Non-rhyming Urban Poetry Night I

Here are the poems from the first ever Non-rhyming Urban Poetry Night. A random collection of people brought together to write poems in under ten minutes followed by recitation and lots of snapping. Hopefully this post will encourage others to do the same. Let me know how it goes.

Roots

Sliding through the surface
like snakes upon the water
gentle movements seen by none
but felt so immeasurably in time

Life brought by things so small
a seedling bursts the surface
green shining boldly in the sun
a slap in the face of death

“Ha” it says “I'm back again.”
Fire did not prevent it
just cursed it to have formed.
Each year it comes each year it goes
and roots continue on.

-A. Cornwall

Smiles

There's here, there, and everywhere
And, there's also frowns, scowls,
A collection of impassiveness
and sheer cluelessness, too,
Hmm...this attempt at random
cadence and unrhyming ideas
Is, well, I don't know...
I lack the creativeness
to even decide what it is.
And so I end

-A. Bates

Don't be Afraid of Berkley

Ya that Berkley they says he's a nice guy
But you know what I think check out that eye
Looking at that have you ever asked why
Because you know he ain't very shy

So I'll tell you what happened to this dude
one evening doing his thing watching YouTube
He saw a wicked stunt that he thought he could do
It involved him walking in the ghetto shouting “Yo Fools”

So there he was shouting down an empty street
Then all of a sudden he heard a bunch of feet
The kind of big, mean looking guys you don't meet
He tried to slip away, but he ain't that sleek

So then they were punching on his face
And he was crying for mercy, praying for grace
Then he remembered he had a can of mace
The kind that in your mouth leaves a bad taste

So that is the story and that is the rhyme
Of how Berkley Walker got a black eye
No this is just a joke I made it on the fly
I'm just a crazy white boy, go class of 1999.

-L. Dahl

One more time

Flattened against the ground
splattered like a squirrel pancake on the hot pavement
baking
I reform
Bone by bone
sinew by sinew
hair by hair
until I stand again
a little taller
a little bolder
against the next blow of 18 wheels
what we forget about the phoenix
is that he first baked alive in flame

-B. Walker

Blank Page

I don't want to share
this is stupid

What's inside of me is too big for a page
and too mighty for words

So you read your hearts
spill your soul on broken ears
I'll keep my secret thank you very much

-B. Walker

Sports

footballs, basketballs, baseballs and such
that is the life driven
by the optometrist
seeing the ball go into the hands
as well as the net, gloves, and yellow goal post
the ball is in the air and coming towards him.
He gets his hand on it
it then bounces off them
and go into the air
as it continues into the misty air,
it falls out of sight out of view
it falls out of the Television set,

-D. Mackay