cory basil

{author.illustrator.dreamer.lover}

mr. cory basil is the perfect combination of illustrator and poet. his watercolor and ink pieces are both dark and endearing, and his poetry speaks straight to one's soul. he recently published a collection which he both authored and illustrated, by the name of Skinny Dipping in Daylight.
here is a poem from the collection, "blind":

i'm thumbing through the memories 
searching for the words
dreaming in black and white
but living shades of grey 
i'm picking up the pieces
from the corners of the earth
ones laced with intentions
of leaving you behind. 

simple, endearing, and concise: our favorite kind of poetry.


below are some of mr. basil's illustrations.

we hope you enjoy cory basil's art as much as we do. fun fact: he lives here in Nashville and currently has an exhibit up in Frothy Monkey (downtown Franklin). if you're interested in mr. basil and would like to know more, you can find his information on his facebook page. check it out!


interested in seeing your favorite artist on our blog? you know what to do.

{wrotewritewrit@gmail.com}

A Chair's Tale

Here's the saga of a chair that sits there, as told by our good friend Levi Conrad. We hope it brings a smile to your face like it did to ours!
~

There is a chair. It sits in front of the

room. It stands silently

Unhappily

Not Wavering from its place.

I want to sit in it

I want to sit

In that chair

It calls my name, as it is the only one

who knows me.

I want the chair.

I want it near me.

I want to love that chair .

I want it to love me.

To support me.

To hold me over the troubles I face.

I want it

because

It is unobtainable

Because it is

Forbidden

I wonder

What is it like?

What is the

Feeling

Sitting high up

Above any who would call me

Peer

Is it the source of power

Of his power

I will

Never know.

I will

Never know

The truth

Regarding

The chair.


~
Inspirational. Do you have the inside scoop on any inanimate objects? Or animate ones? We're all ears. Submit your ramblings to wrotewritewrit@gmail.com and as always, keep creating.

perception

I used to write poetry.

that was before God cracked open my bones

and poured marrow onto paper.

Instead of smooth muscle tissue I

Found a perfect map of the milky way

within my endoskeleton.

He told me to remember him by partaking in his flesh

So I ate the wafer and drank the wine

But my mouth filled with sand

And

The blood of child soldiers.

My teeth,

tombstones tarnished by mothers tears

my tongue,

A freedom flag flapping in the wind

as tired feet are forced to

tread

To protect a "loving" god.

What kind of father gives

An obesity epidemic to the rich and

AIDS

To the emaciated

Not my god, no my god

Does not tell me he loves me

And then kill the innocent like

"Fuck you, here's downs syndrome instead of divinity"

That

Is

Not

my

god.

no, my god is

eons of dirt pulsing through my bloody bloodstream

a mourning dove cooing on a midsummer morning

the scratch of a pencil on a clean sheet of paper

the charred cups of coffee that hold me together.

he is the dual nature of poetry and prose

running together in the throes

of the nights spent

deep inside an artist’s mind

don’t underestimate

the power of god inside

of your tendons

don’t underestimate

your ability to feel millions

and billions

of brilliance pulsing

and pulling

don’t let the anxiety of alienation

drool on your purity

don’t let human history

steal your autonomy

i am part of you

and you’re part of me

so come with me

don’t try to flee

from morality

spontaneity

the gravity

of indecency is necessary to

let the stream

of stability strutting through

your daily dreams

indulge in sweet

sustenance of permanence

and accomplishments

you’re part of this

a fixture

in the mixture,

a tincture

of revolutionary scripture

the perfect picture

of misheard

geniuses

We’re done with this

it’s time for

collective consciousness

peaceful protest

civil unrest

uninhibited conquest

let’s do our best

at your behest

to take this quest

to intelligence

and permanence

of self defense

we are IMMENSE

and the consequence

from whence this commences

is immersion in the present tense

the time is now,

for in your mind

you are divine

yet unrefined

BE disinclined

to let mankind

restrain our kind

we are the future

the truth producers

the art inducers

beauty pursuers

i want to see

the you and me

i want to see

the we

in unity

for me, that’s who god appears to be.

-sofi goodwin

What's your perception?

Submit your stuff, we want to hear it.

{wrotewritewrit@gmail.com}

mid south grand slam semis

We think it's safe to say that last night's slam was incredible. Here are a few videos of the winners and those who are advancing to the wild card semi-final. 

Eric Lentz

Sean Smith

Caleb West 

Brandon Lenox

 If you don't know much about spoken word, you should at least know that each of these pieces is an original. 

Yeah, you read that right. 

Some of the performers have been participating in slams for years. Other poets (like david, sofi, and eric) had never experienced the magic of a live slam before. Regardless of age, gender, and nationality, everyone who spoke had a story to tell. The styles and genres of the pieces varied widely from poems about stilettos  to poems about gang violence, yet each one had a completely unique story to tell. And don't think that participation in the slam stopped at those who were in front of the mic. No, the best thing about last night aside from the poets themselves was the audience. In this day and age it is extremely difficult to find such a large group of people who will willingly sacrifice a Friday night to go to any sort of artistic event. But if you were at the slam last night you know that the crowd was half of the fun. 

A special thanks to the lovely people who showed up to support us last night, everyone who performed, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts for hosting the event, and Southern Word for organizing everything. We couldn't have asked for a better experience. 

If you aren't blind and can therefore recognize the immense amount of talent in these videos (sorry for the terrible quality, we obviously aren't videographers), come out to the next slam! Registration is still open to compete, so sign up here. 

Have you ever performed or written anything? We want your submissions! Comment below or send us an e-mail at wrotewritewrit@gmail.com. 

midnight snack

here's a little bit of inspiration for you on this fine wednesday night (or thursday morning).

It comes from within

An ember at birth, hope saw the spark and fanned it

Hope's heart saw the light and skipped a beat

Hands torn claw, 

but the burning ever saw

the truth apparent.

A quiet life, polite friends, 

a peaceful transparent mask.

November saw the spark grow.

7 days it worked, uneasy,

Sensing the worst.

On that seventh day,

BOOM

All hope lost, 

the light burnt out.

.

..

...

..

.

Only to EXPLODE in FIREWORKS

tomorrow.

-isi beach

has your brain exploded recently? 

whether literally or figuratively, we want to know about it.

 you know what to do. 

{wrotewritewrit@gmail.com}

andrea gibson

{beautiful.brilliant.inspiring.spokenwordpoet}

This piece, titled Birthday, is one of our favorites.

Did this poem intrigue you? Check out Andrea's blog.

Did this poem inspire you? Send us your work at wrotewritewrit@gmail.com or comment below!

slammin'

This Friday, there's a poetry slam at the Frist Center Cafe at 6 p.m.

 people you know and love will be competing: 

sofi goodwin, eric lentz, david smith, and many more. 

This week, in honor of spoken word poetry, 

we're going to be posting some of our favorites,
plus some original work people have submitted.

Hope to see you guys there this Friday. 

Interested in participating in this Friday's slam?
Register here.

Want to be a featured poet this week
in honor of spoken word poetry?
Comment below or send us an e-mail at
wrotewritewrit@gmail.com

and to start this week's theme off, here are
two of our favorite spoken word poets
performing a love poem (of sorts) together.
bon appetit.

joseph ozment

{witty. welsh. well-written. musician.}


As the warm weather (we hope) is starting to frequent our little town of Franklin, we've been looking for the perfect music to bridge the gap between winter and spring. Luckily enough, we know Joseph Ozment. Otherwise known as "Pleased to Michu", Joseph's music is both comforting and uplifting; perfect for the first days of spring that are just warm enough to drive with your windows down. Joseph also writes poetry and has told us that if we are nice to him, he'll submit his other work later. For now, let's just enjoy his music, because it's certainly good enough. Once you hear his enchanting Welsh accent and acoustic rock vibes, we know you'll want to fan-girl over him as much as we do.

Here are some of our favorites:
All My Lovin'
Whistle for the Choir
Jana

Do you like Joseph as much as we do? Help him out by listening to and downloading the rest of his music on soundcloud and liking his page on facebook.




Questions, comments, concerns? Want to be featured on the blog? If so, comment below or send us an e-mail at wrotewritewrit@gmail.com. Your feedback is always welcome!

hello

Let us first start with the Merriam Webster's Dictionary definition of "blog":

 a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer; also : the contents of such a site— blog verb— blog·ger noun— blog·ging noun

As humans, we often consider our individual experiences and emotions to be much more important than they actually are. That is the main reason that our culture is obsessed with social networking sites. Of course people want to read about what I'm doing every second! "I just made myself a sandwich #futurechef" Gasp, The intrigue! Unfortunately, though the modern person spends hundreds of hours a year on the internet, an extremely small percentage of this time is used focusing on things that actually matter. Hate to break it to you, but as cute as your new cheetah print shoes are, they are not going to change the world. The internet is a medium that allows a single post to be seen by millions of people in a matter of seconds, yet we use it to post things of little to no importance.

And here, my friends, is where this specific blog comes in.

My friends and I (we'll make a post introducing ourselves at a later date) have noticed that young adults are not being given the attention they need when it comes to the arts. So many musicians, poets, and artists exist out there in this big, beautiful world, and we want to showcase their talents. Once or twice or maybe even three times a week (we haven't decided yet, this project is pretty unorganized), this blog will feature those who are devoted to making the world beautiful. Don't get us wrong; we are no exception to the social networking trend. I talked about eating pita chips the other day on my twitter. Our goal isn't to look down on someone's choice of internet use, but rather to try and create a place where artists from all planes can submit their work. We'll post our own work; the work of artists, writers, musicians, actors, etc.; and anything that YOU send to us. The goal is to use the power of the internet to catalyze creativity.

If you think we're insane, good. We think we're insane, too. Let's be insane together.

Interested in being on our blog? Send us an e-mail at wrotewritewrit@gmail.com or comment below! We want your work!