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.
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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...
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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
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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
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1 comment:
Michael Lee Johnson, Author of:
The Lost American: From Exile to Freedom
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-46091-7
Email: poetryman@walla.com
Or: promomanusa@gmail.com
BOOK REVIEW
The Lost American: From Exile to Freedom
Book Review: By Carol A. Marcus
The Lost American: From Exile to Freedom, by raising star, Michael Lee Johnson, poet and freelance writer, is about one man's journey into exile to Canada over the Vietnam War many years ago, his struggle, his survival, his road to recovery and strength manifesting itself through his prose, poems, and personal convictions. Mr. Michael Lee Johnson now lives in Illinois, United States. We feel sure you will delight in his work. Michael is a poet, painting his words with a tender and gentle touch, allowing them to create a broad landscape with just a few deceptively simple strokes. Take a short flight into freedom and read the adventures of an unusual life, touching the moments many with an average eye simply miss. Whether it be the agony of self-imposed exile for a cause; or a tender moment with lights flickering in the dark, the emotions come through. Here are two sample poems:
Skinny Indiana Boy
With a heart once as big as Texas
or Alberta where he came from,
the draft resister tries to erase
the memory of his sordid past;
coming out of the Rockies,
down over the slate, out of self-imposed exile,
he leaves the northland shaking
his bandaged fists at the prairie sky.
He was robbed of his own conviction
by a war that ended, others forgot,
there was nothing left to die for, to wait for,
no more protest signs to carry in the dark -
only the chill of the northern winter left
to remind him of what he once felt,
once talked about.
The night looked long in his deep green eyes
robbing his faint life away.
The scream of loneliness has turned
his innards inside out to pity.
Non-religious accept for those
weakened moments, empty nights,
vacant lots, he leaves behind lightless
ten years of those silent wars
without refuge.
He no longer speaks with bullets bleeding
from his mouth, he no longer searches
the quiet whispers that echo in the pines.
Now he is at home near the land of Indiana lakes
where in his childhood he created the vision for his
now dead dream, content to say nothing radical anymore-
just glad to be alive.
-1981-
Flight of the Eagle
From the dawn, dusty skies
comes the time when
the eagle flies-
without thought,
without aid of wind,
like a kite detached without string,
the eagle in flight leaves no traces,
no trails, no roadways-
never a feather drops
out of the sky.
-1981-
In the first poem, Skinny Indiana Boy one can feel the pent up emotions, the longing for home, for roots, the desire to be free on one’s own terms again. One can feel the conflict between being alone, the search for God, the anger, the desire to find peace within a self.
In the second poem, Flight of the Eagle one senses imagination, freedom, the desire to be free on the wind, tortured no more, left alone to survive. Here a degree of mysticism prevails, a depth of intestacy, a genius wording of simplicity, a cover from the dark. This little piece is a true reflection of the inward tenacity of the authors will, a testimony one can trust.
On the weak side, a few early love poems reflecting the time of the author’s youth invade the book; but, ironically, through their simplicity, and acceptance of what they are, actually functions in a strange kind of way.
The interview at the end of the book helps to personalize the author with the events of his life, Vietnam, the struggle and glory inbetween. A gap is missing with the flow of events from the beginning to the end only documented by the date the poems were written.
Overall, for a first book of poetry, this is a rising star in the world of Illinois poetry. Michael Lee Johnson is force to be reckoned with, a spirit that yells to be heard. Search the internet, you will find his voice everywhere.
Book Review by: Carol A. Marcus, Independent Writer and Book Reviewer, Editor
writerillinois@yahoo.com
Author Biography:
Mr. Michael Lee Johnson lives in Chicago, Illinois area, after spending 10 years in Edmonton, Alberta Canada during the Viet Nam era. He is a freelance writer and poet. He is heavy influenced by Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Irving Layton, and Leonard Cohen. To date he has over 365 poems published in over 135 journals and online publications. He is a member of Poets & Writers, Inc and Directory of American Poets and Fictions Writers: http://www.pw.org/directory/. He is a member of The Illinois Authors Directory. Illinois Center for the Book: http://www.illinoiscenterforthebook.org/directory.html. He has been published in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Turkey, Scotland, Australia, Nigeria, India, and the United Kingdom. His website can be found at: http://poetryman.mysite.com/.
Now Listed at iUniverse Publishers:
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-46091-7 The ISBN # is: 0-595-46091-7.
EBook also available at iUniverse at: http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-90391-6 The ISBN # IS: 0-595-90391-6
Now Listed at Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-0303976-5247968?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=The+Lost+American%3A++From+Exile+to+Freedom
Now Listed at Target Bookstores:
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=8-1/qid=1187989259/ref=sr_8_1/601-9440902-3916960?ie=UTF8&asin=0595460917
Now Listed at Barnes & Noble
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=The+Lost+American%3A++From+Exile+to+Freedom&z=y&bnit=H&bnrefer=ISLL&cds2Pid=9481
Now Listed at Lulu.com
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