Poetry

Subscribe for more videos like this! "Breathe" is a poem from my new book "This is 2020: A Poetry Collection." "Breath" was written in June of this year, after yet another senseless death at the hands of the system that allows the job of judge, jury, and executioner to be held by one group of individuals. That is not the job of those men and women, and until they are allowed to go back to doing their job they were actually hired for without bias, there will be no rest. This cycle has happened over and over again. The system - housing, education, finance, and justice - are still segregated. Gentrification in every major city has made this even more clear. It is the same as redlining from the 1930's. I know that it's difficult for everyone to see what is and has been going on, especially if you don't see it in person and don't educate yourself about it. But there is no excuse anymore. It is time to open your eyes and join together to make a change for the future of the human race. We need systematic change and we need lasting change or we are going to see the same thing happen over and over as we already have for decades. Be empathetic, be kind, open your eyes, don't ignore the issues because "you don't see it", see something / say something, vote. "This is 2020: A Poetry Collection" tackles the subjects of 2020 with rhyme and verse - not shying away from racial tensions, Covid-19, homelessness, and other major milestones that we have already faced this year. Available now at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/This-2020-Collection-Kassie-Runyan/dp/B08D4F8QDZ/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Proceeds from book purchases are shared between "Color of Change" and "Coalition for The Homeless." Two very important charities that work hard every day to improve the lives of people today and for tomorrow. Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/KassieJRunyan Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/KassandreRunyan Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kjrunyan

Subscribe for more videos like this! "The Streets of New York" is a poem from my new book "This is 2020: A Poetry Collection." "The Streets of New York" was written in April of this year, when New York was getting hit the hardest. Everyone knew someone who was sick. Someone who was dying. And our city was full of fear and yet... still unity. The unity is what I love most about New York City. It is what makes me a New Yorker. We lowered our numbers. We flattened our curve. While the rest of the country continues to go up. Now we battle a different kind of fear - the fear of evictions, life long sickness in people who overcame covid, and it coming back to our city by travelers from other places. But we are still in this together. We watch the numbers still spiking as we climb over 780,000 deaths around the world (with the US leading in deaths). This isn't over because you are just "done with"quarantine. It's not over because it's summer. It is real and it's still going on. We are hopeful and waiting for numbers to go down across the US and for a vaccine - while our numbers in NYC stay flat. In the meantime - please stay safe, stay healthy, and act with empathy towards your fellow humans. THANK YOU TO THE VOLUNTEERS IN THIS VIDEO - all New Yorkers and filmed within their own homes. I could not do any of this without them. "This is 2020: A Poetry Collection" tackles the subjects of 2020 with rhyme and verse - not shying away from racial tensions, Covid-19, homelessness, and other major milestones that we have already faced this year. Available now at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/This-2020-Collection-Kassie-Runyan/dp/B08D4F8QDZ/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Proceeds from book purchases are shared between "Color of Change" and "Coalition for The Homeless." Two very important charities that work hard every day to improve the lives of people today and for tomorrow. GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/KassieJRunyan Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/KassandreRunyan Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kjrunyan

"Wear A Damn Mask" is a poem from my new book "This is 2020: A Poetry Collection." "Wear A Damn Mask" is focused on reminding people that anyone can get Covid19 and preexisting conditions can occur in anyone of any age. As people around the US and beyond continue to refuse to wear masks and fill their reasoning with excuses around why; they are impacting and causing the sickness and deaths of others. It doesn't take a lot of effort to show you care about others and just putting on a damn mask. "This is 2020: A Poetry Collection" tackles the subjects of 2020 with rhyme and verse - not shying away from racial tensions, Covid-19, homelessness, and other major milestones that we have already faced this year. Available now at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/This-2020-Collection-Kassie-Runyan/dp/B08D4F8QDZ/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Proceeds from book purchases are shared between "Color of Change" and "Coalition for The Homeless." Two very important charities that work hard every day to improve the lives of people today and for tomorrow. GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54601669-this-is-2020?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=e1r3X24a1y&rank=1 Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/KassieJRunyan The views in this video may not be shared by the people in the video - all footage purchased from Stock Video websites

SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE! As I lay dying will I know I’m declining or expiring? Will they be crying and denying? A priest occupying and purifying ignoring my defying? Was my life satisfying or mystifying? Did I do enough applying or complying or flat out buying? Was I disqualifying in my intensifying need for personifying and verifying and gratifying and overflying? Will I be able to stop trying and only focus on flying as I leave my body behind? For more poetry - follow me at facebook.com/KassieJRunyan or instagram.com/KJRunyan - and check out my available books for sale on Amazon and KassieJRunyan.com

Subscribe for more and visit kassiejrunyan.com and subscribe for future works. Stir Squish Boil Sizzle Eye of newt And bloody drizzle A dead mans toe Or maybe alive Would anyone know? The tail of a rat Let it steam Then the wing of a bat It’s really boiling now Dance a quick jig Not like that, wow Time to add the spice A little of that and some of this a splash of dandruff would be nice Toss in a whole mouse And just for good measure The feather of a grouse Let it really simmer For a good long while Until it starts to really shimmer It should smell quite pungent When it’s close to done Try not to be indulgent Take just a quick taste Just to check on the flavor Can the flavors be placed? If it tastes like sweat from an armpit You’ve done really quite well I’ll suppose I’ll have to admit Now drop it into crust Or eat it with a spoon But eat it, my dear, you must Kassiejrunyan.com #halloween #halloweenpoetry #halloweenpoem #poetry #poem #spooky #witches

SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE! There was a man he had no head people they thought he should be dead But he wasn’t nor He was alive his head just fell off during a dive Off a building into a ravine his buddies all told him it would be keen He tumbled and fell and so did his top the body never found nor was his mop Now here he is like every night shuffling and scuffling and causing a fright The world keeps turning and he is still here haunting the nights of those he holds dear For more poetry - follow me at facebook.com/KassieJRunyan / Instagram.com/KJRunyan and check out available books at KassieJRunyan.com

What Will Remain Poem by Kassie J Runyan Subscribe for more videos and to get notified when there is a new video. Check out poetry and collections for sale now at kassiejrunyan.com and follow at Facebook.com/kassiejrunyan The anxiety develops from Inside my heart blocking and choking the words that I try to impart on the world. Desperately wanting to feel - wanting to know there is value in what I deal; in what I think and the actions I do. That there will be an imprint and that my life will matter to you. Not forgotten and discarded like the trash tossed out. I stand and wonder “what is this life all about?” Smoking my cigarette down to the final draw as I stand out in the cold night, my hands burning raw. Thinking that there is no place I’d rather be and trying to convince myself of the truth in that decree. Hating the disability of my own stubborn mind as I try and fail to prove that I haven’t declined. Breath deep and hold back the morbid curiosity of what my death wont bring and neither will your rich atrocity A legacy in a world filled to the brim with legacies. Each held dear for only their kin for only a short time as the death-watch ticks closer to our own extension. Life as we know it, transfixed. No more art. Passion and music gone and with it our voice And soul, foregone. As we kill each other and fight within our own minds and with our perceived enemies that we’re told are not our kind from the voices drifting from above; afraid of what lies on the other side of love. Or after the smoke clears and what will last. Will these words remain? Or will they be outcast like that discarded cigarette butt as it blows away while we keep our eyes shut?

SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE Blowing and howling against the window pane. As the tap tap tap of the branch beats a rhyme to a song that no one wants to hear. A hand rattles the knob from the darkness outside. In the cold. In the night. In the depths of ones fear. The stairs creek under the weight of the nightmare that grew from the shadows that hung in the corners of the night. It climbs and crawls and stamps, tramps and treads step by steady step. Towards the bedroom at the end of the hall where the girl lays in bed asleep. But huddled tensed and clenched and sweating in fear under the thin white sheet. Waiting for the inevitable painful and frightening DEATH. The bleeding hearts bleed only for her as they watch her in her frozen trepidation until the terror takes and shakes her body. Still curled like a newborn pulling in on itself for protection against the world as the horror reaches her room. No longer safe secured protected. She hears the rattle of the door handle breaking the lock and the door swings open with one long creak. Followed by a deafening ear splitting ear piercing completely confounding... silence. The girl steels herself resolved. To face her foe or out shed go. Her bolster grows. She doesn’t know where to land the blow. Ready now, let’s go. She sits up sheet falling to the side and opens her eyes up wide. Fist clenched to fight. As she stares into the room only to realize; finally and assuredly; there was no one there but her. For more poetry - follow me at facebook.com/KassieJRunyan and instagram.com/KJRunyan - and check out my books for sale at Amazon and on KassieJRunyan.com

SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE! Sneak peek from "This Is 2020: a poetry collection" detailing the ups and downs of Jan-July 2020. Available for sale on Amazon, B&N, and KassieJRunyan.com Part 2 Coming Soon!!