PoetryView – Haiku Battle Continues

By Chris Murphy
ModestoView and Burn and Rave have teamed up to showcase the creative words and phrases bubbling up in our community. This month our literary community will enjoy a comedy contest, American Laughiti, and the July 10 Write Night event at LoFi is open for registration.
www.eventbrite.com/e/write-night-registration-918006771967
Write Night – July 10

Here is are some of the Haiku from the winning poet for June, Krystal Lisek.

He likes my loud shoes
He touched me in so many ways
That you never could
-Krystal Lisek

Thought you were a catch
But I promise you he ate
When I threw you back
-Krystal Lisek

The July Poetry night had some magic moments. Three newly housed members of the Downtown Streets Team showed up to Poetry Night and Rebecca Kaplow read a great piece accompanied by guitar. She’s clearly a song writer and she was unhoused for years. She was very inspired by the night, deeply touched by the award, and the whole crowd was very much behind her and this is the power of community support. Her poem is powerful. You can reach out to her at the email below.

“Life Support” by Rebecca Kaplow

I’ve been afraid to fly cuz what if I’m shot down
I just want to cry if you can’t see yourself the right way:
Royalty in Spirit, your smile is a crown.
The image of Creator’s the Only to represent us,
But we don’t see ourselves in the way that God does.
Psychologically damaged and life’s been rough
Oh, why is it so hard to feel like enough?
I know it gets worse, but it shouldn’t Have to
(You) shouldn’t have to eat dirt just to get some compassion

I don’t want to be taken for granted,
dealt a raw hand and their attitude is caustic.
If it costs my life, I still accost the mic–
Lift my hands and scream, “God use me!”
I want to see an end to the inhumanity.
No time for the hate and the crime, so deeply disturbing
and life is too short for it.
I want to be life support.
No one deserves traumatic death:
A precedent of treatment deemed acceptable.
Legacy avenged is yet to come
I’ll be a storm with skin and I’ll sing like the water.
We are formed from a clay of the same creator.
Destined for more than our lives invalidated
Moving forward is all that’s left
And you’re needed home no matter how far you’ve fallen
forget perfection
and help to get there
find me the words that there are no words for.