Poetry Entries

[Scott Alexander]

The following are the entries to the Poetry Contest. Please (everyone) vote for your (up to) three favorite poems by emailing ssiskind@hamilton.edu. I would prefer if no one voted for themselves. Edited by: Scott Siskind  at: 11/6/03 11:22 am

[Scott Alexander]

AidenI would kiss you deep and strongTill the knees beneath you turn to watter And flow out from beneath youTill the earth spins and you stand no longer. I would lay you on a bed of silk and velvetSo you could feel what your skin is to meAnd you feel the beauty of your skin The way I feel it against my skin.I would caress your bodyWith fingers like feathersAnd a touch like the airLetting you feel every dram of my love.I would let my love seep threw your skinIntoxicating you as alcoholAnd in my arms youÂ’d know of nothing else Then IÂ’d love you as never before Edited by: Scott Siskind  at: 11/6/03 11:20 am

[Scott Alexander]

"Kill-Boy" (The young Hunter)Great fire-light falls, stone light round.all men empty, children crykill-men must go,to kill food.kill-men goto kill.big head man leads,must eye trackkill men carrysharp stone stick boy follows menwants to killkill-men goto kill.Head man eye trackthey followthey go all nightmust get foodatlast they findkill-men gokill-men goto kill.kill men go quiethead man throwssharp stone stick, flies like birdstick does not hitbig beast runskill-men goto kill. Edited by: Scott Siskind  at: 11/6/03 11:21 am

[Scott Alexander]

Life's clean edge, containing all possibilities cutshort in grim time Laugh, Drink, Talk, then forget, his time is done. Irony has the worst timing, Decapitated under twisted metal, Clinically, professionally. What was thought to bedirt ran red under water. A million miles away....... And there on the infinite plain on the edge of arazor, walking in tall grass - a lone piper. Thought without body, a livingdream for the rest of all exsistance, farther than anyone could imagine pastthe cold dark empty space where thought lives as perfection. We lamented the loss and had our time to remember, I will not forget I WILL NOT FORGET And then, when all is said, I remember all those whohave gone to that silent realm since, and those who went before. We willall meet again when days end for a different wake, and we will laugh,drink, talk and forget. When time itself is done. In the tall grass, a lone piper.

[Scott Alexander]

"Raining"Running long windows with reflected eye watching,Clinging through pavement and miles and miles,Liquid light gown smile thrown down the line,Sleeping and drinking; moonlight-drunk dreaming.Stirring from spinning and turning and shifting,Once something distant; shining but weeping.

[Scott Alexander]

“In Autumn”All I ever wanted in lifeWas an hour alone with her,In a field of fallen leavesIn Autumn,As the sun begins her rest.

[Scott Alexander]

“The Returning”Long have I gazed out into each evening,Into that broken clock-face I wrought.Waiting through moments of silence in mourning,Trying to regain those memories I brought.Know I am left here longing for thunder,Fearing that here and now’s all I still hold.Inside this still-born daydream I wander,The memories of last June, for this I have sold.But my friends, please speak with me now,For I have decided my heart on recourse.Returning to friendships I nearly had sundered,Trusting the one place where I had known love. So my friends, watch the rainfall for me,For though the rain falls, it shall always be.

[Scott Alexander]

"Elegy for Baracao"The scorching sun at zenith standsThe palms hang limp without a breezeAll white and printless stretch the sandsAll calm and waveless stretch the seasThe jungle-tangled houses takeTheir long siesta, ne'er to wakeThe pink and plaster town decaysThe storefronts and the gateways fall'Till naught remains from olden daysSave one graffito on a wallA message from a happier year:"We'll keep the red flag flying here!"The shadows and the dayflies dieAnd evening settles on the townLow in the pink and purple skyEntwined in clouds, the sun goes downThe ribbon of remaining lightFades scarlet, mauve, then pearly whiteThe five-rayed star of evening seeksIts customed place within that glowPure white, between two azure streaks;Blue sky above, blue sea belowSaying in wordless voice but clear:"We'll keep the red flag flying here!"

[Scott Alexander]

Halls of SilenceTheyÂ’re all filled with your faceThose empty corridorsAnd your semblance fillsEvery doorwayBut you wonÂ’t be backYouÂ’ve gone to His armsLeaving us, in love, perhapsBut in grief, nonethelessYour face that daySo differentI didnÂ’t want to believeBut I knewThe long cold walkThe shuddering emotionThe grim realisationThat the voice will neÂ’er be heard once moreNor the face seen to smileBecause theyÂ’re goneAnd the halls are silent.

[Scott Alexander]

Oul Room Twenny-ThreeShowdowns and ho-downsShakedowns and getdownsAnd those bloody eejits who wouldnÂ’t get outIt was one of themÂ’s roomBut they had no right to itBlastdowns and updownsTurndowns and beatdownsAnd that girl, ah the girlThe tache wasnÂ’t that noticeable reallyYouÂ’d be closing your eyes to kiss herÂ…Down down down downThe valley-oh, where the grass grows greenAnd rocks turn to sheepEveryone pairing upExcept us, of courseAh, twas fun in the end.

[Scott Alexander]

The ConfessionsTreason is a seductive lass,That much I do admit,And treachery is a petty gas,At least from where I sit.Babkha, you old desert rose,'Midst camels I was borne,But love of you I did but pose,For I ran to the Tymar horn.Sweet Akerbjorn my chil',I left you hastily in the dust,To fade away, as is the style,Sometimes a parent must!Pacary was quite the charm,But I betrayed you anyway;Of false dealings I rose alarm,I giggled when you pass'd away.Tymaria, I had no trouble,No tremble in my hand,When I tore you down to rubbleAnd put you with the damn'd.O ember, Freenesia young!I violated you with haste.Of platitudes I had sung,But I laid your laws to waste!Menelmacar I hold not low,But I've stabbed you once or twice;Defecting to hostile Baracao,A-scorching you to drive off lice.In Baracao, red to the core,For the cause I did sing.But your dialectic became a bore,Mute hammer and sickle's ring.'gainst Shireroth, bitching mare,In attacks I have engaged,But now I have so little care,So long as not caring is the rage.Treason is a seductive lass,That much I do admit,And treachery is a petty gas,At least from where I sit.

[Scott Alexander]

O, lovely America!America, now I haven't known you for too long, But I've surely seen you better.You're looking all too stretched and shaken, Your reds are pink, your bluesHave gone to white, and I can't find your whites! Mayhap that's just 'cause the starsAre shrouded by plumes, borne from oil's flames, Curling pillars rising into ashen,Pillowed clouds over Mesopotamian wastelands, And all the torches are out, too-Empty copper hands in the heavens over a harbor.O, land of pilgrim's pride and free men's ballads! I've watched your boys march off,Battalion'd on up'd with their girls all tear'd up- "Write poems and things," they said.I've watched a white, colonnaded mansion, grand Turn into a Potomac mausoleumAll full of the most political necrophiliacs and 8.5"x11" guilt laced necrologies,Which pass through corridors in manila slips.I've paled at the tidy saboteurs with law degrees Breaking into lives and libraries,Breaking down Lady Liberty to her green knees, Binding her empty, French hands.I've seen the shining seas cease to shine on 'cause Drug paraphernalia's got to go,And the mountains' purpled majesty ground away 'Cause the queers've got to go.Southern deltas, NYC slums, Kansas grain waves, Now I don't meant to be mawkish,But to me this dance is more than just some sad, And does it get to you, too&The incensed DC podium jockeys, fiery and bald Crying about women's wombs.The bleary eyed kids tripping silently and hazily With a stomach full of Ritalin.The radio virtuecrats preaching and demonizing, Flush faced and foaming at the mic.The devout pronatalists raving before school boards About the danger of rubbers.The "round 'em up", "wanted: dead or alive" bits From the DC subauditionists.The spooks and demagogues, feral and tribal Beating on bearded cabbies. Bruised and trampling, moralizing and demoralized, Dear America, excuse me, please!May I be so patriotic as to suggest a good dose of Self-recrimination, self-reflection?And if that be disgraceful and gaily unpatriotic, Then even so, even so.

[Scott Alexander]

"A Silver Pen" A silver pen dreams From all these etchings on the wall I don't know how to fill them all I can just look up to the sky and I can scream With all the voices in my head where would I be if they were dead I pull my eyes back to the ground I try to run and hide me from the sound The screeching, reaching, churning, yearning, hissing, dissing, waxing, taxing, vying, lying, falling, crawling, leering, seering, SOUND voices-in-my-head-why-can't-they-all-just-leave-me-here-alone-to-see-my-self-for-who-I-am-why-can't-I-be-an-oth-er-man Edited by: Scott Siskind  at: 11/6/03 3:05 pm

[Scott Alexander]

"Nonsense" sliding trees on easter sunday much makes do with none the way i feel my voice resounding flying to the sun the mitted sheep, the bedded sheet, the world for which i cry by moon and stars and sunlight the wilted puppies die if man could do with bobby socks then wife would be the maid and even in the kitchen sink the threaded harp is played the walk we talk, the talk we walk, the each and/or the rest when all of us have wondered where the good become the best so poetry rings freedom bells the stricture casts to cell one person on his own could see the eden sank to hell the silt it settles the stinging nettles the way we wash our feet a crime to this society is where two paths do meet Edited by: Scott Siskind  at: 11/6/03 3:08 pm

[Scott Alexander]

"Wings"White. The feathers, Apart from the rest. Carefully pleated, leave naught but the best. Brought from beginning molding the end the way to eternity just round the bend searching the trail the path leaves no sign but not that that matters we have all the time. the young would be wise to take word of the old but the blessings of travel are left to the bold. Soft. The chill on the edge of the night come close beside me I'll keep you just right. Similar faces on similar skies Radiant traces of days long gone by. With all motivation we need no affair the burdens between us are easy to bear sit tightly together as time whistles by the voices around us will help us to fly Wind. It catches me under my wing know that forever I'll still wear your ring through the clouds of elation the plummet of thrill the depths of decision are all to our will nothing behind us all is ahead carefully mind the words I have said with my heart and yours we fear nothing more our love everlasting spread wings; we shall soar. Edited by: Scott Siskind  at: 11/6/03 3:06 pm