Cyrano de Bergerac  defines it  for me.....    I love poetry— 
writing it, reading it, performing it— and I hope in some way that helps
me enliven it for everyone else, because poetry doesn't belong on
the bookshelves in a deserted & silent library any more than we do...

You can find more of my poetry online here:  http://www.sidewalkpress.net/kcpoet
Email me:  allen@sidewalkpress.net


How it always happens—

                                               I don't know where it came from, 
                                               from winter, or a river; 
                                               I don't know how or when—      Pablo Neruda


                                               Something is waiting 
                                               to happen to you;
                                               the stars have known it all along...     Allen Heinrich



Self-Portrait               (click the title to hear the poem)


... a gathering of leaves,
of unfolding blooms
bent upon a golden
sea of light,
the slightest air still
a summer's breathing
on meadow'd fields,
and all 'round the senses,
life—
  the scamper and trill,
  the whistle, the quills
  of animal, of bird;
and too, the spill of ink, 
  of word—
as if this merest pen
could somehow drink itself
  alive,
dreaming as well of doing
something tangibly more than
   derive,
      derive ...



OPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUS
OPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUSOPUS

Here's a list of the poems I've done in OPUS performances (thus far); all work is mine unless otherwise noted. 

     DDate                          (Theme)     (


January 24, 2004     (Poetry In The Flesh)

Of Timber, & Wild Places
The Glance
The Moors
Yours, Truly
Flibberty Jib (by Ken Nordine)


February 21, 2004     (Unrequited Love)

Reciprocal
In Whiskey Weather
Bitten
Cigarette
Gruel
Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind— But Never Out Of Hand


March 20, 2004     (Inebriation)

Poetry (by Pablo Neruda [translated by Alastair Reid]
Once More, With Reeling
Reckless Abandon
Hyperbole
Resonance


April 17, 2004     (Morality)

The True Story Of Snow White (by Bruce Bennett)
Glass Slipper
The Whisper Alone
Immaterial Witness
Summer 'Tween Us


May 15, 2004     (Community)

Spectacular
Precious
Helen
Interlude
Letter To Che Guevera
Hive


June 26, 2004     (The Elements:  Water)

Riverdance
Ghosting
And You, Being The Rain
High Water
Fishing
Moist


July 24, 2004     (The Elements:  Air)

Chrysalis
In The Wind
The Green Isles
Time After
Updraft
Storm Front
Elements


August 21, 2004     (The Elements:  Fire)

Facing The Fire
Heat
Between Two Fires
Portrait Of A Former Flame
Sunrise At Midnight
Prometheus
Wildfire


September 18, 2004     (The Elements:  Earth)

Grounds For Divorce
Sword In The Stone
Buried Treasure
Furrows
Earthworks
The Moon's Lover Unearths His Purpose
Undressing The Moon


October 16, 2004     (Fear)



November 13, 2004     (Adults Only)



December 12, 2004     (Time)