August Poet of the Month Paul Richmond

Biography:

Paul Richmond was awarded Beat Poet Laureate by National Beat Poetry Foundation for, MA 2017-2019, USA 2019-2020, & Lifetime 2022. Performs nationally and internationally, solo and with “Do It Now.” He is best described as political, deadpan and wryly humorous, delivered in his own style. Has been called, “Assassin of Apathy”. He is also a publisher of over 80 writers and has 8 books himself. For more info.

Backstory:

Love Poetry Came from the experience of receiving an email about a new book by a poet, on looking at the promo picture I wondered how I was going to explain how I got there.

Love Poetry

Yes, it has been 27 years
A wild roller coaster ride
Of ups and downs
Hair pin turns
Where we thought
We were going to be thrown off
But we didn’t jump
No, we held on
We still hold on to each other
With more depth
Amazed at how much time has gone by
Amazed that we still learn new things
About each other
Committed to being together
As the saying goes
Getting old together
As we sit across from each other
While checking our emails
I am sent a link
A poet letting everyone know
About their new book
Going to the link
There is her promo picture
She was in a short skirt
With tattoos running up her leg
The skirt stopped just below
The curve of her ass
There was a little bit of a tattoo
Showing on the curve
I am wondering what the tattoo looks like
My love sees me staring at the screen
Asks
Have I found something of interest
I respond
I love poetry

Backstory:

You Call Me Your Goddess was submitted to NBPF for their annual Goddess Anthology and seeing after all these years we are still fighting for women’s rights over their bodies, voting, equal pay etc

You Call Me Your Goddess

You call me your Goddess
If I am your Goddess
Why do you abuse me
With your
Pedestals
With your standards of beauty
With your laws against my body
With systems that keep me dependent
With your violence and frustration
With your ownership
Defining my sexuality
Defining the roles you want me to play in your movie

You call me Goddess
One day and trash me the next
You call me Goddess
Expecting me to be honored in my slavery
You call me Goddess
Instead of calling my name
Seeing me for who I am
Loving me for who I am
The Goddess that seduced all Gods
Medusa who turns everything into a cold stone
I am a complicated sauce of bitter and sweet

If I am a Goddess
Then you will have to accept all parts of me
You will have to set me free
You may call me Goddess
I am not your Goddess
I belong to me

Backstory:

I am Open On Tuesdays: I was asked to submit to a poetry art show where the poems were to be put up on the wall related to LGBTQIA+ and this poem was chosen to be in the show, my way of trying to deal with how personal politics has blurred our vision of the big picture.

I am Open On Tuesdays

In 1950’s one called oneself Bi
Bisexual In the hopes to claim some normalcy
You were normal, and you drifted once in a while
Many bi male and females married
To give themselves a cover. To live a. gay lesbian. life
Then coming out I am gay I am a lesbian
In Buffalo NY in the 60’s on the news
We found a gay / lesbian person walking down the street
As if it was an archaeological find No one had heard of
Gay Lesbian bars became underground havens

Stonewall defined the fight for the right to exist
Gay and Lesbian clubs came out on colleges campuses
Exploration and freedom lead to non-binary view of the world
The fight to recognize more definitions LGBTQIA+
The umbrella to cover all the choices grows
With so many choices how do you choose
What if, your attractions, your feelings change hourly
The women’s movement of the 70’s. She whenever he was brought up
Now 50 + years later We battle over pronouns

Voting down clear water bills For having the wrong pronouns
Without clean water we have no choices
How to fight For recognition Personal rights
Health Care To be seen for who you are
Free to define yourself Free to change and change again
Don’t let personal politics separate itself from the bigger picture
Our own extinction Endless Wars Endless Polluting Using up all resources
For future generations we need to create cohabitate on a sustainable planet
I was asked how do l identify
I answered, I try not to join groups
I try and make it easy on myself
Give myself the freedom for the most options
I say look me up on Tuesday
I will see how I feel
Which clothes I will take out of the closet
Or take out no clothes at all
l identify with those who want to save the planet