Refuge

May152013

Call it a Pilot! The first recorded session of Four Dudes Who Write. Listen in each week for a hilarious and insightful half hour of poetry, creative writing, and literature. Discussion topics include but are not limited to nerd culture, high school romance, pod racing, and creative purpose. Ethan reads two poems about Wolverine and high school, Marshall reads two about Batman and money, and Josiah reads a poem and introduces a few books he’s reading. (This episode is about 10 minutes longer than intended due to introductions) Check out our stellar fourth member Rex, who was unable to join us, at http://rp-ybanez.tumblr.com

(91 plays)

poetry creative writing literature soundcloud nerd gaming comics xmen batman

May82013

12:02:51

I am sleeping on an air mattress
I am carving the days into the dresser

I am keeping count of the days
I am scratching incoherent symbols
that represent the amount of hours
I’ve laid on thin rubber and sections of air

I am slipping the knife from my hands
I am letting it slide along my upside-down arm

I am thankful it is not cutting my arm but
I am imagining that it is anyway

poetry poem creative writing

12AM

11:53:33

I came to you on a cold night
a lonely night where the wind
shook the windows and the
snow created a sleekness
that I had not yet seen in the
random Missouri landscapes

My nose was cold
and my fingers too
so cold I couldn’t
answer the phone
when you called
me back asking
if I had walked
down the block
far enough to see
your house on the
corner of Walnut Street

I stood waiting for you
at an awkward intersection
and looked at the stars
winking brighter than during
the summer or fall

When you finally showed up
you brought hot chocolate
and we sat on the frozen
school merry-go-round
slowly spinning under the
idea that if we turn
opposite of the Earth’s rotation
we’ll stop time and stare
at the stars, your hand
innocently and barely touching
my own, and the morning
will only come when we
decide the sun may rise
and we’ll go home only
when we’re ready.

poetry poem creative writing

May72013

11:51:04

I’m biting my fingers
not the nails
but the skin on each side

it is softer and not as sharp

I don’t know how many more times
I will be told to stop or see my cratered fingertips
in the shower before I go cold turkey

poem poetry creative writing

11PM

11:45:40

I saw you beneath the street light
some trick of the mind
my eyes chasing the idea of you
still alive

I passed slowly and almost waved
I said hello so quickly
that I didn’t believe I said it at all
you know how that is

When someone walks by
and you are nervous and not making eye contact
and they surprise you by speaking
and now you have to speak

Such is the life of the introvert
I understand that now
I wish I would have said more
or less

How much of what we say
is relevant
how much of what you didn’t say
needed to be heard

poetry creative writing poem

March182013

poetry poem creative writing

March162013

Go and Be In It

The introvert and extrovert of me
knows the other fully
I have a split personality
I am unified and whole

The introvert if me
knows well
that the thick of it
is no place for peace

The extrovert of me
knows better

I am reflected in the
passing windows of cars
I am collected in the
shattered glass

I am a cup of coffee
tossed serenely in the
event of a car crash

I am also
the twisted metal frames

Amen

poetry poem creative writing

January282013

The Watching Hour

josiahcoen:

There is a clock
in the bathroom.
Its battery has
been dead since
I moved here.

But every day
before the sun rises
the second hand
orbits by each number
for exactly an hour.

Even now it stops
like an old heart
on the tenth second
of ten o’clock
at six o’clock
in the morning.

poem poetry creative writing slight revision

January272013

The Watching Hour

There is a clock
in the bathroom.
Its battery has
been dead since
I moved here.

But every day
before the sun rises
the second hand
orbits by each number
for exactly an hour.

Even now it stops
like an old heart
on the tenth second
of ten o’clock
at six o’clock
in the morning.

poem poetry creative writing This is not fiction

10PM

Samurai Song - Robert Pinsky

When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.

When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.

When I had no father I made
Care my father. When I had
No mother I embraced order.

When I had no friend I made
Quiet my friend. When I had no
Enemy I opposed my body.

When I had no temple I made
My voice my temple. I have
No priest, my tongue is my choir.

When I have no means fortune
Is my means. When I have
Nothing, death will be my fortune.

Need is my tactic, detachment
Is my strategy. When I had
No lover I courted my sleep

Another poem for Rex to read so he can nod his head and smile poetry creative writing poem lit

8PM

Can You Miss Someone You’ve Never Known

josiahcoen:

listen to her voice in the uneven rain

when did you last see her in your dreams
her whispers walk through your house
like mice on a Sunday morning

hers is the phantom touch of harmless spiders

poem poetry creative writing

3PM