KEN SIEGELMAN - Click here for press release on life and legacy of the late poet laureate Ken Siegelman

Brooklyn Poetry Open Mic Remembers Brooklyn Poet Laureate Ken Siegelman
Thursday, September, 24, 2009
6:30 PM
Barnes & Noble Booksellers/Park Slope
267 7th Avenue, Brooklyn
718-832-906
For more information Click here

Ken Siegelman’s Way

By Karen Siegelman-Serebryansky

 
You always said the pain you felt was unimaginable
And those who heard you made wistful glances as they too were afraid to share your pain,
But knew that you had been the martyr of pain for most.
You were born within a realm of uncertainty and those who doubted tried to chastise with disapproval,
Like disapproving parents with their first bout of childhood discipline.
You heard them but followed your voice of pain that kept you strong, that made you experience of more than most
And led you down the beaten path to the road of redemption.

You-in the eyes of many may not have had a single pulpit on which to preach,
But through your own voice you became the pulpit to many.
Sharing their dreams and nightmares
Of turning our suffering to peace,
We turn to you on your day of rest
And thank you endlessly of the unimaginable becoming a reality
For us to live comfortably in life.

Brooklyn Days and Now
--For Ken Siegelman

can’t remember when we last met—
forty years ago perhaps—
i’m sure it was in a dark period,
that’s how it was for us then,
day to day in turbulence,
the world spinning fast
as we dervished faster yet
seeking a way to stop the turning,
happy to find someone to turn with.
we would have been happy to find clarity too,
and to run from responsibility too early won,
wrestling freedom down
and pinning it under our weight,
our strength, we thought, too mighty
for its puny arms and legs.
we were the tough ones
even if frailty dripped from our fingers
like the sweat from summer labor in the city sun.
so i learn the turning has ceased for you, old friend,
before we met again,
before we knew about each other’s poetry
generated over decades,
before we knew the details 
of our world of work, family, and dream.
but we did know that words were always there somewhere
in irish ballad and defiance,
singing always in the background
if not at the dinner table or even at the midnight hour
waiting for a cool breeze to settle the heat
we generated in every season.
like the frieze on some ancient grecian urn
we are now frozen in place, you forever young,
the turbulence forever present
even amid our children’s children
and the line of joy that continues
unbroken and unbowed.

Arthur B. Sacks
Outside Cortez, CO
11 July 2009

As read by Ken Siegelman at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival, a poem by Brooklyn third grader Zander Toulouse, of blessed memory.

A poem by Zander Toulouse, 2007

There's No One Like Me

Nobody's like me
For all my special reasons
For example: A board game
To me there is nothing like a nice board game.
I always like my bath water hot.
I always like trains.
I LOVE to dance a lot.
Blue is my favorite color.
I am the pride of the world.
I know I can be a problem.
But I am very useful sometimes.

SEE BELOW

BROOKLYN EAGLE REVIEW OF:
FADING TO ZERO

Check out the work of some of Brooklyn's most inspiring poets . . .

1. BENSONHURST, GERRITSEN BEACH, FLATLAND SCHOOL
2. CITY SOULS
3. FRANKY FRINGE
4. TOUGH CUSTOMERS
5. TAIWANESE DOLLS(APRIL- NATIONAL POETRY MONTH)
6. GOLDFISH (May Poem of the Month)
7. Heaven's Gate™
   (poem will be read for the celebration of the
   anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge on May 24th)
8. SUMMER SIZZLE (June Poem of the Month)
9. Summer's Women
10. MIDDLE AGED WOMEN
11. TUNING OUT
12. THE LEPRECHAUNS
13. VICTORIAN IMAGES
14. UNOBTRUSIVE STARES
15. LONGFELLOW IN BROOKLYN (March Poem of the Month)
16. MARCH SPRING
17. OLDER PEOPLE (May Poem of the Month)
18. LIMITED CONTACTS (June Poem of the Month)
19. CIRCLING ELEPHANTS (September Poem of the Month)
20. THE BARREN YARD (October Poem of the Month)
21. THINKERS
22. “We” and “They”
23. FISH
24. THE HIDDEN (March Poem of the Month)
25. CONCRETE FIELDS
26. DYING DOG
27. OBLITERATION
28. STUCK IN A BLIZZARD
29. BROKEN TOYS
30. ALEX
31. Mute Canaries
32. PIGEONS
33. LEO
34. FATHER’S GHOST
35. ABOUT EASTERN DANCERS
36. FADING TO ZERO
37. FROZEN ROSES
38. GOTHIC DOORS
39. OUTSIDE LIGHTS
40. MY CHILDHOOD TOYS
41. MOTHS
42. SHEARS AND BAYONETS
43. JOHN BULL
44. THE LEAGUES
45. WASH OUT
46. Shadows of Tom Payne
47. TALES
48. Joe's Weave
49. A Poets Love Poem (October 2008 Poem of the Month)
50. DIRECTIONAL ABSTRACTIONS
51. TAKE-OUT CALENDAR
52. NERO
53. TOYS
54. STAGE FRIGHT
    
    

Alanna Blau - (Student Poet Winner for February 2003)
"Hidden Reality"

Alan Braverman
"Prospect Park"
Ken Siegelman-Our Poet Laureate of Brooklyn
A Return from Iraq
Am I shocked?
The Bailout

Alneta Knowles
TO THOSE WHO MOURN - (February Poem of the Month)

Alston Drew Devero-Belfon - (Student Poet Winner for April 2003)
THE SIT - IN

Alyssa M. DiMari - (Student winner for October, 2004 – Bay Academy)
I WANT TO BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE
The Death of a Legend
Silent Tears

Amanda Magistro - (Student Poet Winner for October)
"FROM MANY HEARTS"

Andrew Greissman - (The student winner for September)
HIGH DIVE

Anthony Vigorito
"Hey Mister, Can you spare a Dime?" - (February Poem of the Month)
Preservation
Ann's Lament
Cobalt
Empty Chair

Arsenion Stembridge - (Winner of the City College Poetry Festival, 2006)
The Key

Avron Soyer - (Featured poet for June)
VISITATION

Barbara Newsome - (Featured poet for April)
FEAR
THERE IS MORE
The Coffee Room
LIGHTING THE WAY
MAKE A PAN OF BISCUITS

Bernadette Salem - (Student poet winner for September)
HOLDING WORDS

Bob Drojarski
Brooklyn

Brooke Serebryansky
BROOKLYN

Cal Begun - The Bensonhurst Poet
WHY I LOVE BROOKLYN

Christopher Blaise Spinelli -
WHEN I WAS YOUNG IN BROOKLYN
What Is White?

Clarence C. Bess
“Breathe Me Black”

Coral Foxworth - (January Poem of the Month)
SOJOURNER SPEAKS

Daniela Gioseffi
THE BROOKLYN BUS DRIVER
Lover of All Things Brooklyn

Danielle Boykin - (Edward Murrow Highschool )
Family History

Danny Chow - (Student Poet Winner for November)
An Act More Than 1,000 Words

David M. Logan
Blockage

Desean Freeman 4-405 P.S. 5
LIFE

Dezhanae Gillett - (P.S. 5 Class 4-307)
LOVE IS IN THE AIR - (Student Poet Winner for June 2005)

Edward Kurre - (January, 2006's Featured Reader)
Forever Sunset

Erik Whitaker
ALL THAT JAZZ

Evie Ivy
LOOKING AT THE MOON IN 4 CINQUAINS
CRUMPLED SONNET
ANYWHERE

Francine Skye Morales Lentini
The Anniversary 9/11/02 - (Featured poet for October)
Poet Laureate

Frank Polizzi
Brooklyn and America in The Same Breath

Gwen Malone - (October's Featured Reader)
Waiting For The Rain

Irene Brodsky
A TRIBUTE TO PRESIDENT- ELECT BARACK OBAMA

James E. Duncan
BROOKLYN'S GOT!

Jane Moon
BROOKLYN IN THE SPRING - (Student Poet Winner for June 2003)

Jennifer Lee
Mark Twain - (Student Poet Winner for May 2003)

Jewel Allison
Let's Talk About Racism - (Featured Poet for April 2009)

Joe Allen
SHYSTER - (Featured poet for February, 2006)

Joseph Fox
Kindness
Help the World

Joseph P Martino
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

Larry Garland
BROOKLYN UNBOUND

Mai Nguyen
YOUR CERULEAN EYES

Marion Palm
AT FULTON LANDING
LILY POND CARP, SPARROWS - (December Poem of the Month)

Milton Puryear
NAMELESS
Reflection in a House for Sale

Najaya Royal
Brooklyn

Raymond Ng (Brooklyn Technical High School)
JEAN - (Student Poet Winner for May 2005)

Rob Bless
A Place for Dreams

Susan DeSocio
Brooklyn Rant #1

Theo Donnelly
Visions of Alzheimer's - (January's Featured Poet)

Toni Bruno
"IF YOU EVER WONDER" - (Student Poet Winner for March 2003)

Veronica Lawrence-Willis
Happy Birthday To a Dear Daughter