april = poetry

a friend of mine recently remarked that my blog was very negative and that i come off as a jaded and unhappy person. now it is true that sometimes i am jaded and unhappy, but sometimes i am a downright ball of sunshine. so, on my friend's recommendation to write about something positive i will tell you about national poetry month. i made a pretty kickass display for national poetry month in our YA section, if i do say so myself. i put out all our poetry books. i scoured the internet for good poems and printed them out on brightly colored paper. and dear blog readers, i actually saw a teen take one of the poetry books and check it out of the library! unheard of, i know. and i know you are all ripping out your hair right now, wondering what fantastic poems i displayed. so, in the spirit of poetry month i shall share one with you:


"I wanna hear a poem"
By Steve Colman

I wanna hear a poem
I wanna learn something I didn't know
I wanna say 'YES' at the end
Because I'm sick of saying 'so?'

I wanna hear a poem about who you are
and what you think
and why you slam
not a poem about my poem
because I know who I am

I wanna hear a love poem a sad poem an I hate my
dad poem
a dream poem an I'm not what I seem poem
an I need poem an I also bleed poem
an I'm alone poem an I can't find my home poem
I just wanna hear poem
I wanna hear a poem about revolution
about fists raised high
and hips twisting in a rumble
like a rumba
I wanna follow the footsteps of Che
and hear the truth about the day
the CIA killed Lumumba
And because every second matters
I wanna hear long poems and short poems
about time and its limits
because it took less than three minutes
to attack Abner Louima
to frame Assata Shakur
and to destroy Hiroshima
to kill Elanor Bumpers
and Anthony Baezto
and gun down Malcolm with bullets they bought
from the Feds

I wanna hear a poem
where ideas kiss similes so deeply
metaphors get jealous
where the subject matters so much
that adjectives start holding pro-noun rallies
at city hall
because I want to hear a poem

that attacks the status quo
that attracts the claps of the cats
with the phattest flows
that makes the crowd
pass the hat
and pack my cap
with a stack of dough
I want to hear a poem that makes this audience
Yell HOOOOO!!!!!
Because I want to guess your favourtie color
then craft rhyme schemes out of thin air
I wanna hear a poem about why the statute
of limitations for rape
is only five years
I wanna hear a poem
I wanna feel a poem
I wanna taste a poem
Give me your spot on the mic
If you wanna waste a poem
I wanna hear a poem.