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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Prayer for Thanksgiving




Come, sit at this table & eat,
You who are human & able to breathe,
Drink the water, drink the wine,
Look another in the eyes
& know: it’s true, we all will die.
& so today, while we still have Life,
Let us gather with a feast,
Dance until our feet ache,
Tell stories, laugh out loud,
Give thanks for what we have now.

& as we sit in these chairs
& eat, & speak, our sounds are prayers
that all who wander hungry & alone
will someday find this table, and be Home.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

God is


“She’s a revolution against revlon /
a tyrant with a tampon”

- Deja Taylor,  “Ode to a Female Emcee”

for Deja K Taylor – the revolution you are /
for FM Supreme/ for No Name / Kiara /
for Essie / Lakia / Dominique / Kush / Aimee /
for Jamila / Jean Deaux / Nova / Tabitha/ Shea
for the goddesses / god is this fire you breathe
on the mic / like a lioness / obviously
lyin’s no option for you / brutal truth-speakers / rebels /
breakin down myths from the battleground of your sex /

no time for bull / gotta educate these masculine cultures/
rhymes full of misogyny and ass-lookin vultures /
gratitude to women with attitude / & glory
to all those who contended unmentioned in his story
resisting the Man through whatever methods they had to keep
enacting sex battles open and clandestine /
what they can’t stand to see: females fierce to the core /
this is my ode to you / never stop roarin

this for Bjork / Tune-Yards / Ani Difranco /
for Jill Scott / Erykah Badu / Joni Mitchell /
who proudly howl individual voices /
women loudly living out countercultural choices /
unafraid to sound weird even though difference is feared
in women / for Joanna Newsom, who knew some about that/
as did Janis / Joan Baez / Yoko / Josephine foster /
Kimya Dawson / Queen Latifah / Josephine Baker /
this for Meg / K Serra / Lauryn Hill / Regina Spektor /
Billie holiday, standin up for her people like Ester /

for the outspoken poets: Alixa & Naima,
Climbing PoeTree / raising consciousness / teaching people to dream again /
for Iyeoka, medicine woman on the mic /
Sunni Patterson / Caroline Harvey / Jeanann Verlee and the like /
Marty / Cristiana / Cydney / Susie / Patricia Smith /
Simone / April / Jessica Care Moore / Andrea Gibson /
for Aracelis Girmay’s impeccable eyes for the real /
for Fiona / mic beast singing precisely how you feel /
for the teachers: Toni Lightfoot, Santana, Ms Porri,
Diana, Mariah, Missy Hughes, you, your stories
are the silent and righteous fight / for Molly Meacham
your students need people like you who can reach em

this for women poets of old / back to Rabia /
Rumi’s main influence / though biographies rob ya /
for Phillis Wheatley / leader of self-emancipation /
learned to read to free herself for black liberation /
this for Dickinson / Angelou / Atwood / Gwendolyn /
Julia Álvarez / Lucille Clifton /
Nikki Finney/ Nikki Giovanni /
Anna Akhmatova’s invaluable testimony /
Marianne Moore / Claribel Alegría /
Julia de Burgos / Santa Teresa de Avila /
a mystical nun in the Spanish inquisition /
who strategically played her radical position /

for the revolutionaries / for Vandana Shiva /
a one-woman army fighting monsanto’s evil /
for bell hooks / calling prejudice what it is /
teaching teachers to respect what their learners live /
for Rosa, who didn’t just one day sit like the story goes,
but was part of an organized protest of jim crow /
for Harriet / and heroines who never knew fame /
for Sojourner Truth, who lived and died by her name /
for Aung San Suu Kyi / the ghandi of burma /
15 years house-arrested / learned to fight guns with dharma /
this for Jane Addams and Luisa Capetillo
for our own Anna West / para Ana Castillo /
for Afeni Shakur / Rachel Maddow / Annie Leonard /
this for Angela Davis / Barbara Marx Hubbard /

and for all unsung woman-heroes of history /
spanning from Mary Magdalene to Rita Marley /
for Judith / Yael / Miriam / Joan of arc
for Lillith, the first feminist / who lives in the heart
of all those who struggle for gender equality
with strength, love, patience, and all other qualities
of the Divine Feminine / humans find heaven in
the balance between Yin and Yang / but the second one’s
been dominating since man’s been subjugating
women and nature / punching Mother Earth bloody /
ultimately Goddess and God are the same,
so we gotta embrace both within our own frame /
males, taste the sweet honey in the rock /
females, keep fighting for freedom / don’t stop /

lastly i gotta shout out to my family’s
goddesses: Grandmas, Mom, Sarah & Emily /
Lisa, Dev, Yoli, Elisita, Tia Tedi /
Sor Elisa / Leah / Julie, Mari & Melly /
y todas mis primas, amores, amigas,
diosas / my sisters / namaste / i see you /
thank you for making me who i am today /
for teaching me how to love loudly, to play
my own music to my own special heartbeat /
and helping me tune in to the feminine part of me /
my Godessence / God has since always been brimmin
in me / so may it be for all / Amen/Awomen

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Angelish


 A Hip Hop Manifesto for John Sacelli

“Equate rhyme with reason” – Saul Williams


ever notice how certain words seem meant to rhyme
and you know this because they get used all the time
together / weather or not it’s cliché / its music /
assume it’s a part of this way we communicate /
ruminate on this thing called language
and tell me it isn’t how we sing all our anguish
for Love / for connection with others / reflecting
Mother Nature above and below us / all around us /
what miracle found us with speech?
this wizard technology through which we reach
between souls and into the very bowl of Creation?
roll with me now / i’m teaching poeducation:
welcome to Angelish 101 / a tongue
which, though strange, is so much fun /
start with the premise that all forms of Meaning are one /
then start gleaning Truth from all wordplays and puns /
find Divine by uniting both sides of the mind /
drink the Wine of you / you are Buddha-full Being /
look within at the Starlight / then bring what ur seeing
to yr outer spacetime / write yr life in alignment
with the Stream / a line meant to carry yr dreams / see
speaking is prophecy / gods work on teams /
words are weirds, which is why they are spelled /
by the words we speak our own lives are held /
we are sentenced to live by the spells which we cast /
so we speak sentences / intentions that last /
as humans we must learn to master this magic /
now pay close attention cuz it’s gonna go fast / yo
this here be lyrical alchemy / all – key – me /
as in the key to knowing All be me /
my own soul is the key to unlock Heaven’s gate /
now please allow me to demonstrate /
homophones are Dhamma poems: my eye is my i /
hay más en otras idiomas / ai ai ai! /
ah more! / bilingual puns / i love em /
they may be bad but i can’t act like i’m above em 
anymore than the sun shining like my sol /
can’t deny the pun-ness / it’s waving like ola! /
God’s Poetry / Jah know it’s me /
why i’m sowin seeds over these flowin beats /
Spirit kicks / 26 letters let Her out /
went to college but self-knowledge was a better route /
g – u – r – u: yr own guru
lives inside / that’s right / jesus? gee, he’s us!
mind-blowing or what? find knowing in gut /
are you getting it now? are you letting it touch?
are you getting in to it /  getting better intuiting
this duet between language and music we do /
that’s Angelish / funny and deep at the same time /
beauty rings true when you hear that name chime /
it’s the game of rhyme, played since ancient times /
relating the Divine thru fun puns and punchlines /
hip hop does the same thing / check it /
off the list / i’m poppin off with this now /
it’s mystical code / the artistic mode
which insists upon going the unknowable road
into Self / travel deep / and keep going /
delving / unraveling knots / watchu know?
break it down like this / make it sound right with /
with the beat you bring / when you speak truth, sing / say,
this musicality is sacred stuff /
True Reality / we didn’t make it up /
it was always there / drifting on the air /
in the moving breeze sifting thru the trees /
in the rolling seas / the drumming raindrops’ soothing
percussion / the thunder booming from above /
in bird calls / and fall leaves underfoot /
humans understood that this Wonder was good /
that these sounds we heard were like god’s own words /
so we started responding and the line got blurred /
imitating Nature’s abounding creations
we channeled Her magic into sound vibrations /
and this imitation must have been the first music /
and thus the first language / how else could we do it?
every body understands beating drums / our hands
speak a vocab we didn’t make / Life planned it /
we were blessed with bodies and rhythm came with em /
an inborn god-given mystical system / a way
to pray thru play so stay ok always /
all days of living are sacred in all ways /
as kids, we knew the Truth / that it’s magic /
now we must access our youth and imagine /
i – mage in me – must defy limitations /
reclaim citizenship of the image – eye – nation  /
revise the pre-sent with the eyes of a poet /
reinvent the world and humankind as we know it /
it starts with a question: a quest – i – on /
who am i? how do i pen my song?
change starts with the songs and the wrongs you right
within yr search / u n i verse from the Poetree of Life /
best be leaf! / manifest O! / let my chi ka go! /
free myself so i can help my people get goin
like moses / i know it / you don’t have to believe it /
it’s just mythology / my theology / see in
this human existence there are only fictions /
pick yr reality / make yr own dictionary /
speak Angelish / the original language /
before babylon babbled on its mad path
in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God
and the Word was God / and the earth is Her body /
but Her soul is eternal unnameable Tao /
primal power / the meaning of WOW / this Now /
now how we gonna save this / take this home?
the answer’s in sanskrit / the base is OM…

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Anitya ("Impermanence")


Anitya / i need ya /
a little mantra that i wanna teach ya /
one word you can always repeat, yea,
that i learned at a silent retreat, yea /
it means Change / constant flux / it’s true /
whether or not you fucks with it, it fucks with you /
all things in the Universe are always changing /
the atoms in your body are right now rearranging
themselves, & you can never stop the waves /
in short, shit’s impermanent / nothing is saved /
mountain ranges & cities are turned into sand /
bodies & worlds are just passing through
& that’s Anitya / law of Nature
that applies to all objects & creatures /
no exception, no deception /
Mama Time will eventually eat ya /
all things in the Universe rise & fall,
so no point in attaching / just watch it all
come & go, fast or slow, eyes open or closed /
all the currents of the River of Life which flows
ever forward, forward / this moment, this /
Now is the state which you ride in bliss /
just observing the body & the mind’s sensations
with the understanding that you’re made of vibrations /
Anitya / so you never get stuck /
got an itch? yea, it’ll pass soon enough
try this exercise out: next time you wanna scratch,
just don’t / let it rise, stay awhile & pass
without getting mad or reacting too much /
then practice doing this with the bigger stuff /
like tension, pain, or your mind’s mad reasoning /
heat, cold, or rain, not to mention the seasons,
the sickness, loneliness, long plane rides
beside crying babies / stay sane on the inside /
weather all storms saying this too will change /
saying this too, this too will change, change...