Pete's Proclamation for Pence

Pete's Proclamation for Pence 

If he could

         have cut a 

         Piece out

Carved it out 

 No hesitation 

If he could have

                 But love

Is a salve

(ation)  

Your quarrel, sir,

           Is with

Our

Creator.

© James Schwartz

Buttigieg to Pence: 'If you got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me -- your quarrel, sir, is with my creator'

POEMS FOR THE PLANET - The Children of Sirius

The Children of Sirius

Our world is warming,

Weeping glaciers, 

Into burning seas. 

Witnesses to our Genesis: 

Our brethren whales, flee,

Charting colder waters.

Our origins of creation in whale-songs,

Beginning with volcanoes, 

We shall be Navigators again. 

Our golden myths and legends,

Sink in rising warning tides,

Under the light of Sirius.

© James Schwartz

Clues sought for decline in Hawaii humpback whale sightings

James is a poet, slam performer, writer and author of four poetry collections including "The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America" and most recently "Punatic" (Writing Knights Press).

Putin On The Ritz: An American Farce

The walls are closing in on the American king,
Bring him his golf clubs and kiss his ring,
The Russian czar over caviar,
Putin on the ritz is his thing.

The job vexes him night and day,
The seventeen investigations here to stay,
Now Cohen is talking, Mattis is walking,
Let the Democratic House chips fall where they may.

The Shakespearean farce of it all,
From Lady Liberty to funding The Wall,
Though his idealism authoritarian, ready stables equestrian,
When Mueller and Pelosi come to call.

© James Schwartz

Trump forces Mattis out two months early, names Shanahan acting defense secretary

James Schwartz is a poet, slam performer, writer and author of four poetry collections including "The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America" and most recently "Punatic" (Writing Knights Press). http://literaryparty.blogspot.com Twitter: @queeraspoetry

The Kanaka Ranger

"Who am I?"
The man at Mauna Kea base asked rhetorically,
Gazing off in the distance...

Hale o Kuhio:
A small structure painted scarlet,
Near a KAPU sign...

"I am just one person but"...
The Kanaka Ranger shrugged,
"We wait and wait for our homelands"...

© James Schwartz

DHHL: Remove unauthorised hale

James Schwartz is a poet, slam performer, writer and author of four poetry collections including "The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America" and most recently "Punatic" (Writing Knights Press). http://literaryparty.blogspot.com Twitter: @queeraspoetry

Under A Strange Occupation

The stars and stripes fly,

The Hawaii state flag flies,

The Hawaiian Kingdom flag does not.

Under this 'strange occupation',
By 'fraudulent annexation',
Of the sacred archipelago.

Mahalo Councilwoman Ruggles,
For speaking ancient truth to modern power,
Viva la Puna!

© James Schwartz

Ruggles: Queen’s may have committed war crimes

James Schwartz is a poet, slam performer, writer and author of four poetry collections including "The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America" and most recently "Punatic" (Writing Knights Press). http://literaryparty.blogspot.com Twitter: @queeraspoetry

Kalapana Meditation

"Only a Pompeii and a Herculaneum were needed at the foot of Kīlauea to make the story of the eruption immortal." - Mark Twain, "Roughing It"

We hike over the miles of moonlit lava rocks, to the base of the volcano, the glowing crater above us. What are the odds of a girl from Brazil, Australia, California and a queer ex-Amish poet gathering at the Kalapana lava flow?
Nambe sings a spiritual song about creation and giving thanks. Molten lava flows around and beneath us, bursting through rocks and spilling into the rainy night.
On the way back I fall, Pele kissing me as a "kumu" later tells me. I carry a scar beneath my eye today.
We get lost on the way back, wandering for hours over the onyx landscape. A flashlight beams at us suddenly.
"I'm Nate the Great from Wisconsin but at the moment I'm not so great - I'm lost."
Nate the Great from Wisconsin joins our caravan as does a couple whose cell phones guide us to the road, well after midnight.
Nambe holds my hand the entire way. Nate is reunited with his friends and we walk the road back together.

Back to the moments at the flow, huddled near the lava's warmth against the cold rain. Back to Nambe's song. Back to the fiery streams.
I sit by the girls, watching the embers glow. The moonlight is gone, with only the alchemy of Pele...


*EXCERPT from "Punatic: Poems from Puna, Hawaii" by James Schwartz (Writing Knights Press, 2018)

© James Schwartz

Hawaii volcano: Lava spews from 18th fissure on Big Island

James Schwartz is a gay ex ‪Amish‬ poet and slam performer. His poetry has been published by various poetry journals including Poetry24, Politiku, @7x20, Babel: The Multilingual Multicultural Online Journal, The New Verse News, Nostrovia! Poetry, piecejournal, Silver Birch Press blog, Diversity Rules Magazine, Eris Magazine, WritersResist.com and Science of Mind magazine.

Oak and Pine

Dreaming out the window, beyond the Michigan horizon,

The ticking clock on the wall inching closer,

To the close of another school day,

I sigh with the oak and pine trees.

The year is 1988 and then 1989,

The classrooms vary every year,

But the ceilings remain tiled overhead,

The windows always firmly closed.

The books become more than colors,

Numbers become longer +×÷=%

My father's hunting rifle at home,

Remained stored in the closet until autumn.

The idea of any gun in school,

Never once entered my mind.

Or my dreaming, living classmates.

Today I sigh with the oak and pine.

© James Schwartz

2 dead in shooting at Michigan college

James Schwartz is a gay ex ‪Amish‬ poet and slam performer. His poetry has been published by various poetry journals including Poetry 24, Politiku, @7x20, Babel: The Multilingual Multicultural Online Journal, The New Verse News, Nostrovia! Poetry, piecejournal, Silver Birch Press blog, Diversity Rules Magazine, Eris Magazine, WritersResist.com and Science of Mind magazine.

Riverside Meditation

© James Schwartz
Michigan campaign aims to stop meth production also known as 'smurfing'
Schwartz's poetry has been published by various poetry journals including Poetry 24, Politiku, @7x20, Babel: The Multilingual Multicultural Online Journal, The New Verse News, Nostrovia! Poetry, piecejournal, Silver Birch Press blog, Diversity Rules Magazine, Eris Magazine, WritersResist.com and Science of Mind magazine.

A Drop of Water

Land of lapping lakes,
Peninsula,
&
Pine.
Alexis de Tocqueville,
Frontiersmen,
&
Forefathers.

Detroit flood,
&
Detroit debt,
Our kingdom for a drop of water.

Detroit fights back
Detroit water shut-off

© James Schwartz 

James Schwartz is a poet and slam performer striving for the simplicity of Cavafy mixed with modern gay wordplay and elements; Schwartz's poetry / slam material often deals with GLBTQ issues and affirmations of gay (night) life and love. He is the author of The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America (inGroup Press 2011).

http://literaryparty.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @queeraspoetry

Polar Vortex Pioneers

Here in Michigan we are pioneers,

Detroit daughters of a revolution.

Small town streets are still named,

For Lafayette.

The great blizzard of '78 is discussed,

As though yesterday.

Today the Great Lakes froze,

And Hell.

The polar vortex leaving behind,

Tomorrow's pioneers.

© James Schwartz

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25632586

 http://nation.time.com/2014/01/08/its-official-hell-has-frozen-over/ 

Poet and slam performer, James Schwartz strives for the simplicity of Cavafy mixed with modern gay wordplay. His book, The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America, was published by in Group Press in 2011.http://literaryparty.blogspot.com/ Twitter: @queeraspoetry

Spasibo

Pogrom pub.
Hooded hate.
Propaganda.
Punks.
Nationalist state.
Moscow majesty.
Rock and roll Tchaikovsky.
Iron closets.
Masked history.

Spasibo:

Anatoly Steiger.
Georgy Adamovich.
Anatoly Mariengof.
Sergei Yesenin.
Rurik Ivnev.
Vyacheslav Ivanov.
Valery Pereleshin.

Orthodox anarchy.
Coming Out Day.
International unity.
Proud to be gay.

© James Schwartz

Russian nationalists attack Moscow gay bar on international Coming Out Day celebration



Poet and slam performer, James Schwartz strives for the simplicity of Cavafy mixed with modern gay wordplay. Author of: The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America (inGroup Press, 2011). Twitter: @queeraspoetry

Of Bergholz Bondage

Sam Mullet and the Bergholz clan,
Of the Gaddafi sort you understand,
Snipping the symbols of the church rejected,
As the Old Order status quo disrespected.

The breaking of the Bergholz branch,
The Federal raiding of the renegade ranch,
Dictators unrepentant too proud in fact,
To inquire of the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

© James Schwartz

Hate crime charges filed in Amish beard cutting
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Poet and slam performer, James Schwartz strives for the simplicity of Cavafy mixed with modern gay wordplay. His book, The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America, was published by in Group Press in 2011.

The Last Librarian

As the riot gear garbed shadows,
Carted, uncaring, the People's Library away,
Did they spit on pages?
Did they perhaps break spines?

I'd like to think the shielded faces,
Contorted with ripping rage,
Knelt before a poet,
Paused over a poem.

© James Schwartz

Occupy Wall Street library books stored in a N.Y. garage
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Poet and slam performer, James Schwartz strives for the simplicity of Cavafy mixed with modern gay wordplay. His book, The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America, was published by in Group Press in 2011.

Lines Composed in Journal after Occupy Kalamazoo Protest

Michigan marches.
Passersby multiply,
Children of the resolution.
Second class.
CORPORATE GREED KILLS.
I LOVE KALAMAZOO.
LET IT FALL
Uninstall the Wall.
THE PEOPLE: TOO BIG TO FAIL.
Wail. Rail.
Stand. Demand.
Mill. Fill.
Venerate. Demonstrate.
Accelerate.
Bob Dylan in the wind.
Poets here and now.
The revolution is live.
I am the 99%
In solidarity.
In American autumn.

© James Schwartz

Occupy Kalamazoo draws large, peaceful crowd in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street
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Poet and slam performer, James Schwartz strives for the simplicity of Cavafy mixed with modern gay wordplay. His book, The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America, was published by in Group Press in 2011.

Editor's note: Pictured above is the poet, James Schwartz taking part in the protest - the first time we've had a pic of the poet in the action... maybe this will start something!

"As You Were"

His Marine uniform,
Glittered in the strobe-light,
Swirling conversations pausing,
To applaud.
He grins, swiftly, saluting.
To the drag queens, shirtless men,

And:
"As you were."

© James Schwartz

Gay military members come out and celebrate
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Poet and slam performer, James Schwartz strives for the simplicity of Cavafy mixed with modern gay wordplay. His book, The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America, was published by in Group Press in 2011.