poem

acrophobia (on a painting by Pat Orban)

M. D. Friedman abstract, acrophobia, artist, ekphrastic, M. D., M. D. Friedman, MD, painting, Pat Orban, poem, poet, Poetry
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Painting by Pat Orban

acrophobia
rain bites skin
chills bones
among warm speckled rays
thunder hems & haws    clears its throat of sky
lilac whiffs with languid wind    and that smell
when rain first tames the dust brings me
to who I am (in this cage of dying skin)
the old man rambled    can’t work in the lightening
I had to agree    it was a yellow afternoon
and there is no place better to stand
than where your feet meet the ground
I wouldn’t go up there either
not if I had a say
not now        probably never
Copyright by M. D. Friedman.
Please visit www.mdfriedman.com to see more of M. D. Friedman’s work.

I Shot the Serif (on a painting by Pat Orban)

M. D. Friedman abstract, artist, ekphrastic, M. D., M. D. Friedman, MD, painting, Pat Orban, poem, poet, Poetry

Painting by Pat Orban

I Shot the Serif
these bricks
I labor to layer
like sturdy scars
imprison me
as certainly as
the runaway train
roaring through my brain
jumps the track of reason
sharp barb lurks in the dark
the point is silence
I move between the taste
of rust and blood
hook slides from jaw
with the simplicity of gravity
I swish free smoothly slipping
beneath the quivered surface
burnt dusk oozes from the eye of night
cloistered with pain and wormy delusion
the dangling trap drifts beyond
I forage shimmering in the infinite dawn
Copyright by M. D. Friedman.
Please visit www.mdfriedman.com to see more of M. D. Friedman’s work.

Strange Fruit Villanelle

M. D. Friedman Alton, black, form, Illinois, Martin Luther King, poem, Poetry, racism, Villanelle, white
(April 5, 1968, Alton Senior High School)
America needed to watch its back.
When ignorance swelled like fruit on hatred’s tree,
My best friend in high school was black.
America feasted on this loathsome crap,
When hopeful King was gunned down from his dream,
America needed to watch its back.
I’ll recall how whites that day in school talked smack,
How bigots blindly hurled hateful obscenities.
My best friend in high school was black.
Blacks marched out, whites threw rocks to pelt the pack,
Cops beat back blacks blue and red; white kids cheered in glee.
America needed to watch its back.
Alton broke me on its racist rack,
Tortured me with its bloody irony.
My best friend in high school was black.
That things now have changed is mostly fact,
Yet so many still yearn to be free.
Those scars and stripes that welt my back,
Sting like the cuts lashed on my friend’s back.
Copyright 2010 by M. D. Friedman.
Please visit www.mdfriedman.com to see more of M. D. Friedman’s work.

Crossing the Bridge Parts 1 & 2

M. D. Friedman ambient, Crossing the Bridge, electronica, experimental, freestyle, improvisational, M. D. Friedman, Mad Dog & Headman, Music, poem, sound art, spoken word, The Great Clock, Theremin, Walking Upside Down
Spoken word with improvised soundtrack. These are Tracks 2 & 3 off of Mad Dog & Headman‘s Walking on the Sky album released in May 19, 2013 (featuring: Mad Dog Friedman on Theremin & Spoken Word and Stephen Hartman on NS/Stick with MIDI, Bass Pedals & Keyboards).  Stephen is pure genius and a true in the moment astral plane pirate. It is the first full length project featuring Mad Dog’s aleatory Theremin work.  Featuring M. D. Friedman‘s poem, “The Great Clock” as published in his chapbook, Leaning Toward Whole (Liquid Light Press 2011).

If the player does not work click here to hear: http://soundcloud.com/md-friedman/crossingthebridge320

Copyright 2010 by M. D. Friedman.
Please visit www.mdfriedman.com to see more of M. D. Friedman’s work.

The Secret Scars of Brotherhood

M. D. Friedman abuse, graphic, healing.heal, incest, personal, poem, Poetry, violence


This piece is rather graphic, highly personal and contains material that might trigger issues for people sensitive to violence, incest and abuse. I would appreciate your thoughts and comments if you also find that healing is fostered by honest sharing. I offer this piece to anyone that might be in need of healing. To help others as others have helped me is my only intention. Please feel free to share it for this intention only. Please click the link below to view:

Copyright 2010 by M. D. Friedman.
Please visit www.mdfriedman.com to see more of M. D. Friedman’s work.