Spice of Life: Meet Drew Rush

[nekot]

I enjoy variety and truly believe it is the spice of life. People come in the most varieties of all; no two are exactly the same. I believe each person has a significant gift to share and a unique journey to live.

The Pages are not lacking in these givers and journeyers who share their insights, joys, traumas, imaginations, hopes, despairs, fantasies, fictions, beliefs, and doubts via the written word in prose, poetry, stories, and quips.

I have laughed many a time and cried many a time, as I have sat with mouse in hand reading these Pages and sharing my own heart. Folks here are an inspiration to my soul and have been a catalyst for significant growth in my own life. I have witnessed a mutual respect among this variety of souls that if duplicated in our world, would make it a better place.

Scroll down for a little spice from Drew Rush.....



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[nekot]

Drew Rush joined Poetry Pages October 06, 2002.

Scroll down to meet Drew...

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What is your age bracket: under 25, 25 - 50, over 50?
Under 25

What is your name? Where do you live? What do you like to do? What is your occupation?
Andrew Rush, Texas. I like to play video games, work on my computer, model things in 3D (which I eventually hope to turn into a career in the gaming industry), drawing, playing pool, bowling, watching movies, listening to music (mostly things that fit into the rock and heavy metal categories), and of course, poetry...but that's a given. I currently work as a computer lab assistant at the college I attend.

How long have you been writing poetry? Do you recall what led you, if anything, to start writing?
I have been writing since I was 15 or 16, so for about 6 or 7 years now. I don't know why I started, I would just get these lyrical lines in my head and I started writing them down. It became an expression of my emotions and I eventually moved away from the lyrical form and away from the "vent" poetry that all writers begin with. My membership here at the Pages has helped me progress and evolve from my early writing to my own unique style. These days it's less about my own feelings and more about the world and the human connection...or disconnection... to it. I've been here at the Pages for a little over 5 years and a moderator here for at least 3. Without this place and this community it is very likely that I would not still be writing today, or at the very least, I would not be writing anything well.

Have you ever been published? In what books or by whom?
I have been published in three different Pages books: Poetry from the Dark Side: Volume 1 and Volume 2, and Seeking the Spiritual. I have also had my poem, "To Save A Soul," published in my college's annual art competition magazine, Expressions, it won third place in the creative writing category.

What inspires you to write? Is there a certain setting where you like to write? Do you listen to music when you write?
I write the most when things offend me to my deepest core... inhumanity, racism, sexism, destruction of nature, violence in the name of religion, and so on. Other times it's more simple things, like missing someone. Needless to say, whatever I do write, it more often than not ends up being very dark in nature. I generally write in my bedroom on my computer. Nothing really special about it, it's just my own private place. Sometimes I'll listen to music while writing, it helps when I need more motivation with the topic I'm writing about.

What is one of your favorite poems that you have penned? Would you mind sharing why or the story behind the poem?
It's an older one but I always liked it, "My Chambers." It is actually about a very close friend of mine who had just told me she was getting an abortion, but from reading it I don't think anybody would pick up on that....there are a few lines that are pretty literal but mixed into the rest of the piece they become just as vague.


My Chambers

Ah, as I find myself here
Where I usually am
Strolling through my chambers
The ones recognized by their darkness
Most of the time I indulge
And flirt with the shadows
But this time I do not
I seem to be sad
From the day’s current tides:
A heartbreaking message
from a heartbroken friend.
It echoes through my mind
Like a fiend to his addiction

This chamber is filled
With books I’ve never read
Yet I know every story
From beginning to end
They all tell the tales
Of mystery and sadness
The black, the evil, the night
From blood to death it has it all
But there’s still this one thing
That rises above the rest
And will not leave me be

I sit here in my chair
After I’ve opened the sole window
That lets the in cool night air
As torrential, storming gusts
But I pay no heed to them
As I stare out in to the nothing
Oh how I beg for a tormenting raven,
Something - anything - more simple
That I may dwell upon
But nothing else comes for me
And I am left alone in my chambers
With the soul of a forsaken child
That will rest forever in my arms

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You can view Drew's archive here: Rush, Drew

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Thanks Drew!!!

[nekot]

Following are a few of my favorites of Drew's. His poems make me think, often confront me, sometimes cause me tears, and give rise to dark imaginings.
For those who don't know, Drew is the artist who designed and drew the picture for the cover of the Dark Side: Volume II.

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When the Vultures Come to Feast

Circles above
Ravenous vultures
In ominous flight
Biding their time
To join me

By will of our own
By the hand of another
The ax shall fall
A sharpening blade
For each passing day

I ponder the thought
To travel the distance
In desperation or
Foolish infatuation
To join you

For the fear that drives
And persuades the choices
Of every solitary soul:
To be alone when
The vultures come to feast.

View it here: http://poetrypages.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=54693

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Barcode

They say with knowledge comes power
I think I’m getting dumber by the hour
I’m looking at my life and all I see
Is something that was never meant to be
I have disappointed everyone
Maybe that’s why I never had someone

Back to the factory where I was made
Again on this assembly line I am laid
They mess with my thoughts and feelings inside
They changed me and those things have died
I’m different now and I fit in
But I’m not theirs, they did not win

A barcode is how they label me
Bound to their way I am never free
We’re forced to all look the same
I wish that I knew just who to blame
Stuck with these chains holding me
They are fuel for this anarchy

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The Price of Silence

Tell me how does it feel
Under the crack of the Master's whip
Without a word
Your submission

The puppets dance in silence
And yes, Master, we'll go faster, faster
Perpetuating ignorance
Consenting to slavery

The death of November
Under the blind eyes of millions
Willfully deaf and mute
Condoning damnation

Self-righteous and proud
To be under the thrall of Master's whim
Without a single word
We adorn our chains

view it here: http://poetrypages.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=54928

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Drews archive: Rush, Drew

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Thanks again Drew! It is a pleasure to know more about you.

[bags123]

May your life from this point forward be as promising as its been till now.