Amber - written for Amber Atiya in 2008

She melts in your mouth

like the hot resin of a ripened tree

The m's roll off your tongue poetically

Amber absorbs sunlight and reflects moonlight

She has her own glow

Amber comes in many colors like a rainbow

Sometimes cloudy and sometimes clear

The ones with fossils are worth the most; it makes sense 

Because skeletons are a big expense

Sometimes you see straight through her

A connoisseur of fragile glass

Shades of golden yellow to fern green to lime or orange

Amber is diffuse, her energy attracts

her words interact it’s a fact

mellow yellow amber golden mellow tones

color range from orange peel to bittersweet to tangerine

controls your senses

Releases chemicals into your brain

every woman’s dream

Amber grounds your energies

Rules your naval chakra

using golden orange tools

she draws disease from your wounds

Cleanses your organs of poisons

Revitalizes your organs

The ancient gods burned her

The 3 holy ones revered Amber

Used in all holy and spiritual rituals

Her incense & jewels persist

And are still renown today

… How can you go wrong

if you choose her once she’s chosen you…

© Joy Leftow

*This was written for Amber Atiya, in 2008, when she was still using the name Precious Jones. This poem was an attempt to convince her that her birth name, Amber, is beautiful and very valuable!  

I’M BRAINWASHED TOO

I follow the news

Stupid programs on TV

Get further away from where I want to be

Further away from me

From who I want me to be

But please, please don’t blame me

I’m a brainwashed woman

Can’t do nothing, nothing without

My baby

Can’t do nothing without

My babies

Brainwashed society

All of us, live like robots in history

Stand by; let shit happen

Like someone in another century

I’m scared to death,

Stop the craziness, go back, life’s a sudden hurricane

Admit there’s no control

Forget this laziness, TV

Resplendent in glory left for none to enjoy

All gone in the bush with a game of trump

Writ in desire of wild fires burning

Everyone hurting

What would it take to bring a world together?

To stop mass slaughters, human + animal

When will we see, realize what’s to be done

All of us blind, a brainwashed society, a scorching society visionless inside

Dead washed Brainwashed, whitewashed, everything washed since infancy

Is it possible to escape destiny, fight to survive lose so many, will it count to bring one back?

Dubblex and I figure when you’re in New Orleans; you should cross the Mississippi so we decide to take the ferry back and forth. On our way back, the man driving the ferry came out of his control room and made a beeline right over. 

He wore a very large rimmed oiled hat to keep water from splashing in his face. He wore an oiled knee length raincoat along with knee high wading boots. Greeted us like he knew us. “Hey,” he said, “Seeing you guys, reminds me of Boston, where I grew up and my mom would bundle me up.” Pegged us right away; we wondered what’d we done to give it away. Duh?

Without further ado, he continued. “I’ll tell you what the problem is, the world cannot support so many people – because we have decimated our resources. Thus there’s a limited amount to go around. We can’t support this burgeoning humanity that keeps growing. The more limited the resources, the more we fight for them. Everything in our world is a result of what we do, like prolonging life so much that it costs more to live longer, increasing the limited access to resources – so that’s why we have wars and inhumane societies.” He tipped his hat. “Nice meeting you folks.” He turned & walked away with a small wave. “I have to bring her in. Goodbye now! Enjoy the rest of your trip.”

I recall his words …

So strange, surreal, I sit and wonder about this conversation. Does he pick someone every trip and tell him this? I consider and wonder, is this real?

*another true poetry story by Joy Leftow