Poet Republik-River Atwood Tabor

Presto Manifesto
I
Exegesis
reach
space bend
time
II
Greater forces
We guess
two dots
three spirals
all paisley
III
I (?)
extended:
know not
place of “man”
IV
Monk,
“Ruby My Dear”
rectify
beauty
circle
the
Fearsome
V
Hand
contortions
She watches
his eyes
Summit
heights
VI
Pens
pour
sacred Words
VII
Bread in Captivity,
release
wander streets
work
dream of Monte Negro
graffiti
the travel store
VIII
Swans escape Nights
in the strange tongue
of childhood
cannot Understand
the nest of I am
IX
Steep
jasmine tea
bitter ignorance
hot
X
lowercase humanity
negative certainty
XI
In black cars
reefer hazes
we whisper smoke rings
the American Dream
XII
Blind Paul
tries
to return the Ocean
XIII
Ignorance of Waters
a typhoon of decline
XIV
Water
viciously couples
with
Destruction
XV
Redwood
Cathedral
light breaks
on fallen
log
blackened Altar
of bark
XVI
River
spectrum
my reflection
is Fool’s Gold
XVII
Spread
ripple circles
make Union
water
Crown
Back
XVIII
Bare
skin
woman
She—and—I grammatically
XIX
We
burn
our bodies
Meerschaum
XX
Born
under
Waters
riversf
River Atwood Tabor is a freestyle poet in recovery from his first year at university.

84 Comments

  • Carissa Hawkins says:

    I truly wish I could hear his verbal interpretation of this poem. As I read it, I have a range of emotions overcome me. I found myself searching for meaning not only in his words, but in area of my own life. Wonderfully profound.

  • M. Ongy says:

    I believed the poets message to this poem was a little confusing and hard to gasp. Although, I do feel this poem in way is written as a “rhyme scheme”. For example, in his poem he mentioned this part “River spectrum my reflection is Fool’s Gold” I noticed it’s almost a AABB rhyme scheme pattern. River matches with my reflection and spectrum and elaborate a “fool’s gold”.

  • S. Anaya says:

    I personally didn’t understand half of this poem. As you read the poem, you feel the personal touch that the writer is expressing. I do feel as if the poem is talking about life and how one experiences it. I feel as if the author is telling us about an experience he encountered while walking around in a busy, city.
    Stanza VII & VIII “Bread in Captivity,
    release
    wander streets
    work
    dream of Monte Negro
    graffiti
    the travel store”
    “VIII
    Swans escape Nights
    in the strange tongue
    of childhood
    cannot Understand
    the nest of I am”
    I think the author is speaking about possibly being sheltered all his life and he’s finally able to go out and explore the world through his eyes and the way he wants to by wandering the streets, because the only way to experience life is to walk the streets and see where life takes you. You have to see things for yourself to experience it. The author goes on to further explain the experiences he has while wandering; sees people smoking in cars as they pass him by, he probably sees a homeless blind man on the street begging and when he says “ignorance of waters, a typhoon of decline” could be referring to being on a busy sidewalk where people just walk by and ignore those who are homeless. The author’s work is freestyle which makes it a little more difficult for most to understand because there isn’t a construct rythmn, it follows one train of thought, and it doesn’t have any traditional stanzas. It’s based off of metaphors, similies, and other literary devices that help bring out the message of what the author is trying to express. For me, this poem did have many parts of it that I did not understand as clearly as other parts but overall, after reading it a few times, I did end up really liking this freestyle poem.

  • M. Vallejo says:

    This poem is cryptic to the point where I believe that the grand majority of readers cannot understand or relate to it. Every so often, a stanza appears that is slightly more accessible, but for the most part, it strongly reminds me of a string of Ezra Pound pieces with its abrupt vagueness.

  • R. Olson says:

    I loved how this poem swayed from being super straightforward to being very abstract, all the while sustaining a profound prospective of the world. In our culture, we tend to have tunnel vision when it comes to our environment. While reading this poem, I imagined a bunch of businessmen dressed up in navy suits, red ties, and starched white button downs walking down a city sidewalk on their way home from work. But even in such a cookie-cutter environment, there are still dark feelings and feelings of love. We are all just oblivious and in our own minds. This is such a unique poem. His insight is very intriguing.

  • Jerardo Herrera says:

    I thought this was great. At first, reading through it I had no idea how or what any of the phrases had to do with each other. I still don’t, but something about
    Pens
    Pour
    Sacred Swords
    caught my immediate attention. I got the sense that what we write to each other often causes fights, such as social media posts. Poetry has never been something I have been good at doing myself, or even understanding, but this poem gets you thinking. It certainly made me think outside the box.

  • Jenay Haworth says:

    I love the free style in this poem. The author sounds to be so free willing and a free sprit. This poem reminded me about myself when I was a little girl, not having a care in the world because I didn’t know any better too have a care.
    “We
    burn
    our bodies
    Meerschaum
    XX
    Born
    under
    Waters”
    I have always loved being in the water because it made me feel alive.

  • M. Sullivan says:

    This is a Poem that I can read over and over, and every time find something new. This is very interesting, captivating and beautiful.

  • Adria Bixler says:

    This Poem is interesting in that I think it can relate to many people at different times in their life. As our life changes over time so does our connection and understanding of the poem.

  • Helfried says:

    I met
    Nietzsche
    while he
    wrapped his
    arms
    around the
    wellknown horse
    looking
    into an animal’s
    eye
    travelling on his way to
    deep madness

    • Maria Teutsch says:

      Helfried! wonderful poem!

      • Helfried says:

        Maria! I send greetings from old Germany 🙂 ! I was inspired by River’s poem and got a burst of new spontaneous Haiku’s, here’s another one, please enjoy. Maria love’s words – great place.
        Haiku “my time – I ”
        I
        the collector
        tranforming old books into dust
        feeding the worm with ancient words
        making the sheet scrambled and yellow
        this is happening inside the board
        it’s just time
        my time
        I

        • Maria Teutsch says:

          Helfried! You are my blog’s best contributor. please keep sending your haiku’s. River and I were talking about them today, he thinks they are brilliant! xom

          • Helfried says:

            Approaching Frankenstein –
            Experiment #No.1
            One
            night
            I shortcut
            a huge battery of Leyden’s capacitors
            the spark lightend the night
            recognizing
            a little universe was born
            only
            a view nano seconds
            but
            pulsating

          • Maria Teutsch says:

            I love this poem so much! A universe in a nano second-beautiful image!

          • Maria Teutsch says:

            I love this poem so much! A universe in a nano second-beautiful image!

          • Helfried says:

            Approaching Frankenstein –

            Experiment #No.1

            One

            night

            I shortcut

            a huge battery of Leyden’s capacitors

            the spark lightend the night

            recognizing

            a little universe was born

            only

            a view nano seconds

            but

            pulsating

        • Maria Teutsch says:

          Helfried! You are my blog’s best contributor. please keep sending your haiku’s. River and I were talking about them today, he thinks they are brilliant! xom

      • Helfried says:

        Maria! I send greetings from old Germany 🙂 ! I was inspired by River’s poem and got a burst of new spontaneous Haiku’s, here’s another one, please enjoy. Maria love’s words – great place.

        Haiku “my time – I ”

        I

        the collector

        tranforming old books into dust

        feeding the worm with ancient words

        making the sheet scrambled and yellow

        this is happening inside the board

        it’s just time

        my time

        I

    • Maria Teutsch says:

      Helfried! wonderful poem!

  • Helfried says:

    Obviously japanese Haiku’s have to follow the 5-7-5 pattern – so my Haiku’s are freestyle. Here’s another one for my friends overseas
    Remember the day
    remember
    whenever you hear the far and subtle
    meow
    it was einsteins cat
    lost in the
    dumbwaiter
    on a bright and smiling
    nuclear day

    • Maria Teutsch says:

      Helfried! Haikus can be anything we want. we are the creators of these universes after all!

      • Helfried says:

        Maria! Many thanks!
        Now here comes one I like very much, it’s a new Haiku compilation of a Dada poem which I’ve written in the early ninetes.
        Urban / Urban Chrysler Building Compilation
        The Casual Way
        Tracked via sunny money
        I entered the casino
        convoyed by the sound of Rat Pack
        stepped off my black car
        Life was a spume – is a spume
        Oh my god, when sheer youth is steering
        you will be able to survive
        tumble down all decades and floors of
        the Chrysler Building
        You will get up Manhattan Lexington Ave
        between hooting cars
        and buy a newspaper in a casual way –
        wearing a dirty black hat
        ã H. Urban

        • Helfried says:

          X-Mas Burst from Helfried…
          Urban / Urban Chrysler Building Compilation
          The Casual Way
          Tracked via sunny money
          I entered the casino
          convoyed by the sound of Rat Pack
          stepped off my black car
          Life was a spume – is a spume
          Oh my god, when sheer youth is steering
          you will be able to survive
          tumble down all decades and floors of the Chrysler Building
          You will get up Manhattan Lexington Ave between hooting cars
          and buy a newspaper in a casual way – wearing a dirty black hat
          ã H. Urban
          Approaching Frankenstein – Experiment #2
          Master’s Voice
          getting tuned to the globe
          via special transmitter
          he was able to talk
          to mother earth – her majesty itself
          how are you
          was the shy question
          using a rumpling low frequency
          the answer was located
          north north west in deep sea
          only recognized by dolfins
          H. Urban

          • Maria Teutsch says:

            helfried,
            as always i am stunned by your collage of images. keep them coming!
            love,
            maria

          • Maria Teutsch says:

            helfried,
            as always i am stunned by your collage of images. keep them coming!
            love,
            maria

        • Helfried says:

          X-Mas Burst from Helfried…

          Urban / Urban Chrysler Building Compilation

          The Casual Way

          Tracked via sunny money
          I entered the casino
          convoyed by the sound of Rat Pack
          stepped off my black car

          Life was a spume – is a spume

          Oh my god, when sheer youth is steering
          you will be able to survive
          tumble down all decades and floors of the Chrysler Building

          You will get up Manhattan Lexington Ave between hooting cars

          and buy a newspaper in a casual way – wearing a dirty black hat

          ã H. Urban

          Approaching Frankenstein – Experiment #2

          Master’s Voice

          getting tuned to the globe

          via special transmitter

          he was able to talk

          to mother earth – her majesty itself

          how are you

          was the shy question

          using a rumpling low frequency

          the answer was located

          north north west in deep sea

          only recognized by dolfins

          H. Urban

      • Helfried says:

        Maria! Many thanks!

        Now here comes one I like very much, it’s a new Haiku compilation of a Dada poem which I’ve written in the early ninetes.

        Urban / Urban Chrysler Building Compilation

        The Casual Way

        Tracked via sunny money

        I entered the casino

        convoyed by the sound of Rat Pack

        stepped off my black car

        Life was a spume – is a spume

        Oh my god, when sheer youth is steering

        you will be able to survive

        tumble down all decades and floors of

        the Chrysler Building

        You will get up Manhattan Lexington Ave

        between hooting cars

        and buy a newspaper in a casual way –

        wearing a dirty black hat

        ã H. Urban

    • Maria Teutsch says:

      Helfried! Haikus can be anything we want. we are the creators of these universes after all!

  • Helfried says:

    Echo from the happy new year 2016 to my small but steady Haiku community at this hidden place
    Kryptonate Compilation
    Inside
    they found
    some Kryptonate
    they told to the daily press
    it seems smelling like liquid lead
    and transmit a blue glow
    they reported
    to the daily
    press

  • Nina says:

    I want to hear this amazing young poet read this live!

  • Ezequiel Ramirez says:

    I can’t say much other than this is really deep and profound. It’s hard to even understand at certain parts. However, that’s not a bad thing. It’s the equivalent of listening to a philospher. It’s hard to understand at times, but you can tell immediately this man is infinitely knowledgeable.

  • Michael Z Lagier says:

    I feel as if it would be really cool and eye opening for me to hear this live to capture all the emotion, since I am struggling to read this to myself in the way that it probably should be heard. Kind of unrelated but when he talked about “whispering smoke rings
    the american dream” It reminded me of The Great Gatsby because it’s about the american dream that we all chase.

  • Vanessa says:

    I love that this piece is freestyle, yet cohesive. It reminds me of myself when I sit and observe the environment around me, which brings me to state this is definitely a visual piece. Many lines stick out to me. To quote a few;

    “XVIII

    Bare

    skin

    woman

    She—and—I grammatically

    XIX

    We

    burn

    our bodies

    Meerschaum”

    and
    “XI

    In black cars

    reefer hazes

    we whisper smoke rings

    the American Dream.”

    I guess because I smoke, I feel a connection to these. The first quote, I can feel the burn- literally. It’s a similar process of chemical reactions as to smoking (marijuana), but the visual is beautiful! I picture two body’s intertwined in the shape of a pipe igniting. The second quote is a reminder of living in the land of opportunity, yet you find yourself with nothing better to do than to indulge in the joy of smoking a bowl in a car(many frown upon it). It is communicated to me as an oxymoron. Excellent work! I had a few guesses as to what the Roman numerals stand for, but I would like to hear from the author.

  • L. Barber says:

    I struggled to find the poet’s purpose but it was clearly personal and intimate. I find the phases of life and the continue march and phases of death throughout our life. Thought provoking and breathtaking.

  • Andrea Gonzalez says:

    This poem reminded me of a conversation with my brother. The second stanza made me think of men and women as individuals. The dot represents birth and the three spirals are the stages of life. The poem ended with life and I can only assume it’s reincarnation.

  • Eric Ybarra says:

    This poem is very deep and paints a visual picture of what the poet is trying to say. The rhythm and words used in this poem are intense like my favorite line
    “River
    spectrum
    my reflection
    is Fool’s Gold”

  • Said Hernandez says:

    It seem’s that he is describing life and different environments he is in. His choice of words are very interesting and personal, even though it is kind of hard to understand them because they are random.

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