is running out to get your hands on Mad Swirl Six: The Blue Note Issue, a 28 full-color-page, 23-track collection of beat-utiful collaborations between poetry and music.

This Blue Note Issue is Mad Swirl's ode to the insanity that is Mad Swirl Open Mic Night. In this issue, you'll find the poetry and music of some of the most maddest of the mad ones...

Johnny Olson · Lisa Olson · Cheyenne Gallion · Paul Sexton · Opalina Salas · MH Clay · Desmene Statum · Josh Weir · Roderick Richardson · Chris Zimmerly · Swirve · Tim Thomaston

For this very limited time we are offering Mad Swirl Six: The Blue Note Issue for the low, low price of $5!

How do you get your hands on this amazing collection of madness? You have 3 options...

PayPal! It's safe! It's easy! It's instant!

OR

Visit us at Mad Swirl's Open Mic Night and buy an issue direct from Johnny O.

OR

Send us an e-mail and we can discuss payment options.

It just doesn't get any easier then that! Get your Mad Swirl Six fix as fast as you can!

Our Price: $5.00
S & H: $2.00

All the Hip Kids Are Doing It, Why Not You?

VOTE. We're not going to get all preachy, try to sway you in sOme suBtle wAy to MAke you vote for who we like best. We just want to do our public service by saying GO VOTE! Did we say that loud enough? GO VOTE!! A tad louder? GO VOTE!!! Not registered? Need more info? Visit RockTheVote.com

"The stakes are too high for government to be a spectator sport." Barbara Jordan

So, our Fellow Mad Ones, to include Joe's Six-Pack & Plumber...

This insane nation, under-ground, shall swirl together a new kind of madness -- and this zine of the mad ones, by the mad ones, for the mad ones, shall not perish from this big beautiful blue marble.

Stayed tuned to Mad Swirl for even more in the coming days, weeks, months and years as we continue to weave this mad web and print this mad page and set this mad stage whether we get voted in or not. So there.

Sincerely?
Johnny O
Madman-in-Chief of Mad Swirl

The whole Mad Swirl of everything to come begins...now!

Lots'o'News from the Eye of the Swirl

::: Summer 2008 :::

"Time, time, time, see what's become of me..."

Sure has been awhile, huh? Sometimes it seems like the days fly into weeks and into months and next thing you know it's summer. The last time you heard from us we had Santa on the header of this message, if that gives you any idea of time passed.

So what exactly has been going since we celebrated the birth of Santa? Boy oh boy and my oh my, a whole lotta madness has been swirling!

Are you ready to take the Swirl for a spin? Well then, LET's GO!

::: Heerrre's...Mad Swirl Six: The Blue Note Issue! :::

The long-awaited, much-anticipated full-color print issue, a 28-page, 23-track collection of poetry and music was officially released at Mad Swirl Open Mic Night to a full-house of mad ones, 07.02.08 at Absinthe Lounge.

This Blue Note Issue is Mad Swirl's ode to the insanity that is Mad Swirl Open Mic Night. In this issue, you'll find the poetry and music of some of the most maddest of the mad ones...

Johnny Olson · Lisa Olson · Cheyenne Gallion · Paul Sexton · Opalina Salas · MH Clay · Desmene Statum · Josh Weir · Roderick Richardson · Chris Zimmerly · Swirve · Tim Thomaston

This beat-utiful collaboration of madness is now available for purchase. Get 'em while they last!!!

Scroll on down to get your fix of Mad Swirl Issue Six...

::: Behold...Mad Swirl's Online Poetry Forum! :::

Now with over 70 poets, the Mad Swirl Poetry Forum is truly a poetic online village featuring some of the maddest poets from all over this big blue marble of ours.

The Forum is truly a living and breathing entity, growing and flowing every day...so it's best to come by often to view the latest.

Here are some of the poets we've added lately...

Mel Waldman · Johnny Olson · Robert Louis Henry · M. H. Clay · Gayle Bell · R. Jay Slais · Roderick Richardson · Joseph Reich · Janann Dawkins · Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal · Dennis Wilken · Nathan Tyree · Puma Perl · Justin Hyde · Nicole Kuwik · Victoria Munn · Isaiah Vianese · Ra! Gabriel · John Grey · Tom Harding · Rob Plath · Rafael Andrade Garza · Glen Still · Mary McLaughlin...

...and oh so many more!

::: Take a Stroll thru the Mad Gallery! :::

Welcome to the Mad Gallery. This beautiful space is the place where we proudly display the many mad facets of the visual arts.

Currently featured is painter David Arthur-Simons. David's works depict ideal places of peace, harmony and symmetry where people fly, leap and glide through the air from one dimension to another, constantly defying the accepted illusions of life. This is just the first of many more installments of David's vast collection to be featured in the Mad Gallery. And when you're done being inspired by David's work...

...from the furthest reaches of this mad, mad world we have gathered together just a few of the most maddest painters, sculptors, photographers & illustrators that we could and swirled them all together here. Come by and visit the gallery...

Get your stroll on here...

::: Mad Swirl Open Mic: Where the Mad Ones Are! :::

Every 1st Wednesday night Mad Swirl has its open mic and we make mad mischief of one kind, and another until our mothers call us "Mad Ones!" and send us to Dallas' Absinthe Lounge without our supper.

Come go mad with Mad Swirl's monthly showcase of beat-utiful mad ones as we strive to break the madness barrier! If you are a poet, musician, actor, singer and/or performer and live in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area then come-n-preach-it!

Come one. Come all. Come to participate. Come to appreciate. Come to support your fellow mad ones.

Absinthe Lounge · 1409 S Lamar St · Dallas

Get more info, see pics and hear audio from last 1st Wednesday's madness here!

::: Get Your Mad Swirl Issue Six Fix Here! :::

This limited-edition, numbered copy of Mad Swirl is 28 full-color pages of swirling madness that captures some of the most maddest of the mad ones and the insanity that is the Dallas poetry and music scene!

What would you be willing to pay for this limited edition, numbered copy of Mad Swirl? Don't answer yet!

A bonus with this mad zine is a 23-track CD of the whole issue performed and recorded live at Absinthe Lounge, with music by Swirve! Now how much would you pay? $20 would be worth it. $10? That sure would be a great deal!

For this limited time we are offering Mad Swirl Six: The Blue Note Issue for the low, low price of $5!

How do you get your hands on this amazing collection of madness? You have 3 options...

PayPal! It's safe! It's easy! It's instant! It's right here! Click and get whisked away into PayPal's safe and capable hands.

OR

Come visit us at Mad Swirl's Open Mic Night and buy an issue direct from Johnny O

OR

Send us an e-mail (crazy@madswirl.com) or visit us on MySpace and we can discuss payment options.

It just doesn't get any easier then that!

Give me my Mad Swirl Six fix as fast as you can!

We told you there was a lot going on in the Land of Swirling Madness! There's even more in store in the coming days, weeks, months and years as we weave this mad web and print this mad page and set this mad stage.

Keep on swirling madly, our fellow mad ones, because the whole Mad Swirl of everything to come begins...NOW!

Reach out and touch Mad Swirl the electronic-mail kinda way at crazy@madswirl.com

Or visit us on the Wide World of the Web at MadSwirl.com

Introducing...Mad Swirl Six: The Blue Note Issue!

The long-awaited, much-anticipated full-color 28-page, 23-track collection of poets and musicians was released at Mad Swirl Open Mic Night on 07.02.08 at Absinthe Lounge to a full house of DFW mad ones. This Blue Note Issue is Mad Swirl's ode to the insanity that is Mad Swirl Open Mic Night and features the poetry and music of the most maddest of the mad ones...

Johnny Olson
Lisa Olson
Cheyenne Gallion
Paul Sexton
Opalina Salas
MH Clay
Desmene Statum
Josh Weir
Roderick Richardson
Chris Zimmerly
Swirve

We are currently accepting orders for this 28-page collection of madness. What would you be willing to pay for this limited edition, numbered copy of Mad Swirl?

Don't forget the extra bonus that comes with this mad zine. 23 tracks laid-down live at Mad Swirl's Open Mic, complete with Intro, Outro and bridge songs by the amazing trio Swirve! Now how much would you pay?

$20? Well worth it! What if we said $10? That sure would be a great deal! For this limited time we are offering Mad Swirl Issue Six: The Blue Note Issue for the low, low price of $5*!

You want some of this?!

How do you pay for this ground-breaking issue? You have 3 options to get your name on the list to be one of the 1st readers of Mad Swirl Six...

PayPal

• Go to PayPal.com

• If you don't already have a PayPal account, you must set one up. If you already have an account go to "send money" in the top menu bar.

• Enter "madswirl@gmail.com" into the "To" field and hit "Send Money"

• We get an e-mail saying we got your money & we think of how wonderful you are

• We put your name on the list of wonderful peeps to receive one of the first numbered copies of MS6:BNI

• Sometime soon you get your very own copy of Mad Swirl Six: The Blue Note Issue!

In Person

• Come visit us at Mad Swirl's Open Mic Night or one of the several of the other readings hosted by DFW Open Mics.

E-mail

• Send us an e-mail at crazy@madswirl.com and we can discuss payment options

It just doesn't get an easier then that! Why WOULDN'T you order one, two, five or ten today?

(* please add $1.50 for shipping and handling costs)

Declaration of Gratitude to the All the Mad Ones!

NOTES OF GRATITUDE

This is the unanimous Declaration of Praises to all the Mad Ones that came to Mad Swirl Open Mic as well as helped us give Birth to Mad Swirl Six: The Blue Note Issue Release this past 1st Wednesday of this month of July.

When in the Course of this Mad Swirl event it becomes necessary for all poets, musicians, singers, storytellers, comedians, and performers to dissolve the mental and physical miles between them and gather together for the madness which connected them with one another. We held these truths to be self-evident, that all poets, musicians, singers & storytellers are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Poems, Songs and the pursuit of Happiness. What a Declaration of the Masses to Madness t'was!

Soooo...

Here Ye! Here Ye! Bottomless gratitude and mad love goes out to the following Mad Ones...

1st Round:
Johnny O*
Jolee Davis-Cloudy
Joey Cloudy
Rhie
Vincent Olson
Max Earl Blair
Opalina Salas*
Platinum Status
Roderick Richardson*
Gaila Bell
Paul Sexton*
Desmene Statum*
Mister Natural
Michael Clay*

2nd Round:
Devorah
Chris Zimmerly*
Gordon Hilgers
Trey
Kerseymere
Tarnished Penny
Brett
Todd Buckley
Mason

3rd Round:
Swirve* & the Mad One Hootenanny!

(* also featured in Mad Swirl Six: The Blue Note Issue)

And Mad Swirl's Open Mic just wouldn't be what it is without Swirve. Deepest respect and admiration for the amazin' wailin' trumpeter Chris Curiel, anachronistic vocalist Tamitha Curiel & mad man G-Man Gerard Bendix on skins. Our heads are still ringing from your Mad Declarations!

And, as always, the deepest grats to one of the maddest cats of all, Absinthe Lounge owner Kevin & the Lounge staffers Jose and My for keeping the drinks fillin' and swillin' for us mad ones.

MAD SWIRL OPEN MIC NIGHT

As you may or may not know, each 1st Wednesday is a unique madness all it's own. You just never know what you'll see...or miss...when you go to Mad Swirl Open Mic at Absinthe Lounge.

Don’t wish you were there, JUST BE THERE on 08:06:08

interested in performing?

Are you a mad poet, musician, actor, singer and/or performer? (circus freaks, Tenacious D rip-offs and Elvis impersonators always welcome) Do you live in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area? Then come-n-strut-yo-stuff.

Come one. Come all. Come to participate. Come to appreciate. Come to support your fellow mad ones.

The mic opens up around 8:30 and closes when there's no one left standing.

Interested in performing? e-mail us at openmic@madswirl.com
And please, by all means, FEEL FREE TO SPREAD THE WORD!

Mad Swirl Open Mic at Absinthe Lounge. It's THE place to be on the first Wednesday of the month! (it's also THE place for 1st Wednesday's $2 drafts/$5 Mad Absinthe's)

WHERE DOES THIS MADNESS TAKE PLACE?

Absinthe Lounge is located at 1409 South Lamar Street • Dallas, TX 75215 (in the SouthSide on Lamar building)

Mad Swirl Six: The Blue Note Issue Begins Swirling 07.02.08

Mad Swirl Six: The Blue Note Issue



The long-awaited, much-anticipated upcoming full-color 28-page collection of poets and musicians will be released at Mad Swirl Open Mic Night on 07.02.08 at Absinthe Lounge. This Blue Note Issue is Mad Swirl's ode to the insanity that is Mad Swirl Open Mic Night featuring the poetry and music of the most maddest of the mad ones...

Johnny Olson
Lisa Olson
Cheyenne Gallion
Paul Sexton
Opalina Salas
MH Clay
Desmene Statum
Josh Weir
Roderick Richardson
Chris Zimmerly
Swirve

We are currently accepting pre-orders for this upcoming issue of madness. What would you be willing to pay for this limited edition, numbered copy of Mad Swirl? Don't answer yet!

As a bonus with this mad zine will be tracks laid-down live at the last Open Mic, complete with Intro, Outro and bridge songs by the amazing trio Swirve! Now how much would you pay?

$20? Well worth it! What if we said $10? That sure would be a great deal! For this limited time we are offering Mad Swirl Issue Six: The Blue Note Issue for the low low price of $5*!

What's the catch? You must pay thru PayPal to get your name on the list to be one of the 1st readers of Mad Swirl Six. And also we need as much funds as we can get to offset the cost of producing this mad mad collection of poetry and music by 07.02.08!

1. Go to PayPal.com

2. If you don't already have a PayPal account, you must set one up. If you already have an account go to "send money" in the top menu bar.

3. Enter "madswirl@gmail.com" into the "To" field and hit "Send Money"

4. We get an e-mail saying we got your money & we think of how wonderful you are. We put your name on the list of wonderful peeps to receive one of the first numbered copies of MS6:BNI

5. Sometime on or soon after 07.02.08 you get your copy of Mad Swirl Six: The Blue Note Issue!

It just doesn't get an easier then that!

Why WOULDN'T you order one, two, five or ten now?

(* please add $1.50 for shipping and handling costs)

Mad Swirl Open Mic Night and Benefit!

Mad Swirl is once again callin' all you Beatniks, hipsters & ca-razy cats out there as we get to openin' the mic this 1st Wednesday at Absinthe Lounge. Join in on the insanity as all the mad ones come gatherin' 'round to wail away on the mad mad mic.

Be a part of Mad Swirl history this 1st Wednesday as we record the featured artists of the upcoming sixth print issue of Mad Swirl! Maybe your hoots, howls, claps or finger snaps will get picked up on the mic to be forever captured on the print zine's bonus CD! We start rolling tape at 8:30 with the following line-up:

Swirve
Johnny Olson
Cheyenne Gallion
Lisa Olson
Paul Sexton
Opalina Salas
MH Clay
Desmene Statum
Josh Weir
Roderick Richardson
Chris Zimmerly

And wait! There's even more fun in store...

Don't miss the first-ever Mad Swirl Live Auction & Raffle, where you can place your bid on a $100 Absinthe Lounge Gift Certificate, original oil artwork from Jon Marquette, collectible beat books and more. Bidding starts at just $5...who knows what you might walk away with!

Spend a Buck, Test Your Luck: Feeling lucky? Buy a raffle ticket (or 5 or 10!) for ''chump change'' at a dollar a shot. Exciting, eclectic prizes to be awarded by random drawing throughout the night.

100% of proceeds from the night's Auction & Raffle will go toward the printing expenses of Mad Swirl VI: The Blue Issue. Love Mad Swirl? Here's your chance to show it! (Mad Swirl loves you too.)

Interested in donating a prize or gift cert to the maddest Auction & Raffle in Town? Contact lisa@madswirl.com.

So all you mad poets, musicians, dancers, actors, singers, performers & any other miscellaneous mad ones in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to come strut your mad stuff!

Come one. Come all. Come to participate. Come to appreciate. Come for madness sake!

This is one 1st Wednesday you will not want to miss.

For more info about Mad Swirl go to www.MadSwirl.com

For more info about Absinthe Lounge go to www.AbsintheLounge.net

And by all means, feel free to pass this info to any & all Beatniks, hipsters & ca-razy cats that you know.

Mad Swirl Needs Your Help!

Hello Fellow Mad Ones!

We're posting this blog because Johnny and I feel that you have been supportive of Mad Swirl as it has grown into the enigma that it is, someone that 'gets it' when it comes to the arts and the importance of creative expression!

Johnny has been working very hard on the 6th print edition of Mad Swirl, the Blue Note Issue, and he is so excited and very close to being ready for printing.

This issue is going to DYNO-MITE… a full-color issue, with a bonus CD of readings and will no doubt be his best Mad Swirl yet, a collector's edition in the making! See attachment for a sneak preview of the cover.

That's where you come in! Up til now, every Mad Swirl expense has been covered by us, including production time, supplies and printing expense. This issue, being full color, with CDs etc. will be our most expensive to produce yet, and we are asking for help, in our first print run of 1,000 copies.

There are three ways to help get Mad Swirl VI published. We kindly ask you to consider getting involved in any or all of the following manners:

1. Donate a prize for our Live Auction to take place at Mad Swirl Open Mic on Weds. 5/7/08. Tickets, gift certificates, cool collectibles, etc. will be greatly appreciated.

2. COME to Mad Swirl Open Mic's first LIVE AUCTION to bid on cool stuff, Weds. 5/7, 8:30-10p, Absinthe Lounge!

3. Donate directly to Mad Swirl through PayPal, by sending money at www.paypal.com to madswirl@gmail.com. Your donation (any size!) will go directly into our printing and assemblage costs are veeeery appreciated!!

We can't pull this one off without your help, so please, please (pretty please, with sugar on top, even!!) consider how you can help support Mad Swirl and the arts and poetry movement in Dallas.

You will become an important part in bringing the coolest issue ever into fruition and will be one of the first to receive your limited edition, numbered collectible copy.

Our targeted production date is May 31st, so time is of the essence. Please help in whatever way you can and again, we are immensely grateful for the support we have gotten and the support we trust we will get to make this dream reality.

To check out Mad Swirl on the web, visit www.madswirl.com.

THANKS SO MUCH for your support.

With deep gratitude,
Lisa and Johnny

"The whole mad swirl of everything that is to come begins now."

What's Going on in Mad Swirl’s Poetry Forum? (02.2008)

welcome to mad swirl 's poetry forum. we have collected poetry from the maddest poets from the maddest corners of the world and have showcased them here in the forum just for you. catch the flowin' swirlin' madness from some our fellow mad ones ~ shawn r. misener, glenn still, rafael andrade garza, desmene m. statum, joseph goosey, moctezuma johnson & justin hyde...

"Who's Gonna Fuck You When You're Dead?"

is certainly the best thing I’ve overheard
so I can’t take credit for it
but I can relay the splendor to you
and we can both laugh and chuckle

the couple was gone down the street
before I could react
they were incredibly fast walkers
for being so grey and poorly dressed

but what the man said
in that moment
has stuck with me for ten years
and by now the guy is a wise sage
in the rolodex of my memories

- shawn r. misener

(added 02.16.08)

Death Is Picking Me Apart

Death is picking me apart
I never realized
That it would come to this
On the other side of the fence
Like some bad neighbor
Throwing trash
Not respecting property owned
By others with dreams

Ya! Death is picking me apart slowly
Its come hard to the realization
This shit is getting crazy
My best friend just took a settle down
I didn’t even know it
I kept calling and calling
No answer!
Too late motherfucker
Disconnected!

Death is picking me apart
My soul can’t contain this
This shit is re-arranging me like dominoes
Playing hard like some old black man
Stuck on a ghetto corner
Only in this game
No one ever wins
The truth of the matter is
No one ever loses either
Figure that shit out
If you can!
It’s just that pain
That creeps in every few seconds
Damn! I wish I would have answered your call
I thought I was just too busy
What a fool I was

Ya! Death is that phenomena
That makes you question everything
Well, you know what man?
I want to let you know now that you’re gone
You were that brother from another mother
We saw eye to eye
I knew you better
Then you knew yourself
I just wish I could’ve been there
When you hit the floor
Been a Jesus!
Resurrected you!
Brought you back!
But I know that this is just me wishing

Death picks us all apart
When it’s our time
The clock stops ticking
Stop
Dead Stop!

Dedicated to Steven Everhart Jr.
My friend, my Brother…RIP Man!

- glenn still

(added 02.16.08)

love is faster than a speeding bullet

If you were to shred my spirit’s tee
You’ll find a Superman S
where a bulls-eye used to be
my soul once bullet-ridden
with lost love
and bleeding sorrow
is coming back
even stronger tomorrow

nothing can defeat experience
but wisdom-
this is why I try to find new ways
to overcome my sworn enemies
the loneliness
the vice
the pity

If you were to hear my chest
echoes of a troubled city-
rockford fosgate beats upon flesh
blood flows from Technochtitlan
democratic bones carved out of Parthenon
my heart is Mt. Everest
and from this highest hope
I’m not afraid to fall

In my camera eye,
exists an imperfect world
ghosts walking where happy souls should be
on these hollow streets,
there are crimes against the heart
I put my superman t-shit back on.

- rafael andrade garza
© January 05, 2007

(added 02.14.08)

What I Gave Away

If I wanted to be nothing
I would have stayed in Alabama
probably married some no good johnny
baked myself a tasteless pie dream
I would have chosen selfishness
and raised my daughter alone
God, I would die
just to see her face
that would have been easier
than giving her away
and continuing the cycle
I was determined to break
teen mother with emotionally
unavailable father
Sometimes the hardest thing to give away
is control

If you are happy
you know
nothing can touch you
but wind
Libra’s daughter and her deviant lover
worshipers of melody
seeking a paradise
Singing two-fisted whiskey love songs
about fire eating eyes
to eighteen-wheeler emotions
Consuming each other
one gives to feel whole
the other takes to fill a hole
Each thinking
they lack something
necessary to live
They define their happiness
by the validity of touch
Void, devoid, and, afraid
selfish
both guilty in someway
not ever really knowing
what feels good
All they have known
is their conditioning
the constant paranoia
of lack
of never amounting to
more than an addiction
They construct a universe
of guilt, of right and wrong
and this is no place to live
Tangible intangibles
paradoxes of reality
pretending its paradise
Instead of making love
and making light
they mutilate their own hearts
and exist in a continuous state
of darkness and emotional disfigurement

When I was 18
my boyfriend and I
bought a trailer
and moved in together
This was after my daughter was adopted
during that time
I obsessed with an everyday life
couldn’t save myself from thinking
that my sacrifice was for nothing
I couldn’t let go
my thoughts of grandeur
that my purpose was something greater
than working in a day care
living in a trailer and
never having an education
Over and over
it burrowed into my consciousness
conquered my reasoning
After weeks of self loathing
I made a promise to myself
Then I burned that trailer
to the ground
and headed west

- desmene m. statum

(added 02.11.08)


A BIT OF NARCISSISM FOR YOU IN THE EVENING TIME

You mean to tell me you can't be fooled with poetry?
Well, shit on the sheets and call for a haircut appointment
because that was the only plan I had drawn up thus far.

Don't you understand? I'm writing about your pigtails
your sprinkles your frosting your dress your river cigarette
stuffed bear record player plastic flower neuroses

What? You don't want to read about any of those really personal subjects?
You just want to lay there eating your sushi and gatorade?
If you had a diary I could just read the fucking thing but now a
scheme must be devised.

If you would just write me up some instructions for how to
act smoke fuck laugh care cry shout poop eat ginger
then maybe this key would fit a more out of date but stylish car.

What yanks at me constantly,
is why you are not in awe
of all that I do.

- joseph goosey

(added 02.11.08)

Whore Next Door

you are the whore next door
I see you every day
stripping down into your panties
bending over to the oven
you're some hockey player's wife
they say. they don't know you. not
like I know you, your long blonde
hair, your thick curves—you're like
a porn star. my personal porn star.
I lower the lights so you can't see me
in the brownstone across the way
jerking off saying your name: Anya.
at least that's what I imagine your
name to be. you give me a flesh of
breast meat. I'm addicted. I'll watch
you everyday now. everyday after
I come home from middle school.

- moctezuma johnson

(added 02.09.08)

all these freak-shows

it seems
the more outlandish
they dress
the duller they are.

for instance
two pancake-faced
wafers
next table over:

striped leggings
wooden plugs
in their ears,
airing out
freshly minted tattoos
of japanese calligraphy
on their shoulders.

i'm going on a
green-bean only diet,
buzz-clucks
the one.

i'm so with you,
clutter-spurts
the other
as

a gopher
in nigeria
locks up
from a
heart-attack.

i don't have any tattoos
or piercings,

don't even
wear a watch.

i should have glasses
but that's a
different poem.

if you pegged me at all
it would be for a
sloppily dressed
footnote,

which i'd gladly be
if it wasn't
for all the
voodoo-rickshaws
jackknifing
right here
behind these
eyes.

- justin hyde

(added 02.07.08)

remember, this page is in flux, living and breathing, evolving and changing constantly...so please come and come often for the latest submissions.

click here to visit the mad swirl's poetry forum. if you would like to submit poetry for the forum please see our submissions page located here.

mad swirl • issue six • spring 2008

issue numero six-o daddy-o is gathered, primped and nearly ready for print. the design of this blue issue of mad swirl pays homage to the hundreds of legendary blue note jazz artists and albums and the genius found in the spontaneity of creativity. we could think of nothing else in our insane lives that embodies that energy more than the infamous 1st wednesday madness that is mad swirl open mic night at absinthe lounge. the collection of voices that will be featured in this issue are quintessential mad ones who have graced our stage, approaching the mic with tongues on fire, epitomizing the raw and unbridled energy of creativity.

featured poets: michael clay, cheyenne gallion, johnny olson, lisa olson, roderick richardson, opalina salas, paul sexton, desmene statum, joshua weir and chris zimmerly

featured band: swirve

featured artist: jon marquette

featured photographer: tim thomaston

stay tuned to madswirl.com for further updates!

What's Going on in Mad Swirl’s Poetry Forum? (01.2008)

welcome to mad swirl 's poetry forum. we have collected poetry from the maddest poets from the maddest corners of the world and have showcased them here in the forum just for you. catch the flowin' swirlin' madness from some our fellow mad ones ~ johnny olson, kirstin kestner, justin hyde, cheryl anderson, sen rivers, kenneth p. gurney & craig caudill...

I am doing what I can to be a real man.

a true man
a kind man
a feeling man
a dreaming man
a baring-of-my-soul man
a whole man
a rock & rolling man
a don’t-have-to-know-everything man
a questioning man
a seeking & finding man
a peeking-thru-my-fingers man
a speaking-thru-my-actions man
a walk-the-talk man
a strong-yet-bending man
a man-with-a-plan man
a go-with-the-flow man
a show & telling man
a shuffling after man
a leading man
a behind-the-scenes man
a humble man
a rough & tumble man
a man’s man
a good man
a great man
a best man
a mate man
a sensitive man
a dad-of-a-daughter man
a true blue-eyed soul man
a man-of-many-colors man
a diverse man
a poet & painter man
a Renaissance man
a speaking-from-the-heart man
a pre-dawn praying man
a meditating man
a tolerant man
a 9-to-5 man
a trusted & trusting man
a thankful & grateful man
a living-in-the-moment man
a man-of-many-multitudes man

I am doing what I can to be a real man.

- johnny olson

(added 01.13.08)

On Parade

I am an exhausted costume on parade
and the music is old and I am tired of
the avenue. I am tired of the faddish pace,
tired of wearing someone else’s face.
Yet I go on, aching on the two and four.

And then you,
an artist from out of the alley—you with
rotting tooth and scar and word-cracked
lips, you who would not hide—you paint
my secret pains on the empty canvas
of my eyes. You paint grey skulls on
my glass pupils. You put my insides in sight.

It is death you have drawn on my eyes.
I am branded Halloween.
I am left with your true tattoo.

I go on marching in this crowded
city of parading. I pass windows
with who I should be on display.

But now I know there is a glass between
the decorations and what is really me,
between who I am and what I should be.
It is a thin mirror of honesty that reflects
my skull-painted eyes, that reflects
how much I have died on the inside.

And I cannot help but realize that I
am a frighteningly dead thing on display.
I am death on parade.

- kirstin kestner

(added 01.11.08)

the poem

falls from
the sky,
cracking your skull
like a load of
frozen bowel movements
discharged from a
jet-liner.

you chisel it
to the essential
with heart
and intellect.

too much intellect
and it's
straight
philosophy.

too much heart
and it limps
down the drain
with the
complete works of
mitch album.

getting it right
is a subtle
balance
essentially
devoid
of
any
discernible
merit.

- justin hyde

(added 01.10.08)

Introduction:
12 baktun . 19 katun . 14 tun . 14 uinal . 4kin

I am not interested
in the flights of false gods,
the carrion of magazine covers, shiny pretty toy drummers,
slick-haired, pinned-up angels whispering barely heard breath
through thick begging bangs, smoke drum machines,
thick cock guitars, pleading spotlight.

I am not interested
in well-dressed dolls, Aphrodite's discarded minstrels,
life-blood and vocals wasted on a perfectly healthy robot.
Give me a scream.
Way I see it,
we're in the end of things, the crossroads, the nether-parts
and this wheel's been turning long enough.

I knew it was a Tuesday
when I saw the Bearded One at the supermarket.
He bought a pound of flesh,
a copy of the Inquirer, a pack of Camels.
I bummed one for conversation.
As the smoke twisted his eyes
I asked him the time,
realized he was mourning it;
this nine-to-five salvation-on-the-clock gig
wasn't treating him so well.

He said:
Whatever kid you got left in there
that hasn't been entrenched in 12 month cycles,
six week report cards, state tests at 8 (no talking),
fear of next month's cramps, or fear of not having them,
Whatever kid you got that's interested
in getting out of town, riding a bus to no where
getting off in Vegas, heading west,
Whatever kid you got in your tangled hair,
your mismatched socks, your pain of abandonment,
your torn adolescence, tattered doll-friends and sad dogs:
Don't let them get interested in leaving.
There's a Time around the corner that everyone forgot,
where the sidewalk failed to recognize it was just bubble gum
below a pretense of rock,
This Time, it hides in tunnels safe from smog-sad songs
a far cry from any house of rising suns
but it's a place, none the less.
You should come.

I told him I wasn't interested
in the nightmare, I've lost friends to junk
might lose more before Christmas.
But Easter deaths are always worse.
He shook his head and said, No honey,
This is where you belong.
And he took me to the ancient workers of song,
where they'd made a shack from a home:
three twisted trees around two rusted railroad cars, confused cats
drinking wine in the yard from yellow moon-skinned bathtubs.
A broken gate-latch
lets most of our ideas out at night, he said,
but if you come out here,
away from the light, everything turns two shades more interesting.
Check out the stars, he said, the way the trees tell time,
and turtles line the soft streams of fatewater with strong backs.

So on this porch of un-baptized wood
We kicked back.
on a cinderblock mantle,
waited for the wind to blow a train whistle night—
waited with the panhandling cats and the old caboose,
waited with my beggar's songs and my tongue loose,
waited while our minds erased sirens from this place
waited with

time

(it gets me through)

- cheryl anderson

(added 01.09.08)

5th Avenue

Winter time, I breathed deep.
Smoking a cigarette sucking in all the poisonous heat.
Beating my feet down the pavement to where we lived,
I thought of this morrow I thought of you.
So lost and broken in a sea of endless blue hue.

I walked past a dapper scruffian.
He had the darkest eyes followed by a ghost that barely held him there.
He wore a life jacket around his heart,
unknown to me for him this was the hardest part.
Maybe his name was Jean Phillipe or perhaps it twas nothing quite so neat.
His ship had sailed he had no fleet.

I crawled into my windowsill,
I can see the rain follow me still.
Keen and absolute, the warmth around my thoughts are curiously obscene.
Flowers, brought to me with many warnings,
for every pedal there was twice as many taken back.

Her name was sunshine, dont follow me here.
You'll grow old and wont have any less tears.
Be careful staring at the tree before you, branches dip and dive, roots so far beneath you.
The grass, cold wet and warm all at once.

I didnt stand a chance in this old haunted mansion where I once lived,
where I once died, where my father gave me no amount of pride.

- sen rivers

(added 01.08.08)

MEMORY OF MIDDLE IOWA, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

It begins at the Trek convention
with the slim girl in the diaphanous blouse
who arrived with the conclusion:
this is the best place to get
the most guys in bed over a weekend.

Her rapture turns into a song
echoed down the hotel’s hallways
and is taken up as the new theme
for a boys-grown-old club
where, for twenty hours,
some guys think they are special.

But the numbness
that invades a marriage
dampens the thunder of orgasms,
until, really, it might as well
be the cough of a passer-by.

And elsewhere there is a guy—
a husband—struck by lightning,
as he puts the pieces together
from the convention blogs
after his business meetings.

She continues to walk
through the dark and dizzy nights
where the cliff-face is at hand
and, perhaps, she’ll fall off—
if not at the convention,
then when she gets home
to learn that it is now a house
with a broken furnace.

- kenneth p. gurney

(added 01.05.08)

Here and Now

In the past

I was funny thoughtful and did everything I could to please anyone at any
moment. Never a day would go by I knew every bad joke ever uttered
which sadly I learned form my uncle

In the present

I was depressed lonely seeker of truth, I had a flash light which protected
me from dark spirits and those who wished me harm

The songs all sound the same and I never drank water through a straw I
only saw time as specks of dirt and I believed that bird people would one
day bring an age sorrow

In the future

I held a knife it was three O’clock in the house all the time and despots
always had their way with women. They were lurkers they were monsters
that stole purses and wore pantyhose over their faces, dirty pantyhose!

There is folkway stories told that the here and now are a myth as I has
suspected but was afraid to say anything. I felt in my old skin and felt the
past will never arrive again.

- craig caudill

(added 01.05.08)

remember, this page is in flux, living and breathing, evolving and changing constantly...so please come and come often for the latest submissions.

click here to visit the mad swirl's poetry forum. if you would like to submit poetry for the forum please see our submissions page located here.

Mad Swirlin' Holiday Greetings to You

::: Winter 2007 :::



Ho Ho Ho-llo Mad,
...and all that other happily sappily sugary stuff to you and yours this holiday season!

And since t'is the swirling season for giving and sharing, for loving and caring, we here at Mad Swirl couldn't think of a better way to spend these chilly holy-day's then by caring to share the latest mad-happenings at MadSwirl.com with you and yours!

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On the 1st day of madness Mad Swirl gave to me...
...a brand new short story!

Welcome to Mad Swirl's Short Story library. We've all got a story to tell but some of us have an itch that we have to scratch and this is the place where the itchers go to scratch it. Here's a glimpse at our latest scratcher Joseph Goosey...

Someday I Will Be On the Lamb and Sorely Missed
I got out of my car. I sensed that it was about 82 degrees. Very unseasonable. I wished to just lay down on the sidewalk, perhaps an eagle would swoop down low and take me in as one of it's own. This was unlikely so I kept walking. I was out of the car now and on my feet so there really was not much else. I looked like an escapee from either some sort of work release program or a Northeastern writers conference because I was still wearing my cashmere sweater. Like I said, very unseasonable. In an attempt to minimize my visibility to passers-by I ducked into a coffee shop. The girl behind the counter looked as though she had the answers to some very important and philosophical questions...

Click here for more EVEN if you've been bad!

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On the 2nd day of madness Mad Swirl gave to me...
...some wild and ca-razy poetry!

We tried to wrap up all these poetic samplings in bows and ribbons but we just couldn't get the tape to stick! So instead we offer this online collection of poetry from the maddest poets from the maddest corners of the world and have showcased them in the Poetry Forum just for you. The Forum is always in flux, living and breathing, evolving and changing, swirling constantly...so please come and come often to view the latest submissions.

Be sure to check this poetry stocking for the interactive holiday collaboration between Merlin the Magical One and Mad Swirl. Smoke 'em if you got 'em and be sure you turn up the volume and shoo away the kiddos before you open "Twas the Night Before Tomorrow"..

If it's been a few months since you came 'round the Forum, it has got lots of new wonderfully mad words from some of the mad ones that color our world. Here's who you may or may not have read since our last meeting...

Roderick Richardson · Ra! Gabriel · Justin Hyde · Joseph Goosey · David Kowalczyk · Shellie Lobis · Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal · Johnny Olson · Glen Still · Moctezuma Johnson · W Alt Burns · Michael Lee Johnson · Sean Bowen · Nicole Lilly · Joseph Veronneau

Santa says tear here to open the poetic presents here...

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On the 3rd day of madness Mad Swirl gave to me...
...new work in the Mad Gal-ler-y!

Welcome to the Mad Gallery...this place where we hang by the chimney with care the many sides of art and mad cheer!

From the furthest reaches of this mad mad world we have gathered together and featured just a few of the most maddest painters, sculptors, photographers & illustrators that we could and swirled them all together here. Come by and visit the gallery and watch as it continues revolving round and round...

Currently, in the Mad Gallery Showcase we have hung the latest additions from Andrew David King and Lia Mildwater.

Behold the artistic presense presents here...

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Every 1st Wednesday Mad Swirl Gives to Me...
...Open Mic Festivities!

As 2008 begins it's mad unraveling, Mad Swirl will continue to swirl collective creative chaos and madness and at Absinthe Lounge on 1st Wednesdays Open Mic.

Come go mad with host Johnny O and the monthly Mad Swirling showing of beat-utifully mad poets, musicians, actors, singers and miscellaneous mad ones as we try to make 2008 one to remember!

Make your list and mark your calendars now...


01.02.08 · 02.06.08 · 03.05.08 · 04.02.08 · 05.07.08 · 06.04.08 · 07.02.08 · 08.06.08 · 09.03.08 · 10.01.08 · 11.05.08 · 12.03.08


Interested in performing? If you are a poet, musician, actor, singer and/or performer and live in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area then come-n-preach-it!

Come one. Come all. Come to participate. Come to appreciate. Come to support your fellow mad ones.

And please, by all means, FEEL FREE TO SPREAD THE MAD WORD!

Absinthe Lounge · 1409 S Lamar St · Dallas, 75215

Santa says click here for more information...

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Thanks to Santa for sharing his mad gifts with us, even though he knew all about our naughities and nicities in 2007!

We hope that 2008 brings more and more swirling madness from the mad ones that color our world.

See you in the web, on the page and up on the stage in 2008! And a Happy New Mad Swirling Year!

Just a Taste of the Mad Swirl Poetry Forum

Welcome to the Mad Swirl poetry forum. We have collected poetry from the maddest poets from the maddest corners of the world and have showcased them here in the forum just for you. This page is in flux, living and breathing, evolving and changing constantly...so please come and come often for the latest submissions.

Click here to visit the Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum. If you would like to submit poetry for the forum please see our submissions page located here.

YOUNG AGAIN

Sweetie, I had a hysterectomy.
I haven't been laid in six years.
Why don't you come over and make
an old woman feel young again?

I can't get pregnant anymore.
But if you still need protection
I have a gun in my drawer, which
I used to murder a lame lover.

But I'm certain I won't have to use
it on you. I have a good feeling
about you. I need to feel young
again. Sweetie, I'm here if you want.

- luis cuauhtemoc berriozabal

Sidewalk Silence

These cracks on the sidewalk
have a tale to be told
from many years ago
back in it's primmest day
when it was freshly laid and paved

so fresh and free of daily debris
that now stuffs it's clefts
so pristine, so untouched, so clean
only the crafters caring touch
laid hands upon skin

but the yellow tape was removed
and the posts were lifted
and so began it's slow deterioration

cold and heat days, snow and sleet days
not to mention the years of tears
that fell from the sky
puddles came and puddles dried

walked upon, used and abused
until finally a thin crack formed
and it's face broke off in places
and it became old and worn
more of an eye sore
then a concrete floor

crushed up butts and angry weeds
now fill in its cavernous seams
and it's wasting away
in unkempt decay

it's story untold
never the chance to say its say
cracked and silent til it's final days

- johnny olson

we wrote a life

we wrote this life
sometimes
from fragments of memory,
like shattered cancers,
susceptibility
to the daily enframing
of nothingness in sky sublime
as death above us,
woofing Eden thus, doggy
days that repeated,
meanings stolid
as this, Picts once lay peat
depicting history as misery
the stumbling structure
erected trembling as love;
and i am cold
gloveless in the boiling snow
that shows us the intermission
mittened like children
and how knows where the warmth goes
it goes where all the time goes
after the gods,
to entropy and absence
where they reflect their proud nonentity,
re-membering me this dismembering
to several singularities
and the drugs that loved us
enough
the junk cold in the gelid blood,
the good ice
and the meaningless meaning of life

- david mclean

Contrast

As I sit here tonight
contemplating
the differences between
life and death
the cold wraps it arms
around me
dissipating what little warmth
was left
into a fantasy

The whitewashed walls
of the church
across from the hall
against this black sky
define my boundaries
in an attempt
to keep me
from going back inside
my warmth reappearing
greeting me with open arms

Cigarette smoke defines this scene
that I have separated myself from
the party continues
the dance goes on
set to the throbbing bass
that is this generation's
heartbeat
reds and greens and blues
our electric artificial
rainbow
illuminating through dirty unwashed windows high above
the vacant lot
outside the hall
filled with the parishioners
who two hours ago sat in the simple church
now a stone-cold tomb
reflecting in the light
of the dance floor
across the way from me
sending a shard of the rainbow
through the stained glass
flashing across the altar
for half a second
now wading in darkness
as if the light was no more
than a temporary and tempting miracle

They had finished
with their solemnities
hours ago
and now dance
as close as they can to each other
drenched in their own
sweat
slowly becoming the sparkle
of the strobe
as parking lot lights
disintegrate into darkness instantly
giving up after so many years
of shining through
the blackness
on their own
for no one
nothing

Shaking the ground
the heartbeat speeds up
as if anxious
to be saved
delivered into the heaven
they had prayed for not so long ago
as the lights flick back on
not dead
just sleeping

And they all dance
not far from their
pledge to the right path
the church
dark and silent now
in awe of the shattering sounds
and flashing lights
that color its white walls in the blackness
the difference between holiness and licentiousness
between happiness and avarice
life and death
and suddenly the human need
for contrast
becomes so apparent
as the horizon too
fades into black

- andrew david king

in the waiting area while my oil is changed

any friendship
without christ
is stifling,

the hook-nosed woman
with a bible in her
lap
says to her
daughter.

god is mind-scramble
for tapioca
brains,
i think
to myself.

marriage too
for that
matter

hell

the mere act
of participating
in this diminishing
farce
on a daily basis
requires
self-lobotomy

and

pulling
the punch
on our murder
impulse day
after day

it becomes
very
clear

any play
short of suicide
is

fixed.

- justin hyde

Deconstructing Pettiness

When they knock you down
And step on you
Say those things that demean
And deflate
Do those things that undermine
Upset your self-confidence
Whack a hole in your sails

You think of them
With skin peeled back
To expose a puny brain
An undersized heart
Yeah, when they're exposed
Their duplicity and arrogance
Will be made plain to all

That's the way it should be
Make them see themselves
Maybe then they'll learn

Yeah
It never works that way
They step on us, from me to you
To higher planes
Near the top
Making their plans
That don't include us
Behind and forgotten

Aw, shit!
This is maudlin
And morose

I see the same thing
In my mirror sometimes

'Til I walk around a bit
In everyone else's shoes
Listen to their stories

Damn!
Even those assholes have their fears

- m. h. clay