Writer's Block

It is afternoon
and I am
at a coffeeshop
down the street

I sit outside
watching the
passers by
trying to
deconstruct
discover
the elements of
a perfect rhyme
deconstruct
discover
the elements of
a perfect rhyme
and over
and over again

But I can’t
for the
writer’s block
has taken hold

And so
I look up
to the sky
at the sun
shining bright
like it shone
through my window
at sunrise
this morning
and reflected off your
long dark hair
as you lay sleeping
I couldn’t help
but watch you there
so peacefully

My writer’s block wins
as I sit at that table
too distracted
to write
I stare blankly
into space
and think only
of last night

Beautiful

You were so
beautiful

You are so
beautiful

and

I am lost in a
daydream of you

The touch of
your fingers
brushing my thigh
moving higher
and higher
now you’re inside
my mouth
with your tongue
and kisses so soft

I am lost
I am lost
I am lost
inside you

Inside this
big love
that has
swallowed
me whole

The page
stares back
blank and
my thoughts
do not flow
except
back and forth
back and forth
back and forth
in this space
between us
in this space
we call our own
in this space
that feels like home
to you
to me
to our entangled bodies

I pick up my pen
to write but
I find that
I can only
contemplate
the curves of
your body and
how they felt
next to mine

So as I descend
back to Earth
I open my eyes
and slowly
I realize
my poem
will not come
today

I cannot
make it come
so easily

Because all that is
on my mind is
your body and
my body
intertwined

Not deconstructing
discovering
the elements of
a perfect rhyme
deconstructing
discovering
the elements of
a perfect rhyme

So I let my
writer’s block be

For our bodies
are like poetry

Dancing words on
blank satin sheets

And right now
for me
that’s all I need

— Joy Lynne Messinger

I met Joy at a student-faculty-staff reading at
Nazareth College in April and was immmediatly
impressed by the fact that she not only knew
her work by heart but performed it.

Joy decribes herself as an "political poet;" if you
ask her, she'll give your a calling card, on which
she identifies herself as "..Poet..Dancer..Activist.."

Catch her live at an open mic at one of the local
poetry spots -- Daily Perks, W&B, Starry Nites,
Spot Coffee....

Hemp Bracelet

I can still smell that moment,
waft of patchouli, so wanna-be hippy.
Walking up the dark hallway,
so glad to be nearing you.

I caress the blanched wood of your door,
each one the same: industrial, sparse.
Then I turn the cold handle, and smile;
it's unlocked, as always when you know I'm coming.

The light and warmth and incense and music
flood my face and quicken my pulse with delight
as I push open the door and cross
into the comfort of your room and your company.

There you are at your computer,
chestnut ringlets tousled, wearing your sleep shorts.
Your hazel eyes flash and your body clenches
as I pass the threshold into your chamber.

My cheery "Hey, you!" dies on my lips,
as I look past you to your bed.
I don't know who he is, shirtless and languid,
dangerously at ease between your familiar sheets.

"I didn't think you were coming 'til ten," you stammer.
You cringe when your watch beeps; the hour just changed.
I turn back to the dim hallway, the stark steel staircase,
down and out into the brittle December night.

Under your window, out on the street,
I let my — your — hemp bracelet fall from my wrist
with a plop and a ripple,
into the brackish, half-frozen gutter.

As it floats through the grate, I pull out a smoke,
and spark it with a blinding flash
(my first one that night; you detested the smell),
sucking the heat and filth deep into my chest.

I exhale with a sigh,
then drop my smoke in after it.

                           — Matt Testa-Wojteczko


I met Matt at the Spot Coffee open mic this Monday. I thought
he was joking when said he'd only been writing poems for 4
weeks! The 4 weeks were a course from Dan Donaghy he'd just
completed. Keep up the great work Matt!

Cape Horn

We haven’t picked out
our special earrings,
haven’t designed
our own tattoos yet.

The days have grown calm,
the surface as flat
as glass reflecting the
slate sky. We go
to sleeep in that
unnatural stillness,
night after night, the
warmth and stillness.

But soon an electric
voice echoes off
the bulkheads, advising
we secure ourselves.

What security is there,
where can we run
as we round The Horn,
thunder rumbling,
shaking us as the seas
threaten to swamp us?

What feels like years
may just be hours.
We struggle to reach
the deck, to find
the lifeboats but
soon find there are none,
not even a deck we
can find to pass for land.

The air grows steadily
colder, snow peaks
arrive from the horizon.
We know we’ll never round
The Horn, never reach land again.
The decks are empty. We
have each other but
that will not be enough.

                       — Frank Judge

MARK THE DATES
RP Events Calendar

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Summer RP Meetings
Saturday, July 17
1:30 pm - 4 pm

Center at High Falls Gallery*
2nd Floor

*Online map to Center at High Falls Gallery
Free parking on Brown's Race for RP meetings --
use the lot directly across from the High Falls Center.

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Rochester Poets Reading Series

Wynne McClure

Author of The Hidden Self
will be the featured reader
for our July reading
Followed by an open mike

Writers & Books
Wednesday July 14, 7 pm

Wynne will also be reading at
Starry Nites Café
Sunday, July 18, 7 pm

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John Roche

Author of Ground Effects
will be the featured reader
for our August reading.

Followed by an open mike

Writers & Books
Wednesday, August 25, 7 pm

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Pure Kona Open Mic Series

Daily Perks Coffee House
(Gregory & Cayuga Streets)
Thursday nights, 7:30 - 10 pm
Hosted by Norm Davis and Rick Petrie

Upcoming featured readers:

Phil Minor, July1
Kathy Francis, July 8
Colleen Powderly, July 15
Jessi Perez, July 22
Christa Chatfield, July 29
Matthew Berliant, August 5
Greg Slater, August 12

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3rd Annual Poetry Festival

Saturday, July 10

Gell Center in Naples*
29 featured poets,
including 17 RP members
11 am - 5 pm, Featured readers
Followed by Open Mic, 6 pm - 'til

FREE Admission
(donations accepted)

Several participating poets will
have books, broadsides and chapbooks
available for purchase, as will
publister & author Mike Czarnecki,
who will have a selection of titles
from his FootHills Press.

Light refreshments available.
Pack a lunch and/or dinner.

*Online map to Gell Center

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