About John Powers

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If you are looking for permission to perform one or more of my poems in forensic competition or poetry interpretation competition, consider it granted.

If you are looking for a particular poem, perhaps it is one of the ones listed in this section. Feel free to print them out and share them.

John Powers is a national performing poet, born in London, England and currently residing in Providence, Rhode Island. He lost his accent long ago. After High School he joined a cult known as Bryant College, a top rated business school in Smithfield, Rhode Island. After graduating in 1993 he moved back to Massachusetts and joined another cult, known as the business world. In 1998 he stumbled upon a spoken word open mic hosted by Bill MacMillan and realized the mess he was in. “Poetry saved my life, it taught me to question everything and take nothing - at face value...” By day, John still resides in the business world, but now sees himself as an insider. “We need somebody looking out for the artists... Some say being a poet and a businessman cancel each other out, I think their philosophy is over budget.”

By night, John is the slammaster of Providence, RI, hosting the Providence Poetry Slam on the first Thursday of each month at AS220 (115 Empire Street, Providence).

He is the founder of the DownCity Slam; former host of a small reading at the Moonstruck Poetry Café in Charlton, MA; the founder of the CUPS performing troop - a touring group of poets with an activist’s point of view; and he was a key organizer for the year 2000 National Poetry Slam held in Providence, RI. John was also a member of the 1999 Providence Poetry Slam team that competed in Chicago.

Samples of the poet's work:

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Click on one of the links below to hear the poem, as read by John during his OpenMike Poetry feature:
ASF audio ("streaming" audio, lower quality sound) [alternate ASF audio]
MPEG-3 audio file (larger file, higher quality sound)
(more info on audio links)

1964

An early childhood memory and recollection of a story told to me by my Grandmother.

1964
6 years before me / 4 years before he showed her the world
my father hitchhiked
80 miles
from Boston College to Progress Avenue
walking
walking
walking
left hand extended
thumb outward
against November leaves of red / yellow / orange & blue sky

November leaves / crunching beneath his feet

I would have given anything / to see her eyes
as she opened the door...

1974
4 years after me / 1 day after I was given a whole new world
my father flew / 800 miles
from Logan Airport to places not here / Europe

going
going
going

a crying child
behind glass & tarmac / as he takes off into a white & blue sky
glass & tarmac / growing smaller beneath his plane
I would have given anything / for him to wipe my eyes
Instead he closed the door...

Tuesday

It’s Tuesday & I’ve been interviewing adoption agencies
for my dog: A 35 pound black lab & Corgi mix
that looks & acts a lot like a puppy

& I still wonder how her parent’s managed it
a black lab is a full sized dog – they can stand 3 feet tall
a Corgi has 3 inch legs – they’re quite low to the ground
& I still wonder

& It’s Tuesday & she’s been sleeping in the house or sitting on a leash for 14 hours a day

…She’s been too often bounced around
between friends & relatives during week & month long business trips…

& that is no life for anyone

…especially someone who doesn’t understand why…

& It’s Tuesday & 2 months ago I picked her up
gently held her in my arms
& stepped onto a scale
She had gained ten pounds & I gained the realization she was getting fat
& needed a better home

& It’s Tuesday & I’ve found an adoption agency - a “no-kill” place,
because I haven’t been able to give her what she needs
& dying

…is not what she needs…

It’s Tuesday & I’m folding a blanket - I’m filling Tupperware w/ dog food
& the dog food is she doesn’t feel the stress of a changed diet - right away
& the blanket is so she can smell home

while she waits

Tuesday & I’m walking her through the woods
Down the same path she’s walked for the past three years
I’m letting he swim in the lake
When I brought her home from the pound she was terrified of
water
she was terrified of everything & she would cower if I yelled from the other room
& I knew that once
some thing bad must have happened to her
& now she’s a great swimmer & now she’s really trusting
& that used to feel really
good
but now it doesn’t

cause family members shouldn’t be
disposable

Tuesday & last week I signed a lease for a city apartment
a move that’s finally making me do this
& I’m giving her a bath
& if she’s clean & smelling a little less like a pond
someone might adopt her sooner

Tuesday & I’m driving w/ her beside me
& I’m gonna pay the adoption fee for whoever wants her first!

& It’s Tuesday & I’m putting her on a leash
& I’m opening the door
& I’m walking her in
& I’m kneeling beside her
& I’m patting her head
& I’m scratching her neck
& I’m handing her over
& I’m saying goodbye
& I’m driving home & I’m alone & I’m waving

at age 4

sobbing

at the terminal window

“COME BACK DADDY!” “Come Back daddy” “come back
daddy”

(On a Tuesday)

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Hear John reading "Suits on Ice":
ASF audio ("streaming" audio, lower quality) [alternate ASF audio ( lower quality, 450K)]
MPEG-3 file (high-quality, 3 MB)
(more info on audio links)

SUITS ON ICE

It's winter & Angel Street's a Frozen Rink of Death
I'm walking to work in my Alter Ego Suit & I look like everyone else walking to work in dress shoes
coffee in one hand, brief case in the other, gingerly taking steps down this huge ice encrusted hill
leading to the office towers

The Brown Students (who take all the parking)
are walking up the hill in sensible shoes
The business people walk down the hill in dress shoes
The parking spot stealing I can't go to a real ivy league school but my daddy bought me a BMW
anyway students
are walking up the hill in SENSIBLE shoes
& suddenly someone's DKNY backpack bumps me & I'm pot over coffee over ass over kettle
FALLING!
& then I'm SLIDING!
down the hill where I have to walk because of all the Brown Students parking around here
I'm outta control!
I'm on my side, I'm on my back, I'm trying to stop but I keep going faster!
FASTER!
I scream past the upright pedestrians:
I'M SLIDING DOWN THE HILL!
I'M SLIDING DOWN THE HILL!
& the Brown Students yell back:
YES YOU ARE!
YES YOU ARE!
& there's this old lady in front of me with her little dog
I'm trying to get out of the way-I'm twisting, I'm turning, I'm on my stomach, I'm on my back,
I'm trying to get out of the WAAAAAAY!
but I nail them both "AAAAAH! / YIPE! / Tha Thud Thud"
I'm scraping against the curb but it's as frozen as the street
fences are blurs, poles are blurs
I'm wooshing past cars
whoosh / whoosh / hoooonk & I'm still sliding SLIDING!
& suddenly I'm in control.

Dragging my brief case behind me like a rudder
I move it left, I turn left
I move it right, I turn right
(& how long is this hill anyway?)
but I see a Brown Student
BROWN STUDENTS!
(did I mention they take all the parking?)
move the brief case left - left - left - right
I nail him! up he goes
"AYIEEEEE! / My daddy's going to sue!"
I look back to see the bastard land & there's another guy in a business suit sliding outta control just
like I was
so I yell to him:
"Use your brief case to steer!" & he yells "Good Idea!"
& now we're in tandem, Sliding but not stopping
he yells to the guy behind him
We FORM a delta FORM-ation
& suddenly it's Suits On Ice: 3 business men in a 30 degree dance of descent
so I yell: "Aim for the Brown Students, they talk all the parking!"
now we're the Pinstriped Lugers
a full contact luge team
lugeing at every student we see
left - left - left - BAM
"AYIEEEEE!"
long right
left - left - left - BAM
"AYIEEEEE!"
long right
we take out three more
& suddenly I'm skidding across the canal
(lucky I have the light)
South Main's a blur
Westminster's in view
& left - left -left
STOP.

I stand,
wave to the other lugers skidding by
& have a Zen moment
I'm hungry without even looking at my watch
I'm five minutes early to work without even trying
& I know that tomorrow I'll be early again
because tomorrow there'll be more parking spaces.

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You can find “It's Tuesday” and “Suits on Ice” in “The 14th Apostle,” John’s fifth chapbook. It comes with a CD of John reading all the poems in it—all for one low price. For your copy, order it from The Word Smith Press.

Vist the DownCity Slammers page on MP3.com to hear more free audio samples of John and many other poets.

Back to the OpenMike Poetry homepage

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Notes on the audio links: The three audio links lead to different file-format versions of the same audio content. The "ASF audio" link will generate "streaming"-type audio which will download and play at the same time (no waiting!) This seems to work best with Internet Explorer. To play "ASF" files you'll need to have installed version 6 (or later) of the Microsoft media player, which can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer/download.
With some browsers, clicking on the "ASF audio" link will still bring up a "Save As..." window (even after the version 6 Microsoft media player is installed.) If this happens, use the "Save As..." window to pick a location on your hard drive to save the file (which will end in ".asx") into; then find the file with the "Windows Explorer" and double-click on it to download and play the content. (Granted, this is not the most elegant work-around; but it's still faster than waiting for the entire audio download to finish before playing it.)
The "MPEG-3 audio file" link allows you to download a higher-quality MPEG-3 version of the audio (but you have to wait until the download is complete before playing the content.) The version 6 Microsoft media player will play MPEG-3 files. The Winamp player will also play these. (The smaller-sized "alternate ASF audio" file can also be played using MPEG-3 players.)
The "ASF" files were generated using the Windows Media Encoder found in the Media Tools which can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download.