2018 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Competition. Poet Laureate – Leah Keith
The wandering eyes of life –
An opportunity
of anything, and anyone, and of each
other
And beyond – when you put your mind
to it.
And believing in yourself
And always more.
Like having an idea – and more to it -Because that is what I believe in.
And so much more is possible –
That you could do it
And keep going forward.
Because that’s what life is.
Like a little voice inside of yourself
Or anyone else –
And each one of us does have a voice
That will come out.
– Leah Keith
2017 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Competition Poet Laureate – Leah Keith
Like a big-picture dream that I have-
and what I believe in, and what is –
In life, in this world that we all live in
And being this warrior, and what that is-
Because everybody has that in them
Being amazing in each, and other ways
But the most important thing is people
People are important- artists, and writers
In this community of differences-
But being different is good,
As anything is possible
And what you believe in
I believe in anything and everyone
And my dream – story – life,
And what that is- and being this hero
Being a hero is like being yourself –
You have to fight for it, and keep going
Doing whatever it takes
For each other, and being our own way
And that’s the most powerful thing that we all have,
and we all know
Like going back, like many things
Like our parents-
and what they were, and their life-
But that’s not us
We make the life more, and better
And make what the world is-
And that is a real warrior
The Wild of Life
It is like the wild life of nothing,
With only air
Moving slowly in the distance
It is like the weather
Everything changes
underneath your shadow
Your mask of yourself
Ripping inside of your heart
Inside of your soul
And my breath
just blowing air in the rain
Just falling down
Like the way that I cry,
just falling down
Blowing and blowing
And running In the dust,
that sacred field in the woods
Where all the animals come out and play
Untitled
Lightning rod of the surface of wonder
A cross between the lines, like a piece of drawing in itself,
Within, without,
without reach within
The distance between sacred lighting in the dark
Crossroad in the dark, in time of wonder, in life, in itself
Fading and fading without
Drawing back, inside and out,
Like hanging out and pulling backwards in this cold, stone wall.
In the dark, until death and life,
Like this wall of silence
Over and over, like a piece of a lightning rod
Treacherous piece of a chapter
Breaking and breaking, peacefully craving destiny
Through the air, underneath myself
Fading and drawing out
Unwrapped of my soul, deeply
“try to break me” you say?
Never going to happen.
In life and sacred destiny, historically of myself
Piece by piece, so possible in life as we know it
It’s never going to change
But in life, in the world of deepness,
Of many, many more people in the world that I see
So filled- of life, fading and fading like a piece of craving
Of destiny like a dream
Of silence in the dust- completely in itself
In the dark of movement, over and over.
Airing through the wall of nothing
Nothing inside of this galaxy
Through the dark – the silent dark of shadows, of fantasies
Through inside and out, deeply
Desires of awakening-
Opening filled with this broken,
Completely broken heart- entirely ripped out from inside my soul
So, this story, what I’m saying, right now, right here
Now is the time for this next chapter
Of an opening door
Inside of that door is nothing,
Twisted across the surface of life, discovery of life
I see this more and more every day of my life
When I’m on this journey
I think that we should bring out a new beginning to the End.
But I know what’s going to happen,
Or what possibly what’s going to happen
It’s time to fix this
Drawing back to back – of more people to help
And solve this quest-
Treasure for all of us!
That’s why we are here,
And we are not going away
“Treacherous Wonder”
Treacherous moments in time of
wonder,
Spiracle of life in itself fading, fading out inside of my present.
Piece by piece, over and over of the
distance of life,
In the dark of silence.
Craving and craving galaxy in the dark
Spiracle dark inside of myself within,
without nothing inside, fading.
My breathe taken and taking in that time of wonder,
And in that dark of wisdom
In souls reaching and reaching out of
others
Not caring, but in that life of darkness,
of secrets within.
Like the movement of the wind, to a next opening door
Awakening of life itself and inside anything at all.
Desires of life and treasure
Of treacherous
and discovering life in itself and without.
Fading, crystalling out of air.
Hanging like a piece of thread
Like beginning in time – of moments in
time, in life
With others that are so different –
These souls are nothing
But what is really of souls, what is a
soul?
That they have inside
People that are so different, so alike;
that’s us
In the life of darkness, watching and watching all those other people.
Face to face, in my life, with nothing
inside with fading out
Like a broken mirror frame
But what is in that frame?
Because it’s not really there, real.
A ghost of my spirit and in this soul
I know it’s not there
People around us, that are so
committed to themselves
But us people, our people, we matter
the most
Like pictures and pictures inside my
head, with words
But its not really pictures inside of my
head
Just words :
ticking and ticking
Of life in there, in itself: treacherous
wonder
And discovering the impossible
journey,
and creating this next chapter in this
destiny
Through an opening, like another
opening door.
“Treacherous Setting” by Leah Keith 2014
Allen Ginsberg Poetry Prize winner
Treacherous setting,
Peaceful cleansing, inside and out, of the wandering eyes
Of a whisper inside, peacefully in the dark of a nightmare
Cleansing of my glaring spark,
Of pieces and pieces and many, many more
In the dark spiracle of the wandering eyes that look through the wandering gates
Like myself that looks back at me
Like a creature in the dark that is so different but so mysterious
Of a distance circlin, that completely caves in and into pieces
Like a timeline zone that completely zones out into place
Of pieces of fantasies, like a mirror frame that glows back and into within
An eternity in life and reason, and in itself, like an awakening twist
Moments in time and wonder,
Like a solver that wonders and creeps out the wandering
That moves and cleanses into a mirror frame
Out in the world and what it is in itself, like the wandering eyes
That is so sacred and many, many secrets that nobody even know what it is
Or as itself, that completely fades out like a mirror frame that fades out more
Glowingly in the dark of discovering
Horror whispering in the dark of a nightmare that cleanse even more
Of a dream that is still there for centuries
And many, many years that have gone by
And of myself, in my eyes
I’m still asleep and in myself
Like this destiny that craves into a journey
And shadows that cleanse into a lost, lone gypsy
Her spirit that whispers in the nightmare, in the rough, in the dark
And of eternity of life, and in itself of reason, and reason enough
That completely has meant to be, or not to be that question
Because that lost lonely gypsy -that dies- but she’s also still around forever
Even that she is so different from others – and many, many more others around
That fades out of that quest, destiny that completely craves into place
And circling and into this discovery piece of eternity of life and reason
In this life that is so meant to be, or not to be that question
And of these biggest hints of discovery, and of this journey concept
This lost lonely gypsy, that is so out there,
That what I meant to say was:
When she dies of her own tears,
She cries of glory
And the goodness of herself and her glowing heart
Filled with gold, so magical within, and in herself
That glory, beyond and within
The heart that never breaks