Medusa

This is a poem I wrote. I haven't written one in a while. Only blogged and opined about my life. Hope you enjoy this other side to my writing.

Pale ghost girl
Sitting in a tower
Whining snakes
Beneath the ever changing colors
You call hair

Demon breath
And a cold hard stare
A soul that was never there
Just lie after lie
To appease your target

Fat, ugly temptress
You try to best me
And anyone who crosses your path
As if we can be fooled
By your simple charms

Blame your mother
Her sickness
For making you a beast
Cackling loudly and slandering
The woman who bore you

Blame your father
For having no back bone
Leaving you alone
To be had by the Gorgons
And to get the booby prize of becoming their queen

How serene you sing so pretty
But beneath is a banshee
The sound is merely borrowed
So are the thoughts
To disguise a demoness

Did you adopt a human name
To have an upper hand in the game
Where you could hunt for prey
Like you do every day
That believe all the things you say?

Oh and you write such poetry
The words scribbled dishonestly
Are your words borrowed too?
Of course they are.
Satan is never original.

You crack a joke
Almost funny
With the guile of the serpent
In the Garden of Eden
Which is fitting

Since his brother and sisters
Live on your dirty head
You claim to be at work
But you spend the day in bed
Dreaming of the havoc you want to cause.

Your skin is a gray
Probably because you didnt see the sun
Today but then again you are
Almost a vampire
But can't commit

A coffin isn't fit
For a woman pretending to be
Royalty that is living across the
Street from the houses where
They actually have money

You will snarl when I say this
You will scream in like a feind
But you are a feind
Cerberus is your pet
And he even tries to bite your hand

He won't heal to your command
But who could or would
Not I, because I see past your charms
That harm
A borderline who wants a guy

Then you find you male captive
Pathetic as they go
He doesn't love you
But he needs you
Your hell fix he feeds you

Then you become yourself
Snarling, lashing, biting,
Screaming, howling, and the snakes
Slither and bite him
He screams, "Leave me alone."

You eat his heart
And turn him to stone.







www.aprilbrucker.com

Slam Team is a Slam Dunk

When one thinks of poetry based theatre pieces, they can either be performance triumphs or utter disasters. When I heard Slam Team was such a piece, I will admit I was a tad nervous. Written by poet and playwright Gina Inzunza and directed by Marcus Yi, this was a risk. As a critic, performer, and theatergoer, I knew the experience beforehand left me with mixed emotions. However, I would soon be proven wrong. Slam Team turned out to be a slam dunk.

A well crafted tale, Slam Team is the story of four high school kids at Manhattan High School For The Arts that start an after school poetry club. All four are lovable mixtures of philosopher, out of the box thinker, and rebel without a hall pass in a blender. The characters are Lorna the founder of the club. Played believably and skillfully by Nicola McEldowney, she frequently butts heads with her father who wants her to be a violinist, but her true desire is to be in a rock band. Then there is Jonathan, the gay friend and sometimes moderate, calm foil to those around him. Portrayed with a likable vulnerability by Nick Imperato, Jonathan also battles with familial acceptance of his homosexuality as well as an absentee father who often tries to buy his son’s affection with money. Of course there is Lulu, a gifted artist who often butts heads with her strict parents. Given a quirky charm by actress Thanh Ta, she is often the comic relief who struggles with promiscuity and has shoplifted, traps some young women fall into. Lastly, to round out the group is Dario, a student from the Dominican Republic who is an illegal immigrant. Luis Restrepo gives Dario a youthful energy and a sort of freshness and is brilliantly juxtaposed with the fact the young man works and has lived well beyond his years.

During this period other themes are explored. Lulu has an obvious crush on Dario. When she sees her would be beau with his arm around another girl, her heart falls. Despite her fast pace when it comes to men, she has a soft heart and truly wants to be loved and accepted. Jonathan later finds out the girl was Dario’s cousin, a freshmen who is being made fun of because of her accent. It is later revealed both Dario and his cousin are able to attend the school because of their uncle’s work as a janitor. This is also a highlight on the racist elitism that can exist within some of the top schools still. The two begin a budding romance. Instantly, the audience is drawn to this high school love story, and through empathy, experience, and a pure wish for a happy outcome we are rooting for them.

Dario proves to be a good perspective boyfriend, and does not judge Lulu for her past with men and shoplifting. Rather, he appreciates her talent as a visual artist. With his help, Lulu moves in a positive direction and builds a website for her art.

Meanwhile, Jonathan pours his heart out revealing he had a crush that lived next door to him. He says Neighbor Boy doesn’t come around but doesn’t say why. Later it is revealed that Neighbor Boy was killed after wearing a rainbow tie. It is implied it was a gay bashing. While heavy and heart wrenching, the theme is also relevant to the struggle for LGBTQ Rights, and the unfortunate bigotry many gay teens are still subject to. Rather than anger, Jonathan turns it into art.

Lorna, meanwhile, fights to keep Dario in the US by enlisting the help of her father’s friend who is an immigration lawyer. The gang teams together, and decides to enter the talent show. They decide to do a well composed piece on freedom. However, the night of the talent show Dario is a no show. It is revealed that he has jumped a turn style because he did not have money to buy a Metro Card. Due to the fact he had no ID and was illegal, he is being detained and possibly deported.

Dario is then shown in jail orange, as he does a spoken word peace about his struggles for freedom. It is unclear whether or not he was deported, and this is never revealed. In the wake of this crisis, the Slam Team goes onstage without their lynch pin, and are at first heckled. However, Lorna then silences the heckler and begins the peace. The show ends not only in a spectacular fashion, but there is also not a dry eye in the house.

While the acting was excellent, much of the credit belongs to the creative pairing of Yi and Inzunza. The casting choices and direction were perfect, making the story believable. The tale was masterfully written with dialogue that had a nice mixture of stark realism and innocent humor. These teenagers were true embodiments of young dreamers, and as an audience we were cheering for them every step of the way. Additionally, the poetry was well written, thought provoking, high energy, and at times fun. Not many poets are also gifted playwrights. Inzunza has the rare gift of being both.

Slam Team shows this generation of writers, thinkers, and dreamers is far from being doomed. Energy for creativity and change is alive and well as it has always been. The message is, always keep an open heart, an open mind, and above all things, leave room for poetry. 

Woman on the Brink

Just a poem.....

Here I am

Alone in my room

They say I should feel the

Walls closing in, doom

Cause there is no man in my bed

I opted for the career instead

Didn’t you hear them?

Yell and cheer as I took the stage

And was the rage to an audience that adored

Now I am alone again

I have my coffee cup in my hand

Mordechai the Magic Mouse runs by

I can’t catch him if I try

So what his shit has dander?

He’s the man of the house (although a mouse).

There is no baby in my house

No life in my womb

I am as barren as the fields after a drought

So here I am I shout, “Attention world,

I flunked the test of life according to some assholes!”

There is no husband in my bed

No man to screw with my head

Telling me all the things I want to hear

Instead of the fact he is fucking around

With his boys on poker night

It is okay, it is alright

Girlfriends come and go

The Bible should say so

That women will sacrifice their girlfriends

Like errant sheep, blood and guts, for a man

The Bible should say in fine print

That women will stab you in the back

When it comes to a man and throw away her dreams

And I will be Goddamned if that is me

Throwing my dreams away

Words are my napalm

The thing to relieve the pain

Of shallow standards that

Erode my psyche like acid rain

Smart and beautiful, you can’t be both, right?

There was a man who came one fall day

Tried to take what I loved away

Made me choose

As he sucked down his booze and

Used me as his punching bag

I am not a rag to wipe up spit

I am not a shrink to take your shit

I am an independent woman

I am rolling with the  best of them

I am taking my hits standing like all the men

Sometimes I yell and scream

Sometimes I cry

Sometimes I speak too soon

But I stand my ground

And will never let anyone take me down

(Okay, I sound almost like I am holding it together)

Lady No One

A special poem about how women will destroy themselves for men who don't want them and men who aren't worth it. xo

Hello Lady No One
Must be painful to be
No One
You change your identity for a man
Like you change your underwear
I hope you change your underwear
That is, if you can
If your man
Gives you permission

Well Lady No One
You were once a party girl
Spreading your legs for a lawyer now
Is he rocking your world?
Or are you disappointing him?
Is his name Jack or Jim?
Or is it whatever he tells you it is
Well whatever it is
Who are you in this mess?

Sure Lady No One
No one knows you are a fake
Every day you wake and bake
Once you faked a story about a shoplifting conviction
And then sex with numerous women
But now is that part of you gone?
As you are your lawyer's whore
And he calls you a whore
Everyone does Big Easy

Maybe Big Easy is your name
Because you are easily influenced
Because you are easy to pick at
Because you are easily mocked
By your lawyers friends
Who see his ex girlfriend making the name
Who see his ex girlfriend on the TV
And he says that is my ex on the TV
So is that why you hate me?

Well Lady No One
Or Big Easy
You assume my life has been easy
You assume that things are handed to me
And then just to be me
You do everything that I do
I guess I want to say what is best for me
Isnt always best for you
Oh no

Lady No One
Big Easy
Single White Female
These are names they call you behind your back
For the identity you lack
Or you so wish you had
Maybe you could be a good person someday
Someday, maybe you could be a person of your own
Just lady.....

Lady No One
Big Easy
Single White Female
Wandering, lost
Being an activist to please her man
Writing poetry to please her man
Being just like his ex on TV to please her man
Doing so much to please a worthless bedroom companion
Are you really that empty
Sadly, yes

Lady No One
Consumed by a man
Controls her every move
Is she like the ex that broke him yet?
Blonde hair that is not hers
The cat, the pet
To get the ring
There will be no such thing
For this live in concubine giving away her best years.

Lady No One
Cries in her room
Wearing someone else's perfume.
Spouting out someone else's ideas
Spouting out her man's affirmations
Once a party girl
Now a lawyers wife
Perhaps tomorrow an astronaut
Today she wallows her body to a man wishing he were with a love he lost.....


Love
April
I Came, I Saw, I Sang: Memoirs of a Singing Telegram Delivery Girl
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