National Poetry Month: Tonight in Athens, Ralph La Charity & Ben Gulyas

Tonight The Globe in Athens, GA will feature a double bill of Ohio poets. Ben Gulyas, a returning featured reader from Cleveland, OH, will be at the monthly Word of Mouth gathering of poets, word-mongers and other creative folk. 

Joining in tonight from the banks of the far Ohio is Ralph La Charity, a Cincinnati lexiluminary by himself worth an evening's listen and a previously featured reader.  Here's are poems recently posted on the Word of Mouth website. 

The open-mic reading at The Globe begins at 8:00 pm. Grab a cocktail from the bar downstairs and celebrate National Poetry Month in Athens!

"Friendly Fire"

(Ralph La Charity)

Call the hearth at home friendly fire

Call the cold hours' starlight friendly fire

& while friendly fire's everywhere & forever

this fire reaps & preys

this fire lights both ways

Call the pain of birth friendly fire

Call the cries of babes friendly fire

& while friendly fire's everywhere & forever

this fire gives & takes away

this fire leaps & falls both ways

Call the threaded looms friendly fire

Call our darkened room friendly fire

& while friendly fire's everywhere & forever

this fire flays & it slays

this fire weaves both ways

Call lakes when they shine friendly fire

Call waves when they break friendly fire

& while friendly fire's everywhere & forever

this fire aches & it craves

this fire bathes both ways

Call grasses when they sway friendly fire

Call fireflies in their dance friendly fire

& while friendly fire's everywhere & forever

this fire burns where it braves

this fire churns both ways

Call the morning star friendly fire

Call the setting sun friendly fire

& while friendly fire's everywhere & forever

this fire eats the days

this fire bites both ways

Call the comet's tail friendly fire

Call the new moon's silver friendly fire

& while friendly fire's everywhere & forever

this fire sleeps within the blaze

this fire wakes both ways

"Neruda and Lorca poem"
(Ben Gulyas)

their blood warm with wound,
staining promise with promise of more blood to come,
not of violence, but of language,
blood of blooms, blood of moon, blood of breath
willing forth, chiseling sound
like a stone carving of fire ...
it was a stone carving of Lorca ...
a stone carving of a rose ...
Neruda pouring wine ... stone stone stone ...
their bodies faded,
a phantom glow, half dreamed,
a night bloom
grown out of dirt and salt,
a night bloom
burning, burning, burning