Writers of Kern

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Writers of Kern

3 April 2020 | NPM Poetry Webslam

By 

T H E   C A N A L
by Nelson Varon
 
In front, gigantic, water-tight doors,
Like a foreboding cliff fifty feet above us,   
Shroud the light from the mid-day sun.
                                                                               
Behind, duplicate solid steel monsters,  
Flaming rust creeping like spiders on their weathered surfaces,
Close imperceptibly to seal us within towering walls of concrete.
 
Slowly the water rises within our crypt-like enclosure
Elevating our impotent vessel to the level of the
Hulking mass before us as it resumes its journey westward.  

In addition to being a musician and a writer of song lyrics & poems, Nelson Varon was a NYC school teacher, the founder of Nelson Varon Organ Studios in NYC,       a published songwriter & author of PlayNow Method For All Organs. He wrote  feature articles for The Music Trades  magazine, and How to Open a Piano & Organ Store (a chapter in the industry publication, How To Open A Music Store) and the short story, Fixing Things.  He was also the founder, publisher & editor of The Music & Computer Educator magazine, and the founder of Kern Piano Mall, in Bakersfield.

2 April 2020 | NPM Poetry Webslam

By 

COVID-19
by Anke Hodenpijl

 the doctor checks my labs,
 “Good to go,” she said
 I breathe with relief,
 eager to escape this breeding ground
 - door knobs, pens, magazines, chairs,
 even the toilet paper - hosts for the enemy
  
 I push the door with my derriere
 like a quarterback
 I backpedal
 dodge the incoming person
 and veer to my Honda
  
 Antiseptic towels at the ready,
 hands sanitized,
 I sing my twenty second song,
 claim a virus-free victory
  
  
 What’s that under my car?
  
 a red wallet.
  
 I scrub it with antiseptic,
 (crush those pathogens)
 a drivers license falls out
  
 it belongs to Edna
 I am sure she is inside that booby trapped office
 a fellow patient, 
 behind all those hazards
 fodder for my new-found anxiety
  
 my options play in slow motion
 look to the right
 look to the left
 the parking lot is empty
 no receiver to take the pitch
  
 I.          Go.      Back.
  
 Is Edna here? 

Anke Hodenpijl is a bedside singer, poet, gardener and safe spot for animals. She is inspired by nature, family, history, friendships and unfinished stories. Mostly, she is a grateful person.

1 April 2020 |NPM Poetry Webslam

By 

 CONTINUUM OF EACH OTHER                                                                   
  by Portia Choi
  
 I thought that thunder and lightning were powerful,
 heralding the wind of hurricane,
 uprooting palm trees, felling homes.
  
 Yet there is power in the breeze 
 that sway leaves to loosen from the branch-point
 where new life will bud in the spring,
 and give shade in the summer.
  
 There is power in the lulling waves that 
 smooth a jagged glass to a radiant crystal, 
 or a trickling stream that creates a canyon.
  
 And there is power in words,
 nourishing a famished heart to love, to forgive, and have faith.
 Words repeated -- the mantra of fulfillment.
  
 Yes, I can; yes, we can.
 Yes, yes, yes.
  
 Yes, in the silence, writing alone,
 searching into the depths and crevices of one’s inner self.
  
 The poet searching for words among infinite possibilities,
         lacing them into patterns of hope, awe and gratitude; 
 and by reciting one’s words to others,
 emancipates oneself from the shell of writing alone;
  
 weaving the words - eternal story of the continuum of each other.
  
 We are here, we are powerful.                                        
  
  

Portia Choi published a chapbook of her poems Sungsook, Korean War Poems. At Writers of Kern meetings, Choi met Helen Shanley and MaryLou Romagno who became good friends and mentors. Choi hosts First Friday Open Mic and publicizes National Poetry Month in April.  She administers www.kernpoetry.com.  Contact Choi [email protected].