Leave It On

Leave it on
the stage,
on the page,
let the ink sweat out,
the floor reverberate with rage.
Take the poison of each day,
the desire to disengage;
Draw it out

Celebrate
your suffering,
each breath you let escape.
Feeling temporary, human,
locked inside your brain.
all that isolation
you hoard lining your cage,
Push it out

Throw your voice
into the void,
if it makes you feel better.
Echoes of each lonely note,
our distant cries, tied together.
The pain scraping down your throat
is not yours to hold alone.
Scream it out

Purge the last
gasp panic,
Up through your rib cage.
Distill the crashing waves
of madness, down into a phrase.
There are senses in the senseless,
if you’re present in their wake,
Put them down.

Pinned inside
our boxes, with
all that pent up fear.
It’s all we have within us
to transcend this stolen year.
That solitude connects us,
if we let go and let it steer.
Let it out.

Let it out
into the world
In whatever form it takes:
Broken, grieving, raving,
unpolished and uncaged.
Thank you for the therapy
on your makeshift stage.
Put it out

– Leave it On © Mike Chernoff 12/28/2020

From the collection Carry-out Carton Fortress

I wrote “Leave it On” as a proof of concept for the Relevẻ project. My wife Christine Chernoff reached out to the Atrocious Poets to do a dance/poetry collaboration. I wrote this for Chris to record a dance as a jumping off point for the project, and this was featured in College of Lake County’s “Fear No Art” 2021 virtual show. Throughout the pandemic, I feel like creative outlets have been extra important to connect us, and as therapy.

The final collaborations for Relevẻ can be found here: https://www.atrociouspoets.com/releve, and include both a collaboration I did with dancer Nicole Ozment titled “Rewired Reflexes”, and a dance that Christine performed to Michele Engel’s poem and accompanying artwork for “Perfect Illusion” . There are also several other wonderful collaborations.