-Spoken Word Poet-
Joel Santos
POETIC ARTISTRY
I have a poem in my pocket, lost amidst the keys and the coins that seem so important. Idle hands cannot search deep enough to grasp what my pocket holds as they grope for a shape that has yet to be defined. Once the metaphors have matured enough to show themselves, they will litter the world with every step I take. It does not matter which pants I wear today, so long as that poem lies hidden in my pocket.
-Broken and Ready-
This jackal is an architect who builds you up like a conniving engineer,
But you are in awe by its design and you don’t understand why you feel so queer.
Though you have found something new to fear,
Your old thoughts refuse to disappear.
You have changed your habits but your mind is not yet here.
Your regrets are loud yelling obscenities into you ear;
“When you die you are not worth even the shadow of a tear.”
So you beat yourself up until you are ready to down another beer.
When will it end? When will your conscious be clear?
A day, a week, a month, a year?
You need to find a friend, a true peer.
Someone who will not leave you and who is always near.
Someone who drives you and takes the wheel when you cannot steer.
Someone who will not judge you and who will not sneer.
Someone who could be coveted like a precious souvenir.
Is that someone God? Is it to Her will to which you should adhere?
To allow Her to be present, so you are no longer cavalier?
You are on this journey for the first time, you are a pioneer.
Forging uncharted territory on this new frontier.
How do you rid yourself of this tempest that has become so severe?
You have been hanging yourself and you are fragile, you are a chandelier.
You need a new seat to sit on with a fresh new veneer.
You will pay handsomely, but where is the auctioneer?
The one who sells happiness, the one who sells cheer,
You are done feeling hopeless, it is time for change and you will persevere.
You will stay on course if you hold your compass dear.
\
-A Lesson to the Writer-
Always remember,
Letters resonate symbols into sound,
To relay a message that is profound.
Broken syllables circle all around,
Begging to be metaphorically bound.
Never forget,
How words nurture you,
As a vessel to be spoken through.
Do not,
Throw away your poetry,
With pretentious contrition,
For your words will lose definition.
Instead,
Define concepts as a complex shape.
Do not,
Throw away your imagery,
With surrealistic animation,
For reality lies inside imagination.
Instead,
Imagine living life in a dream state.
Consume the muse of inspiration,
Because it is sustenance for a simile.
Delineate a language for innovation,
As provocative as nudity.
Always remember,
Letters resonate symbols into sound,
To relay a message that is profound.
Broken syllables circle all around,
Begging to be metaphorically bound.
Never forget,
How words nurture you,
As a vessel to be spoken through.
Do not,
Throw away your notary,
With relentless conviction,
If your documents read of eviction.
Instead,
Evict any set process creativity takes.
Do not,
Throw away your mystery,
With nihilistic emancipation,
If your poems need no explication.
Instead,
Explicate any questions that agitate.
A nebulous fog can mask your creation,
Before words can be conceived humbly.
Contempt prior to investigation,
Dares the thief of art and its potency.
Always remember,
Letters resonate symbols into sound,
To relay a message that is profound.
Broken syllables circle all around,
Begging to be metaphorically bound.
Never forget,
How words nurture you,
As a vessel to be spoken through.
-Indebted-
A rapacious creditor with no face and no name has stolen my authority,
He has filed for ethical infractions and is denying any form of indemnity,
Forgiveness is not an option, consolidation is the only possibility.
I am indebted to him for a sum greater than my worth in purgatory.
I have tried to pay my dues, with interest, to a landlord that is absentee.
Imprisoned in a safe and looking for the skeleton key,
This insidious creditor solicits my ear relentlessly,
Wanting compensation for a bad investment that I once bought into foolishly.
I cannot afford to be without it, but with the expense I fear bankruptcy.
He swears my balance is off, and his anger grows exponentially.
The seal on his containment is held in place precariously,
So I refuse to sleep and I arise before the sun, when it is too dark to see,
As he screams in my ear that his fraudulent claims are a jail cell meant just for me,
I try to evade the shackles of believing that his lies are spoken truthfully.
The only solution is a twelve step installment plan, you see?
I keep those I loathe close, so I cradle him fondly,
Like a life preserver that can deflate all too suddenly,
Leaving me stranded without any sense of security,
Or like the two sides of this coin that I gamble with incessantly.
I manage to cajole him into remission by giving what I have away freely.
His gratitude for my debt is shown by offering parole, temporarily.
I have struck a deal with the bank, but my freedom is probationary,
Contingent upon my earned liquidity,
Not the credit I have on hand, rather what I spend and its tangibility.
If I do not default on this personal loan, I can maintain my credibility.
With the help of an advisor I am learning how to spend responsibly.
I now have a new contract that has replaced my previous policy.
I have stock, as a shareholder, under an umbrella company,
But I am still indebted to this rapacious creditor, and I will forever be.
-Consigned To This Hour-
It took only an hour to lose myself,
Inside what I have searched for my entire life;
Your temple,
My sanctuary.
Patiently I have waited,
For serendipity to deliver to me,
A beauty that cannot be admired at a glance,
Nor conceived in a touch.
I have held ripe fruits hostage far too long,
You are their deliverance.
I am prepared to dominate eroticism.
With your gracious approval,
I command you to,
Solicitously reciprocate my fervor,
And make use of my avidity.
As we manifest our fantasies,
You command me to be your slave.
Anxiously awaiting the sting of your whip,
I introduce my favorite flower,
To a feverish passion,
With a gentle greeting from my tongue.
I cherish every texture like a special occasion,
Grateful for the gift of your carnation.
Submissive only to your cries for more,
My desires come to fruition,
As I fill you entirely,
Substantially and considerately.
I beg the clock to reverse itself,
So I can repeat this moment.
You greedily taste,
My naked vulnerability,
With an insatiable hunger,
As I reach that which beckons me.
I wholly comply with the shutter of your invitation.
As you allow me in,
I forge a key engaged by desire,
Teasingly fraternize with the gates of heavenly ecstasy,
And release your inner goddess.
You flourish like springtime as you blush,
At the tip of our anticipation.
I deliberately savor the slow journey,
As I tickle your nape,
Nibble on your nipple,
And pause on your navel,
Mimicking the sweat that drains you of self-control.
I grope for a hidden pearl that yearns for me to discover it,
With ambitious expectations.
I confidently unveil your joy,
As though I told it where to hide,
Long before this moment;
This moment of,
Trust,
Love,
And deep connection.
This moment that erase all that came before.
While it envelops us inside eternity,
We share in the aphrodisiac,
Of our compassion.
We animate surrealism,
Until the walls melt with jealousy,
Indulging in our screams.
The shortness of every inhale,
The hesitation of every exhale,
And the quivering of your lip,
Take me to the brink of combustion.
We will not concede to finality,
Instead we linger like addiction,
Because there will never be enough.
Physically exhausted,
We deflate.
Spiritually enriched,
We rise again,
With a breath of fresh air,
Like a sensational shiver,
Reminiscent of the goose bumps on your neck.
As you let go with undulating moans,
Your gaze is full of intrigue and satisfaction,
As though you don’t recognize these hands,
That ignore your every inhibition.
As though you have just met a stranger,
You cannot wait to marry.
You have never known a nice guy,
To be so thorough.
Let us cuddle under the covers,
As we huddle within each other’s arms,
Soon we will burrow into each other’s hearts.
I have never before been invited into womanhood,
That pulsates quite like you;
Soddenly vibrating with a request,
For me to return.
But… … … … … … … … …
How can I honor the request,
Of someone I still have yet to meet?
I have never known a woman,
Because I have never known you.
I have only just imagined your face,
As I mold the empty silhouette of your body,
Into my mattress.
I lay dormant in hibernation,
Ready to erupt,
Dreaming in vivid detail,
For this hour to be consigned…
-Only Devotion-
If, when a man is drowning,
His outer layers receive all compassion,
While the man inside is forgotten,
He who believes himself a savior,
Damns the tangible by suffocating the spiritual.
He cannot be saved if he does not first reach out his hand,
With the faith that he can grasp what he cannot hold.
If, when a man is conscious,
His will is dictated to his soul,
While the path laid before him is forgotten,
That man will be lost to the tide of ignorance,
Damning the tangible by suffocating the spiritual.
He cannot be saved if he does not first reach out his hand,
With the faith that he can grasp what he cannot hold.
Only naked can he regain his breath.
Only with servitude can he attain devotion.
Only by accepting death will he survive.
-existence without life-
at birth,
my left and right arms,
were taken away.
so I grew hands,
without fingers to grasp.
in time,
my legs discovered,
they would be swept away.
so I grew feet,
without toes to balance.
my torso is alone,
without a heart.
my breath chokes,
without lungs to nurture.
my blood flows aimlessly,
without veins to guide.
my eyes are open,
and see space between my joints.
i bend but nothing folds.
my ears are anxious.
they listen for the words,
that cannot be spoken.
my tongue is muted,
holding back,
the beckoning screams,
of an orphan child.
give back what has been taken,
without permission,
without apology.
give back what completes me.
give back my family.
-Panegyric for My Brother-
I was standing on a sand dune late last night,
I looked up at the hunter’s moon,
And I began to wonder,
Just whom have you become?
To let light in,
And let go of all your demons.
Now you’re free and,
You have regained your sight.
You’re free to see the ground below you,
As it shows you where to walk at night.
Still though you are tight,
And flexing with all your might.
Checking to see what’s next to you,
While ignoring what’s right in front of you.
Please believe,
This path was purposefully paved,
With pitfalls,
To teach us,
How to stay grounded when we fall.
No longer will I squander,
The trip that life has given me.
I live to see what lives in you.
A life worth living.
A gift worth giving.
When someone tells you that you cannot,
You will not run away.
You will overcome every obstacle in your way.
I hope to hear you say,
“I’m the one and only!
I will stand tall,
I will not fall,
I am full of power,
I am so powerful.”
No one is above you,
Nor below you.
Learn to love you,
Learn to listen.
I’ve been wishing,
That you will walk with me,
Talk with me,
And learn to see what I see,
Then we both will be,
A testament to this testimony.
We must, together, never, compromise,
Rather realize how to optimize,
On all that life has given to us freely.
Together together, and together.
No longer will we wander,
Over yonder aimlessly,
Pondering, “Why has life taken from me?”
Can’t you hear in me,
What I see in you?
Listen,
YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL…
-homeless-
you are the worst one of the all…
he speaks definitively to the night air,
angry at the reliable sidewalk that mocks him,
as if to say, “i need a hug,”
Nobody listens.
the fog surreptitiously swallows his words,
keeping their affair a secret,
and escorts them into the rancid city,
with a plea behind the façade.
Nobody responds.
he is a shadow of the darkness,
looking forward without purpose,
like the leader of a pack,
without a soul behind him.
Nobody cares.
he howls like famine for sustenance,
to the blood moon who offers no concern,
begrudgingly looking into his thoughts,
watching self-worth die.
you are the worst one of them all…