the woman

her hands were cupped

funneling streams of fluid discourse

through the streets

bathing my ears in living water

flooding from fountain lips

rising in the public squares

spilling on drowning crowds

should i attempt to swim

and catch my breath

or give myself to the ascension down

p.farris

The River

her elbows
carried me like Moses
to a mothers arms
safely holding my head
in nurturing waves

she split with graceful acrobatics
and i followed her shape
walking her rapids like a trapeze
meeting every forward step with caution
my eyes tight praying for balance
and she watched me from beneath
as i stretched my lungs
to catch my breath
filling up on her frigid sigh

"I've always been afraid" she said
knowing grace not bravery
her merciful waters washed my feet
and i called to her shores for commitment
floating over the edge of every map I'd known
into the distant and unfamiliar i called
for the exploration of territories untouched
a cast away to the unknown
beckoning for her youth a beauty to keep me
pleading for her unbridled passion

i am just a boy
and she is like the river

p.farris

Presents

i watch expectantly

as if waiting for my turn
to be handed the gift at christmas
shutter, tense, close my eyes
& brace for something big
my heart like racing
fists tight & hopes high
so i start to pull on paper
violently ripping ribbons
tearing off the bow to reveal
what i bought for myself
SURPRISE

p.farris

untitled 1

i'm on shaky stilts
and the ground beckons me to fall
down to where you are
back to where i start
the end
what arms will carry me if this is it
"this has got to happen"
"its for the best"
"... because i'm better"
i'm at it again
derailed
following your trail
but these bread crumbs mean disaster
i guess it had to happen...


there's a garden in me -
my pedals have fallen
and my tulips have turned
the vines have taken me
the Sun has left my sight
my iris eyes have wilted
my rose lips have spoiled
my soil no longer breathes
for these waters have gone
they left my roots to ruin
crippled by my desires
my limbs barren
my stalks stricken with illness
my fruit has fallen early
Life has forsaken it
forsaken me
taken by weeds and beetles
my failure was found by his hands
one has cut me down
the other has caught my chaff

p. farris

untitled 2

i
was told
that all the
good people in heaven
were missing and all they
could find were sinners and snakes
good thing i am in those categories

p.farris

untitled 3

i fell through
the fault line fractures
of a freckled face
falling in love
with her healthy heart
and head of heated hang ups
good thing i was young

p.farris

Decisions

there i was

the boy i used to be
do i still want what he was
am i missing what he had
or have i moved homes
and taken him with me
were the wooden floors are cold
where the walls hold my hands
where the doors keep me inside
where i can hide and be foundis this what i have become

p.farris

Accidentals

your chattering teeth was my rhythm
and your attempt at smiling my groove
your body lay on the pavement
like a late night jukebox dance move
stolen from john travolta that i had played out
i was a fat lipped singer slipping through
the comforting verses of your favorite song
but i cant always get what i want
so i strummed your face praying you'd hum
my knees were hurt from rock star slides
and you weren't getting any better

i covered you in a blanket from the trunk
a sheet of 8-track static and lead lines
and i tried to teach you warmth
plucking the strings from your eyes
so i could watch your dreams sell stadium seats
i recited tails of adventure giving you vicarious legs
nervously holding your shaking hands
as you waged war with hurricane hips
and the grace of a diesel truck

news came out of time from slippered women
in red oriental house coats and opera voices
tones equated to the importance
of soft drink decisions
the radio played my pulse and
i came with no sense of pitch
the only help you needed
my eyes fell flat down your neck line
and i followed it losing my balance
losing my voice
forgetting how to sing

p.farris

I keep trying to eat this forbidden fruit.
The vengeance is yours.
The power is yours.
Control has never been in my hands.
You're giving me gardens.
I'm watching them grow.
But the only thing I want is what you've told me I can't have.

- Jen Corbin

6/24/09

Laying in a bed of roses
Trapped by pedals of chance
Maybe if…

Standing in a field of maybes
Sinking in a sea of hope
Maybe if…

Disillusioned by unanswered inquires
The questions of risk
Maybe if…

Holding onto desire
Wanting hindsight
Maybe if…

Seeking the cure for hope
Finding it in heartbreak and repair
Maybe…

-Santiago Segovia

6/15/09

How is it my day gets so busy
It’s an inconvenience to pee
To have a job so fulfilling enough
It’s okay I am touching my shit water
The adrenaline is lost
Appetite gone
Frustration abound
Delirium
Time for lunch
A few hours ago
Needing somebody to be a voice
In this place
Thank God for pregnant women
Her voice is magnified
On my behalf
Partnership bestow
Ahoy! Time to go…

-Alemán

6/14/2009

Honesty by 2 year old
Carry me
I can’t
Because I have my seat belt on
I’m tired
I hit the piñata
I got the candy
No!
I want to turn the water on
Wow!
Don’t go
It’s nice in here
I want to swing
Bubbles!

-Alemán

The dinner table looks different for everyone.

For some, it is in a dining room –
Family seated around a wooden masterpiece,
Manners and light conversation
Secured by a fence.

It is on the couch.
Television pounding.
Telephones ringing.
Voices chattering.
Leftovers waiting for loved ones as they come home.

It is a fast food restaurant
and the only option
is the ninety-nine cent menu
No one cares that in ten, twenty, thirty years -
the hospital bills won’t care how cheap your food was.

It is the front porch
or the backyard
the grill on fire
and dad drinking one too many.

It is in a park
on a bed of grass
with your closest friends
and a peanut butter sandwich you made from home.

It is the search for a one dollar meal,
and the man counting change at the only vacant table
is being asked to move
for your consideration.

It is in a place
where you are completely alone.
with your thoughts
and your homemade platter of wonder.

As far as I’m concerned,
I have eaten dinner at them all.

- Jen Corbin

6/2/09

Don’t judge a book by
Its tshirt
Its jeans
Its 20 dollar flippie-floppies

Just because my cover
Is ratty-tatty
On a Friday morning

Don’t change your attitude
NOT
because I need help
because I am poor
because I am desperate for a job

Words flow
attitude RE-adjustment
because I am staff
because I am not poor
because I am not desperate for a job,

Appearances really are deceiving

-Alemán

6/2/09

Mathematics
Are reacting
To something
That I don’t know

Logic
Is settling
Down to something
On the floor

Pick it Up
Use IT
IT is useful you know

Despite how you feel
Reason your way back
Where
Mathematics react
To the proofs you use
To decide
-Santiago Segovia

If I were a writer
I would paint you an ornate introduction of landscapes and sceneries filled with color and care.
It would be an art form.
My art form.
And the readers reading my art would care too much about the painting to even notice what happens next.
For all they care I can teach them about religion through allegory and hypocrisy sort of like Jesus did when he tried out parables.
They didn't listen then.
They don't listen now.
They're too busy glancing at the scenery,
and I'm the one painting the pictures.

- Jen Corbin

5/31/2009

i denied the Sun it's birth
and chased it
with a shot of darkness
it's lonely loss liberating lungs to sing
electric lamp love songs
while i painted your back
with horse hair brushes
and a lust for color
we had visions of the theater
your mother's clothes
delivered dreams dressing dolls in decadent drab
we were worthy stars
we were Words of God
so i fought with fits of fumbling fists
and jumbled jabs
for a black listed beauty
brought by bad thoughts
but they were all twice my size
and the Sun was in my eyes

p.farris

5/31/09

The people
Complaining spirits,
The ugliness
Pot holes, metal fences,
Dogs barking,
Babies found in trash dumpsters
The beauty seen amidst brokenness
The people,
Hope, community,
Sharing,
Simple pleasures of joy
Surrendering to the loving of This city

-Jennifer Aleman

5/30/2009

"carry me to the horizon
God, i'm too tired to try"
worker hands hold me
like a fire fighter
bringing a calico cat to safety
a mother picking up her first born
i want safety
i want refuge
the warmth of the
Son

p.farris

5/30/09

I like the sun,
but I don't want to be hurt by the sun
I like a boy,
but I don't want to be hurt by the boy
Come on sun!!! Burn, baby, burn. ok. i'm done.
-Jennifer Aleman

5/30/09

Everything is inevitable.
But I’m at least going to try.
Most people don’t know it,
but being stubborn is really hard work.

-Jen Corbin

Moving

If I ever left this place to go to a new place,
I'd be scared out of my mind.
I would need to take someone with me.
Someone fun.
Someone I like.
And in our new place we would make new friends and do new things.
And we would bring our new ways back to our old place whenever we visited,
and our old friends would think we became crazy
and fun
and cool
but still crazy.
I would go, but I just won't go alone.

- Jen Corbin

5/28/09

maybe
if
i
knew
you
i
could
love
you
maybe
if
i
saw
your
face
i
would
hang
you

p.farris

5/26/09

know please that nothing stays
but dead men's thoughts on used bookstore shelves
where the women waste whispers
filling mail room minds with pointless letters
and return to sender

p.farris

To My Darling Patrick

Today is your birthday
And I just had a pillowfight
in my heart
for you.

Splash, flip-flop, splash Aaaah.
O how I love thee
and your short shorts
in your long wet beautiful legs.
Splash, flip-flop, splash

Your music conveys a
peaceful essence
in my heart.

Random lyrics
ignite the passion

the obsession
your melodic voice
truly eases my soul

-Jennifer Aleman