Indie Poetry Handout #1

Indie Poetry & Social Consciousness : Considering poetry's potential for raising social awareness

This handout is the first we'll be for discussion posts on Monday, the 17th.

What is Indie Poetry? Indie poetry has an affinity for social awareness and is written by musical performers that often associate this term with their genre of music. The term “indie” rose out of the strong sense of independence that these artists take when creating their music-- which includes their lyrical process, subject inspiration, & occasionally record publication. Indie poetry demonstrates the ways in which writing can be emotionally exploratory, and how it can create a meaningful dialogue concerning different aspects of social awareness.

Dear Ginsberg... BY BRIAN MARTINEZ Dear Ginsberg, I wrote a letter to Ginsberg and sent it to the sky, through my eyes and to the nearest stars and with pupils, opened wide, I cried and cried, unashamed, uninhibited. the angels read aloud to Ginsberg sitting in some heavenness sky. I proclaim oh Ginsberg you made me weep and weep the teary-est tears for all my years, although only twenty, I aged with you and sat in my skin rocking and creaking like nana's old rocking chair. And a soft chuckle, short gasps of breath that otherwise would have been the screams of beauty like some lonely streetlight that begs to be stood under, orange skinned and orange tinged... And to here you sacrifice yourself time and time again and splattered your bloody ink and your invisible soul to me and to others and I wiped my eyes once again.. I proclaim oh Ginsberg, You made me wish for a soft body, and soft hair, naked touches, and the power of the nail that scratches and marks the skin and be handled and and and and, for the cool soft sweat and shivers under the covers... You made me want to jump off balconies and out of windows testing the limits of constructed worlds and falsehoods that look like movie sets, and find the rubber airbags to catch me, and say ha! I knew it! Ginsberg, I apologize for stealing your style, I promise I'm not making a dime... Ginsberg, how am I supposed to write what you have already wrote? How will I see everything anew, and fresh, will they come to me? Or will I have to dig under the graves of dead plants,dead water to see a reflection, a simile, a verse? No wait, Ginsberg, don’t tell, don’t kiss, don’t, kiss and tell, stay silent, I don’t want to know, I want to know, but I want to know… I’ll know when I see it, when I feel it, when I smell it, and when I do, I’ll weep for me, weep for you, weep for the world weep for everything imaginable, weep for dusty roads, and highways, weep for new clouds, and new adventures, weep for weep, weep for weep’s sake, for this I will sleep and wake. Dear Ginsberg, thank you.

DEREK KIESGEN Bear vs. Shark To the credit of the remake that was a good Dracula cruel oiled hair dangerous teeth fine diction his strut like rooster his minion bitches dark sexy grand two hours to be the time to leave to walk down the avenue with Harker in mind jealous coward great gang bowie knife conclusion retame her dry up the wet moisture from the lap of the monster luster fail to see beyond your union and the possibility of a brighter Harker loose in the pants got his fun laying tight with the vampire vixens boobies and inner thigh bites good job I hope the marriage to your property lasts forever. On Your Porch... BY NATE RUESS i was on your porch the smoke sank into my skin so i came inside to be with you and we talked all night about everything you could imagine cause come the morning ill be gone and as our eyes start to close i turn to you and i let you know that i love you well my dad was sick and my mom she cared for him her love it nursed him back to life while me i ran i couldnt even look at him for fear id have to say goodbye and as i start to leave he grabs me by the shoulder and he tells me “whats left to lose youve done enough and if you fail well then you fail but not too us cause these last three years i know theyve been hard but now its time to get out of this desert and into the sun even if its alone” so now here i situations in a hotel off of sunset my thoughts bounce off of sams guitar and thats the way its been ever since we were kids but now, now weve got something to prove and i, i can see their eyes so tell me something, can they see mine? Cause whats left to lose ive done enough and if i fail well then i fail but i gave it a shot and these last three years, i know theyve been hard but now its time to get out of this desert and into the sun even if its alone i was on your porch last nite the smoke it sank into my skin Moneen, by Chris Hughes