"One and One: The Obscene Gravity of [the] Pear" - A Poem Curated By Joseph A. W. Quintela

One and One: The Obscene Gravity of [the] Pear A Poem Curated by Joseph A. W. Quintela   It is fascinating how photographs capture selves that we want [or don’t want] in certain moments.      -Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Mule & Pear (approximation, extracted from reading comment)   I have a habit that a lot of my heroes are dead.      -Paulie Lipman, The Obscene Gravity of Silence (approximation, extracted from reading comment)

When I tell

where the blood is, my

too-often, bull-mouth,

word-fracturing,

hissing, breeze-through-the-girl,

barbed teeth

coil. Part his lips,

thick as autumn vines, to grin flint at me

like a spike. Keep light out. And I must take

my own hand, all willow wispy,

as if it were a stave, but nowhere as strong,

brokenly bleating, Let the light through.

A thousand-throated neighbors

call beneath me

(nobody listen),

call me to say,

The men have left, except for the reporters,

the women like it here,

piled like a beige heap of trees,

to be ironed & mended. Cold shadow

of 3 fathers, all mothers have left,

but in their shadow

let me be the chandelier.

Family: where your body,

in its cradle, shared a name with

me. And

there is far more blood between us, if I'm answering

you. He

was soil and light in my lungs

where screams fired me back to nothing.

Truly, I wear golden lamps,

after midight raised me;

shaped us into lips of light opening

for his divine imagination

(& we would plague

again). The things

I have lived hold me now.

I am no more. Life,

a frament. And wish.

His sense of purpose. The clouds behind me.

The last body expands,

indifferent as the first luminous stain.

All I wanted was to tell him,

You, the others, Mr. President,

you, and the rest of your kind: be near me.

Us: where the blood tipped on the brink

learned beauty.

I was blood at their feet.

Stir the leaves & tell me

where the blood is going. Ancient,

bull-bellied clouds (slow death).

Our hips bleed

into surrender. Girl & woman:

so barbed.

Coil at the very root.

Thick as autumn vines, the barest glimpse

of my--(keep the light out!)--

own hand. I am 60 years old.

The forest, as if it were a stave of notes

grown crooked, brokenly bleating

in the shadow of a thousand-throated

third. A preserved hummingbird.

Listen to us: The tourists

weakened branches say to

whither and return to dirt. The men have left,

the women (I am not a murderer!) have

been piled. I've only ever loved.

I am a parolee, to be ironed and mended.

I have left you.

I am no one's daughter.      Blood

(Our)                                                   drips from the chandelier

 

[Joseph A. W. Quintela's Note: The poem presented here is a composite (or mash-up) of The Two Elizas by Rachel Eliza Griffith and Squeaky by Paulie Lipman. The title is a composite of the titles of their most recent collections. The two poets performed together on 8 September, 2011 as featured poets at Michael Geffner’s Inspired Word hosted at One and One in New York City. Poems used with the permission of the poets.]

 

Pics - Poet Willie Perdomo @ The Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event

Poet Willie Perdomo @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC spoken word poetry event
Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010
One and One (Nexus Lounge)
Manhattan, New York City

Photos By: Jose A. Arias

Pics - Poet Patricia Smith @ The Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event

Poet Patricia Smith @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC spoken word poetry event
Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010
One and One Bar & Restaurant
Manhattan, New York City

Photos By: Jose A. Arias

Video - Lemon Andersen @ The Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event/Part 2

HBO Def Poetry superstar Lemon Andersen dazzles @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC spoken word poetry event/Part 2
Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010
One and One Bar/Restaurant
Manhattan, New York City

For more info on Lemon, visit http://lemonshood.com/

Videographer: Richard Adrion (www.evprosonline.com)

See more videos on YouTube.com/NYCInspiredWord

Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Tweets: http://twitter.com/InspiredWordNYC

Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/InspiredWordNYC/

Find us also on Facebook too: http://bit.ly/SBMhs

New Video! Jason Schneiderman @ The Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event

Poet Jason Schneiderman @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC poetry/spoken word event
Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010
One and One Bar & Restaurant
Manhattan, New York City

Videographer: Elaine Delehant (bonobofilms.com)

For more info on Jason, visit http://www.jasonschneiderman.net/

See more videos on YouTube.com/NYCInspiredWord

New Pics! Lemon Andersen @ The Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event

Poet/Spoken Word Artist and HBO Def Poetry superstar Lemon Andersen @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC spoken word poetry event
Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010
One and One Bar & Restaurant
Manhattan, New York City

Photos By: Peter Woloszyn

New Video! NYC Poet/Spoken Word Artist Luis Bernard @ The Inspired Word

Poet/Spoken Word Artist/Activist/Teacher Luis Bernard @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC spoken word poetry event
Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010
One and One Bar & Restaurant
Manhattan, New York City

Videographer: Elaine Delehant (bonobofilms.com)

Poets Patricia Smith & Willie Perdomo Headline The Inspired Word - Sept. 30!

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC poetry/spoken word event featuring Willie Perdomo and Patricia Smith + a 6-slot open mic (open not only to poets and spoken word artists but fiction/nonfiction writers, comedians, monologists, singers, and musicians).

When: Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010

Where: One and One Bar & Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Time: 7:30pm

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

Willie Perdomo is the author Where a Nickel Costs a Dime and Smoking Lovely, which received a PEN America Beyond Margins Award. He has also been published in The New York Times Magazine, Bomb, Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, OCHO, and African Voices. He has been a Pushcart Prize nominee, a Woolrich Fellow in Creative Writing at Columbia University and is a 2009 fellow in Poetry from the New York Foundation for the Arts. He is co-founder/publisher of Cypher Books. www.willieperdomo.com



Patricia Smith is the author of five books of poetry, including "Blood Dazzler," a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award, and "Teahouse of the Almighty," a National Poetry Series selection. Her work has appeared in Poetry, The Paris Review, TriQuarterly and many other journals, and she has been performed around the world, including Carnegie Hall and Rotterdam’s Poetry International. She is a Pushcart Prize winner and a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam, the most successful poet in the competition’s history. A professor at the City University of New York/College of Staten Island, she is also on the faculty of both Cave Canem and the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine.



*****

Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry on Twitter: http://twitter.com/InspiredWordNYC
Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/NYCInspiredWord
Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Meetup Group: http://www.meetup.com/InspiredWordNYC/

Lemon Andersen @ The Inspired Word NYC Sopken Word Poetry Event

HBO Def Poetry superstar Lemon Andersen dazzles @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC spoken word event
Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010
One and One Bar/Restaurant
Manhattan, NYC.

For more info on Lemon, visit http://lemonshood.com/

Videographer: Richard Adrion (www.evprosonline.com)

See more videos on YouTube.com/NYCInspiredWord

Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Tweets: http://twitter.com/InspiredWordNYC

Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/InspiredWordNYC/

Find us also on Facebook too: http://bit.ly/SBMhs

Caridad De La Luz ("La Bruja") @ The Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event

Caridad De La Luz ("La Bruja") @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event
One and One Bar & Restaurant
Manhattan, New York City

http://twitter.com/InspiredWordNYC
http://www.youtube.com/user/NYCInspiredWord
http://www.meetup.com/InspiredWordNYC

Lemon Andersen Headlines @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word!

Video - Jamaal St. John @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event

Poet/Spoken Word Artist Jamaal St. John @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word poetry/spoken word event
Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010
One and One Bar & Restaurant
Manhattan, New York City

Videographer: Elaine Delehant ((bonobofilms.com)

Vid - Tahani Salah @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event

Poet/Spoken Word Artist Tahani Salah @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word poetry/spoken word event
Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010
One and One Bar & Restaurant
Manhattan, New York City

Videographer: Elaine Delehant (bonobofilms.com)

Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event - Thursday, Sept. 16!

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word poetry/spoken word event, featuring poets/spoken word/performance artists Luis Bernard, Jason Schneiderman, the Three GoD/Desses + 10-slot open mic.

When: Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010

Where: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

Bios:

Born in Spanish Harlem and, as he puts it, "raised in Activism." Luis Bernard is a Residential Mentor and Director of Workshops for the performance poetry group The Babble{0}nianz, which addresses community issues. He created a youth outreach organization called “The In Progress Group," has been a staunch advocate for citywide educational support for the physically challenged, and taught poetry, creative writing, public speaking and has coached participants for the ACT-SO (Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics) Regional competitions as well as being a committee member. He's been a featured poet at “Soul Food @ Bookies” in Portland Oregon, appeared in “DuEwa M. Frazier’s “Bringing in the New: Poems for the City” at the Nuyorican Poets Café, Vibe Theory in both Manhattan and Brooklyn. He currently lives in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.

Jason Schneiderman is the author of Sublimation Point, a Stahlecker Selection from Four Way Books, and Striking Surface, winner of the 2009 Richard Snyder Prize from Ashland Poetry Press. His poetry and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including American Poetry Review, The Best American Poetry, Poetry London, Grand Street, The Penguin Book of the Sonnet, Story Quarterly, and Tin House. He has received fellowships from Yaddo, The Fine Arts Work Center, and The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. He was the recipient of the Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America in 2004. A graduate of the MFA program at NYU, he is currently completing his doctorate at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

"A Night Of Three GoD/Desses" Presents: Land of Milk, Honey and Rose" featuring MilDred "Dred" Gerestant, Tantra-zawadi and Sokhna Heathyre Mabin in an evening of music, dance/movement, poetry, and gender expression. MilDred Gerestant's work is about BEing FREE to be yourSELF without worrying about if society will accept you or not. Tantra-zawadi describes her work as "the love that I make through my art to the vision of the unseen reality." Soulful and sublime, her poetry explores love in all its forms. Tantra's latest book "Gathered at Her Sky" is available at Lulu and Amazon.com. Sokhna Heathyre Mabin creates from self-reflected observations of longing to be one with nature. A self taught artist, she has performed on stages, beaches, in caves and in sacred gardens all around the world. For more information about the God/desses or to have "A Night of Three God/desses" perform at your event, please contact Mildred Gerestant at www.dredlove.com.

*****

Inspired Blog: http://inspiredwordnyc.blogspot.com/
Inspired Twitter: http://twitter.com/InspiredWordNYC
Inspired YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/NYCInspiredWord
Inspired Meetup Group: http://www.meetup.com/InspiredWordNYC/

New Vid! lushTongue @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event

lushTongue (the sensuous singing duo of Onome and Margaret Moon) @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, Aug. 26 , 2010, One and One Bar & Restaurant, Manhattan, NYC.

The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new poetry/spoken word series, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner and hosted by Erik "Advocate of Wordz" Maldonado.

Videographer: Elaine Delehant (bonobofilms.com)

New Vid! Poet Jee Leong Koh @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event

Poet Jee Leong Koh @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC poetry/spoken word event, Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010, One and One Bar & Restaurant, Manhattan, NYC.

Videographer: Elaine Delehant (bonobofilms.com)

New Vid! Caroline Rothstein @ The Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event

Videographer: Elaine Delehant

Poet/Spoken Word Artist Caroline Rothstein @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC poetry/spoken word event
Thursday, Aug. 19,2010
One and One Bar & Restaurant
Manhattan, New York City

New Vid! Tongo @ The Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event

Videographer: Elaine Delehant

Poet/Spoken Word Artist Tongo Eisen Martin @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC poetry/spoken word event
Thursday, Aug. 19,2010
One and One Bar & Restaurant
Manhattan, New York City

Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event/Thursday, Sept. 2 - Molly Kat, Jamaal St.John, Tahani Salah, Justin Vinokur + open mic

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word poetry/spoken word event, featuring Molly Kat, Jamaal St.John, Tahani Salah, Justin Vinokur + 10-slot open mic.

When: Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010

Where: One and One Bar & Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

Molly Kat has a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from Binghamton University where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. She attended an international honors poetry program at Cambridge University in England and has had work published in Ragazine, ETC, Pedestal Magazine, The Fib Review, Omega Magazine, Muzzle Magazine, Howling Dog Press, and Muse Pie Press. Molly started the Binghamton University Slam team and recently became a slam master of the PSI certified venue she started in Binghamton. She competed in the Women of the World Poetry slam in Columbus, Ohio as a storm poet. She also started, publishes, produces, and edits a literary publication called “Linus” that has published poets from around the globe. Molly has shared the stage with Ainsely Burrows, John Survivor Blake, Caits Meissner, Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, Shanelle Gabriel, Tantra Zawadi, Bonafide Rojas, Erik Words Maldonado, Tara Hardy, Tristan Silverman, and many other talented poets.



Jamaal St.John is a 34 year old poet who hails from New Rochelle NY. He is a 6 time Grand Slam Finalist for the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe. He is the 2008 Grand Slam Champion for The Nuyorican and is currently a member of The Nuyorican National Slam Team that just placed second in the nation during The National Poetry Slam held in St.Paul, MN. He is a 5 time winner of the Toronto International Poetry Slam and has performed all over the United States and Canada. He currently resides in West Orange, NJ with his wife of 8 years, Nile. He is also a member of a theatre ensemble known as The Male Ego who have performed extensively across the US. He has 3 CD's to his credit: Enterlightenment,Won't Catch Me Runnin', and Southpaw Stance.



Tahani Salah is a dynamic performer, poet and activist from Brooklyn. She’s a member of the 2007 Nuyorican National Slam Team and a graduate of Columbia University. She has a wide variety of work experience from the United Nations to non-profits like Urban Word NYC, Family International Support Team, and the AAFSC. She has been with Urban Word NYC for the last 8 years and is now the Youth Outreach Coordinator and has a place on the Urban Word Youth Board(word wide). Tahani is a 2006 Urban Word NYC Slam Team Member. She is also working on her collection of poetry available this winter titled *Respect the Mic*. Tahani has performed on a number of world famous stages from the Apollo Theater in NYC to universities in South Africa and Munich. Shehas appeared on the HBO series Def Poetry Jam. As a Muslim Palestinian-American woman, Tahani is committed to bringing light and solutions to problems faced by people from communities and experiences whose voices are silenced.



Justin Vinokur's poetry has been described as being repeatedly punched in the face. He has a degree in English and Creative Writing from Binghamton University, where he started Binghamton's only Artistic Development Group called "Breeding Grounds". Breeding Grounds is an environment aimed at fostering creativity between club members through the exchange of ideas, thoughts, and artistic works. Justin is a two time Binghamton Slam Team member, and was this year's Grand Slam Champion. He Co-hosts the Belmar open mic and poetry slam series with Molly Kat. Justin creates all the beats he uses for his tracks and is an expert on sound and intricate rhyme schemes. Some of his biggest influences are Pharaohe Monch, Tonedeff, John Coltrane, and Nat Turner.

Mike Geffner's The Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event/Thursday, Aug. 26 - Jee Leong Koh, Elliott D. Smith, lushTongue + open mic

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word poetry/spoken word event in Manhattan, New York City, featuring Jee Leong Koh, lushTongue, Elliott D. Smith + 10-slot open mic.

When: Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010

Where: One and One Bar & Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

Jee Leong Koh is the author of two books of poems "Payday Loans" and "Equal to the Earth" (Bench Press). Born in Singapore, he lives in New York City, and blogs at Song of a Reformed Headhunter (http://jeeleong.blogspot.com/).



lushTongue is a duo of beautiful, sensual, poetic, dynamic, harmonious evolution of consciousness through song. Onome is a writer, vocalist and revelationary who inspires through unconventional beauty in unexpected places. Margaret Moon performs to co-create a society rooted in compassion, respect and love for one another and the earth that sustains us.



Elliott D. Smith, the artist formerly known as Start, lived the first eighteen years of his life in the same house in Louisville, Kentucky. Since then, he has lived in ten places in Oxford, Cincinnati, and Yellow Springs, Ohio, as well as four in Brooklyn, New York. He believes in the power of tattoos and reference books. With a degree in psychology, Elliott conducts research on masculinity, friendships, and identity formation. His writing tackles issues of gender, sexuality, and family, and is greatly influenced by the people, places, and theories he loves.