Category Archives: Poetry
Original poems.
I Will Not be Pacified – live reading
Recorded during the Literature Lives open mic event at the North Bergen Free Public Library in NJ on June 27th 2012. These literary readings are held once a month on the last Wednesday of every month.
This poem was written in 2009. Inspired by a baby t-shirt slogan I designed years earlier, this poem is a response to the many levels of authority and control that surround our daily lives. It professes a rebellion against the manipulation from various systems that directly affect us. From the blatant attempts at control espoused by politics, religion. education and media, to the more subtle influences on our behavior by pop culture and consumer culture, this poem expresses a break from the mainstream and a refusal to capitulate.
Contract with America – live reading
Recorded during the Literature Lives open mic event at the North Bergen Free Public Library in NJ on June 27th 2012. These literary readings are held once a month on the last Wednesday of every month.
This poem was written in 1994 during the Clinton years, when Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House. I still read the poem because it is still relevant even today. As long as Gingrich continues to be active in political life, and continues to speak publicly, this poem will remain current.
Dreaming of Tomorrow (1992)
Oh yes,
dreaming of tomorrow and you and me
And the flowers above the coffee table
Full of dust.
Fermenting inexpensive wine
Walking across a Chinese carpet
Venetian blinds wide open
The sun complimenting the lint
On our second hand love seat.
Read the rest of this entry
Dear Lady (1995)
Dear Lady of countless years
walking down these market streets
carrying fresh vegetables
and a load of laundry balanced
high atop your head;
Lady of a thousand wrinkles
distorting your aged face,
Lady of wreaking breath
of timeless death,
Read the rest of this entry
Songbird (2011)
I’m a songbird
blissfully gliding toward my sunrise.
I stretch my wings from north to south
and sing my sweet melody to freedom.
I leave an American sour breeze at my wake
and head east
but I won’t stop there. Read the rest of this entry
This Night Clearing (2010)
three days of blistering rain and purple-hued clouds break
for a full moon glowing blissfully in this
northern night sky
the crickets, perched in the sanctuary of their
eastern white pine, sing their harmonious
love songs to all who would take a
moment and listen to the melody within Read the rest of this entry
Contract with America (1994)
everytime I hear newt gingrich
speak about the
contract with america
i feel like tearing
out my asshole
placing it in a small box
mailing it first class
via the US post service
to the house of congress
labeled “concerned citizen”
and watch him open it
live on c-span
so the whole world
can see how
constipated he makes me.
Montclair State, © 1994
Wilson Santos 