“Pushed Me Then”

“Those steep climbs to the rough-edged top…”

(please open this link in a new tab to listen to the poem recited)
\”Pushed Me Then\” Karima Hoisan~music: \”Helpless\” ~ Neil Young

Pushed Me Then
for O.

In the colors of the night I surrender to everything I  can remember of you,
smooth caramel sweetness warm and stuck in the ripped -out  pages of  my mind.
Those steep climbs to the rough-edged top,
standing hand in hand we planned our future, and we could now see  for 100 miles across the game-board of our lives
but you pushed me then…
You always pushed me there at the end
and I was falling…
you made me fall and fall and fall
until I fell more in love with you before I hit the ground.

Indigo moonrise, standing at the open window ledge,
my swollen lips in the crystal-gray glow mouthing
“I don’t know” I don’t know”
Your smile like fireflies blinging in my eyes,
” Oh Come on… lets try it all over again.”
I came back and when  I was  once again close enough to touch
you pushed me then…
You always pushed me there at the end
and I was falling…
you made me fall and fall and fall
until I fell more in love with you before I hit the ground.

Red ring around my screen name’s view,
means I’m mortally wounded once again by you.
Kisses start turning into punch-time kick boxing pantomime.
Graceful adversaries in our bloody game,
we just can’t seem to make it change..
I feel the breeze hit my eyes,
“Oh look we made it to the top again”
but you pushed me then…
You always pushed me there at the end
and I was falling…
you made me fall and fall and fall
until I fell more in love with you before I hit the ground.

Color us done
color us over
fade us into nothing
but memories and poetry.
Bury us under lilac flowers and graveyard tombs
with crawling white clover rooms.
Stick us away from the light of the day.
Forgive us for being this way,
please forgive us for being this way.
Color us ended
color us gone
fade us into oblivion into the next sad song
into these verses repeating all night long

but you pushed me then…
You always pushed me there at the end
and I was falling…
you made me fall and fall and fall
until I fell more in love with you before I hit the ground.

Karima Hoisan
Oct.30,2010
©Karima Hoisan all rights reserved

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“Skinned Knees and Hapless Strangers” (Train Saga poem #5)

"She pulled out before the red-dawn light..."

“Skinned Knees and Hapless Strangers”
music:(please open music link in a new tab to enjoy while reading) How’s It Going To End ~ Tom Waits

She pulled out before the red- dawn light hit the tree tops
And traveled through county after county of noxious pollution
All she knew was she would not be returning that way ever again
And that retracing her tracks back to Andiana, would never be the solution.

"...caught in a web of no-entry beams..."

Somewhere near Agora her humble train derailed and slid off a trestle
She got caught in a web of no entry beams that flipped her down a ditch

"Almost breaking her neck and skinning her knees..."

Almost breaking her neck and skinning her knees, she started to wrestle
with the idea of leaving her locomotive behind or find someone who would switch.

"She ran back to Bedstraw..."

She ran back to Bedstraw through tunnels and desert cactus flowers
The sky was swirling in colors and strange signs and vehicles floated in the air

Hostility now a constant back theme as she jogged towards Castle Towers
The ghost of a small mutant- being zipped ahead like a rabbit out-running a snare.

"Choose us instead of Death!"

Danger! She felt Danger everywhere and so vulnerable off the tracks
Her lungs were aching from the effort and poison posing as a breath
Then an apparition chugged out of the fetid steamed-air, ’twas  a moving smoke stack
Three wayfarers holding on for their lives yelled,”Choose us instead of Death!”

"The Driver lost control at Agora Mall..."

But Death seemed to be another passenger riding along in their car on patrol,
Like a transparent stranger who caused accidental  derails when least expected,
And just as they steamed  past Agora Mall, the silent driver in front lost control,
They all screamed and white -knuckled the railings as over the bridge they disconnected.

"The sky bled and she saw visions of war..." ~photo Missy Rothmanay

What was the last thing she remembered? What ran through her head full of curls?
The sky bled and she saw visions of war, sky ships and the Mayan Prophecies

"The car lost its' battle to gravity..." ~ photo by Missy Rothmanay

Traumas from childhood mixed with beet root sunsets, a line of cyborg chorus girls
The car lost its battle to gravity and she blacked out mumbling something by  Socrates.

"When she awoke she was the only one left on the train"

When she awoke she was the only one left on the train, and was pulling into Myron Station
The fate of the hapless strangers was uncertain, but they were nowhere to be found,
Dizzy and confused but thankful to be alive, she headed towards Datana to continue her migration
But was rail-blocked by a hydra-headless- phallacy, who was crawling its way out of the ground.

"... rail-blocked by a hydra-headless-phallacy..."

She left her  train on the tracks taking it as a sign, when she came across another hand car.
The small things in life and on the rails, were the best gifts, if you knew how to live the day.
With the wind at her back and sounds of rare mountain birds calling out to her from afar,
She rode until she knew she had arrived, at what would prove to be her first happy stay.

"With the wind at her back..."

to be continued…

Karima Hoisan
Feb.18, 2011
Poecila, SL

*We will leave our poor girl to rest and recuperate for a while before  she resumes her travels. The time for hot baths, new clothes and romance seems to be right about now…

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A Girl Has To Dream (Train Saga poem #4)

"She can dream of three cars with her name lettered on the sides"

A Girl Has To Dream
( Please open music link in a new tab to enjoy) Country Waltz~Angelo Badalamenti

A Girl can dream about trains and wear her heart on her sleeve.
She can dream of three cars with her name lettered on the sides,
Or maybe someone to love her, as she wanders and wonders where she will sleep…
In the end, a map-less journey with no real plan, is what will  define her ride.

" she wanders and wonders where she will sleep.."

She can envision big tract homes with a sauna and swimming pool,
To feel what it would be like to be the mistress of the mansion,
To have hardwood floors that didn’t move, tiled showers and a closet full of shoes,
Instead of her hand car that made her feel sweaty, sun- burned, and quite phantom.

"...to have hardwood floors that didn't move"
People seemed to pass right through her, all who she met along the way
They hurried on to destinations somewhere far-destined and further down the tracks
The only conversation she had shared while she was moving through the days
Was with some Bedstraw penguins who seemed stiff and never answered back.

"...some Bedstraw penguins who seemed stiff."

Still traveling through Bedstraw, she found a stand with handmade steam engines,
Basic in design, costing only a coin, the advantage was they rolled on their own .
She figured her days of standing and pumping would be  coming to an end then
And pulling out her last 10L she started it up and left for towns and stations unknown.

"the advantage was they rolled on their own"

Some times a girl can have nightmares as she is riding the rails,
Castles become monsters and hallucinations change clouds into death ray beams.

"Castles become monsters..."

In those times, it’s best to find a grape arbor, sit on a post and eat sweet fruit until full,
Find a spot in Cycnia to sleep through the night,  because at the end of the day…
a girl has to dream.

"it's best to find a grape arbor..."

"Even in Cycnia a girl has to dream"

Karima Hoisan
Feb.15, 2011
Cycnia JERS Railway SL

to be continued…

*Please see my comment for slurls to some of these places

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“Happy Valentine’s Day” (Train Saga telegram #3)

I Believe in Love

Happy Valentine’s Day from Beautiful & Remote Bedstraw SL

“I’m on the remote rails but thinking of you
Nights I wish I had your arms around me
You know I’ll be back when it’s time to come home
I tossed you some diamonds like breadcrumbs to find me”
~*~
a bee

trapped in a cup
stuck to the honeyed floor
that’s me in the sweetness of love
hopeless
~*~
so many soul-mates
invaded her soul,
washed in
with the morning tide
or appeared on her dock
bathed in crickets and moonlight.
They rained on her picnic
soft petals of sunshine
or whispered in letters
while she danced with another.
They bound her in silk straps
and rode her to glory
or sat at her feet while
she wrote their next chapter
waltzed her
in tears
boleros and tangos
tickled her silly
until she  begged them to
“Stop it!!”

So many soul-mates
invaded her soul
leaving chamber doors open
to come back and remember
stretching the inside
so she could welcome the others,
all promised to her, as she too was
promised,
all connected by threads
though unseen sewed together.

So many soul-mates invaded her soul….

Karima Hoisan
Sept.10, 2009
Misty Shores Linc Island SL

For All my soul-mates I have found
on Life’s Railway
I am sending you my love
On this Valentine’s Day
~*~

Posted in Announcements, Poems, Slices of Second Life | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

“Bad Luck In Tenera” (Train Saga poem #2)

“Bad Luck In Tenera”(Train Saga poem#2)

"...She climbed North through Webworm and Lutra..."

She breathed a sigh as the day grew brighter and her fears and nightmares were suddenly over,
Bees buzzed in their flowers, and in the air she inhaled the aroma of field after field of sweet clover.
The bomb blasts, now a thing of the past, she climbed North through Webworm and Lutra  to towns up high.
As she reached Crumbi Junction, the country rails were like freedom, eyes stung with emotion, liberation’s breeze made her sigh.

"...She was looking up towards Tenera..."

She was  looking up towards Tenera and saw the Metal Man gigantic against the afternoon sky,
But she forget about dangers coming from above, and the psychotic surprises of  her grungy home- town sci-fi.
A robotic sculpted reminder of aerial blitzes from aliens and things large, raging many an attack,
Because the hypnotic melody, almost made her nod to sleep played by the wheels in a repeating clickety -clack.

",,,As it started to get dark, she wished she could lay down for a rest..."

As it started to get dark, she wished she could lay down for a rest, her locomotive was not good for sleeping,
And her impromptu siesta underneath the watchful eyes of the Tin Man of Tenera did not make her feel in safe keeping
But she knew it might be key to find a patch in the grass and allow herself an hour to drift into dreams.
And when she awoke to find the track empty,  her train vanished  into the night air
she learned the hard way, nothing along the rails is what it seems.

"... her train vanished into the night air..."

"...,nothing along the rails is what it seems...."

She ran down the track, no idea where she was going, chasing a train stolen when deep sleep overtook her.
That train was her ticket to somewhere much better, and this thought pushed her to look for a life saving transfer
The humid air mixed with cool night formed a cloud all around her, legs raced on automatic, her brain stoked the fire inside,
Exhausted she stopped at a beach park of hammocks, chose one by the palm trees and laid her head down, then she cried and she cried.

"She ran down the track, no idea where she was going..."

"... laid down her head and she cried and she cried."

But something.. an idea, as if  hope at last tapped her , holding her tight while she rocked in her tears,
She would find other transport but the key was to stay moving, she would sleep only the minimal and conquer her fears.

"She sat herself upright and looked into the moonlight..."

She sat herself upright  and looked into  the moonlight, her mind was made-up like  there’d be no turning back,
And then right in front like a miracle, like a gift with her name, sat a hand-powered pump car all alone on the track.

"...sat a hand-powered pump car all alone on the track."

Karima Hoisan
Feb.12,2011
Misty Shores Linc Island SL
©2011 all rights reserved

and on to parts yet unknown

To be continued…

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“Andiana City” (the beginnings of the Train Saga poem#1)

Andiana City...a poor town under siege

My SLRR Train Saga will take place on the Mainland (a mysterious and seldom visited land by this island hugging poet.)  I confess my ignorance of this varied and surprising world and will hopefully correct it by dedicating quite a lot of time to it, in order to complete my journey along the SL Railroad System. The idea is to write many poems as I travel around the intricate system of train stations, junctions and switch-backs and the different lines, beginning to know the residents, shop keepers, and railway enthusiasts who have made their homes, and their lives near to the railroad tracks.
So, my Saga begins in  a place called Andiana City of Dubia, and the answer to my last post about what the two pictures had in common was simply that they can both be found bordering the Mainland tracks. I hope you enjoy my poetic version of my journey and decide to come and pick up a free train of your own and begin to see this little-known treasure offered to us all by SLRR and The Jers (Joint Eastern Railway System)
(open this music link in a new tab to enjoy while you read the poem)
Cold Cold Ground ~ Tom Waits

just another noob -powered Industry along the tracks

“Andiana City”
(poem #1 in the SLRR Train Saga)


And so it began, her destiny in a  poor town under siege
Attacked, in the grips of cluster bombs, plane crashes, and laser fire
Having neither  job, home, hearth or a generous liege,
She began to ride the rails, forced to escape from her own funeral pyre.

forced to escape from her own funeral pyre.

It was the War of the Worlds in this industrial city on the tracks
She never walked through the streets, but she ran, her heart a flutter,
And took shelter from the rockets, mid air crashes and shots to her back
In an un-manned pump station, across from the church, along the gutter.

A near "zap" by an alien laser while she tried to collect her thoughts

Holding up in the pump station...writing it down

She thought she heard the sounds of zombie soldiers on midnight prowls,
Her imagination sparked by adrenaline and low blood sugar churning,
Outside the convenience store lay a poor victim cut in half and disemboweled,
Her appetite was lost on every corner, watching the town go down burning.

"Her appetite was lost on every corner"

"... hallucinations of King Kong."

Avoiding the dead, the loneliness,  dropping bombs, and  hallucinations of King Kong,
Staving off starvation on pizza slices  snatched at the end of another horror filled day,
She ran down to the train station hearing a free give- away train had come along
She never looked back as she jumped on-board and made her  desperate get- away.

"...Staving off starvation on pizza slices..."

"...a free give- away train had come along..."

Karima Hoisan
Feb.11,2011
Andiana City, Dubia SL
©2011 all rights reserved
*my Special thanks to Jer Straaf of Andiana City and “Heavily Scripted Industries” for looking the other way when I took over the pump station

She never looked back as she jumped on-board

and the Saga continues…

Posted in Poems, Slices of Second Life | 3 Comments

The Best Kept Secret of SL (just a teaser)

I know I haven’t posted in a few days but I am working on something BIG so it might be a few more days and even I am not sure what direction it will all take.. I will only hint a little here to hopefully whet your appetites for the full disclosure.. No, it’s not about scandal or skeletons in the Linden’s closets, it is about getting off my little “piece of paradise” my own sim and discovering a world that even after three years here, I did not know existed.
I will show you two pictures and let you allow your imaginations to roll in  whatever direction they want to. I am a great believer in letting imaginations like wild horses, run free. So have fun with these hints and then I include one of my poems “Sim Hopping” as a sort of theme song to shaking the lead out and exploring new places in SL. So the teaser is this:
What do both these pictures have in common?

"The Fortune was a little unsettling"

"Fill her up with LOL please-Unleaded"

My Poem “Sim Hopping” Music “Jockey Full Of Bourbon” by Tom Waits(please open the music link in a new tab to listen to while reading the poem)
\” Jockey Full Of Bourbon\” ~Tom Waits

“Sim Hopping”

Sim hopping and the skies are clear,
sending you a tp so just wait right here.
I know a place I saw in Destination Guide,
has these awesome textures ‘n you can row hike and ride

Sheep go “baaa” and there’s trails I hear
winding round the misty cliffs,
opening a bed and breakfast next year
and put boats out that you can sail and go adrift.

I’m just getting the itch to get off our piece of paradise,
maybe ride that Jabberwocky  we did last year
that was  nice…
We can gallop the horse trails, stop at that bar on top, hold hands and look into each others eyes, non- stop.

Sexy hot salsa balls on a private white
sandy beach cove,
at night they have the best live entertainment
we might catch a light show dancer  I’m told.
Little dolphins  jumping out of the sea,
we can go barefooted and  cut-off  jeans
No problem, just remember to tip the venues please,
and we don’t eat, so no menus just two black coffees.

If you like the wilderness baby I know a sim we can get lost a week,
there is an exciting avalanche  on top and the woods sing with rivers and creatures crawl and creep,
esoteric islands that never advertise but you can lay down in the moss and mist and hear this music
ohh and close your eyes,
and we can Just Dance the night away.

Planets are a swirling & twirling at the landing point where we meet,
the “Tai Chi-ers” are gracefully combatant  to a hypnotic World Music beat.
Just wait  to rezz as traffic is high and the lag is slowing us down  to lead,
but it’s worth it  just so you know , this planet is exactly  what it’s like to be dead.

Sim wind blowing in my hair,
It makes my curls fly out towards the west,
while we strap in on a simulator ride and
go to Mars on our very next quest.
Diving bell makes us both go “Wow!”
I like the octopus, he’s a one of a kind.
I look back at you and hold out my hand
and no matter where we go I know you’re mine.

I’m just getting the itch to get off our piece of paradise,
maybe ride that Jabberwocky we did last year,
that was  nice…
We can gallop the horse trails stop at that bar on top,
hold hands and look into each others eyes, non stop.

Karima Hoisan
Oct.8,2010
Misty Shores Renacer SL

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Karima ~Tukso & The Mistaken Paparazzi ~ The True Story

Thursday Feb.3rd  was a night I had been waiting for, for a long time. In a meeting almost a month before, Tukso Okey and I had agreed on doing a dual stream live reading, where he would be the music back-track to my poetry. His funky hypnotic beat would serve as the rhythmic background for this unique reading, which instead of being intensely planned and structured out as it usually was, would be  free-flowing, more of a “Jazz experience” of the moment. We had one rehearsal before the show which was really a tweaking of my sound and an explanation of how dual streaming worked. Since he was in Seattle and I was in Costa Rica, my stream would serve to broadcast us both, but the tricky part was although I could hear him, and therefore choose and weave my poetry around his playing, he could not hear me. This is how it is when we dual stream here in Second Life. I was nervous but excited too, to try this new form of reading,and already knowing I could feel his music from my bones out, I was really looking forward to this night. At 7pm sharp we began, as people started arriving at my Kantina and from our first “greetings” to the audience, I was locked into his beat, I began to dance, and my words floated over his sensual guitar.

"here we go" photo by Sanne Brune

I recited my latest poem “Soul Eyes”but this time to the funky beat and subtle lead lines of Tukso’s magic guitar and then I offered one that I had written for him (see post “Tukso Tukso Tukso”) entitled “Train Ride Down With Tukso” Please right click the following link in a new tab to hear it, while I tell you the rest of this  twisting tale of mistaken identity.
Train Ride Down With Tukso~Tukso & Karima

"to the bowels of your guitar, the sexy dirty alleyways.." ~photo by Sanne Brune

Little did I know that he was being spooked and taken out of his groove by my Aussie friend Sanne Brune, who had a big gigantic fake video camera on her shoulder with the unmistakable title over her head “Karima’s Film Crew” It looked real but all she was doing was taking these great pictures. While I was lost in my poetry, Tukso was feeling more and more uncomfortable to be staring into a big machinima maker wondering what she was planning  on doing  with the footage afterward. He started to feel nervous as to her intentions and actually, he had a good reason. He had a formal complaint lodged with YouTube against a video filmed of him doing his original song “My Fallen Angel” one night at a show that he had never authorized and had no idea he was being filmed.

"Karima's Film Crew"...Not! ~photo by Sanne Brune

On top of that, as luck would have it, Sanne stationed herself right down in front and aimed her menacing paparazzi weapon directly at him. His heart began to thump faster than his rhythm track and every second he was feeling more uncomfortable. Meanwhile the 30+ people in the audience, and myself included, had absolutely no idea that this was going on

It sure did look like a video camera.. ~ photo by Sanne Brune

I finished up my last poem and leaped off the stage, ready to just dance the last half hour or so to the music. I invited everyone to jump on dance balls because I expected any minute Tukso to break out in  “Red Hot Poppa” or “Shattered” or any of the great songs he does. We still had 25 minutes left to go on the hour and I was geared up to just dance and enjoy… my “work” was over.

my work was done and I was ready to dance ~ photo bt Sanne Brune

Instead of turning up the sound and cutting loose, Tukso seemed to be coasting in neutral and then all of a sudden he just took off  his guitar and said good night to everyone and disappeared in about 20 seconds flat. I was shocked. At first I thought he had crashed, but he had said goodnight before that. When I got an Im from him a minute later saying he could not handle being filmed, I all of a sudden realized the mistake and what was supposed to be just a cute animation and a prop had turned into a show stopping situation.
It took a bit of talking later on after everyone went home to see it was only a case of mistaken identity, and my tears of disappointment turned into understanding as I saw that the whole situation of illegal filming was a “thing”that Tukso was living at the moment. I will back him on this. Last night he announced that YouTube ruled in his favor and took off the unauthorized and  illegal version of his beautiful song “My Fallen Angel” Now my hope is that he gives a good soundtrack of it to Menubar and let’s him make the official video for him. I also hope he does his funky rendition of “Shattered” and sends it off to me.

"So good night everybody" ahh "what?" ~photo by Sanne Brune

Well it was a happy ending in the end. Friendship, understanding, and mutual respect won over hard feelings and misunderstandings. A special thanks to Sanne Brune for all the pictures above. She might not be my “film crew”but she is now my official event photographer (as long as she drops the camera prop:) Tukso’s win in YouTube will hopefully discourage any others who might get the idea to film him unawares.
That is a big “No-No”
Thank you Tukso..it was a unique experience to read my poetry to your music. I would do it again in a minute if we ever got the chance.

Posted in Live Shows, Poems, Slices of Second Life | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

“Soul Eyes”

I want to share with all of you my passion for Art, that as most of you know does inspire much of my SL poetry. I chose three of my favorite artists and included their works with some slices of Second Life. The original poem came from a conversation with one of them about how we learn to see here in Second Life with a different set of eyes which I penned “Soul Eyes.” Art is a great catalyst for learning to open them and see the world in all its’ radiant beauty. I want to give a special thanks to Chrome Underwood, Scottius Polke and Menubar Memorial for helping me to open up mine.
I hope you all enjoy it…and let me know:) Please choose the highest viewing  setting~480p~ to enjoy it in sharper detail and full-screen

I was asked to please write out the poem, so below is the written version

“Soul Eyes”

All the colors of all your art ,
become the shifting portrait of your passion.
Unclassified yet somehow, I’m  pushed up,
flat against a waving mural-ed wall.
Tickled by teasing  tints ‘n raptures..
I roll in colored  sands of sighs and abstract thighs,
watch me, I remove my programmed glasses…
and see you naked and reflected behind the lids of
my soul eyes.

My blindness covered beauty in a thickened darkening
shroud of categories.
I couldn’t see the pretty forest.. for the pretty trees were in the way and especially I couldn’t see your inner beauty that you seemed to  give away for free.
There is no gender -prison, no age speed limit, no time’s up..
as far as I can  surmise.
I just need to close the old ones shut,
and hear your words as they play out inside my
new born soul eyes.

I bet you weren’t expecting half of this that came
gushing down a hill,
sweeping you away in streams,
paints and brushes flying in the air.
No one could have warned you about my x-ray vision
if they hadn’t ever personally… already been there.
The truth is…  Art is alive and walks the streets at night..tempting passer-byes who fall giddy and take-in primary colors with out -of -control sighs.
I smile, because I know it’s been and always will be revealed, Art as the ultimate aphrodisiac, the one that opens my sight to see again…see it all,
through these soul eyes,

All the colors of all your art,
become the shifting portrait of your passion.
Unclassified yet somehow, I’m  pushed up
flat against a waving mural-ed wall.
Tickled by teasing tints ‘n raptures..
I roll in colored  sands of sighs and abstract thighs,
watch me, I remove my programmed glasses…
and see you naked and reflected behind the lids of
my soul eyes

Karima Hoisan
Feb.1, 2011
Virtual Art Gallery Linc Island SL
©2011
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Posted in Machinima, Poems, Slices of Second Life | 6 Comments

“Whale Song”

I am very pleased to present my newest video-poem entitled “Whale Song”
This poem was born from listening to the haunting music of Djam and Fam “She Left Home” one day and all I could hear in the sad strings was the call of a lonely whale. The free verse poem sprang out of the depths of this song. I thank my sister Maria Vought for helping me to get a legal copy of the song used in the video. My deepest gratitude to my best friend Menubar Memorial for transforming an idea, and a poem, into the video I invite you all to see below.
Whales need our love and protection.
Help Save Them in any way you can. Visit http://www.savethewhales.org
This poem is dedicated to Emile Sands and Seth Stratten.
Please open the full screen as the video is in High Definition and looks very good enlarged

Posted in Machinima, Poems | Tagged , , , , | 31 Comments