the heat
you left with me
last night
still smolders
the wind catches
your scent
and refreshes
my senses
i am a leaf
falling from your tree
upon which i was
impaled
~Nikki Giovanni
Welcome to OpenLinkNight, this autumn eve on the cusp of kids in bright and sometimes scary outfits banging on your door to show off their acoutremonts and ask ‘Trick or Treat’ which loosely translates to ‘Give me candy’, so that I can get hopped up on sugar and not let my parents get any sleep. Smiles, at least that is what happens here on All Hallows Eve.
In the poem above, Nikki Giovanni brings heat to the chilly season. I love that about poetry, how we can take and turn things on its head. And do it with passion.
Speaking of passion, we are here for one reason and one reason alone and that is the passionate consumption of mass quantities of poetry, so I will not pretend you are listening to me. Go, go, write poetry on receipts and keep them crinkling in your pocket, spray them across the backs of discarded envelopes or carve them in bathroom stall walls, whatever it takes to get it here to share.
And then read and love on others, leaving meaningful comments and encouragement—because we are not just poets…but a poetic army marching across the net in verse revolution stirring passion in dead places, dark corners and cracks in the sidewalk.
My name is Brian, and I am your pub tender this evening, so if you have any questions, please let me know.
SO here, is how it works:
- Post a poem to your blog. (Just one….please!) Link back to dVerse on your post. It’s all in the name of spreading the poetry love!
- Click the Mr. Linky box below, copy and paste the URL of your post, enter your name, and click submit! Welcome to our poetic army!
- Using the same Mr.Linky, click on other submitted pieces. Comment on those that grab you, let the other poets know you have visited. We are community, and engaging with each other helps to keep that spirit alive and thriving.
- Tweet, share, and spread the words! Send postcards, leave sticky notes whatever floats your boat. Smiles.
- Most of all…enjoy what is fast becoming the place to be for poetry lovers and readers alike! We are dVerse!
dVerse 
Welcome to OpenLinkNight everyone! do enjoy yourselves…have fun visiting….sharing poetry….i look forward to stopping in soon myself…
hey brian… I’d like a double shot… on the rocks. haha
coming at you man…smiles.
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Creators take charge! 😉 Thank you for hosting Brian…as one of my favorite poet’s say…see you on the trail! TGIT!
see you there…smiles.
Make mine a bourbon manhattan straight up. Looking forward to some good reading.
Love, love, love this poetic army….
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Hi Brian! I’m afraid I did not go for passion or heat tonight. I am already regretful of my choices! Oh well, maybe I better have a drink! (And read others’ better choices!) (Though all that will have to be after work.) Take care, K.
oh that is ok you used your words and that is what mattered…on my way over….
I think I am regretful of my choice as well. I should have written something totally new.
Hush Poets! We’ll take your words any way…old, new, red, blue…we’re just happy you’re here!
even yellow or orange…on napkins…
Great to be here guys – looking forward to reading your poems. Alright. We aren’t trending on Twitter yet…but we can damn well try! Why not? As Ms M says, we’re a poetic army!
Best to all and have a great week…..
*Hot Whispers*
my butter got melted….
Laughing out loud….hahahahahaha, Brian!
So if I was pretending to listen to you, yet you weren’t pretending I was. Does that make my pretending no longer pretend?..haha
Cheers…half pint in hand and ready to drink in some beautiful words 🙂
thanks for hosting ……look forward to toasting the other poets …thank you and cheers !
cheers!
Thanks for hosting Brian! Great intro…I seemed to link twice (?) but it’s the same poem 🙂 phew..
whew what a passionate intro… welcome to another wonderful night of poetry..looking forward to reading what you bring to the table…sprayed across discarded envelopes or carved in bathroom stall walls or wherever…power to the poets…smiles
Thanks for hosting, brian–they say an army marches on its stomach, so make sure the fried cheese and bacon -sour cream potato skins don’t burn. I’ll return later for the feast.
ooo some of those might make it out of the kitchen…smiles.
i’m listening to u:)
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Once in a while, I dig into my backpack and pull out folded scraps of paper and napkins, all bearing bits and pieces of poetry, images that pop into my head and have nowhere to go except the recesses of my bag until the origami unfolds and the pieces find their poems. Wonderful article, LOVE nikki’s opening poem. Have a fantastic OpenLinkNight.
Oh, Brian, I’m having a salad for dinner. Perhaps you could serve me something white this evening. 😀
Beth
any thing you want beth…smiles.
(shyly delurks…)
Posting for the first time ever here…thanks for the forum. I’m off to do more editing now, but will wander back in later to gobble up some words.
yay! emily is in the house tonight everybody…be sure to sing her a song when you drop by her place…
Got some unexpected and not so good news today… I wrote about it underneath my poem. Thank you.
Brian, thanks for hosting OLN this fine, on the verge of winter’s eve-lol Definitely rather be inside reading and writing on most occasions but when the weather get’s nasty-all the more motivation to stay inside:)
Hello All!
Good to be here this beautiful fall afternoon. Quite a change from the 90 plus all summer.
This week I have continued the poems of Lady/Lord Nyo. It’s becoming quite a saga. LOL!
Thank you, Brian for hosting and that is a very passionate intro.
Lady Nyo
Allright! I’m really enjoying the saga…shall be by to see the latest developments.
Thank you for hosting. 🙂
Darn it! *stomping my foot* The link went in wrong. *pout*
Sorry, the one I wanted to link didn’t replace my last link. So, I linked the one I wanted much later. Grrr….
we are not just poets…but a poetic army marching across the net in verse revolution stirring passion in dead places, dark corners and cracks in the sidewalk.
Awesome, Brian! And I also LOVED the poem by Nikki Giovanni…sizzlin’ for sure.
Word up, cool cats. 🙂 Glad to be back. I actually have two pieces I’d love you to look at if you get a chance. I’ve been gone for a couple of weeks, so I’m looking forward to getting my poetry fix.
http://iamthat-shawna.blogspot.com/2011/10/abcs-and-poetry.html
http://iamthat-shawna.blogspot.com/2011/10/pasta-poetry.html
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Thanks for hosting, Brian! Looking forward to reading some great poetry again this week.
Marvelous introduction Brian, I love it when poets get fired up!
agreed…
To another week with wonderful poets! My thanks to you all ~ Rose
Line ’em up…feelin’ wicked. O, hi there! LOL.
loved loved loved Nicki’s poem. I was listening. Then I put my glowy woobly antennae on because I heard there’d be candy….
*holds out bucket*
[my piece will be up in a bit]
Thanks for opening the door!
:0)
Just popping in for a whisky or two… evening all 🙂
see..now i feel stupid with my fennel tea…smiles
All Chai for me 🙂 You are not alone!
interesting concept. i nibbled.
welcome…great to seeing you at the pub…tremendously enjoying your new york city minutes..
Just noticed this on twitter – only 15 weeks late in joining in – oops!
warm welcome and enjoyed your firework… have a look around…some really cool people here…
I love the word pub.
I audited Niki Giovanni’s creative writing class at VA Tech. years ago.
nice. i live about an hour away…have seen her/talked to her a couple times…incredible lady with some amazing stories…she was one of the first poets i ever read.
Hot cider with a short of brandy to warm things out. Already a great showing. Thanks, Brian.
Too late I’ve posted… cannot go and comment right now cause it’s 22.10 pm my time and I am exhausted… but I cannot miss taking part though I promised I would not this week cause I wouldn not have time… but hey what the heck- here i am and I’ll do my best to visit as many as I can in the early morning
Thanks for hosting my dearest BRIAN!
Hugs and smiles 🙂
great to see you dulce…will soon go to bed as well..
Whew! Just finished and as it’s the week of hobgoblins and jack o’lanterns I think something cold, damp, and dark might be in order. My offering tonight is certainly not polished, but it’s all about the beginnings back in the darker past of the night of the spirits and Celtic beginnings when gods and faeries held sway and time could run in both directions. Come on by!
PS Thanks Brian for tending the bar and ALL you do around here. You’re the champ! I always can do with a poem of Nikki Giovanni’s – She’s one of my all times favs! Thanks for the comments on my poem. Not really finished I don’t think. But it’s a good first go for me, anyway.
A complex, but important subject from me this week. Here’s the link for those interested. http://bit.ly/dxEjiG
ok – i’m calling it a day and be back tomorrow morning…have fun poets..
sleep well claudia….
Yikes. I forgot the time and entered so late this week. ; __ ;
Wonderful intro, Brian. Place is really jumping with voices old and new to this soirée. That may be French, but I still want a pitcher of brew. Brewed verse, as it were. Later!
J
http://poetrytech.com/2011/10/25/sestina-blues-clues/
My son is 13 now and working on a poetry project in school. I dusted this off to show him. If I say so myself, I’m surprised at how good it was.
nice..how cool to pass on the love to another generation gary!
What a beautiful meaningful introduction to poetry. Thank you Brian. Your definition about passion about spinning to turn around with passion makes me understand poetry a bit more because it is so true. Writing a poem requires passion, be it positive or negative. It is the numbness that I have to move out from. To feel again is God’s blessings.
true that…but i have written a few numb poems in my day as well…thank you OG….
our first 100 poets in under 3 hours….woohoo…the pub is hopping tonight…how many will join in the next 30 hours…
Life and the verse novel have kept me away more than I would have hoped, but I did have something new to share, so hello! A round on me! …And here’s a coin for the jukebox – “Moves Like Jagger”
semaphore! great to see you…ha, nice song too…will be by shortly…
I love that song Sam. In and out tonight. Hope to have all day manana to read. So looking forward to it!
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Ah, Brian, you and your wonderful way with words: we are not just poets…but a poetic army marching across the net in verse revolution stirring passion in dead places, dark corners and cracks in the sidewalk
any moments of brilliance are merely coincidental…or accidental smiles…
Hey Brian, thanks for hosting! I could go for a nice Bailey’s coffee and a seat by the fire to get this chill out of my bones! Fall is definitely in the air here in New England. Posted a poem written just for fun in honor of the upcoming holiday. Trusting the only spirits I’ll run into tonight are the imbibing kind!!
Cheers!
smiles.we will ward th spirits away while you sit by the fire…here let me throw a new log on…
Since I missed the ‘shape poem’ prompt, I’m slipping my response in here!
nice…never too late to shape up…smiles
wow! There’s already over a hundred links! Submitted an old one after making a few changes. 🙂
nice….cant wait to stop in…
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Thank you for hosting, Brian.
hey no sweat i have a blast running the pub…
loving this weekly pub night
Here again on a Tuesday! Yay!
yay! smiles.
Dropped one into the bucket… slow night for the muse, though. Can’t wait to slog through and see what the others have written!
Glad to be taking part in this tonight! Hope you all enjoy my piece as I look forward to reading all of yours.
Cheers
Dale Wilsey Jr.
nice dale…def looking forward to it…be over shortly…
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Oh my gosh, I’m so tired I just commented on week 4. Any way I’m glad to have made it this evening. Looking forward to reading some poems.
Brian what a great intro… I’m in the army now! Luckily they serve Great White Microbrew here. Ready to read till my eyes bleed.
we have bandaids if you need them as well…and thank you..smiles.
good morning…let me get a coffee and a shower and i’m ready to read…
yay! good morning claudia…will put the coffee on…we had a slight party break out…only 125 friends showed up…i promise i will clean up a bit in the morning when i wake up…
on that note off to bed…smiles.
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That was a beautiful introduction, Brian, full of inspiration. I’m only sorry I’m a bit late, but I know there’s still much fun to be had. Yeah for OpenLinkNight!
Thanks for hosting this! Here’s my LImerick Tale.
Thanks for another great cache of inspiring poetry.
I’d like to take the opportunity to thank Daydreamertoo for inviting me to link in at this site.
Yours truly,
Kay Salady
♥
Definitely not one of my best poems, but it is straight from the heart and needed to be shared. Hopefully it marks a new era, and the verse will only get better from here!
good morning! coffee cup in hand i am ready to read some verse….
Alright I’ve braved the weather to be here – better late than never. I’m a first-timer. Not one of my favourite poems either as it is from much darker days. Looking forward to some feedback.
And I forgot to mention, Brian, that your welcome post is sublime – enough to inspire verse to pour forth. I am supposed to be finishing an assignment, but unless I write it in poetry, I suspect a short diversion is in order… Thank you for being such an inspiring and gracious host. 🙂
smiles. why thank you ma’am
Thank for your inspiring words and passionate voice, Brian.
I need this constant reminder and OLN is the best way to gather inspiration, strengthen our bonds as well as meet new friends. Doing my rounds of reading ~
have fun out on the trail heaven…some really great stuff out there this week…
a newbie over here 🙂 First time posting … look fwd to getting to know y’all! 🙂 Have a great week! Ciao!
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Hello everyone,
I am late to the party but I wanted this one to be just right! Enjoy and have wonderful day.
I’m a little late getting here, but I made it! I would blame traffic, but… 🙂
Not-So-Super Supercomputers
not late at all we still have 11 hours to go before we shut the party down…great to see you….
Thanks for hosting Brian. I managed a short poem this morning. Don’t know how good it is, but it reflects my life at the moment. It’s an acrostic, but the title is not the acrostic word, but my way to cope. Peace, Linda
What a pubcrawl this one has been! I hope to get a few more samples under my belt before the doors shut at midnight tonight, but I just wanted to thank everyone for their participation, and for the great reading this time around. Some excellent poems, as always, and some new faces that it’s great to see. And Brian, you are the host with the most–java, anyway.
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I love this line, Brian: “Go, go, write poetry on receipts and keep them crinkling in your pocket.”
thanks shawna…wow we hit 150…nicely done…will check back in a bit and see if we have others join…great stuff people…
thought i’m sneaking in just before the doors close…wow..150+… reading..
and see you tomorrow…(well for me it’s today) for meeting the bar with emmett wheatfall…he has brewed quite the challenge for us…
Hi there,
I’m Fritz O’Skennick… Beth Winter sent me over for drinks… 😀
Have a great night…