<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><rss xmlns:atom='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' version='2.0'><channel><atom:id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448</atom:id><lastBuildDate>Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:08:29 +0000</lastBuildDate><title>Iyeoka Okoawo - Poetry</title><description></description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/</link><managingEditor>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>31</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-4863375123292581648</guid><pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-07-27T04:02:34.322-04:00</atom:updated><title>HAPPILY EVER AFTER (song)</title><description>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; "&gt;&lt;div style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; width: auto; font: normal normal normal 100%/normal Georgia, serif; text-align: left; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"&gt;Lyrics: Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo 7/09 ©&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Verse 1:&lt;br /&gt;I AM YOUNG&lt;br /&gt;I WEAR NO ARMOR&lt;br /&gt;NO ABILITIES TO BECOME STONE&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL ABANDON ME&lt;br /&gt;WHEN I AM BROKEN&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL ABANDON ME&lt;br /&gt;WHEN I AM OLD&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL BETRAY ME&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL BETRAY ME&lt;br /&gt;ON MORE TWILIGHTS&lt;br /&gt;THAN I DESeRVE&lt;br /&gt;DANCING ON THE GRAVES&lt;br /&gt;OF OUR YESTERDAYS&lt;br /&gt;DIGGING DOWN DOWN&lt;br /&gt;THE BONES OF OUR LOVE&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;chorus:&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die de die&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die die&lt;br /&gt;die de die de die de die&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die de die&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;verse 2:&lt;br /&gt;I AM YOUNG&lt;br /&gt;I WEAR NO ARMOUR&lt;br /&gt;NO ABILITIES TO BECOME STONE&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL BETRAY ME&lt;br /&gt;ON MORE TWILIGHTS&lt;br /&gt;ON MORE TWILIGHTS&lt;br /&gt;THEN I DESERVE&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL DISCOVER&lt;br /&gt;THAT I AM NOT THE GIRL&lt;br /&gt;I AM NOT THE GIRL&lt;br /&gt;YOU THOUGHT I WAS&lt;br /&gt;FOR YOU HAVE FOUND A WAY&lt;br /&gt;TO STRANGLE HER&lt;br /&gt;BURY THIS SWEET LITTLE GIRL&lt;br /&gt;INTO THE GROUND&lt;br /&gt;chorus:&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die de die&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die die&lt;br /&gt;die de die de die de die&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die de die&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;bridge:&lt;br /&gt;BREAK DOWN BREAK DOWN DOWN&lt;br /&gt;THE WALLS OF HAPPILY EVER AFTER&lt;br /&gt;BREAK DOWN BREAK DOWN DOWN&lt;br /&gt;THE WALLS OF HAPPILY ever after X2&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;chorus:&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die de die&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die die&lt;br /&gt;die de die de die de die&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die de die&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;verse 3:&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL LEAVE THE GIRL&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL LEAVE THE GIRL&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL LEAVE THIS GIRL BEHIND&lt;br /&gt;SLOWLY DETACHING&lt;br /&gt;FROM THE MEMORIES&lt;br /&gt;OF EVER KNOWING A LOVE LIKE MINE&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SHE WILL get up in the morning&lt;br /&gt;SHE WILL avoid wasting THESE days&lt;br /&gt;SPEAK: “I WILL find a way&lt;br /&gt;To revive the woman I loved&lt;br /&gt;Before I chose to LOVE you THAT WAY”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;chorus:&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die de die&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die die X2&lt;br /&gt;BREAK DOWN BREAK DOWN DOWN&lt;br /&gt;THE WALLS OF HAPPILY EVER AFTER X2&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;vamp:&lt;br /&gt;I AM YOUNG&lt;br /&gt;I WEAR NO ARMOR...&lt;br /&gt;NO ABILITIES TO BECOME STONE&lt;br /&gt;MY EYES WILL REFLECT EVERYTHING&lt;br /&gt;ABOUT ME THAT YOU WILL NEVER KNOW&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;end.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-4863375123292581648?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2009/07/happily-ever-after-song_27.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-5842966209929033090</guid><pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:32:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-07-27T09:24:09.547-04:00</atom:updated><title>HAPPILY EVER AFTER (song)</title><description>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;Lyrics: Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo 7/09 ©&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Verse 1:&lt;br /&gt;I AM YOUNG&lt;br /&gt;I WEAR NO ARMOR&lt;br /&gt;NO ABILITIES TO BECOME STONE&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL ABANDON ME&lt;br /&gt;WHEN I AM BROKEN&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL ABANDON ME&lt;br /&gt;WHEN I AM OLD&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL BETRAY ME&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL BETRAY ME&lt;br /&gt;ON MORE TWILIGHTS&lt;br /&gt;THAN I DESeRVE&lt;br /&gt;DANCING ON THE GRAVES&lt;br /&gt;OF OUR YESTERDAYS&lt;br /&gt;DIGGING DOWN DOWN&lt;br /&gt;THE BONES OF OUR LOVE&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;chorus:&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die de die&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die die&lt;br /&gt;die de die de die de die&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die de die&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;verse 2:&lt;br /&gt;I AM YOUNG&lt;br /&gt;I WEAR NO ARMOUR&lt;br /&gt;NO ABILITIES TO BECOME STONE&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL BETRAY ME&lt;br /&gt;ON MORE TWILIGHTS&lt;br /&gt;ON MORE TWILIGHTS&lt;br /&gt;THEN I DESERVE&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL DISCOVER&lt;br /&gt;THAT I AM NOT THE GIRL&lt;br /&gt;I AM NOT THE GIRL&lt;br /&gt;YOU THOUGHT I WAS&lt;br /&gt;FOR YOU HAVE FOUND A WAY&lt;br /&gt;TO STRANGLE HER&lt;br /&gt;BURY THIS SWEET LITTLE GIRL&lt;br /&gt;INTO THE GROUND&lt;br /&gt;chorus:&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die de die&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die die&lt;br /&gt;die de die de die de die&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die de die&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;bridge:&lt;br /&gt;BREAK DOWN BREAK DOWN DOWN&lt;br /&gt;THE WALLS OF HAPPILY EVER AFTER&lt;br /&gt;BREAK DOWN BREAK DOWN DOWN&lt;br /&gt;THE WALLS OF HAPPILY ever after X2&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;chorus:&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die de die&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die die&lt;br /&gt;die de die de die de die&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die de die&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;verse 3:&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL LEAVE THE GIRL&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL LEAVE THE GIRL&lt;br /&gt;YOU WILL LEAVE THIS GIRL BEHIND&lt;br /&gt;SLOWLY DETACHING&lt;br /&gt;FROM THE MEMORIES&lt;br /&gt;OF EVER KNOWING A LOVE LIKE MINE&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SHE WILL get up in the morning&lt;br /&gt;SHE WILL avoid wasting THESE days&lt;br /&gt;SPEAK: “I WILL find a way&lt;br /&gt;To revive the woman I loved&lt;br /&gt;Before I chose to LOVE you THAT WAY”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;chorus:&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die de die&lt;br /&gt;die de die die die die X2&lt;br /&gt;BREAK DOWN BREAK DOWN DOWN&lt;br /&gt;THE WALLS OF HAPPILY EVER AFTER X2&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;vamp:&lt;br /&gt;I AM YOUNG&lt;br /&gt;I WEAR NO ARMOR...&lt;br /&gt;NO ABILITIES TO BECOME STONE&lt;br /&gt;MY EYES WILL REFLECT EVERYTHING&lt;br /&gt;ABOUT ME THAT YOU WILL NEVER KNOW&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;end.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-5842966209929033090?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2009/07/happily-ever-after-song.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-4044231375584283172</guid><pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:15:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-02-08T22:36:56.996-05:00</atom:updated><title>message to you</title><description>Keep Heaven close wherever you go.&lt;br /&gt;a good place to put it is in your back pocket.&lt;br /&gt;Heaven comes in handy you know.&lt;br /&gt;So hold the globe.&lt;br /&gt;You're invincible now.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-4044231375584283172?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2009/02/message-to-you.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-5969185352455550714</guid><pubDate>Sat, 20 Dec 2008 19:31:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-12-20T14:32:13.509-05:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;strong&gt;We are here like the dust in a sunbeam&lt;br /&gt;Wondering how they will remember us when we are gone&lt;br /&gt;Pondering if these moments will matter&lt;br /&gt;Battling with our need to live in this manner&lt;br /&gt;Detached with the echoes of our journeys tattooed on our backs&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now for me life moves much like a dream&lt;br /&gt;Complete with TIME skipping rope&lt;br /&gt;With the path my hopes want to take&lt;br /&gt;And sometimes I fear like I’m falling&lt;br /&gt;Sometimes I know when I need to fly&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most times I’m standing very still&lt;br /&gt;Sight reading the meaning of the brail &lt;br /&gt;Raised beneath my fingertips&lt;br /&gt;And I believe each lift to mean &lt;br /&gt;We are still discovering which of our&lt;br /&gt;Senses we can trust&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Or perhaps right now &lt;br /&gt;is happening in this sequence&lt;br /&gt;As time jumps and yesterday sails&lt;br /&gt;In the same rate of forever &lt;br /&gt;as every breath we&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Inhale (hope)…Exhale.&lt;br /&gt;Inhale (hope)…exhale.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-5969185352455550714?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2008/12/we-are-here-like-dust-in-sunbeam.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-8414280900080730412</guid><pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:30:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-11-05T03:34:54.049-05:00</atom:updated><title>MY POEM TO NATIVE SON AND PRESIDENT ELECT BARAK OBAMA</title><description>Defuse me as promised&lt;br /&gt;Contend me&lt;br /&gt;Choose me and the transition into HOPE will become a part of our mission&lt;br /&gt;Do not fear what they told you could possibly be a mirror to the impossible&lt;br /&gt;Do not fear when they tell you that you may fail&lt;br /&gt;Remember you MADE today possible&lt;br /&gt;Paving a version of this vision that began &lt;br /&gt;As a new generation and dissipated &lt;br /&gt;Into a witness of perfection ready for reconciliation&lt;br /&gt;Of the trials and tribulations of a people ready for this moment to come&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Find a moment to build your personal campaign to victory&lt;br /&gt;Succeed when your moment comes for you&lt;br /&gt;Focus and recognize the turning point when it happens&lt;br /&gt;Watch them as they analyze your success &lt;br /&gt;Know that they will celebrate you and criticize your journey in the same breath&lt;br /&gt;Trust that you will be the same man you were &lt;br /&gt;When you failed at inspiring the person &lt;br /&gt;You wanted most to inspire&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We will soon understand the feeling of that echo&lt;br /&gt;We will define and defend &lt;br /&gt;What it means to lead the life of rising &lt;br /&gt;From the bottom to the top&lt;br /&gt;To cracking a ceiling of glass&lt;br /&gt;To being 5 generations removed from slavery&lt;br /&gt;To being proud once again to declaring yourself an American, an African, a woman or a man, a Patriot, a part of something greater than anything you ever thought was worthy of being shouted over a rainbow or a mountain top&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Today is the day we learned you became President of the United States of America&lt;br /&gt;Today we celebrate in the present tense&lt;br /&gt;We believed but knew not what the definition of the &lt;br /&gt;Ultimate perspective would ever become&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But now we know&lt;br /&gt;Now we know that in time&lt;br /&gt;In time you can survive &lt;br /&gt;The hurricane that will come for you&lt;br /&gt;Now you know that in time&lt;br /&gt;That this change in our lives will leave us &lt;br /&gt;Better than we ever were before&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo 2008&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-8414280900080730412?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2008/11/my-poem-to-native-son-and-president.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-6247720657684031867</guid><pubDate>Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:55:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-10-28T13:57:24.537-04:00</atom:updated><title>What She Said</title><description>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"&gt;Let us start with what she did not say&lt;br /&gt;She did not say:&lt;br /&gt;Abandon me&lt;br /&gt;I am broken&lt;br /&gt;I have the ability to become stone&lt;br /&gt;My eyes will reflect everything&lt;br /&gt;About me you will never know&lt;br /&gt;I will betray you on more twilights than you deserve&lt;br /&gt;You will discover I am not the woman you thought I was&lt;br /&gt;For you have found a way to strangle her&lt;br /&gt;Stripping her spirit like a mutiny in the night&lt;br /&gt;This image of pure and perfection&lt;br /&gt;Of yours and happily ever after&lt;br /&gt;This deep-rooted pedestal&lt;br /&gt;This pluck of beauty and magic and human&lt;br /&gt;We are both damaged now&lt;br /&gt;Dancing on the hollow graves of our yesterdays&lt;br /&gt;But you will only endure one side to this story&lt;br /&gt;And believe what you need to justify&lt;br /&gt;That which has blinded you for so long&lt;br /&gt;You will regret every moment you contemplated&lt;br /&gt;Leaving her behind&lt;br /&gt;But you will leave her behind&lt;br /&gt;Slowly detaching yourself from the memory&lt;br /&gt;Of ever committing to love like this&lt;br /&gt;You will replay your life in reverse from present to past tense&lt;br /&gt;In attempts to retrace the position of the trapped door&lt;br /&gt;The hologram, the imaginary friends, the scent of another woman&lt;br /&gt;That led you down the path of doubting your heart again and again&lt;br /&gt;The ONE thing you could have trusted amidst the&lt;br /&gt;Illusions of immaculate confessions and conversations&lt;br /&gt;So let us continue with one of them&lt;br /&gt;With what she did say&lt;br /&gt;She said:&lt;br /&gt;I am leaving you&lt;br /&gt;I am finding strength from the parts of myself&lt;br /&gt;That you have neglected&lt;br /&gt;I have the ability to become stone&lt;br /&gt;But will choose to remain a woman&lt;br /&gt;I will cry when I need to cry&lt;br /&gt;I will never contemplate suicide&lt;br /&gt;I will breathe&lt;br /&gt;I will write&lt;br /&gt;I will balance dancing eating sleeping&lt;br /&gt;i will get up in the morning&lt;br /&gt;I will avoid wasting days&lt;br /&gt;I will find a way to revive the woman I loved before I loved you&lt;br /&gt;This image of pure and perfection&lt;br /&gt;Of yours and happily ever after&lt;br /&gt;This deep-rooted pedestal&lt;br /&gt;This pluck of beauty and magic and human&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Iyeoka ivie okoawo © 2008&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-6247720657684031867?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2008/10/what-she-said.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>2</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-3329602925797197083</guid><pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:25:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-06-19T00:00:04.160-04:00</atom:updated><title>Women's Leadership and Revival Tour</title><description>&lt;span style="font-size:11;"&gt;The Berkana experience began like this:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;We gather together&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Sometimes under noisy highways &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;surrounded by painted oak trees drawn over dusty concrete and cement&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The memory of the green &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;reminds us of what is still possible &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;revitalizing what remains &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;every day becomes a tug of faith &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;enriched in the moment of our lives and what is provided &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;shifting into a partnership between the universe and ourselves&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I surrender&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Acknowledging the chaos of my expectations &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;acknowledging an understanding of patterns like&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;poverty leads to war/ &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;impatience divides us/ &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;and love conquers all/ &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;And so now here we are/&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;following the energy of the moment/&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;trusting the consistency of the sun rising every time/&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;time spinning clockwise&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;and the moon becoming the third eye of my night’s sky&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;And we surrender/ &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;constantly renegotiating with the current/surrounded by our own thunder/ &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;surrendering to our own availability and vulnerability/&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;permitting life to magically connect us and miraculously unfold/&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;as we frantically endure/carving our names onto dusty car windows/ &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;we search for traces of ourselves in every vessel that promises to carry us there/ meanwhile, here we are/ a vessel so magnificent it protects us from scolding ourselves too boldly for misplacing the power within us/&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;our bodies choose to believe in us until it can’t/&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;peacefully building and breathing until it can’t/moving us from this moment into the next/investing all of our time in the moment/ so much that I become the moment/ nurturing myself/mentoring the seed from the sand up/with help from the sun and the tears from above/ sending the light straight out of heaven/ &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;guiding the roots to ground us again/&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I dream for us&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Dreaming of the tide of ripples promising to take us higher&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;iyeoka ivie okoawo &lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" &gt;(written &amp;amp; performed during close of women's conference w/ Berkana inst. 6/2006)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-3329602925797197083?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2008/06/womens-leadership-and-revival-tour.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-111894595290314077</guid><pubDate>Sun, 11 May 2008 16:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-05-11T12:31:29.668-04:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'&gt;&lt;A HREF='http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/uploaded_images/Photoshop-project1_2008-791332.jpg'&gt;&lt;IMG SRC='http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/uploaded_images/Photoshop-project1_2008-791206.jpg' border=0 alt='' id='BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_' &gt;&lt;/A&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'&gt;&lt;a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'&gt;&lt;img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-111894595290314077?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2008/05/blog-post.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-2027172193095107415</guid><pubDate>Wed, 16 Apr 2008 06:21:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-16T02:22:35.929-04:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;span style="font-size:6;"&gt;and so it begins. the slow restless surfacing of inspiration. the dance that begins in the snapshot of a moment. the ripple that rides the cans from the can knots. i am break-dancing in a sweet sun ray of yesterday and now. blending my unforgettable birth with my future self.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-2027172193095107415?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2008/04/and-so-it-begins.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-5219974174788117831</guid><pubDate>Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-02-28T13:31:34.379-05:00</atom:updated><title>the moments that want us</title><description>The Present was already happening&lt;br /&gt;when i awoke from my daydreaming&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Past warned me of too many moments&lt;br /&gt;I would miss if I blinked:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;the first three steps of my niece&lt;br /&gt;sharon's last breath&lt;br /&gt;my brothers becoming men&lt;br /&gt;my parent's dancing together like children again&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I will catch as many as I can&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;hoping the Future will allow&lt;br /&gt;my dreams to reunite&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;with the moments&lt;br /&gt;that are still waiting&lt;br /&gt;for me to arrive&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;iyeoka ivie okoawo© 2008&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-5219974174788117831?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2008/02/moments-that-want-us.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-4920198042985914645</guid><pubDate>Sat, 15 Dec 2007 07:04:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-12-15T02:07:50.773-05:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;u&gt;Surviving Seasons&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I choose to fall on my own time&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I begin believing that nothing needs me&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Not the Winter as He delivers the first cool snowflake&lt;br /&gt;of a soon to be covered canvas of white and frost&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Not the Spring as She embraces the breeze from the Atlantic waters&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Not the Summer as time sends the sun to my doorstep&lt;br /&gt;chasing the shade into an already delirious&lt;br /&gt;landscape of shorts, sandals and tank tops&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I collapse effortlessly as Autumn shakes the leaves&lt;br /&gt;to do what I fear of doing too easily &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;          &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I am used to fighting against the fall&lt;br /&gt;Developing compelling reasons of why I came here&lt;br /&gt;Defining journeys&lt;br /&gt;Separating a park bench and isolation&lt;br /&gt;with Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas parties&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I am used to surviving seasons&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;But tonight I take a different approach&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I surrender to the failures that will no doubt outlive my desire&lt;br /&gt;to prove all my private critics wrong this time&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I welcome the challenge to outlast my need to win&lt;br /&gt;with my instincts to let the cards deal what was meant for me&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;And I’ve never been one to gamble with life as barter without a backhanded guarantee&lt;br /&gt;The stakes are too great and there are far too many roads that call for me&lt;br /&gt;to fight for the path that will certainly call for more uncertainty&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;So tonight my approach resembles freedom&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Freedom to fall if I must&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;To paint the sand blue before the waves come&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Freedom to watch how quickly things can spin out of control deliberately falling apart &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Freedom to face the days believing that everything…all the pieces are there like a jigsaw puzzle waiting for you to rebuild them again&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;We need to believe that sometimes…everything that needs you will find you &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Whole or broken&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Starved and unsatisfied or replenished and confident &lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Celebrating that this gift of days and seasons perfect in its imperfection and uneven ends &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;This gift of moments making me crazy&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;with more love and loss, more pain than I can handle in one breath&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;This gift of hopeless freedom needs me to exist &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;more than my willingness to freefall blindly past it &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-4920198042985914645?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2007/12/surviving-seasons-i-choose-to-fall-on.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-8984944750373768243</guid><pubDate>Tue, 31 Jul 2007 03:07:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-07-30T23:09:31.936-04:00</atom:updated><title>a poem a day keeps</title><description>&lt;p class="blogSubject"&gt;the meaning of irie                           &lt;br /&gt;Current mood: addiction to the rubberband                                       &lt;/p&gt;                                         &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;And so now I am recalling stories&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Of you changing open spaces&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;From caves to canvases &lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;From a maze&lt;br /&gt;to memorable&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I make sure &lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;the shoe fits&lt;br /&gt;more than once~&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I pick several moments and watch you wrap into them&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Slipping through&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;A silhouette &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Divided &lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;By crazy&lt;br /&gt;and how I believe you're driving me&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;A kiss reminding me of everything I was afraid of&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Including love&lt;br /&gt;including the rest&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;like death&lt;br /&gt;By the very lips that rehearsed &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The same curses that sought&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;To show me how to cry myself a river&lt;br /&gt;                                by myself twice in 2 decades.&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;for now, the punch line is dangling on rebirth&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;But who's to say run on sentences were created to loose us&lt;br /&gt;in the dust of words deserted by the whirlwind of the minds&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;and the desire to keep going, keep moving&lt;br /&gt;fear nothing for whatever doesn't get&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;baptized on the page &lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;gets recycled in the mysteries&lt;br /&gt;of the divine &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;timing of &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;everything. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;" times="" new="" roman=""&gt;...just allow the ink to dry several times on the same line&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-8984944750373768243?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2007/07/poem-day-keeps.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-7631891073912968731</guid><pubDate>Sat, 28 Jul 2007 02:00:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-07-27T22:01:13.610-04:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>i miss the maze&lt;br /&gt;i miss moments of the rat race&lt;br /&gt;i miss time showing me how to remember love&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;i miss knowing too much&lt;br /&gt;i miss running away when i felt like i didn't get enough&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;gone are the days i shift from powerful to helpless&lt;br /&gt;gone are the days i follow a path that leads to homeless&lt;br /&gt;gone are the seconds i wasted on whispering my love letters&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;i want to relearn how to embrace the emptyness&lt;br /&gt;teach the universe how to meditate in stasis&lt;br /&gt;still the mind&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;resurfacing again as a grain of sand&lt;br /&gt;unknown and anonymous&lt;br /&gt;an orphan of joy&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;an observer of miracles&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;iyeoka ivie okoawo ©&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-7631891073912968731?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2007/07/i-miss-maze-i-miss-moments-of-rat-race.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-7027399374789883669</guid><pubDate>Fri, 25 May 2007 05:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-05-27T18:19:16.914-04:00</atom:updated><title>poem</title><description>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;I will go my own way&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;From the madness that sits on the mountain&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;To the fields that find me weary and weeping&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;I wish for great love to find me&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;And down here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;We hope we can recognize it when it comes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;Down here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;We hope not to be haunted by our own impatience and insecurities&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;Shamed by our reasons for blaming everyone&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;I will go my own way&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;From the tumbles and the downfall &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;From the twilight&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;And the mist &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;From the evening and the moment that lasts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;That sends a flame&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;Sacred and intoxicating&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;I will go my own way&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;Seeking the same madness I was hoping to evade in the rain&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-7027399374789883669?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2007/05/i-will-go-my-own-way-from-madness-that.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-1044935328916533559</guid><pubDate>Thu, 26 Apr 2007 03:44:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-04-25T23:48:39.515-04:00</atom:updated><title>song for the displaced child of war:</title><description>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" &gt;10million Miles and More&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;We have children running through here&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Torn shoes on blistered feet&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Running with no sleep for the weary&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Running for 10million miles and more&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;They see &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Darkness all around them&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;The bombs do not stop dropping&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Tired but hanging on&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Singing to their sisters&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Don’t you know we can’t fall down&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;We’re caught in the middle&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Somewhere between hell and a holy war&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;We’re caught in the middle&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;We don’t know what the fighting's  for&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;But we got to keep on moving&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;The sun will soon be rising&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;We got to make it over the mountain&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Running for 10million miles and more&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-1044935328916533559?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2007/04/song-for-displaced-child-of-war.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-7964000698373880845</guid><pubDate>Mon, 12 Feb 2007 00:18:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-02-09T01:22:28.654-05:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" &gt;Broken Heart’s Anthem&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;        Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Funny how a little love could make you stay here&lt;br /&gt;Funny how a broken heart can make you walk away&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well I’m tired of you walking away&lt;br /&gt;Tired of holding on to a closing door&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Watching you walk away---walk away----walking away—&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Because this is NOT about JUST another song playing&lt;br /&gt;In the background on the radio&lt;br /&gt;Or the memory of faded yellows tucked under a passing rainbow&lt;br /&gt;This is about emotions held under pressure&lt;br /&gt;Pressed up against the melody of the moment&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;This is about watching you sleep last night&lt;br /&gt;knowing you will never be mine&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Knowing that this time our time exists in 20 second intervals&lt;br /&gt;Never mind the delusions of 365 days of a relationship based on perfection&lt;br /&gt;Visions of riding off into the sunset together&lt;br /&gt;Living happily ever after&lt;br /&gt;Holding hands on a beach with white sands on a deserted island&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;These are the days that TEST you&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I’m talking about 3 minutes of sun facing the storm 10 seconds before&lt;br /&gt;a miracle comes that was supposed to save your life&lt;br /&gt;But manage to trap you into falling for him all over again&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;5 minutes of freedom filled &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;redemption songs&lt;/span&gt; Marley would have written if he lived&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;10 seconds of back breaking toes curling &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;orgasms&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That remind you…that it’s just NOT ENOUGH this time&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4 hours of begging for forgiveness&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;These are the mistakes that are forgiven&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But the pain lingers for so long you can never forget them&lt;br /&gt;So you surrender to labeling these nights together&lt;br /&gt;As a glimpse into a &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;seventh heaven&lt;/span&gt; that will never believe in us&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;And you risk&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;falling&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;head&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;first&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Praying to rediscover the gift of the days&lt;br /&gt;We have been struggling this long to experience…just this once&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;These are the last notes of a song that reeks of &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;something fragile&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Too close to a curse that breaks your spells of loving him&lt;br /&gt;Dreaming with hopes of finding the path that piggy backs on the road to revelations&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And midnights bringing us closer&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;To watching the sun and the moon chase the BLUES on the same sky&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bringing him closer to walking away&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;   and you&lt;/span&gt;…to closing the door&lt;br /&gt;Walking away…closing the door…walking away…closing the&lt;br /&gt;door&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-7964000698373880845?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2007/02/broken-hearts-anthem-iyeoka-ivie-okoawo.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-116973989119512230</guid><pubDate>Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:24:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-01-25T10:44:51.220-05:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>Take this hand from me&lt;br /&gt;Show me to your world&lt;br /&gt;Bring this dance to life&lt;br /&gt;Your love can paralyze my fears of falling&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Carry my heart slow&lt;br /&gt;I swear where you go I'll follow you&lt;br /&gt;I'll follow you...&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;This is the place that always&lt;br /&gt;Seems to be better than&lt;br /&gt;Where you have been&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;So you run towards the&lt;br /&gt;New day rising in the distance&lt;br /&gt;And you walk away from the day&lt;br /&gt;That found you falling&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;You always seem to hear God when it counts.&lt;br /&gt;Even when it comes from the&lt;br /&gt;Millions of voices that call to you&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;You make me want to listen for Him&lt;br /&gt;A little bit harder too&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;You always manage to wake up&lt;br /&gt;From the dreams that drown you&lt;br /&gt;Wide-eyed from the nightmares&lt;br /&gt;That threatens to pull you back in&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;You are a rose that blooms for a second chance&lt;br /&gt;On the off seasons&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With petals pressed against a thorn searching for your place in the breeze&lt;br /&gt;A wave that breaks on sea and shore&lt;br /&gt;Left for decades deserted&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;You are the calm that arrives on the highlands moments after a storm recedes&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You climb the mountains from the peaks to the valleys&lt;br /&gt;And trust the song that teaches broken hearts how to sing&lt;br /&gt;And how to live a little bit more amazing&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;You make me feel like you waited for us to exist&lt;br /&gt;For we are the translation of a perfection that just is&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;So...&lt;br /&gt;Take this hand from me&lt;br /&gt;Show me to your world&lt;br /&gt;Bring this dance to life&lt;br /&gt;Your love can paralyze my fears of falling                      &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Carry my heart slow&lt;br /&gt;I swear where you go Ill follow---Ill follow&lt;br /&gt;See into my soul&lt;br /&gt;And Ill take you to my home to love you, love you, and love you&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is a poem for love.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-116973989119512230?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2007/01/take-this-hand-from-me-show-me-to-your.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-116933369491670288</guid><pubDate>Sat, 20 Jan 2007 22:19:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-01-20T17:54:54.926-05:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>SHINE this way as if 9 lives depended on it the same day your life depended on mine&lt;br /&gt;CHOOSE to face your fears of crossroads that sent you spiraling off the deep end several times &lt;br /&gt;DARE to make a choice for you&lt;br /&gt;REALIZE this is your gift to you&lt;br /&gt;Even if it's for that one chance and happiness you could potentially eventually loose&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now I don't know why we need to believe that confession is reserved for sinners&lt;br /&gt;And I don't know why I feel a need to wrestle with my demons and angels&lt;br /&gt;But I know when I NEED to talk to God sometimes&lt;br /&gt;And I can still remember when he showed me how to how to forgive my deepest and darkest crimes&lt;br /&gt;And how to wake up on a new morning to a feeling that everything is gonna be alright&lt;br /&gt;Not because it has to&lt;br /&gt;but because these steps&lt;br /&gt;And this road is undeniably mine&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And I want this to be different...&lt;br /&gt;I want to know what it's like to not feel the same&lt;br /&gt;I want to be freedom&lt;br /&gt;I want to know what it's like to sail away&lt;br /&gt;Today I'll pray to God&lt;br /&gt;And He will finally say&lt;br /&gt;YOU GOT IT RIGHT CHILD&lt;br /&gt;WAY TO BRING THE FUNK THIS TIME&lt;br /&gt;KEEP YOUR HEAD HIGH&lt;br /&gt;AND SHINE THIS WAY&lt;br /&gt;TAKE A BREAK FROM THE PAIN&lt;br /&gt;REALIZE YOU'RE NOT A PRISONER TONIGHT&lt;br /&gt;NO NO NO NO CHILD&lt;br /&gt;NOT TODAY&lt;br /&gt;NOR TOMORROW&lt;br /&gt;YOUR LIFE IS YOUR OWN NOW&lt;br /&gt;COME ON HOME NOW &lt;br /&gt;AND SHINE&lt;br /&gt;FLY YOUR WAY THEN&lt;br /&gt;STAY AND SHINE&lt;br /&gt;SHINE YOUR WAY&lt;br /&gt;SHINE THIS WAY&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-116933369491670288?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2007/01/shine-this-way-as-if-9-lives-depended.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-116291338440220054</guid><pubDate>Tue, 07 Nov 2006 15:23:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2006-11-07T10:29:44.433-05:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;Let Me Go&lt;/span&gt;    &lt;br /&gt;                                                                           &lt;span style="font-size:78%;"&gt;By Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo 11/06&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;Here&lt;/span&gt; is a dawn that responds to a soul who is boldly searching&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Replacing a stone that will hold when the waves overthrow the breeze&lt;br /&gt;Let me be the girl who reappears into the light&lt;br /&gt;Remember me by the rays of the moon&lt;br /&gt;Where the sunrise is most likely to shine&lt;br /&gt;From drowning the darkness will reopen a world&lt;br /&gt;I never thought could ever be mine&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;But I can testify this time&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That poetry found me whispering one morning…&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Teaching me how to reach the spirits of these 3 free falling angels&lt;br /&gt;Showing me how to rebuild a castle&lt;br /&gt;Between Heaven's sand and the darkest hand of the earth's gravel&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;Releasing the weights of a thousand shackles&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Taught me how to bend time beneath my fingers&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Then the moment in the poem let me go&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So let me be that girl...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let me be the girl who &lt;span style="color:#ff9900;"&gt;reminds&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color:#33cc00;"&gt;you&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color:#3366ff;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color:#cc0000;"&gt;rainbows&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Let me be the girl who you see from your bedroom window&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Believe in love the same way you believe in what it should be&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;Believe in the tumble and the glide downstream&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And maybe the river will lead to a key that unlocks the impossible dream&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Believe in me when the silence invites you to seek&lt;br /&gt;A temple of peace that brings you back&lt;br /&gt;to the fire that fills your prayers&lt;br /&gt;with the promises&lt;br /&gt;of a new&lt;br /&gt;life&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Believe in the valley…the valley that lifts your soul into a perfect tempo&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Then follow the path no matter how treacherous&lt;br /&gt;No matter how &lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;bold&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Let it take you there…to pay it forward&lt;br /&gt;Choose to grab hold…&lt;br /&gt;Let it move you towards the fullest potential&lt;br /&gt;Your journey could possibly ever go&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-116291338440220054?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2006/11/let-me-go-by-iyeoka-ivie-okoawo-1106.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>3</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-114584811965669570</guid><pubDate>Mon, 24 Apr 2006 03:00:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2006-04-23T23:23:44.276-04:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>I imagined you here&lt;br /&gt;shaking hands&lt;br /&gt;smiling for strangers&lt;br /&gt;Taking pictures &lt;br /&gt;Accepting praises&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;trying to remember how to be genuine and charming&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;recalling you when you shine&lt;br /&gt;Beautiful, breathtaking and relevant&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-114584811965669570?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2006/04/i-imagined-you-here-shaking-hands.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-114220566217786271</guid><pubDate>Sun, 12 Mar 2006 23:19:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2006-03-12T18:34:00.910-05:00</atom:updated><title>Stonewalls Falling Down (Lyrics)</title><description>Stonewalls falling down&lt;br /&gt;Lullaby’s breaking spells&lt;br /&gt;The impossible reveals a chance for redemption&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Highways lead to skies &lt;br /&gt;Headlights search the night&lt;br /&gt;This new road finds you lost for a moment &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Time keeps time&lt;br /&gt;Roads stay closed if you let them &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Follow me to broken places&lt;br /&gt;Set aside 10 destinations&lt;br /&gt;Send me down - down&lt;br /&gt;Chasing tails&lt;br /&gt;Bottoms up &lt;br /&gt;Sleep prevails &lt;br /&gt;Wake me in the morning when dreams are healed&lt;br /&gt;Uncover new roads to begin again&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Find me here&lt;br /&gt;Take me home&lt;br /&gt;Lift me higher than you found me yesterday&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-114220566217786271?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2006/03/stonewalls-falling-down-lyrics.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-113072639197196024</guid><pubDate>Mon, 31 Oct 2005 02:31:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2005-10-31T00:01:26.433-05:00</atom:updated><title>Hum the Baseline</title><description>Take back the hope you gave me&lt;br /&gt;Read between these lines that I feed you&lt;br /&gt;And let it linger in the melody&lt;br /&gt;Sing low with the baritone notes&lt;br /&gt;And surround me with your cold songs and incomplete endings&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Today, I will learn to shape me&lt;br /&gt;From thunder a poet shall blossom&lt;br /&gt;Slowly one of us will rise&lt;br /&gt;We will grow like everlasting things do&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Will bleed when plucked&lt;br /&gt;Will weep if wasted&lt;br /&gt;Will sacrifice for fate&lt;br /&gt;If fears of never reaching the top are realized&lt;br /&gt;While falling from a cliff&lt;br /&gt;Glimpsing the root of anything that matches Heaven&lt;br /&gt;Will almost die if neglecting the pen becomes permanent&lt;br /&gt;Will survive after almost letting go for an instant&lt;br /&gt;Filling every unforgiving minute&lt;br /&gt;With sixty more seconds’ worth of going the distance&lt;br /&gt;That denied us the bliss of that next masterpiece&lt;br /&gt;But…If I can keep my eyes on the prize&lt;br /&gt;If I can walk with kings&lt;br /&gt;If I can talk to crowds&lt;br /&gt;If I can risk and lose and start again from the beginning&lt;br /&gt;If I can hurt and come back stronger&lt;br /&gt;If I can dream and not make dreams my demons&lt;br /&gt;If I can draw the blade and follow through&lt;br /&gt;With my rebirth that began as a teenage suicide&lt;br /&gt;If I can trust myself long enough&lt;br /&gt;To convince my jury to stop doubting me&lt;br /&gt;If I can find paradise outside my comfort zones&lt;br /&gt;And teach my soul how to control the manic in my delusions&lt;br /&gt;If I can remember to pray monthly, weekly, daily,&lt;br /&gt;More often than I remember to do now&lt;br /&gt;Sooner than two seconds before my next biggest emergency&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Then I can give back the hope you gave me&lt;br /&gt;Read between the lines of the last great poems you fed me&lt;br /&gt;Poems that spoke of Momma Ton&lt;br /&gt;Poems that spoke of Speaking the Word&lt;br /&gt;Poems that spoke of Raindrops think their flying until they hit the ground&lt;br /&gt;Maybe I can surround you with softer songs and everlasting beginnings&lt;br /&gt;Maybe I can help complete the almost&lt;br /&gt;You might have heard in your own words&lt;br /&gt;Before you silently swore never to write again&lt;br /&gt;Maybe….&lt;br /&gt;Maybe you would care that tonight in this room&lt;br /&gt;I feel the same way I feel on most nights I take the stage without you&lt;br /&gt;Maybe…&lt;br /&gt;Maybe you will figure out whatever it is you need&lt;br /&gt;To help inspire you to breathe new words again&lt;br /&gt;Maybe you will figure out who this poem is talking too&lt;br /&gt;Then I can give back the hope you gave me&lt;br /&gt;Maybe…&lt;br /&gt;And you will find the urge to talk back&lt;br /&gt;And tomorrow you will learn to shape you&lt;br /&gt;And you will hum the baseline to this song&lt;br /&gt;And you will hum the baseline to this song&lt;br /&gt;And you will hum the baseline to this song&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-113072639197196024?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2005/10/hum-baseline.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-112948693213266055</guid><pubDate>Sun, 16 Oct 2005 18:18:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2005-10-16T14:22:12.136-04:00</atom:updated><title>A Poet’s Blessing</title><description>Speak to me of our life’s experience&lt;br /&gt;Sing me this song powerful and fearless&lt;br /&gt;Tell me of truths I can not speak yet want to believe&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Show me how to breathe between realities of illusions and uncertainties&lt;br /&gt;And I will trust you to move the world with words&lt;br /&gt;Into a sanctuary of balance and brilliant possibilities&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Take me to a place where whispers are still roaring&lt;br /&gt;And poetry lives to feed the hope that our stories are only just beginning&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-112948693213266055?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2005/10/poets-blessing.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-112956800755406763</guid><pubDate>Sun, 02 Oct 2005 16:52:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2005-10-17T12:53:27.556-04:00</atom:updated><title>Yesterdays Blues</title><description>When summer rain&lt;br /&gt;fills the sky&lt;br /&gt;You wonder why my bluebird sings of sorrow&lt;br /&gt;My tears are falling from a cloud of gray&lt;br /&gt;I wish to never love a Sunday past tomorrow &lt;br /&gt;When I think upon a day away from you&lt;br /&gt;I pray your smile never fades&lt;br /&gt;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From yesterday’s blues&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm holding on&lt;br /&gt;To your beautiful eyes&lt;br /&gt;You wonder why my bluebird sings of sorrow&lt;br /&gt;When I seem to be flying towards a Techno-colored rainbow&lt;br /&gt;created by you&lt;br /&gt;When I think upon a day away from u...&lt;br /&gt;I pray your smile never fades&lt;br /&gt;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From yesterday’s blues&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Behold these lies&lt;br /&gt;When I kiss u goodnight&lt;br /&gt;Is it a crime to sing these songs of sorrow&lt;br /&gt;when I seem to be happy in this time that remains&lt;br /&gt;Caught behind a spiral of confusion and time borrowed&lt;br /&gt;Sleep tight-this moment tends to shade,&lt;br /&gt;The life we never meant to throw away&lt;br /&gt;I pray your smile never fades&lt;br /&gt;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;From yesterday’s blues&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-112956800755406763?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2005/10/yesterdays-blues_02.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17660448.post-112906827814155672</guid><pubDate>Sun, 11 Sep 2005 21:25:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2005-10-13T09:12:14.733-04:00</atom:updated><title>We Can Never be Superstars</title><description>&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;a href="http://iyeoka.com/blog/hello/2126075/320/iyeokaNYC727-2005.09.11-14.25.06.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://iyeoka.com/blog/hello/2126075/320/iyeokaNYC727-2005.09.11-14.25.06.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:78%;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;photo by Angela Rowlings&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;I am not a superstar&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;But I’m not afraid to share what I got&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;I don’t have wings&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;But I have the &lt;strong&gt;words&lt;/strong&gt; that could make you feel&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;Like &lt;em&gt;we&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; be flying&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;I’m not &lt;strong&gt;falling apart&lt;/strong&gt; right now&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;But I know what it feels like&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;To feel like I’ve lost it all&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;I know how to make you feel like &lt;strong&gt;you are&lt;/strong&gt; the one person I have &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;left in this world&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;Because &lt;strong&gt;you are&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You are&lt;/strong&gt; what is keeping me beautiful&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;And I am but a reflection of what &lt;strong&gt;you are&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;I am here to show you&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;That you don’t have to come prepared with me&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;You can just &lt;strong&gt;adlib&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;And we can create the dialogue&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;To perfect the solutions&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;That will supply the fuel for our chemistry&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;Not everybody can be Angelina Joli&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;And not everybody can rock a poem from a page on a stage&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;for you&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Like me.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;If you feel compelled to get to know me a little better because you &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;can’t figure me out just yet&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;Then it’s probably just the energy in this room that you’re looking &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;at&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;And with all due respect&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;That counts for only but a moment's cost of significance&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;...................&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;Just two minutes&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You and me alone&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;My eyes will show you everything&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;You could have &lt;strong&gt;never&lt;/strong&gt; discovered on your own&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;And lips can do the rest when you get weary of searching&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;Tongues will do it best when we get tired of talking&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Kama&lt;/em&gt; will show us how to effectively lick our wounds&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;While poetry plays in the backgroud pushing us somewhere past &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;the moon&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;When your midnight comes,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;You can look for me in the sun&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;This is where I choose to wait for the Blue orchids to bloom&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;Sweet and Fearless&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;Living &lt;em&gt;love&lt;/em&gt; like life depends on it...&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Because it has to.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:78%;"&gt;poem by Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17660448-112906827814155672?l=www.iyeoka.com%2Fpoetry' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://www.iyeoka.com/poetry/2005/09/we-can-never-be-superstars.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Iyeoka)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item></channel></rss>
