A Poem by Reed Farrel Coleman

Jungfrau

by Reed Farrel Coleman

Once

we fed ourselves to the other

in careless chunks

across the chasm of night

in pieces like wedding cake—

nervous smiles, yellow frosting on her chin,

crumbs caught in the corners of my moustache.

A photographer shouts, “Hold it! That’s it. Perfect! Just like

that. Smile. No, big smile. Great!”

Flash

I recall

the maitre d’ counting heads like the years ahead of us.

Now we wear awkward tilted library books

wedged beneath our chins

where our hearts used to beat.

You must check for a pulse these nights

in the cast iron hum of the oil burner.

We feed our blankets to the center of the bed,

quilts uplifted like great mountain ranges:

The Andes some nights

some nights the Alps.

Tonight

the cat sleeps across the Jungfrau.

That means young maiden in German.

I’m pretty sure the cat couldn’t care,

looking only for heat trapped

on either side of the mountain

and maybe

pieces of cake.

Reed will appear at The Gazebo on 7/20.
http://www.reedcoleman.com/

A Poem by Richard Vetere

WHEN WE FIRST MET

Richard Vetere

When we first met,

I wanted to give you my eyes, my teeth, my hands.

I asked you to wear my fingers and learn my voice

and memorize how my lips were shaped when silent.

So, you wore my eyes and my hands

and you found some reason to memorize my lips

and learn what my voice sounded like without

my fingers and my teeth.

But when you left

You never gave any of it back.

I hear you still wear my fingers and my eyes

my teeth and my hands.

Are you a cannibal, or is there something religious

going on here?

Richard will appear at The Gazebo on 6/22.

A Poem by Ellen Meister

RESUME REDONE (with apologies to Dorothy Parker) By Ellen Meister

TV bores you
The Web is a fright
Your spouse ignores you
And hobbies are trite

Films are offensive
Gardens weed
Shopping's expensive
You might as well read.

Ellen will appear at The Gazebo on June 29th.

Sponsor Update

Even more sponsors!!!

Many thanks to Westron Lite Bulb, LI Pulse Magazine & Village BookShoppe for their generosity!

Our Sponsors thus far:

Home & Hearth Realty
Herb & Marian Brown
Bonbino's Pizza
North Sea Poetry Scene
Max Wheat Nassau County Poet Laureate Committee
Oceanville Mason Supply
Maryanne Lehrer
Mary Jane McGrath, Attorney
Michael Schamroth and Family
Councilman Anthony Santino
Philip Reinstein, CLU
Jay R. Myers & Co., Inc.
Childs Murphy Kuehn & Cesiro, Inc.
Westron Lite Bulb
LI Pulse Magazine
Village BookShoppe
Bondi & Iovino

Many thanks!!

A Poem by George Wallace

THE WORLD IS FLAT ENOUGH FOR ME
by George Wallace

The world is flat enough for me
in summer, if you lie yourself
down against it the world is
flat as a cat's tongue, flat as
flapjacks in a pan, flat as a
circus tent after the tentpegs
have been pulled out of the
ground and the elephants are
milling around, o yes you're
flat enough for me, world!
flat as a ten cent piece in the
palm of a small boy's hand, flat
as a drought in corn country,
a machete swung in sugar
cane, take that, flat! the world
is flat! flat as streetlights when
it rains or the long fingernail of
god, pried into the space between
blue sky and the surface of a
very flat lake, flat as the swath
of a ufo as it comes and goes
between clouds, flat as linnaeus
listening for the microscopic speech
of small white flowers in tall uncut grass
George Wallace
www.poetrybay.com

A Poem By Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan

We're going to try something a bit new-- each day from now until the season starts on June 2, we're going to publish a poem or short work.

Send us a poem--no more than 20 lines!- for publication here. We don't care if it's been published elsewhere--just so that you have the rights to it (all rights remain with you, except for this one-time publication and the archives the site maintains). Make sure it is "Gazebo friendly"-- that is, something that could be read at the Gazebo. We'll publish one per day between now and the opening of the season-- No editing-- the choice will be random.

Remember, too--if you have read for us before, or if you will be reading for us this season, we'll add your link to our page. I have added the links I could find-- check it out and let me know if there are changes, additions, etc.

Sponsorships are going well-- still plenty of time to be a Sponsor ($100) or a Program Patron ($20).

See Become a Sponsor to the right for more information.

Tony
tonyiovino@gmail.com

So here is our first poem, by our good friend Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan--the new Suffolk County Poet Laureate!!!

Mother Moon

Pale, pregnant winter Moon, so low she hangs
in clear night sky like sweet fruit ripe on vine. Moon seeds explode. Ten million seeds spread, spiral earthward. Seeds implant in frost-covered ground.
They sleep till spring, when earth wakes. Grow all summer
long. Harvest time I claim my miniature
my yard holds mine. I gaze up nightly. Know another event won’t happen again. I tell
my child how Mother Moon had birthed her
small golden child who lights the night for us.

Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan

Sponsor Update 5

More Sponsors!

Many thanks to Philip Reinstein, CLU, Jay R. Myers & Co., Inc., and Childs Murphy Kuehn & Cesiro, Inc. for their generosity!

Our Sponsors thus far:

Home & Hearth Realty
Herb & Marian Brown
Bonbino's Pizza
North Sea Poetry Scene
Max Wheat Nassau County Poet Laureate Committee
Oceanville Mason Supply
Maryanne Lehrer
Mary Jane McGrath, Attorney
Michael Schamroth and Family
Councilman Anthony Santino
Philip Reinstein, CLU
Jay R. Myers & Co., Inc.
Childs Murphy Kuehn & Cesiro, Inc.
Bondi & Iovino

Many thanks!!

Sponsor Update 4

Add another: Citizens for Santino--our good friend Hempstead Town Senior Councilman Anthony Santino.

We also now have quite a number of Program Patrons--many thanks to all!

Keep 'em coming! The programs are being drafted and the flyers are ready--we just keep adding Sponsors to them. We expect the first flyers to hit the public towards the end of next week--but we keep editing as we go through the summer.

Current Sponsors:

Home & Hearth Realty
Herb & Marian Brown
Bonbino's Pizza
North Sea Poetry Scene
Max Wheat Nassau County Poet Laureate Committee
Oceanville Mason Supply
Maryanne Lehrer
Michael Mulhern & Mary Jane McGrath
Michael Schamroth and Family
Councilman Anthony Santino
Bondi & Iovino

Sponsor Update 3

Three more sponsors! We welcome Maryanne Lehrer; Michael Mulhern & Mary Jane McGrath; and Michael Schamroth and Family--many thanks!

Current List:

Home & Hearth Realty
Herb & Marian Brown
Bonbino's Pizza
North Sea Poetry Scene
Max Wheat Nassau County Poet Laureate Committee
Oceanville Mason Supply
Maryanne Lehrer
Michael Mulhern & Mary Jane McGrath
Michael Schamroth and Family
Bondi & Iovino

Readers' Sites

If you look to the right you can see we are starting to add our Readers' sites, so you can click and find your favorite authors and poets!

If you have read for us, or if you are scheduled to read in 2009, send me your link & we'll add it!