Thursday, 13 October 2022

One Poem by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko

 



Hold On!                                                                              

 

                      for Kae Tempest who inspired this Spokenword poem                  

                          

Alone in my room    I choke back tears 

for the weeping world    the sleeping world 

the impoverished   the sick   the insane 

I think of old debts   the light years gone by 

my memory down the drain 

  

I used to hang  

with hobos on park benches 

ride the trains  

with strangers through the trenches-- 

listen to their stories    in the rain 

So sorry   I’d say   with a lump in my throat 

while I wracked my brain    for a solution     

I prayed for evolution   restitution   

a revelation for the homeless    the disillusioned 

the ones whom only God could understand 

  

Take my hand--I’d say--and let me hold you 

Let me comfort and console you-- 

the brokenhearted   the ones with whom love parted 

the forgotten     the absurd   the unheard 

Lord only knows    I could have done much more 

Then a voice which haunts me still 

whispered these words 

  

Forget the could have would have should have might have beens 

the thousand and one excuses wearing thin  

The promise of Heaven on Earth   of Sun and Moon 

was never hollow 

Remember who you are   a shining Miracle   a star 

Just do your best   and all the rest will follow 

 

With every breath   with every sigh 

the living dead   the dying in my head   the unsaid 

filters through this thin disguise    the white lies 

the borders beyond the cosmos of your eyes 

realizing     the music unspoken between us 

cannot be broken   The mark of your genius 

something inside you was meaning to 

stir a beautiful mind   the purr of the sublime   

the Divine in you that  shine  Shine  SHINEs !!! 

The kinder kind was never defined 

by subtraction division derision 

or resting on their behind 

 

There’s something in the air                                                

something rare   like hope  like  I care 

you can feel it 

You can peel it off of every wall 

see it rise and fall 

spin it on the tip of your tongue  

if you dare to 

catch it as it flies   share it   watch it multiply 

Everything in space   the human race    hummmms in the thick of it 

Some of us too quick with it   lose it   abuse it   refuse it 

Others just plain sick of it 

drown in the ocean of emotion  

Call it what you will 

it will change you    rearrange you 

  

Energy synergy poetry 

The acrobatics of that   can snap you to attention  

the tension intention invention  

the stunt of syllables   the pull of gravity 

See my hand shake   hear my voice quake 

Let it sail   let it sing   

This moment is Everything! 

Mystery comes unveiled   leaves a trail 

Why not travel   take a chance   come unravelled 

Let’s be danced   like the stars 

Plummet like a me-te-or     

Feel the heat of the flame 

or the beat on the street or  

plant your feet on the summit of defeat 

No blame 

  

Why  take a back seat  

to the wide screen Cinema Paradiso 

Why am I are you are we so  

afraid of flying   of living   of dying 

of anticipation expectation deflation elation 

Be in the air   Be Fred Astaire 

Bo Jangles   Baudelaire 

Come live your immortality  

You’re not some poor relation 

you’re a sensational  spokenword vibrational 

a Child of the Creational ! 

  

There’s something you can’t hide 

in here   out there   inside 

touches me     heals me 

knows what is real   what is true 

can’t sit down    or stand still 

Everything in motion is a movie 

is a spoof    is living proof   is through the roof 

the sky    the planets   the ocean                                                 ‘ 

The notion that we live we give forgive   only to die              

with fame instead of honour and devotion                            

is a celebrity game  And so much locomotion 

Stop going through the motions 

Stay real Stay humble  (just please don’t mumble) 

 

Those who stay with what they know 

have nothing to show for it 

Give up the ghost    and go for it ! 

Feel the loss   the pain   the gain of your soul for it 

If you find yourself rejected   be the metaphor resurrected 

Move on   move out    and through the insanity 

Sense all your senses   transcend ex-per-i-ences 

Be the sequential    your essential   reverential potential 

Move on from fear to love     what was I thinking of?  

Share your light     a blessed blessing   

a transformation   a dance formation   a holy incantation 

Pay it forward   Be sublime! Let it SHINE! 

 

Take my hand and let me hold you 

Let me comfort and console you 

tell you all the things I never did before-- 

the ones with whom I’ve parted 

the brokenhearted  the forgotten  the absurd the unheard 

God only knows I might have done much more 

Then a voice which haunts me still whispers these words 

  

Forget the could have would have should have might-have-beens 

the thousand and one excuses wearing thin 

The promise of Heaven   of Sun and Moon 

was never hollow 

Remember who you are-- 

a shining Miracle   a star! 

Just do your best   and all the rest will follow 

You be Day   I’’ll be Night 

we'll turn darkness to light 

Hold on! Hold on tight! 

We’re movin on ! 

You be Day  I’ll be NIght 

we’ll turn darkness to light 

Hold on! Hold on tight! 

we’re movin on!  

You be Day  I’ll be Night 

we’ll turn darkness to light 

Hold on! Hold on tight! 

we’re movin  movin on 







 


Antonia Alexandra Klimenko was first introduced on the BBC and to the literary world by the legendary James Meary Tambimuttu of Poetry London–-publisher of T.S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, Henry Miller and Bob Dylan, to name a few.  his death, it was his friend, the late great Kathleen Raine, who took an interest in her writing and encouraged her to publish.  


A nominee for the Pushcart Prize and a former San Francisco Poetry Slam Champion, she is widely published. Her work has appeared in (among others) XXI Century World Literature (which she represents France) and Maintenant : Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art archived at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and New York’s Museum of Modern Art. 


She is the recipient of two grants: one from Poets in Need, of which Michael (100 Thousand Poets for Change) Rothenberg is a co-founder; the second—the 2018 Generosity Award bestowed on her by Kathleen Spivack and Joseph Murray for her outstanding service to international writers through SpokenWord Paris where she is Writer/ Poet in Residence.  Her collected poems On the Way to Invisible is forthcoming in 2023.



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