See Clearly Abundant Obstacles

Purple luminescent moon, deep florescent blue-sky

mirror eyes refuse to judge and see

I become one of them

I am one of them

The ones who have done wrongs

I am one of them

The one who sees the right

Moons up high in a golden sky

Up high, purple, not golden, I see it - violet, not yellow

One love one world one desire

Nature no longer pure

No one can fight the flow of love 

the truth will set me free 

the truth is set before me but I only see 

what they put there for me to see 

in control of xyz, who’s in control in domain e 

I can’t see but what is put before me 

I only see what they want me to see,
like Fox news on TV, 

I’ve become part of what they let me see

Please let me see

Fear the answer in deed

The truth will set me free

Truth wind and fire, free desire

I’m on fire tonight

What a sign a sight of Taweret       (prounouced D-aww-waH-Ray)

Seshat made me ride the dragon

Turned tides trite keep the darned lamp lit

I know where to sit plus I gave you my turn

Reality begs the question to answer

Com’on and give me some loving keep it tight tonight

Give me some of that sweet loving tonight

Found a man to do me right

Give me some of that sweet sweet loving tonight

The very sight of you makes me cry

remember the night you first invited me to join you

Sweet cheat in my heart

Eyes Wide Open I see the magic mysteries of trees

Easy to see magic in trees, adorned and leaves bereft, 

flowers and other foliage carried away in the storm 

I can’t digest the storm in my heart

Thunders with discontent

Doors close, all alone, listening to word play, 

new words mist to old, the saxophone wails 

while my heart fails to close, 

beg for mercy feel snow flakes falling on my head

Silver branches reverie, a starlit night, stark bare branches

crystalized icy leaves twinkle bright on a bitter chill night

November ends red and violet changes to gold caprice and yellow

mystified by how simple a delight

Ice my shivers, silver dragon fantasies



_________________________________
Seshat: Ancient Egyptian goddess of wisdom, knowledge and writing
Twaret: Protective ancient Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility.

Joy’s repertoire is expanding

Since late 2008 when I began working on my bluetry series, beginning with I Sing The Blues For You, which to date, has been published 5 times, I have been incorporating music into my performance poetry. More recently I decided to expand my repertoire by adding song to my performance and also to give listeners a break from my rants and raves which are very sad and sometimes overwhelming.

My neighbor, Wren Harrington, has been kind enough to take me on as a student. Ms. Harrington is a very accomplished singer and teacher. The first lesson consisted of breath exercises along with scales. I then begged her to help me with my first song that I had been miming alone and with Dubblex. Wren proclaimed that I improved greatly just in my first lesson.

I am so excited! I can't wait for lesson two.

In the meantime, here I am playing sing song all by my lonesome, plodding along.

Here below is the first song, Turning Point, that I know from listening to Nina Simone. If you click on the link you can watch at youtube.

Turning Point

The second song below can also be watched at youtube.

I Wish You Love


Gloria Lynne made the song I Wish You Love famous. According to what I read, Ms. Lynne, who recently passed on a few weeks ago, recorded this song thinking it was no big deal. It wasn't even one of her favorite numbers to perform, but audiences fell for the way she performed this number and it hit the top ten list quickly and became a hit.

For a while, Ms. Lynne was homeless, as she never received any monies from the records of most of her recordings. When asked why she continued to sing when she couldn't make a living, she replied, that singing was what she lived for. I am certain all of you artists can relate to that. It's certainly welcome to earn income for our art, but whether we earn or not, we continue to be artists. It's just so sad that so many artists during her time period were taken advantage of in this manner, and not given proceeds for the albums they made that sold.

The day after Ms. Lynne passed, I happened to be at a music jam on the lower east side, at University Of The Streets, and a woman sang this song in memory of Gloria Lynne, and did it justice too. This inspired me to move myself to the next level to add to my performance. It was also a sad moment for me because Mohammad, the guy who originally founded the University Of The Streets, was someone I'd met back in 1977. During that time Mohammad had many type programs at the University for the community. I happened to be walking by, looked up and saw the name of the organization and walked in. After that, I met with him frequently. My discussions with Mohammad was a focusing impetus in my decision to enter Columbia University, where I was a student in the Higher Education Opportunity Program, made eligible through poverty status and being disadvantaged educationally. I was the only white one in the program the entire 5 years I spent undergrad there.

I went to the music jam at University of the Streets with Demetrius Daniel and his friend Mark. Mohammad's photo sat large on a wall. Only the lady singing knew what I was talking about when I said the University used to be around the corner from where it currently was. She informed me that Mohammad had died a few year ago. This made me sad because I had always intended to stop by and see and thank him for our talks and now I can only thank him in my heart.

George R.R. Martin - reading and writing

Since Summer I've been spending a lot of time with George R.R. Martin. I read all 5 of his Game of Thrones series, because I was so fascinated with the HBO show, Game of Thrones. Each book was over 1000 pages, easily more than 6000 pages total at the rate of about 100 pages per day - sometimes, more - sometimes none if I was extremely busy. I usually always read on the train too. After reading all these books, I became curious as to Mr. R.R. Martin's other novels and there I began with The Armageddon Rag. I will be moving on to his other novels now.

George R.R. Martin mixes fact, fantasy, and fiction into a delicious cocktail made to spur and goad our insides to believe and question humanity and our purpose. Dialogue and inner conversations portray several levels, superficial, exploratory bestows significance on more subtle references or hidden meanings, devices and triggers that move us.

It is our choices that define us. All humans have these. Our alikeness internally ends here. We all think we know certain people but everyone of us can be surprised because we can only, after all, interpret others behaviors through a screen of our own experiences combined with birth circumstances and living, which normally infants have no power except their tears or laughter, which indeed, moves most of us to console or play with them. I don't need to tell you about the sick few - either perverts or crazies but they exist too - everywhere. Sometimes we too, if we choose, can be one of the perverts, or crazies who enjoy inflicting pain. Strangely, sometimes someone who does not enjoy inflicting pain on others may do it as a means of self-defense. We easily excuse trespasses done in defense on one's person or mental status, or those of us who defend weaker, like our children and friends we wish to help. Mr. R. R. Martin reminds that these truths exist on various levels. Usage of subconscious levels combines with using things we can't understand yet see, serve to emphasize this point.

Good read and I love the music quotes! Worth reading if only to see R.R Martin's creativity in weaving 60's and 70's lyrics from musicians so flawlessly into the plot. His weaving style and ability to do this is truly amazing and entertaining. I certainly wouldn't expect any less from him. 

:) I have been having a great deal of fun reading his entertaining writings!

Catch Me If You Can

If one was well enough to do everything one needed to do, to get relief one sought,

then one wouldn’t need the help he needs in the first place, would he?

Life is Catch 22 of the universe

He said, “I don’t understand why you insist on helping him,”

“I want to,” I said, “It’s a feeling I have to do and want to.

What difference does it make to you?”

While we waste time on bullshit

Epiphany strikes suddenly, a new sight, an oversight

The answer to the question that makes evil disappear

Warnings served years ago now come into play with global warming

Ignoring criticism about forefathers back in the day of humanity

Helps me to glimpse the truth that we'll never get away

Now technology makes it impossible to hide away

Know our religion, knows when we pray

Tracked by GPS, our cell phones, credit cards tracked, petition signing

Usage tallied and compiled daily

Threats to control humanity

Trickle down abuse flourishes

I try to spread the good word today

To foster peace in a world of abuse

Hope propagates, knowledge widens the scope,

more of us see the trickle down abuse encompassing earth

Come see, you know whom I mean! They ~ the big they, you know who they are,

They will not give us back this  great glorious land.
They fight for coin and silver.

Slowly we go to slaughter, like pigs, goats and cows,
we kill ourselves in their sham.

Forced to pay more than our share of taxes
It’s only paper you know, no more gold in Fort Knox
and, while the Masonry leads our government

Symbols lurk every place when you see

Small insidious devious concerns surround us, controlled

By society, daily news, TV, our jobs families, and our conscience

Our desires prevent our seeing

Facebook and twitter rule you can’t see

Enough to spin your head, dizzy, can’t comprehend why facebook

warns one not to add a lot of friends, you can only add so many each night

Isn’t adding friends a boon to Facebook?

Every day it becomes more difficult to understand the world I’m living in

They are not going to give our land back

If we don’t fight for our rights,
if we don’t take  back from the usurpers who have stolen our planet,
we can’t inherit the earth by common assent,
agree our land is not sold for gold, this land is god’s gift,
is not ours to give or buy, but to love and care for like we do our children …

This land is your land,

This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.

America The Meager (sestina revised) For poets who don't believe in editing!!!

Alive burning with fire consumes me                                                               

Ready freedom burns me                                                                    

World full of disputes                                                                                     

House of ill repute                                                                                          

Esteem pollutes forbidden fruit                                                                       

Pursuit of dreams                                                                                            

American happiness is not pursuit of dreams                                                   

American dream a lie, fire consumes me                                                          

Covered clotted cream, forbidden fruit                                                                       

Deceit, the lie of the American dream burns me                                             

Life in the house of ill repute                                                                          

Americans drenched in disputes                                                                      

Freedom from consumerism                                                                            

Important to pursue the dream                                                                       

Caught up in ill repute                                                                                    

Desires feeds disputes                                                                                     

Dirty hands burn me                                                                                       

For sale, buy my forbidden fruit                                                                      

Can’t hide away forbidden fruit                                                          

Lust consumes me                                                                                          

Thirst so strong, it burns me                                                                           

Cravings coerced, reimbursed dreams                                                             

Yearnings lead to disputes                                                                               

Borne and bred of ill repute                                                                            

Iraq, Beirut, wars of ill repute                                                                         

Oil the biggest forbidden fruit                                                                        

Observing abuse consumes me                                                                        

Obliterating abuse causes disputes                                                                  

Inflicting suffering drowns dreams                                                                   

Blues burn me                                                                                                 

Trickle-down abuse burns me                                                                         

Weak forced to accept ill repute                                                                     

Eradicates man’s right to dream                                                                      

Access to achieve forbidden fruit                                                                     

Denials of basic rights consume me                                                               

Animal abuse and pollution, root of many disputes                                         

Equity and decency consume me, fear burns me                                             

Disputes, hurt heart, search escape from ill repute                                                      

Forbidden fruits multiply wealthy; cancel out poor man’s dreams       

***
Oftentimes as editor for the TCSR, people will send me poems to ask for thoughts or advice. When I honestly point out a misspelling or misuse of word, or give an example of what could improve the poem, i.e. changing a few words around, the biggest response I get is "I don't believe in editing my poems. The poem comes out the first time the way it should be." 

Well, here is the proof that it really helps to work on a poem, to edit errors, and to reconsider word usage. It makes a difference. 

As you can see, in the earlier version, inadvertently I used consume twice in two lines in one stanza which led to repetition, and since this form is essentially repetitious in its form, it works better to use a different word ending for each line of each stanza. 

Any thoughts fellow poets?