Model Poem

Selecting A Reader

First, I would have her be beautiful,
and walking carefully upon my poetry
at the loneliest moment of an afternoon,
her hair still damp at the neck
from washing it. She should be wearing
a raincoat, an old one, dirty
from not having money enough for the cleaners.
She will take out her glasses, and there
in the bookstore, she will thumb
over my poems, then put the book back
up on its shelf. She will say to herself,
“For that kind of money, I can get
my raincoat cleaned.” And she will.

Ted Kooser

She Is My Music

It would be that woman who walks
along the sidewalk tripping over her pants
that are so worn the hem has come out.
But once she steps foot in the store,
she hears my music. The lyrics and sounds
run through her ears down to her feet
like a cable to a television. Producing the
most graceful movement ever seen.
Customers stand and stare and once the song
gets over, she’s out the door, off to the tailors.

Joey Garber
(Modeled after Ted Kooser’s “Selecting A Reader”)

Performance Poem

Come Home

Turning my back
I stared into the darkness
That defined my future
In which was nothing
But loneliness and fear
That consumed to air I breathed

I cannot go on
I need to keep exploring
The depths of your mystery
I need to remember the
Layers of your heart and
How to touch them.

So come home, because
I am sorry. This is the
truth I've shied away from.
You are the amour I'd die to face, again.

Jack Ingram- Measure of a Man

When I was fifteen, I left home young
Tore up the tracks and then some
Me and my dad didn't see eye to eye
I never took to him, he never took the time
Bullet proof, more than tough
Smarter than he ever was
CHORUS
Well I burned those wheels down the highway
And I learned what I learned the hard way
Do the best you can do, love many, trust few
Work hard for the money in your hands
That's the measure of a man
Yeah the measure of a man
Anger burns, love cools it down
Pretty young woman turned my head around
The world through her eyes looked so different
She lives on faith, she looks for forgiveness
Fool proof, it ain't easyI need her, she needs me
CHORUS
She stole my heart on this highway
She taught me to love through the hard days
Yeah she's cool when I'm not, she's as steady as a rock
She's as solid as the ring on my hand
That's the measure of a man
Yeah the measure of a man
Last night she handed me a son of my own
It killed me to do it, but I picked up the phone
CHORUS
Hey dad I burned ten years down this highway
And I learned what I learned the hard way
Truth is I need you, we'll cry if we need to
And I'll swallow my pride if you can
That's the measure of a man
Oh yeah, the measure of a man

I chose this song because it really relates to alot of people's lives. Often times as kids or young adults we lose sight of the truth in our relationships with our parents. Sometimes it is our parents that do the same. But as Jack Ingram says at some point you have to swallow your pride and tell him or her that you need them and that you are sorry for being so distant. Relationships are full of up and downs but your parents are often the ones there when you need someone most. These are the sort of things that are the measure of a man.

Me and You

Is he watching me?
Looking into my eyes?
Observing every move,
analyzing every thought?
Or is he looking through me,
training my eyes,
controlling my hands and feet,
steering the hemispheres of my brain.
I am God.
And so are you.
So start acting like it.

Dream

What if I wasn't given the gift of life?
What if I didn't know between wrong and right?
What if I didn't have the ability to dream?
I would turn to God and ask him to take me home.
So that I could lay in my bed all alone.
And think about wheter or not to turn my back.

What if I had the choice to go back.
To the place where I began living this life.
When I had a family and wasn't just alone.
When I didn't have to turn left or right.
When I always had a place to call home.
A place full of the American dream.

Was this true or just another dream?
Would I have to sit here looking back?
At the people and place I always called home.
At the happiness I enjoyed in my other life.
Wondering if I could ever make things right.
Or again find myself lying here alone.

Oh please tell me why I am I always alone.
Please tell me if I will ever be able to dream.
About something so true and so right.
Or will I remain lying here on my back.
Wondering if I should take my life.
Maybe I will find a new place to call home.

I am not worthy of calling heaven my home.
Only home I have is this one, all alone.
Basking in the deeaths that took away my life.
No, this one of all is not a dream.
I wish I could turn around and go back.
To this day I don't know if I could make it right.

The doctor told me it would be all right.
God damn he told me I could take them home.
I could no longer fight my tears back.
When he told me I'd be going home alone.
That my baby girl wouldn't have the chance to dream.
That my wife had lost her beloved life.

I can't right what happened all alone.
Waking up at home in a blissful dream.
I want to go back to that life.

Uncle John

It was about a year ago
when you left us laying here,
playing dead like you always asked.
Now I just ask myself why,
why didn’t I lay there?
Probably because I was too young to catch on
no, I don’t think that’s it.
Maybe because I just wanted to play
no, my mother says I was tired.
Perhaps I didn’t want to lay next to my brothers
no, we always got along.
Fifteen years later, a year too late.
I've finally come to the realization
that I didn’t lay there
because I wanted to stand next to you.

I am

I'm a pathetic man
I'm a strategic man
I'm a serious man
I'm a strict man
I'm a miserable man
I'm a Joad man
I'm a nomadic man
I'm an empathetic man
I'm a distinct man
I'm a new man
I'm a sincere man
I'm a cool man
I'm a bold man
I'm a domestic man
I'm a brute man
I'm a friendly man
I'm an instinctive man
I'm an apathetic man
I'm a striding man
I'm a sprite man
I'm a country man
I'm a nature man
I'm a transient man
I'm an incapable man
I'm a lucky man
I'm a morbid man
I'm a dead man
I'm a buried man
I'm a risen man
I'm a happy man.