What's Going on in Mad Swirl’s Poetry Forum? (11.21.07)

More then you can shake a stick at, that's what..!

We have collected poetry from the maddest poets from the maddest corners of this mad mad world and have showcased the latest Mad Ones in the Poetry Forum just for you. Currently the forum's gots lots of words from: David Kowalczyk, Ra! Gabriel, Joseph Goosey, Michael Lee Johnson, Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal & Ryan Dilbert...

My Dream Is Turquoise Marzipan

I am living at the San Diego Zoo
in a cage filled with crack vials,
banana peels, and expired bus passes.

I alternate covering my eyes,
my mouth, my ears,
while geriatric Republicans from
Tucson toss peanuts at me.

They are wise.
They feel the magic.
They know that I know
what I know, that I am
who I am because
I understand the serpent.

- david kowalczyk

Subway goes

he runs to catch the train
that doesn't stop
time is internal, spiraling now
a girl he's been practicing imagining
waits for him at some improbable stop
still unbuilt: a mere proposal on a drawing
board in some workroom
will blast through cheap restaurants and
Laundromats; will attract new
buildings and they will dine on Tofu
soup and cold, chewy noodles

- ra! gabriel

I TAKE A SEAT NEXT TO YOU

Are you hungry?
Do you want some lunch?
Will you be hungry on Saturday
around 7pm?
How was Corpus Cristi?
How is the aquarium?
Do you enjoy trumpets?
Trombones?
French horns?
French poetry?
French fiction?
Tennis? Bowling?
Do you savor dishes of fish
and rice?

Write the answer
to the aforementioned down
on a post-it, in H10 pencil,
and leave it for me
on the windshield of my
dirty dirty car.

- joseph goosey

Poem From My Grave

Don't bring the rosary beads
it's too damn late for doing repetitions.
Eucharist, I can handle the crackers and wine;
I love the Lord just like you.
Catholicism circles itself with rituals--
ground hogs and squirrels dancing with rosary beads,
naked in the sun and the night, eating the pearls
and feeling comfortable about it.
Rituals and rosary beads are indigestible
even the butterflies go coughing in the farmer's cornfields..
Cardinal George, Chicago, would choke on the damn things;
some of his priest would have thought it a gay orgasm or piece
remote found in scripture from Sodam & Gamora.
But my bones in ginger dust lie near a farm in DeKalb, Illinois
where sunset meshes corn with a yellow gold glow like rich teeth.
My tent is with friends there we said prayers privately like silent
moonlight. Farmers touch the face of God each morning after just
one cup of Folgers coffee Columbian blend,
or pancakes made with water and batter, sparse on the sugar.
Sometimes I would urinate on the yellow edge of flowers,
near the tent, late at night, before the hayride, speak
to the earth and birds like gods.
Never did I pull the rosary beads from my pocket.
It's too late, damn it, for rosary beads and repetitions.

- michael lee johnson

GIVE ME A CHANCE

It’s a mistake.
I’m not supposed
to be in here.

I didn’t do
anything wrong.
I forgot to

take my mind pills.
Without them I
get so confused.

I’m better now.
You can see that.
Why can’t I be

let go? I could
be more careful.
Give me a chance.

Whatever I
did to that poor
homeless woman

I won’t ever
do again? I
only took her

cart. She fell all
by herself. At
least she didn’t

break her hip. I
never laid a
hand on her. I’m

going back to
the place she lives
and apologize.

I will bring her
coffee, donuts,
and some spare change.

- luis cuauhtemoc berriozabal

Two-faced motherfucker

I first saw her in Starbucks black,
slim, maroon boxes around her squinty eyes.
Her face was bared to me in installments
all the grains of sugar and dust
placed into the lines of my palm

I am a two-faced motherfucker
and there is no way she could have known that
The first face I showed her
was the sweet and loyal boyfriend
the babysitter
who stockpiled friends

The next face I gave her
in the bedroom
the door closed
the girlfriend forgotten
for a few sultry moments
I left without saying goodbye

When I returned I was older, more mature, more jaded
The first face I showed her was passionate,
one she could hold in her clammy hands
that she could use to wipe up spilled soda
that called her
that tried to prove that the past wasn't a fluke

The other face was turned away
turned inward
uncaring like I thought she was
she saw that one fading off into the distance
becoming a dot
I left without leaving
and no good-bye

We met again and kept our friendship a clothesless one
The face I showed her in the dark
was erect and dripped into her cupped hands
it was a face of fire
kept warm inside a blanket

The second face I didn't show
it was indifferent,
unsure of if it was smiling or cringing
it was a icy face, rotting from the inside
full of insensitive maggots
it is one that I hate
that I try to cut off at night
with sharpened tears
I don't want to leave
I don't want to say goodbye

But she's seen the second face
and recoiled
She doesn't love the first face
But wouldn't mind being warmed by its flickering light
The other one bites into her back
and is only sorry
when it is too late

- ryan dilbert

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.

war, what is it good for?

absolutely nothing. mad swirl's johnny o and merlin the magical one have been keeping track of the casualties in iraq and have updated their flash piece "fighting", in honor of our all war veterans. semper fidelis.

view "fighting" here

Celebrate MadSwirlOpenMicNight's 3rd Birthday on 11/07.07!

One and a Two...
Happy Birthday to MadSwirlOpenMicNight...
Happy Birthday to MadSwirlOpenMicNight...
Happy 3rd Birthday dear MadSwirlOpenMicNight...

Wow, three whole years. We remember it like it was just yesterday. The SpongeBob SquarePants movie was beating Polar Express at the box office that year. Also that year Usher, Norah Jones and Kenny Chesney were topping the crap charts. President-wanna-be Bush had just stole another election from under our noses and Mad Swirl was invited to host an open mic at the brand new Absinthe Lounge. Our first ad was posted in Mad Swirl's Issue IV:

"We heard there was going to be an OPEN MIC night at Absinthe Lounge, located in the South Side on Lamar Lofts.

They asked us here at Mad Swirl if we'd like to participate. Participate? OPEN MIC?! We don't know anything about electronics, let alone microphones!

So we're calling all poets, musicians, actors, singers, performers and any other folks (circus freaks & Tenacious D rip-offs always welcome) in the local Dallas-Ft. Worth area to help us open this mic up. Come to perform, come to appreciate, come to support your local artists.

For more information go to www.madswirl.com
Learn more about Absinthe Lounge at www.absinthelounge.net

Come by and help us figure out this whole open mic business."

And you did.

Come by on November 7 to celebrate our creative love-child's special day!

Our beloved Swirve will open up this poetic birthday bash 'round 8:00. Johnny O (celebrating his 37th anniversary on Earth) and guest hosts Lisa Ohhh and Chris Zimmerly will be waking the mic up 'round 8:30-ish. The mic closes when the last candle flickers out.

And please, by all means, FEEL FREE TO SPREAD THE MAD WORD! Forward this to any and all Mad Ones you know.

Happy 3rd Birthday to yooouuu! (and many mooore!)

MAD News from the Eye of the Swirl

MAD News from the Eye of the Swirl

Mad Swirl greetings to YOU,

The MAD Swirl God has moved ME to share with YOU this powerful MAD MESSAGE.

As I was catnapping early in the WEE hours of the afternoon, I was awakened by a strange & POWERFUL sense. I felt shaking in my Bones, Dear brethren, & KNEW deep within MY heart & soul that this was the ONE, the only, the MAD Swirl God stirring me from SLUMBER. As I awoke, I SLID to my knees in a humble & receptive prayer....

"Yes, MAD Swirl" I whispered, wiping sleep from mine MAD eyes.

"My child," The Swirl spoke. "You have done MAD things in my name. You printed MAD Zines. You WOVEN a MAD web in the Wide World of the Web. You have Swirled the MADness WHEREever you can. It is time for more MAD work."

"Just tell me MAD Swirl, What will you have me to do?" I pleaded.

"My child," Lord Swirl spoketh. "You must spread the MADNESS to the MASSES. You must beseech ALL the MAD ONES and the 'AWWW'-ers to open their WEB browsers once more. This time, ye shall tell them to give of their eyes and ears and mouse CLICKS to the MANY MAD poems, paintings, stories, photos and OFFER their sacrificial LOVE offerings to the ministry of the MAD Swirl"

So Brothers and Sisters, I ask you this DAY, I mean Lord Swirl asks you this day, to FALL on your knees and Listen to the dear Lord Swirl and VISIT MAD Swirl dot com!...and Whatever Lord Swirl TELLS you, you mustn't question. Do not, I repeat, do not let the LYING DEVIL try to tell you otherwise. Lord
Swirl is VERY serious about this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Readeth thy MAD Words...and BE Saved!

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 scratcheth.


Here's a glimpse at one of our latest additions by Stephanie Timko...

"Island"

The word was 'island'.

I think the book was about butterflies. It stunned me, as I hovered over the word, not quite certain what it was. 'I. 'S'. I'd never seen anything like it. 'I' and 's' together were 'is'. That was easy. But what was that 'laaaaaaa' thing tacked onto the end? There was an ice cream shop downtown named Isley's.
Isley's had an 'I' and an 'S' in it but, that was the extent of my ability to
associate the word.

Readeth the resteth hereth...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Speaketh with Tongues on FIRE...inside MAD Swirl's Poetry Forum!

We have collected poetry from the maddest poets from the maddest corners of the world and have showcased them in the Forum just for you. The Forum is always in flux, living and breathing, evolving and changing, swirling constantly, so please come and come often for the latest submissions.

These past few months the Poetry Forum has gotten lots of 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 e-meeting...in no particular order:

Ra! Gabriel · Johnny Olson · Roderick Richardson · Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal · M M Harris · Gordon Hilgers · Justin Hyde · Misti Rainwater Lites · M H Clay · Zoe Alexandra · Nicole Lilly · Cabe Lindsay · Shawn Misener · Zachary C Bush · Ananda Selah Osel · Michael Lee Johnson · Drew Kalbach · Kenneth P Gurney · Richard Donnelly

Clicketh HERE to Read Their MAD Words

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See-eth with THINE Eyes the GLORY...of the MAD Gallery!

Welcome to the Mad Gallery...where we take the many sides of art and try our darndest to put them all in one big beautiful basket.

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 in the Mad Gallery. Come by and visit the gallery and watch as it continues revolving round and round...

In the Mad Gallery Showcase we hang the latest additions to our Mad Gallery collection, Misti Rainwater-Lites. Misti came to us from the Poetry Forum side of the Swirl. We saw her artwork on her website, eBuLLieNCe PReSs and asked that she share her madness in the Mad Gallery. She said yes and we said "Yaay!"

Take a stroll thru Misti's MAD Gallery...

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Participateth at MAD Swirl Open MIC Night!

MAD Halleluiahs to all YOU Swirling Brothers and Sisters who have been coming to be SAVED in the EYE of the Swirl at MAD Swirl Open MIC. These past THREE years worth of 1st Wednesday Open MIC Nights at Absinthe Lounge have been BEATutiful!

MAD Swirl continues to Preach it to the Mic at Absinthe Lounge on the 1st Wednesday of each month. Join Johnny O and his Special Guest hosts Lisa OHHH and Zimm at Our next Gathering in the Name of MADness on 11:07:07!

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

Come Oneth. Come Alleth. Come to Participateth. Come to Appreciateth. Come to Supporteth your fellow MAD ones.

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

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

Absinthe Lounge · 1409 S Lamar St · Dallas, 75215

Lord Swirl says Clicketh HERE for MORE info

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do YOU want to be SAVED? Then Visit MAD Swirl dot COM! The DEVIL is sly, and he will try to tell you LIES that you should not listen to. He might whisper in your ear "Don't believe this stuff! It's just a hoax to get you to Visit MAD Swirl." He might say "Don't be stupid. They are charlatans!" I say "Satan! I rebuke thee!!! Get thee Behind MAD Swirl, You Lying devil, you!!!

Halleluiahs.
Reverend Brother Elder Swirl the 7th

Reach Out and Touch MAD Swirl the electronic-mail kinda way...

crazy@madswirl.com

OR Visiteth us on the Wide World of the WWW Web at...

www.MADSwirl.com

Mad Swirl • 123 Mad Swirl Lane • Dallas • TX • 75206

Thanks to the Mad Ones Who Stepped Up on 10.03.07

ALL the Mad Ones stepped right up for Mad Swirl Open Mic Night on 10.03.07! Did you come and see the show that mesmerized and tantalized all the mad twisted minds in attendance? If not, you missed some of the maddest and baddest mo'fo's we know stepping up to the mad mic!

Mad Swirling love and thanks to those that made this last 1st Wednesday one to remember...

(in order of appearance)

Johnny O (host)
Joey Cloudy (co-host)
Jolee Cloudy
Roderick Richardson
Opalina Salas
Paul Sexton
Alexcie
Michael Clay
Christopher
Josh Weir
Max Blair
Desmene Statum
Ricardo
Kathryn Weir
John Kelley
Felix

Mad thanks to the Swirve trio, Chris, Tamitha and Gerard, for opening things up for us and keeping us movin' and groovin' til the wee hours of the night.

More mad thanks to Absinthe Lounge owner Kevin and the beautiful bartenders Kat and Shelley for keepin' us drunk and loose.

Join us again on 11.07.07 when again we dare ALL OF YOU mad poets, musicians, actors, singers, performers and all you miscellaneous mad ones in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area to come and strut yo' stuff. Come one, come all! Step right up and participate, appreciate, and support your local Mad Ones.

Mad Swirl Open Mic at Absinthe Lounge. It's THE place to be on the 1st Wednesday of the month!

For more info on stepping up to the mic go to...MadSwirl.com

For more information about Absinthe Lounge go to...AbsintheLounge.net

For more information about other open mics in the DFW area go to...DFWOpenMics.com

The Mad Gallery Showcase showcases Misti-Rainwater Lites!

This is the place where we hang the latest additions to Mad Swirl's Mad Gallery collection...

Misti Rainwater-Lites came to us from the Poetry Forum side of the Swirl. We saw her artwork on her website, eBuLLieNCe PReSs and asked that she share her madness in the mad gallery. She said yes and we said "Yaay!" Take a stroll thru Misti's gallery here

A bit about Misti (as supplied by Misti): Misti Rainwater-Lites can't draw worth shit so she scribbles with Crayolas and calls it "abstract art" and takes pictures of toys and whatever else inspires her with her cell phone and calls it "still life photography." Misti also enjoys cutting and pasting and calling it "collage." Misti's baby boy is due on November 8th. She's naming him Jackson after Jackson Pollock, not her favorite artist but she loved Ed Harris's portrayal in "Pollock."

What's Going on in Mad Swirl’s Poetry Forum? (09.23.07)

Lots and lots and lots, that's what is going on...

We have collected poetry from the maddest poets from the maddest corners of this mad mad world and have showcased the latest Mad Ones in the Poetry Forum just for you. Currently the forum's gots lots of words from: Kenneth P. Gurney, Nicole Lilly, Ananda Selah Osel, Zoe Alexandra & Justin Hyde...

More Real

Delphi wishes to translate
from muse to person,
from thought to flesh.

What novel character
wouldn’t want to write
their own lines, make
a racket, a stink, a life real
entering the field of time.

I’d like to show her
how to part the curtain
behind my eyes, but
that well worn path of light
flows in. So, somehow,
she needs to work her way
to my breath and traverse
the tumble of air
that goes both in and out.

Yes, that is it. Breath.
Like God placed into the ash
and dust. Mine into
ink and page.

- kenneth p. gurney

Retaste

A scream of woe,
That is what she called it.
Like the sound of a young girl
the first time her knees kiss the asphalt.

Innocence lost,
vanished or at least tarnished by time.

Trauma relived
with all survivors calling for control.

I set the tone
inviting it in with bleeding eyes.
Salted droplet sting my cheeks
Wide eyes with evaporated sparks

Recreation, experimentation...
I fear my desire, my taste for the darkness

- nicole lilly

Maps

regular
clean
men
with sterile
faces
are filling
universities
and
books
and
minds
who will in
turn
fill books
and minds
with the
sameness

and
as the masses
grow even more
massive

the ants continue to build up
their kingdom

the bees keep on collecting
honey

and
the wind still blows over
the ocean

and
with that in mind
maybe our
sameness
is not so bad

after all

- ananda selah osel

I Think it's the Broken Mirror(but it's really me)

And I can see that now
That you were right
When you said
Bad luck is what you make of it

Used to think that if I
Fell in love
I wouldn't be able to write anymore
Now I realize our fights
Could fill up public libraries

I am not getting any thinner
Wish for magic cures and panaceas
While you sleep and wish me
Out of your dreams
(and maybe your reality)

I know that I am going to die
The hard way
I never make anything easy
On myself
(or anyone else for that matter)

Asthmatic cough
After inhaling a box
Of cigarettes
Now I am totally broke
Without a backbone
Or a safe word
Or a safe place
Or a sure friend

Sure I have friends
But friends have their own
Insecurities and phone bills
And all my 1st grade apologies
Begin and end the same
I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry
I love you
and as I got older graduated to
I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry
I'll suck your dick
I'll lick the floor with my tongue
Nothing makes any sense
And my mother suggests I seek
Professional help
Which is not such a bad idea
But when I need a doctor
I have not a cent to my name

And I can see that now
That you were right
When you said
Bad luck is what you make of it

And I don't know how
To confront you
And I don't know
To which level you despise me

Excuse me,
on a scale of 1-10, how much
Do you hate me?

Sorry, 100 is not a valid answer.

Mostly, I fall short of your expectations
And fault myself

I could be childish and
Carve 666 into my wrist
And listen to Morrissey
And drown in bottles of Dubra
Or I could just write a poem about it

I suppose I'm too old for true angst
After 17, it becomes adult anxiety

I'm on my last cigarette and my last seven dollars
and I read somewhere that the number one source
of spousal arguments is financial
and I want to give up the ghost but I'm too scared
this ache feels like a hangnail in my mind.

- zoe alexandra


my contribution to that canon of nullity

early on
i promised myself
i'd never
write a poem
about not
being able
to write a
poem.

it seems
all the great
and even
spectacularly
forgettable
poets
have tried polishing
that turd
at least once.

all of them
struck me as
candy-ass
glorification of
defeat

but

not once
in twenty-nine years
have i
held myself
to my word

and

three days straight
there's been
no magic
beyond
seeing how high of a
meniscus
i can pee
into empty beer bottles
before they go
waterfall.

- justin hyde

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.