Stone Soup Servings is a regular series for Oddball Magazine that features upcoming performers at Stone Soup Poetry, the long-running spoken word venue in the Boston area that has partnered with Oddball Magazine. Stone Soup Poetry now meets from 7-9 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 541 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square Cambridge, Massachusetts. The open mike sign-up at 6:30 p.m.

On August 1, Stone Soup will be visited by out-of-town poet Mark Lipman. We’re excited to share a sample of his work below and give you the opportunity to hear more this Monday.

 

Until It is Done
        for Nelson Mandela

For all those who say,
   it can never be done,

   who look upon those ivory towers
   with their militarized trenches
   disappearing chambers
   and puppet mechanisms

   imitating human beings
   in all aspects
   ‘cept for a conscience
   and a body to jail

   enslaving a world with divisions
   of hate and sectarianism,

I say, dream of a world
   which is at peace with itself.

For all those who have
   given up hope,

   who have fallen to despair,
   who see the skies falling in on them
   and the shoreline inching closer

   who have given into fear
   and the bitter tears of defeat,

I say, courage is not the absence of fear,
   but the triumph over it.

Stand tall and lead.

To be free is not merely
   to cast off one’s chains,
   but to break them all.

For all those who dream of freedom
   there is no easy path.

   hills follow hills
   and mountains
   before we reach our valley

   we must use our time wisely
   and see the horizon.

Settle not for a life
   … worth less than living.

Reach with your first and very last breath
   towards victory, to that mountaintop

   and we will all be there with you,
   on the frontline of life
   standing in the light
   of that glorious sun.

Lift up your hearts, the time is ripe
   it always seems impossible
   until it is done.