PSH: Poets of the Week

Bio (auto)

Ross Leese is from Doncaster in the cold North of England. He is 30 years old and tends to be more miserable than he has any real right to be.

First one of the morning

getting down that wonderful first line
sipping coffee and kicking my feet
beneath the table
like an over-giddy schoolboy.

finishing the second line
and then the third
and even the fourth

and there's more coffee
and there's bigger kicks

and it doesn't matter
that the world's on fire

or that

the oceans are swelling
and swilling.

all that matters is that
there are words on page now

and ohmygod
what a feeling

last line full stop

Joshua Meander
JMofnc@aol.com

Bio (auto)

Joshua Meander of Queens, New York is the host and publisher Nomad's Choir Poetry Journal for 20 years. He hosts an open mic on the second Saturday each month at 2 pm in basement of St. Veronica's Church. The events are group interactive like a secular gospel church catering to all ages and beliefs. His poems are dramatic and visual. He thinks reciting a poem is like being a folk singer in the sense that he recites other author's poems not just his own.

Pagan Mass

Swaying in these here aisles
I may spur on a Pagan Mass.

No time for singing praises
To jewel-bedecked icons:
Within leaves of murky trees
Minstrels swing unfailingly;
Music for a naked dance
Resounds amidst a rainstorm.

Arise to spirituals!

Can you feel Venus?
No fooling now.
Can you feel Venus?

[ Men shout }
“Sure can, and how!”

Tell me, are you on firm ground?
No fooling now.
Tell me, are you on firm ground?

{ Women shout }
“Sure makes me yowl!”

You’re next to a faithful man.

Toss a wreath to a friend.
He’ll catch a tambourine,
Rejoicing like a fountain
As his struggle with hardship
Explodes in peals of sweat.

Agony of repression
A phase of overcoming
Divided community.
Let us commune and worship
In storefronts of the downcast.
None but charlatans dispute
The joyous revelries that
Mark the people’s sweet revolt.

My tears are scorching, folks.
Can I have a witness?
{ One voice }
“I’ll testify.”
Amen!
Echo amen, folks.
“Amen!”