A Poem by Herb Siegel

STAY-CATIONS (The 2009 Recession)
by Herb Siegel

Gas is high, houses low, kids are idle

            friends gather, play games, BBQs are in

Stay at home, vacations are now a sin

            D.C. is out, Vegas far to peddle.

Job’s on the line, food is up, raises gone

            home is the stay-place for a better day

It’s the safest and cheapest place to stay

            from night-to-night, day-to-day, dawn-to- dawn.

Eating out is past, home-spun is the now

            Spinning tales and poems won’t cure all wishes

just smooth the way to ease most crises

            avoiding boredom that wrinkles the brow.

Home a place to sup with wines of vintage

            suck-it-up stand and toast a non-voyage! 

Herb will appear at The Gazebo on August 24, 2009.

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Roxanne Hoffman

the past

by Roxanne Hoffman

a door

closed behind us

but there to reenter

unlocked by way of memories

and dreams

for some

pandora's box

filled with goblins and ghosts

for others like a treasure chest

of gold

Roxanne will be appearing at The Gazebo on July 20th.

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Roberta A. McQueen

PRIORITIES
by Roberta A. McQueen

Watching the waves roll
in at high tide
the older couple clasp
hands while walking
silently along the shore

In the parking lot nearby
the younger couple
argue about who it was
that had scratched
their fancy new car

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan

Ghazal: One
by Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan

Kiss me hard and long, I think you are the one.
Kiss my hands and neck, kiss to make us one.

The rumbling of your voice draws me in, your lips, your lips!
As the honey bee seeks flowers I pray I’m not just one. 

In my heart:  A stone too large to dislodge, too big to sweep away.
Your tender touch could crush it into a tiny one.

3:00 is when I see you once again.
The ticking hours pass so slowly one by one.

I attempt to allow you in by not keep myself closed,
leaving open the door, not shutting out you, my treasured one.

Go ahead, I pray you, mold me slowly. Each touch another stoke
of the flame that will make stone and steel one.

Me damaged island unto myself, drift safely toward your healing shores.
On your island light a bonfire signaling this is the one.

I say, I like the solitary dark, but adore the brilliantly lit day.
Whisper sweetly my name, Tammy. Lie close so we may become one. 

Tammy will appear at The Gazebo on July 22, 2009.

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

a Poem by Jillian Dolan

Making Meaning of a Place I Have Yet to Find
by Jillian Dolan

speak with a soft song to my mind,
calm the anxiety
for there's always something in the way of our dreams

and time has become just another burden to bear
because there's a fine line between success and failure these days

now society is stiff like porcelain, but not nearly as perfect
we live in a world where father dies and mother cries
and we are poisoned by the worries of an everyday routine

it's cold hard stone that secures our inhibitions
and i don't want to carry that boulder on my back anymore
i want to be young like a child
i want to be free again
i want to be free

there, my shrouded thoughts subside
i awake to a translucent breeze
and where warm wind dances with the maple branches

hidden deep in the meadow small creatures whisper
and a sweet forest smell bides after sun showers
where daylight beams through the cloud covered heavens
and the single stream always has a new story to tell

heres to having a velvet embrace,
to indulge in the champagne of desire
until the fires and the stars never looked so bright

lets go back to babies soft skin, and father always there
and mother never cries
because she doesn't have to

where the wild winds and kindred spirits linger
over the vast plains of our conscience
please leave me to my dream
i wish to settle here
so time is never an issue

someday we will all awaken our wild, velvet, brilliant, champagne drenched souls
soon, i hope, we may unearth our way to this place
and we will be free again
we will be free

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Barbara Reiher-Meyers

NATURE POEM
by Barbara Reiher-Meyers

It’s poison ivy time;
get out the calamine.
It’s not my favorite vine.
See how the blisters shine.

I’m itchy and forlorn.
It grows upon my lawn
from dusk to early dawn.
How I wish it was gone.

Three very shiny leaves
each Spring are my pet peeve.
The presents I receive
just spread and will not leave.

It makes my temper rise
when blisters grow in size.
I fight it as it tries
to creep up on my thighs.

(This can be sung to the tune of “Ta Ra Ra Boom- De-Ay”, if that’s legal. If not, you can thank me for planting the tune in your head, to resound for the next few days.) 

Barbara will be appearing at The Gazebo on July 20, 2009.

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!  

A Poem by Dd. Spungin

The Reunion

by Dd. Spungin

Scientists crack open a brain

Not ready for the host of memories

Spilling out all over the lab table

Not ready for the years rolling

Onto the antiseptic tile floor

Pooling, puddling, seeping into the grout

Creeping under the door, 

Out, into the hall

Running in rivulets to the stairwell

Waiting at the elevator

Cascading down the empty shaft

Dripping into the ground beneath the building

Into the fertile earth, worms and robins

Messing about, pulling the memories

Here and there,

Moving them around

Flying with bits in beaks

Making nests

Baby birds nestling, trilliing

Memories, thrilling

The world spinning

Around retrieved sights,

Sounds, scenes

Preserved in yearbooks

Whispers, dreams.

 

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Bruce Grossberg

My First Poem Written As An Adult

Drafted and Edited 

On A Bus To Tel Aviv, 1978

by Bruce Grossberg

People are funny/

About money.

Bruce will appear at The Gazebo on August 3, 2009.

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Jack Anderson

In Praise of Gazebos 
by Jack Anderson

Every big city,
every county seat,
every village and hamlet
should have at least one
trim patch of green
with, at its center, 
a gazebo.

Such structures,
no matter how recent,
should always look ageless,
eternally amiable.

Here should be
band concerts,
choral singing,
poetry readings -- 
good things
to which we can give 
delighted attention

until we find we    
are now at home 
in a comfortable realm
where the best thing to say
about anything there    
is that it is nice,
really nice,
as everyone here
most assuredly is.       

Jack will be appearing at The Gazebo on July 13, 2009.

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Peter V. Dugan

Parochial

by Peter V. Dugan    

The faithful flock to the cathedrals,
churches and chapels, book stores,
cafes and schools, take their seats,
fill the pews, listen and recite
            "The Word . . ."

Outside on the street those starving
for faith congregate as heretics
and apostates shout out blasphemy,
"Poetry is dead!"
while true believers retort,
"There is resurrection!"

 But, everyday agnostics and atheists
pass by, deaf to the debate, rapped-up
by the incessant rhythm and rhyme
of a pop-culture sublime that blurs
the line between art and entertainment.

They are blind to the figured wheel
that rolls down the road, through
the meadow and out into the wasteland
over the decayed stone wall where
an old black hearse without gilt
or polish lies buried in the high grass
next to a red wheelbarrow.

At night, you can hear the howl
of the wind bellow and echo
through coffee shops, poetry vaults
and library basements.
Here converts, novices and deacons
still toil down in the catacombs
creating poems from old poets' bones.

Language becomes image,
The Word is among us.
            We bear witness to it here

Peter will appear at The Gazebo on June 8, 2009.

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Adriana DiGennaro

We Must Cultivate Our Garden

by Adriana DiGennaro

il faut cultiver notre jardin

says the fool

in her allotted

plot of land

speaking in tongues

only some can understand.

spending time with the wrong man,

down the wrong path,

having had so much to say,

resting on laurels

so that “working in the garden”

becomes picking plants

trampling them

and throwing them

away.

Adriana will be at The Gazebo on August 10, 2009.

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Yolanda Coulaz

COOL, COTTON COMFORT  

by Yolanda Coulaz

I wore him like a tight pair of jeans,

and he looked damn good on me.

It was almost obscene,

that tight pair of jeans.

He didn’t fit,

and I was proud of it

and the way they’d stare

at that man I’d wear.

It was almost obscene,

that pair of jeans.

Well, I’m older today,

and I’ve got a man that fits

like a pair of sweats, heather grey,

and he looks damn good on me.

And that tight pair of jeans?

Well, I threw him away. 

Yolanda will be at The Gazebo on August 31, 2009.

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!
 

A Poem by J R Turek

At My Demise

by J R Turek

When I get to the Pearly Gates
St. Peter will have a clipboard list
of every murder I’ve ever committed

and I’ll have to answer for them all
beginning with the big black ant
that roamed the hills of my comforter

in search of Sammy the Bear perched
on my pillow, smashing the intruder
with my bare hand back when I was five

and countless wasps, worms, mosquitos
that have hounded me since, crickets
in our basement, yellow-jackets in the walls

but never spiders as my grandmother swore
if you killed a spider in your home
you’d lose money, so spiders were spared.

Now, with nests of carpenter bees boring
through our deck, nesting in dozens of havens
droning, hovering, antagonizing our dogs

four cans of empty insecticide, inert belly-up bodies
still droves far from extinct buzz in my face
...now I wonder if I’ll ever meet St. Peter.

J R will be at The Gazebo on June 15th.

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Marie Reinstein

Encountering Me 

53

by Marie Reinstein

I’m about to open the folder-

amber aged and edge-curled, treasured.

“Donovan” in hippie letters adornment all.

As always—in the bottom left

drawer of whatever desk I utilize.

Written some 30 years ago, telling

tales, relating woes—youthful despairs of

identity, maturation, growing pains. Ailments, malaise: ennui.

In search of my first erotic poem. What else

will I find there on this eventful eve for my

current erotic poems. I am 53 now. I may

I think at last understand the sensate lures.

May at last be, the sensate me.

So now I’ll turn my attentions inward

and in doing so hope to find, to examine,

caress and adopt

the child/girl/woman

that was

me.

I am

all that

I am plus that poetess

prolific long ago

and when my acquaintance ripens into

love, I will have found myself whole.



The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Phil Reinstein

Being in the New Millennium
by Phil Reinstein

Days blend in haze while wondering why

searching for answers just rolling along

lurching towards living, part of a throng,  

time seems to fly as these days drift on by

waxing and waning wearing highs or a sigh

You were shaken then taken near the prime of your life

with things just finally breaking your way

with wings and with passion just aching for play

finding your love in your afternoon sky

In bookstores at Starbucks with bagel or scone

Dancing, with poets, at tennis, alone

chancing auditions for love on the phone

connecting to companion unknown

Not lonely yet lonesome i labor days through

requesting relief of troubles and pain

reaping rewards without tangible gain

keeping you close to my core to sustain

accepting what happened to you I must do

My Millennium self in myself is what’s new

My Millennium take on my aging… true too

                                                                     

Phil is a Sponsor of the Summer Gazebo Readings.

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!                      

A Poem by Alyson Decter

Tourette Syndrome
by Alyson Decter

She might crack her shoulder,
She might jerk her head
People might try to ignore her,
Or not listen to anything she says
You watch kids mimic her strange movements,
But what they don’t know is that they’re called tics
She might tic in class, or maybe in the lunchroom
You ask her to stop, but she guarantees she won’t any time soon
She doesn’t have one friend, and you have no idea
That in the future, that friend could be you
So next time you go somewhere, ask her to come,
So she’ll know she has a friend to help her deal with
Tourette Syndrome

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Barbara Novack

SUMMER SONG
by Barbara Novack

Cantaloupe, strawberry, blueberry summer
swimsuits, sunscreen, blue swimming pool water,
bright yellow sun, green ocean waves,
hot sand, beach towels,
umbrellas for shade.
Flowers all bloomed and trees with their leaves
dappling, dancing
the light in the breeze.
Long days daylong
in the summerlong sun
the world seems to whistle, to sing and to hum.
And as balmy evening begins to arrive
relax and applaud
the cantaloupe, strawberry, blueberry sky.

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Masha Hamilton

FINE LINES

by Masha Hamilton

(A New York City poem-in-progress,

Written by The Street)

I’m feeling dizzier than I was
a week ago.
Hustle! Hustle!
They make
me sick.

I don’t think you would really slash
anyone’s tires.
Well if you did, I’d run after you
and catch you.

I don’t worry about my wife anymore.

She takes off her clothes whenever,
wherever she pleases.

God bless you, hope you had a good day, you’re The Man!
That don’t make
no sense.

Masha will be appearing at The Gazebo on June 1, 2009.

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Ursula Nouza

Ruby Ring

by Ursula Nouza

Her most memorable birthday

but not only because of a beautiful ruby ring

gifted to La Nena, the girl of wheat-colored whorls

that rainy March 30^th her fifth birthday.

“A very extravagant gift,” stated the mother

“it comes with a condition.

Only for a special occasion

returned immediately thereafter.

Understood?”

Sonia, Angelina, Elvira, Margot and more

invited La Nena to their birthday fiestas

but the stars were not the fêted señoritas.

The protagonist of every gesture,

the ruby ring

adjusted locks of plucky hair

held the beverage just so

and posed for sun striking facets.

No throne has known a happier princess.

The mother did not ask to reclaim

the ruby ring.

The thrill of the jewel on La Nena’s hand

kept sleep at bay.

Throughout the night

on one side she lay, then the other

in admiration from angle to angle

a different finger and even a toe or two

and why not feel how it tastes, too?

The ruby ring

clinked along teeth tops

rolled from cheek to cheek

cheek to cheek

to choke

choke

sputter

cough, cough

gag

gulp

gone

“You don’t seem to be hungry, dear”

queried the mother, “is anything wrong?”

Question ignored by terror.

“By the way, after breakfast,

return the ruby ring.”

After confession, the remedy was clear.

The potty on which La Nena trained

emerged from storage and put to use for two days.

Since birthday # 5, no jewelry has ever passed through

La Nena’s ruby lips.

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!

A Poem by Roberta A. McQueen

SPRING'S HERE
by Roberta A. McQueen

Spring smells like
fresh cut grass
daffodils and a bunch
of dasies growing

Spring tastes like
a fresh peach
with juice dribbling
down your chin

Spring feels like
a touch of hope
a time of renewal and
faith that all is well

The Summer Gazebo Readings feature 4 author/poets each Monday evening in June, July and August, 7 pm at Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY. See the links to the right for our schedule and directions. Bring a lawn chair and come on down!