(25) Overactive Imagination

let us pretend
for a moment
that it is all science

that everything comes down
to applications of linear equations
and logical progressions

let us pretend
that it all makes
the truest sense

that the scramblings and intonations
happen on the passage
between the eye and the mind

let us pretend
and smile
as we pretend

let us grow giddy
at the thought that we
have never been so creative

(24) Broken Boy

broken boy
spent his days
trying to write
worlds more real
than his own

and when I say
that she was
one of those mythical people
who can make poems rhyme
without sounding cheesy

I imagine you think
you already know
how this story ends
or at least
how it middles

but
they never touched
they just
imagined each other
perfectly

(23) This Is Not A Simulation

This is Not a Simulation
For WorldVision's 30 Hour Famine

The sirens in your stomach
are sounding the alarm;
they are shaking you awake
to the state of emergency
in which your human family exists.

It is only 15 hours since eating;
only 16 hours since sleeping
     in the safety of your bed,
and it is already obvious how absurd--
no, obscene-- it is
to think that human beings
actually live like this.
People might as well be asked
to pack their things
and move into the ocean.

Because your little taste of emptiness
already feels like desperate starvation,
and the cold is cutting like knives
through your pathetic little blankets,
and the openness in which
      you are trying to sleep
has never seemed so fearfully alive.

And it makes no sense
that your only consolation--
that come tomorrow afternoon,
it will all be over,
and you can resume the business of living--
is flatly untrue
for almost a billion fellow humans.

You don't even want to think about this
as a perpetual state of existence,
can't even imagine not having that hope
to whisper to your stomach
to hush the alarm it is blaring:
this is a state of emergency;
this is not a simulation. 

Fridge Magnet Madlibs: (20) The Subtle Dancing, (21) The Subtle Crying, & (22) The Subtle Discovering.

In this episode of Poetical Shenanigans, Ely will punch her writer's block repeatedly in the face by creating a system of infinite poetry!

Here's how she does it!

FIRST, Ely creates a poetical framework that is at once fairly tonally neutral and yet somehow still powerful and evocative.

The Subtle (verb) ing

by Elizabeth Rhea

I (verb) into life

like a (verb) (noun)

forever (verb)ing across my vision

as if I had just (verb)ed

into the (noun/bodypart) of a (sentient being)

my (noun) carving spaces

in the (adj) parts of my existence.

Our (body part)s meet

in this (adj) place;

we are (verb)ing as one,

for this is our (noun),

this is our (noun),

this is our final farewell to (noun),

our coming into (noun) at last.

(I realize this second stanza sounds much sexier in template form than it does in most possible complete versions... who knew?)

SECOND, Ely adds fridge magnets-- a poetic ingredient that has so often stood by Ely in these dry times.

FINALLY, Ely fills in the gaps to create three poetic samples which are indicative of the infinite possibilities.

(20) The Subtle Dancing

I grow into life

like a spoken soul,

forever giving across my vision

as if I had just (flown)

into the chest of a friend,

my vision carving spaces

in the strong parts of my being.

Our voices meet

in this free place,

we are styling as one,

for this is our choice,

this is our power,

this is our final farewell to the ocean

our coming into sky at last.

(21) The Subtle Crying

I prowl into life

like a broken mystery,

forever slouching across my vision

as if I had just crumbled

into the hold of a shadow,

my trouble carving spaces

in the stranger parts of my being.

Our smells meet

in this metal place;

we are blazing as one,

for this is our bog,

this is our waste,

this is our final farewell to alarm,

our coming into spoil at last.  

(22) The Subtle Discovering

I tumble into life

like a wild giggle,

forever noodling across my vision--

as if I had just sneezed

into the potion of a wizard,

my charm carving spaces

in the frumpy parts of my being.

Our thoughts meet

in this clever place;

we are singing as one,

for this is our rainbow,

this is our flower,

this is our final farewell to stubborn,

our coming into friend(ship) at last.

The New World Movers

Here's a little introduction to my passion for the power of words. It's a practice TED talk, recorded for my class in 'Becoming a Public Scholar-Activist' at Claremont Lincoln University.

The New World Movers from Elizabeth Addison on Vimeo.

(18) The Problem and (19) Female Seeks Frankenstein

(18) The Problem

You try to turn your mind around to see inside your soul.
Now try to turn your eyes around inside your skull
until they find the brain behind it.
You see the flaw in your design?


(19) Female Seeks Frankenstein*

Wishful F, 21, seeks M, mid-20s,
who speaks like Jimmy Stuart,
thinks like GK Chesterton,
reads like Cornel West,
gets life like A.A. Milne,
loves Jesus like Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
fights for rights like de las Casas,
inspires like Dr. King,
cares like Peter Maurin,
writes like Bill Bryson,
laughs like Brian Reagan,
cooks like Jamie Oliver,
sings like Enrique Iglesias,
and looks...
like Enrique Iglesias.
Must have unique personality.


*Alternate title: The Other Problem. Today's prompt was a 'personal ad'.

(17) Daniel

He is standing
near the overpass
he is asking
cardboard questions
to the passers-by
and maybe it is
because his eyes
have stopped looking
for replies
or because he is
too young for this
but it is
that same swift inexistence
of all barriers
that must lead to first kisses
in different contexts
that draws me to him
and to the conclusion
that it would be nothing
to open a vein for his sake

I am awake
to the fact that his pain
is my pain
is Christ's pain
and it must be the gravity of this
that has me falling toward him

     I was never meant to save you, kid,
     but this is all I have: 
     a couple things to keep
     away the hunger;
     a couple words to keep
     away the sense of only-ever-this;
     and several minutes' conversation,
     a space in which you know I'll listen
     as you say the things you want to be
     and hear your own voice
     speak your name.