h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What would a coffee house be without a little verse? This is the place to perform and discuss, from Shakespear to Ginsberg, from Walt Whitman to Sam Hamill, from Ogden Nash to the guy who wrote that outrageously witty rhyme you read on the bathroom stall this morning... Grab a cup of coffee! Sit back and listen, curl up and write, or step up to the microphone and perform. I'm trying to get a jazz band in to add some atmosphere...

Well, for now, I'll put on a little Coltrane, and just wait around for the poets to show up... ::sigh::

I see I am the first person to write something here, so I shall attempt to make the entry worthy of its lofty position. Here goes...

I wandered lonely as a toaster,
That toasts on high o'er amoebas and cheese.
When all at once I saw a slice,
A loaf of golden wholemeal;
Beside the cake, beneath Tibet,
Toasting and burning in the breeze.

(with apologies to William Wordsworth)

Lovely work! I was begining to think that no one believed in poetry anymore... good to know it's still alive!

Roses once fresh, sweet
Now dead, pressed, dried under glass
Still smelling so sweet

Oh, poetry is still alive, all right.

http://www.h2g2.com/A203383

Thanks, Lupa!

~Irving

I saw a fish one day,
It sat down, in disarray.
It crossed it's knees in a heavenly manner,
And then stood up, and waved a spanner,
And said "my motorpike refuses to start"
And he plunged that spanner, into his heart.

The Grizzly Bear is huge and wild;
He has devoured the infant child.
The infant child is not aware
He has been eaten by the bear.
-Alfred Edward Houseman

I saw her today at a reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she was going to meet her connection
At her feet was a footloose man
And I said "you can't always get what you want"
No you can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes
You might find
You get what you need!

~Jagger/Richards

Not poets, exactly, but it's a basic truth.

And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singin, 'we're gonna vent our frustration
If you don't we're gonna blow a fifty amp fuse'

Went down to the corner drugstore
To get your perscription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimi
And man did Jimi look pretty ill
We decided that he would have a soda
My favorite flavor is cherry red
I sang my song for Mr. Jimi
He said one word to me and that was "dead"

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for many a long, long year
I've stolen many a man's sould and faith
I was around when Jesus Christ had His moments of doubt and pain
I made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed his fate

Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name (pretty fitting for me, huh?)
But what's puzzling you, is the nature of my game

But you'll never break
Never break
Never break
Never break
This heart of stone.

Are you sure this hasn't turned into Karaoke corner??

Sometimes I feel like a Priest in a Fish and Chip Queue
Quietly thinking as the vinegar runs through
How nice it would be to buy
Supper for Two

(Roger McGough)
Posted by a very lonely Hxx

ONOS

We have cracked the midnight glass
And loosed the racketing star-crazed night into the room.
The blind harp sings in the late fire-light,
Your hand is decked with white promises.
What wine is this?
There are squirrels chasing in my glass,
Good God! I'm pissed!

Spike Milligan

(ahem)

...ssshhhhhhhhhh......cool down...
......coooooooool way down
and look around, you see
tonight - there's a blue moon !
on the ceiling
shifting and weaving
some are arriving, and some of us leaving
the digital village
down Abbey Road
across 42nd Street
then take a left at
Boulevard, follow the signs 'till
you get to that old brick building they tore down last year
(you can get anything you ask for there !)
'cause the moon is *blue*,
and you don't see that too
often, baby
blue - the real magoo !
yeah...it's breezy and blousy - oooh, yeah....
and just blew through here an hour from now
and filled the mellow minds
with fragrant dreamy thoughts, not unkind
and man ! you should've seen the way her eye's lit up
just lookin', reeeeeaaaal keen-like,
at that
blue moon ! and, you know,
soon, when everybody's out of tune,
that freaky funky moon
is
surely
gonna

(bloom)
\ _ _ /
\ . /
|
|
.
.

I am a fan of poor poetry. So, if you are known for particulary putrid verse, if your work stinks more than week-old hering, take a gander at my home page. I will be posting my own terrible poems, and encouraging others to add to the lot. I'll give the week's worst a special place on the page. Se ya there!

My soul took a walk without me today
It won't tell me where it went...
I led it through the bowels of my secret dungeon
Strapped it to the rack...

Stretched it beyond recognition
When I was finished...
Couldn't tell it apart from
A piece of dead chewing gum

Still it skoffed at me
A smile of satisfaction on its face
What marvels of the world did it witness today
In my absence?

No getting into the steel trap
I threw it into a tank full of eels
Hoping the shock would shed some light
On its daytrip

It beat back the eels and climbed out of the tank
Smug and refreshed
Wherever it had been
The strength it had gained was now radiating from it

Patience wears thin
If it would just tell me,
My pain would end

I left it to fend for itself in the wolf pit
Watched as they tore my soul apart...
Before my eyes, it gathered itself up, piece by piece
Fusing back together, laughing all the while

"Stop" it said "Before you kill yourself..."
It was then I noticed the blood
Bleeding from my spirit, mind, and heart
What had I done?

Tortured myself
Put the gel of my very being through a medieval inquizition
Whatever I had done to my soul
I had done to myself...

Then my big neon sign flashed...
Wherever my soul's walk had taken it
A part of me had been with it

"Next time" it said "Open your eyes."

Band is good
and band is neat
You must count
and move your feet
If you can't play
or spin a flag,
Then baby,
band just ain't your bag

::stumbles into the ally behind the cafe to pass out a little early::

Degritz and Frood of the Loons,
I hope you don't mind, but I added your poems to my poetry corner on my home page. If you object, feel free to yell, scream, slap me with a fish, chastize me in any and all ways. Forgive my presumption.
Donne