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A database of music, poetry and spoken word relating to #OWS

Monday
Apr022012

REvGaMEs: Call/Response, 2+ Sequence Poems

[Photo by Paul McLean]

1

[Game program initiated by (sender) Alexandre Carvalho]

 

Solo or collective meditationdance, process whereupon the awakening being feels the streams of the universe intermeshing with body and body politik, streaming to and from, here and there, improving and exercising creation-meditation with no fucking mediation.
Microfilaments play, histories stream about: converge, merge, diverge, merge - and Emerge. 
#OWS? Not an organization. An idea-organism. Faith that manifests. By making the invisible visible, desmystifying space-time, we nourish a new reality. 

!!kaleydoscope.

{{@vortex,,,,,of a free,,,,square,,,we,,spiral.  spin the wheels of
!!kaleydoscope.
got it? no need for it. it's there at the funhouse where all mirrors lie.
#novads = #novas + #nomads. Crossing event-horizons all day all week, not for people but with people, through people. 
all can be to ride lifestreams
let you body loose
feel the streams 
leave the space void
unoccupied
ride the streams
if you like dreams

 

2

[Notation]:

Look at the response of this dude, inspired by our poetry! I think we might be indeed making art in the way that Paul mentioned. Amazing.

Alex

Photo by Paul McLean

3

Hello, my name is Skyglider Daydream and I received Alexandre's poem "Dance of Streams" through another listserv and it inspired me to write the following poem in response to it. If you like it, please forward it to the OWS S17 listserv and any others. Thank you!

 

[Response]:

 

flipperty ten-dance tree-tops = breakdown joy
wafting floating breezing keening
thinking moon thoughts for a dead dreamer
butterfly chrysalis transform love

0uf75jak j7k5flsa 39jo ksfn u3 ukg mfel
glory u-topia u-topos no place no time
no chains no bonds no work no hate
no thought

 

why worry? (??)

why fret why frown why look down?

just blue skies

are all I see

 

        .-~~~~-. |\\_
     @_/        /  oo\_
       |    \   \   _(")
        \   /-| ||'--'
      \_\  \_\\

smash a pig

piggy pig piggy pig piggy piggy pig pig

do you want to hit me? i know you do

come on mister pig

take your best shot

please

I know you want to feel your knuckles crunch my face break my skull

well

let me tell you a secret

I want it too

because that will make it all worthwhile

(right?)

 

you define me

 

come on in (take a spot)
sit down

doesn’t matter where

it’s all the same, who really cares?

 

not another march! oh bore

- let’s wax rhapsodical and discuss our privilege

forget about the community forum  right here right now this is what matters

what we’re doing at this very moment 

(what are we doing?)

doesn’t matter

just go - free

 

we the people of the occupied squares of America, in order to form a more perfect autonomous horizontal collective, establish organic food-shares, insure eternal drum circles, provide for the common mystification of our objectives, promote general disorganization, and secure the blessings of liberty to our idealized selves and our posteriors, do ordain and establish this reconstitution of transcendent fabulistic conceptual paradigms

 

job schmob war shmor health care belf pair

I'm not the one with

     mortgage payments

          rent

               $5 an hour

                     dead end job

                          doctor’s bills

                               out of food

                                   crying kids

                                        gotta go to work

                                             car won’t start

                                                  godDAMN!

(just free your mind –

your body is not my concern; who is this person? i don’t know them)

smick smack clickety clack                                

floating free morphing transforming no shape always changing beautiful

a new world (who am i?)

 

GENERAL STRIKE!

 

vortex transgress transgress transgress

revolution of the mind

not the world (there is no world)

owing no one but me

no obligations (the invisible committee, isn’t it so very pretty?)

 

just occupy always occupy everywhere occupy

here an occupy there an occupy everywhere an occu-pie-pie

 

autonomy

is a beautiful word to me

i imagine myself free

because i say i am

no matter what happens

in afghanistan

 

smash a window, smash a mind

eat a beer, drink the rind

don't worry what we leave behind


let's have a toy revolution

 

we are the occupiers
we are the occupiers
we are the occupiers

and we don't care

[fin sequence]



Sunday
Mar112012

BAAAAA! We Love Things Just the Way They Are

[From Doug]:

Hi,

I've written a song that satirizes how gullible people are about the things they're told by the 1% and their lackeys. See http://youtu.be/If95JCWEd_s

A chorus of sheep sings:

Baaaaa! Join us! join us! join us!

Maaaaa! Come and join the herd

Join us as we bleat together

We love things just the way they are

I have the feeling it would be fun for people to sing this together, possibly publicly. So I've separated out the backing track and made it available for free download at http://alonetone.com/dougsimple/tracks for people to use however they like.

The lyrics are also on the site. (http://alonetone.com/dougsimple/tracks/baaaaa-occupy-version) But I hope people will want to make and perform new verses as befits their local situation. The thing to keep in mind is, it's only funny if the sheep are naiively praising things that clearly aren't in their interest, "we love things just the way they are." If the sheep become aware of the irony in what they're saying, it loses its bite.

Imagine a chorus of people singing Baaaaa! wearing sheep noses!

Tuesday
Feb142012

Occupy

A Poem by Christopher Moylan

(Photo: Paul McLean)

 

 

Next has a hole in it

You can’t see across…

The horizon slips further away,

 

But it was always that way…

Clouds tear from clouds,

Light falls to pieces, sky

 

loses its parts of speech…

Deadwood advances on

springtime, a warm breeze

 

getting warmer all the time…

The sun is in eclipse,

looking with the naked eye,

 

Everyone else goes blind.

The river is cold and swift.

kneeling to take a sip,

 

Everyone else gets tipsy…

Turn out your pockets,

compassion needs a loan…

 

The old words are worn thin,

The new ones require faith

one doesn’t have: swaps and

 

Derivatives, securities for

Houses under water…

Take care the quiet neighbor,

 

beware the friendly banker

and job creator…Beware

the savior monetized like

 

an inspirational movie…

The planes are taking off

Again, the silos are dilating

 

From the Rockies to Iran…

Watches synchronized; on

their wrists, it’s always midnight…

 

Time to reassess; the air

We breathe is free, what

to do with it? The spot we

 

stand on was staked with

light once. It can be again.

We can be better. We can be

 

New. From now until the end

Next is always at hand.

We can fill it with what

 

Could be. So much want

To unwrap and pass around

One strong hand to another.

 

If the higher ground is cluttered,

Overgrown with neglect,

Or lit up like a carnival,

 

Then come down,

The open ordinary is just fine.

Pick a spot, and occupy.



Tuesday
Feb072012

The Claudius App 

Click the image to visit this beautiful site.

A Journal of Fast Poetry



Friday
Dec232011

OWS Poetry Anthology

Poets from around the world have been sending poems to the People’s Library in an effort to create a living/breathing poetry anthology in solidarity with the Occupy Wall St. movement. All poems are accepted into the anthology. The anthology is updated on a weekly basis. If you’d like a poem added to the anthology email stephenjboyer@gmail(dot)com and please include “occupy poetry” in the subject.

All poems are welcome to be added to the anthology. If you would be so kind as to send poems in the following format (size 12, TIMES font):

TITLE (bold)
by, Author (normal)
for JOE JOHN (italics)
SOMEWHERE, FARAWAY (italics)

BODY OF POEM (your unique vision!)

The OWS Poetry Anthology is open to all languages! Every week more and more languages are added to the anthology as more and more poets from around the world are joining in to make this text more nuanced. I’m very sorry, I’m limited to English so please pass this on in other languages if you possess such magickal abilities. No poem will be translated as that creates a heirachy of language. However, if the poet who sends in a poems wishes to include the poem in more than one language, all the versions will be added.

If you’re planning on printing the PDF to place a copy of it in your area, the first sketch page is the cover of the anthology. The wonderful artist Molly Crabapple did the sketch. I write in sharpie marker “OCCUPY WALL ST POETRY ANTHOLOGY” around the figures head and usually include a thought bubble that says, “I Love Poetry” somewhere in the margins… I’d recommend doing something similar and that you laminate it for safe keeping. Laminating a second page and placing it at the back of the anthology adds extra protection. And then three-hole punch the entire document and put rings in it for easy-reading!

Let’s spread these anthologies everywhere!

Keep Occupying!

Here’s the POETRY ANTHOLOGY PDF file!

Tuesday
Dec202011

99 Poems for the 99 Percent 

ABOUT THE PROJECT - 99 POEMS IN 99 DAYS

Since Walt Whitman, American poetry has been about democracy. It's been about reaching people on issues they care about in a voice they recognize.

99 Poems for the 99 Percent demonstrates how the aims of poetry are in concert with the aims and ambitions of the vast majority of Americans. It is proof that poetry can speak in a vital, robust, and meaningful way about real issues to real people.

These poems are for you.

Tuesday
Dec202011

The OWS Poetry Assembly: October 14, 2011

Tuesday
Dec202011

The Occupy Poetry Project

[From the website]:

About the O.P.P.

The Occupy Poetry Project is a forum to post poetry about the Occupy Wall St. / Occupy the Fed Movement that has embraced awake Americans for the past several weeks. It is true, the Federal Reserve has acted as an enabler in the goings-on of Wall St. and rotating doors between politics and corporations have forged an immoral union that has enacted the destruction of the sovereignty of nation states and the freedoms of the people they represent. Please share your voice. All levels of writing, all types of poems and styles--including visual, are welcome. To be clear, The Occupy Poetry Project is run by those of the opinion that this project is neither republican or democrat; while tempted to use a term like Constitutional, the philosophy involved is deeper than any political party or ideal, but for the betterment of all humanity the world over, in every culture, in every land, and for all people. The Occupy movement is spreading through out the states, so here are a few guidelines.

1. Send up to 5 poems
2. Include your full name
3. Include a brief bio
4. No simultaneous submissions
5. Previously published poems accepted but must include!
     - previously published credential: Publication / Date
     - permission to re-publish
6. Send everything in the body of your email
7. Put Name/OccupyPoetry in subject line
8. Send to michael.aaron.casares@gmail.com

Poems will be published and archived on this website. We cannot pay for publication of your writing. This is a free journal and open to the readership of the world. Thank you for your interest and thank you for participating in the Occupy Poetry Project. 

Thursday
Nov242011

Die Neue Elite ist das Volk

CLICK THE IMAGE TO VIEW MORE IMAGES.

Andreas Maria Jacobs

Die Neue Elite ist das Volk

Ephemeral Visual Graffiti

Digital projection of a series of red & black stencil type-faced lettering on a white background constituting of various subjective, erratic political - sometimes poetical - statements & slogans

Perceived and written during the final stages of the economical and financial downfall of Empyre in the years 2010-2011

Screened live at Beursplein, Amsterdam during Occupy Amsterdam November 10 2011

Photos by Belle Phromchanya



Thursday
Nov172011

OCCUPY RECORDS

http://api.ning.com/files/KqHaBz0UYi7Sjh-w6mQI*I-kR0WqHMBUxy3eKqGJA7QNBd8501EdeNCju4A5xkFurMHhC6YskFWR6r1uSV0lOLmAkVcdSka8/revoluyion1.jpg

Image added to OR website by DISCOJANE!

Occupy Records

What we're doing at Occupy Records is creating a platform to facilitate the connection between artists and fans who are involved with or inspired by the global Occupy movement.

Up until this point, there has been a lot of great music that's been created but no central place to share it or find it.  Thus, our initial goal is to encourage everyone - artists, music fans, activists, and anyone interested to join the community, share and connect with each other.

Going forward, we're going to be facilitating a series of releases of original music inspired by the Occupy movement that will benefit the cause, along with events, original video content, and other cool stuff. 

The ultimate goal is to have Occupy Records develop into its own self-sustaining media portal, allowing an organic global culture to flourish without interference from corporate interest.

Please enjoy the site, use it to share everything that inspires you, and spread the word.



Friday
Nov112011

The Blanket

I hear change.
Pressing my ear to the earth and its stirring bones,
baby vibrations kiss my skull,
I close my eyes and smile;
I detect approaching footfalls.
In conversations, the sketchy sparks of electrified embryos,
these restless hatchlings of hybrid hopes
spring from incubation, fall from lips and
onto my shirt, shoes and into the dirt we walk on.
They are not lost shards of fragmented dreams.
I choose to believe they are seeds.

I hear change.
Surrounds me: a lyric of tongue spoken with hands and feet,
a melody of ideas, philosophy, theology
married to passion in search of a savior
fashions a harmony, this whispered anthem
scratches my ear.
It is not an elegant sound, these staccato pinging
sutures of suffering sewn into faces
of mommies and daddies staring at babies
unconscious to thundering ticks of time
countdown seconds to roll call;
masses lined up for closeted stations in Purgatorio Nuevo.
And notes of simpatico silence as cellos
mourning the passing of faith in the night,
struggle to harmonize poorly with courage,
that blood of the ages which oils fear and flight;
I hear it.

I sense change.
I cannot feel it. The wind won’t reveal it. I’m numb to its presence.
I find no evidence trail on my tongue,
nor DNA refugees hiding in fingertips.
These trained eyes strain to identify
its invisible silhouette walking among us, and fail.
Yet, it is coming.
I know this because it is cold in here.
I should be shivering but I am not.
An other-earthly cloak has fallen,
cast around myself, its warmth just barely
coats me with a holy intuition.
Wrapped and huddled on front porch step,
eyes fixed upon that dark horizon
expectation welds me to this patient space
where, as prodigal children returning to rescue,
christening streaks of breaking light
will herald our transformation.

2011 Sojourner109

Tuesday
Nov082011

Wall Street sonata

Tuesday
Nov082011

New songs by Robert Villalobos for OWS

Because of You

Change

Desert Dog

Let's Go

New rock songs that were specifically created and designed to help lead our national and world wide protests!
The song "CHANGE" is for all the protesters to sing TOGETHER as we continue to protest around the world.
The song "BECAUSE OF YOU" is for all the protesters to sing to EACH OTHER as we continue to protest
and fulfill our cause!
The song "LET'S GO" was designed to help lead ANOTHER of our national campaigns. 

Sunday
Nov062011

CHANGE - an Italian song by Giovanni Caruso

troppo lento

questo conto alla rovescia

per sopravvivere.

Bisogna cambiare adesso!

Per avere un bel giorno

bisogna in tutti i modi

sconfiggere la notte.

La solidarietà non è un mondo a parte

ma una parte del mondo.

 

rit) cambiare

cambiare

dobbiamo cambiare

ora o mai più

un'altra occasione.

cambiare cambiare

possiamo cambiare

per in nostri figli

ed ognuno di noi sarà eterno

 

2) il tuo denaro

è materiale

prima o poi

non serve più.

Il potere

e il rispetto

finiranno con la morte

solo il tuo amore sarà ricordato

come parte del mondo

 

rit) cambiare

cambiare

dobbiamo cambiare

ora o mai più

un'altra occasione

cambiare cambiare

possiamo cambiare

per in nostri figli

ed ognuno di noi sarà eterno

 

l'unione fa la forza

e non ci sarà una strada

che non si può seguire

se tutti vogliamo migliorare.

Non lasciamoci illudere

da chi promette un mondo migliore

e continua a mandarlo a puttane

 

Rit)

too slow
this countdown
to survive
must change now
to have a nice day
must in all ways
defeat the night

Solidarity is not a world apart
but part of the world

 

change
change
we need to change

now or never
another time

change change
we, can change

for our children

and each, of, us will ever

 

your money
is material
sooner or later
no longer needed
the power
and respect
will end with death

only your love, will be remembered
as part of the world

 

change
change
we need to change

now or never
another time

change change
we, can change

for our children

and each, of, us will ever

 

Unity is strength,
and there will be a highway,
you can not follow,
if all we want to, improve
let us not, delude ourselves
by those, who promise a better world
and continues to send, him to hell

Rit)

Sunday
Nov062011

WE ARE THE NINETY-NINE PERCENT!/ by Firestone Feinberg

WE ARE THE NINETY-NINE PERCENT!/ by Firestone Feinberg

For corporate castles crowned in greed,
There is no way to pay the rent —
Except by robbing those in need;
We are the ninety-nine percent!

In gilded gates that guard the way
To hallowed halls — we’ve made no dent —
Yet funded them our hard-earned pay;
We are the ninety-nine percent!

Wake up! wake up! O woeful world!
And face the force, the fierce intent —
Of they forsake our flag unfurled;
We are the ninety-nine percent!

For tyranny who’s paid the cost?
We live in neither house nor tent —
And who the homeless, tempest-tossed?
We are the ninety-nine percent!

Whose land is this?  Whose times have changed?
Whose power and glory will be spent
To keep the order pre-arranged;
We are the ninety-nine percent!

Tho’ things are seldom what they seem,
Our mission’s clear — our good intent:
We are the world — we have a dream —
We are the ninety-nine percent!

 

Sunday
Oct302011

The Fierce and The Frail, Worcester, MA 2011

Occupy by TheFierceAndTheFrail

The Fierce and The Frail, Worcester, MA 2011

Sunday
Oct302011

Never Be Still/ by Johnny Spanish

Never Be Still

by Johnny Spanish

In solidarity with everybody out in the streets right now and those who wage the fight in other ways I have recorded a song displaying my feelings and frustrations with this system and this way of life.  I wanted to make an anthemic song with enough mainstream sensibility to catch the ears of those not fully involved in activism.

Sunday
Oct302011

We're Ready/ A song by Kristen Hartnagel

We're Ready

a song by Kristen Hartnagel

Inspired by and created for the Occupy movement

Sunday
Oct302011

occupy Wall Street , or the accretion of the pearl

occupy Wall Street , or  
the accretion of the pearl



The accretion of the pearl begins with
a miniscule intrusion
into the body of the animal,
which resists but cannot dislodge it.  
As the point of irritation persists
in the body of the bivalve
a thing of beauty occurs,  a swelling
circle of hard nacre and steady light.  

But first some  small thing has to slip between
the oyster’s mantle  
and its shell,
and it must stay there for a long enough time
to really irritate
the damn oyster.



Jonathan Moore
nyc 10-8-2011
day 23                                                                                                                                                       
Sunday
Oct302011

A Little Noise/ by N. Generalovich 

A Little Noise 

by N. Generalovich 

 

I always played by the rules

A most reliable tool

I got what’s given in spite of my choice

I feel my effort marooned

I sit in back of the room

And hide my voice

 

I need to make a little noise

I’m gonna make a little noise

 

They’re not hearing it at ten

I’m gonna raise it to eleven

Because they can’t ignore what’s underscored with a roar heard by the heavens

 

They keep you pacified to ward a riot

Until your dreams rely upon their diet

When the curtain blows, get a glimpse of those, who then will say you chose to buy it.

 

I don’t expect that we’ll be heard

Until we say it as a crowd

They won’t be listening at first

We’re gonna have to say it loud

 

We can’t expect to have a choice

If we’re afraid to raise our voice

 

We need to make a little noise… 4x’s

 

All that I want is to be heard

And all my singing’s not enough

Nobody listens to the words

So I will turn the volume up

 

You can’t expect to have a choice

If your desire isn’t voiced

 

We need to make a little noise… (4x’s)

 

We always played by the rules

Raised as reliable tools

We got what’s given despite our own choice

We’re sacrificed by their laws

We need to rise to the cause, and find our voice…

 

We need to make a little… we need to make a little…

Noise

We need to make a little noise