s w i f t s  &  s l o w s: a quarterly of crisscrossings

Hey Dare
Cecelia Chapman & M A Shaheed

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Hey Dare

Hey Mars, they want to visit you.
If they can’t get there very soon,
came you come and get them?
You may know my name already.

This guy I’m talking about, calls me
planet earth. Well, again on second
thought you may want to avoid him.

He has his eyes on you and unfortunately,
you’re in his long- range plans. It was one
of his kind that designed the device that
helped them land on you.

I don’t know if you know who that person
really was, ( person, is what call themselves
and sometimes human beings.) He joined a
party that destroyed many lands and for that
they gave him a helping hand.

Did you feel what they did, as soon as their
device landed? I saw them shoot a rock, as
soon as they got planted. Your rock didn’t
shoot back, so now, I hope you’re understanding!
That’s just a small example of what’s ahead
for your smaller planet.

I have this thing called gravity, they escaped it,
just like a real- life bandit. Maybe you saw them
coming and warned the other planets, and told
them not to stop and talk and let it keep on going.

You could have been to see me before and
knew then what you would have coming. They
don’t know like we know, there is no place in
outer space for them to go, still they leave their
garbage hanging.

There is here in this spot, a lot of persons of
their own kind, the blind the crippled the starving,
they are just in the way, so they look the other way
and say, ‘ there are too many persons here anyway.’

I wanted you to know they have left me in critical condition.
I’d like to say, Bye Bye, to their pie in the sky!
Whoever may be out there, is very smart for not engaging!

All this destruction was done by the smartest of the
person that they are among. If you are capable of
doing research, you would have to come to the same
conclusion, this is the sickest and only person in the
known universe to make those reckless decisions.

Oracle Book (Planet of Dreams): Cecelia Chapman. Poetry: M A Shaheed.

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Cecelia Chapman is known for her short experimental video fables; she also works in minimalist watercolor and asemic drawing.

“In my practice I like to research environment and culture, perception and consciousness. I explore the connection between imagination and knowledge, and enjoy inventing new ways of presenting an experience.” Cecelia Chapman’s work has been exhibited locally and abroad, and published in many e-magazines online.
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Proet M A Shaheed began writing in the seventh grade and continued after high school. First published in White Motors newspaper under the name of Clyde Shy. The column was called “The Poets Corner,” that he’d helped to establish. In 1963/64 living in Stockholm, Sweden, he wrote stories for a photographer whose pictures were sold to newspapers & magazines. M A Shaheed became a professional musician, playing bass violin and played with major Avant Garde musicians. Continued to write, but it wasn’t on the front burner. In 1966 joined poetry workshop called the Muntu Poets, headed by Russell Atkins, noted Avant Garde poet and composer along with well- known poet and playwrite Norman Jordan located in Cleveland, Ohio. At the end of that year “68”, began to work on his spiritual development. M A Shaheed stopped writing for 3 decades, but driven back to his pen by a clearer understanding of the real reality. Has since published 44 books, been in numerous anthologies. Working with a new publisher, with 3 more books on the way. The genre includes novellas, poetry, short stories, Flash Fiction. “My goal is to keep writing until I stop, until I can no longer hear.”