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

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 / whether or not it’s cliché / it's 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…

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...

Ode to my Bicycle

 Bless the bike,

its wheels, tires, chain & seat

on which i glide through city streets

            in between the cars & roaring trucks        

on Lincoln Ave;

Bless the tiny ball bearings,

the pedals, handles, gears all working in tandem

            with the clockwork of my legs

pushing circles:

left, right, left, right, left;

Praise the kiss of wind on my face,

bless the caress of wind in my hair

wind rushing through my clothes,

            wind pulling, pushing, air

brushing my whole body,

filling my nostrils,

            hitting my eyes,

Praise the way the bicycle

            embraces weight & masters gravity;

Praise the sensitivity of tires

on paved earth or grass,

the rickety jittering of my frame

            going over bumps & cracks;

            potholes shake my mind awake,

            bringing me back to earth;

            uphill stretches burn my calves

                                    as i breathe deeper, sweating,

                                    throwing every ounce of force i have

                        into the push:

                        left, right, left, right, left;

O bike, you are no robot i control

            from the inside,

but an extension of my very body

            into metal & rubber,

so, astride you, i thank God

            for my own blood & bones  

            which make me move –

                        my brain & lungs & flesh & guts

                        converting food & water i’ve consumed

            into ground covered,

            concrete distance over which i fly—

                        left, right, left, right, left;

No, bike, you are nothing like a car

that hides me from the world outside,

            & from which, through the windshield,

                        Things come & go as if on screen;

                                    no – on you i am exposed,

                                                naked and immersed

                                    in the water of the world,

                        i see, hear, smell, & feel it all:

            from the weather to the sewer,

                        from the indian food shops on Devon

                                    to the fishy smell of the river

                                    to the fountain’s spray in Fellgher park

                                                where little children play,

                        i hear the paletero’s bell,

                        the howling rumble of the L,

                        & here i feel myself a part

                        of city, breathing with the rest–

                        a little blood cell

                        rushing through Chicago’s veins,

                        pulsing with it’s heartbeat:

                        left, right, left, right, left –

           

On you, bike, i notice things like:

            a toddler rubbing noses with her mother

            on a bus stop bench,

            the sound of crickets

                        crossfading to traffic,

            streaks of yellow light from lampposts

            shining in the water,

            a single gatorade bottle

            on a dark, empty basketball court,

            a woman sleeping on a bench

            at Milwaukee & Diversey

            wearing a red hat,

                        leaning on a backpack;

            Naked bittersweet Truth & Beauty stand before me,

            revealed to my eyes & ears as these montages;

&, bike, on you,

            i engage with people & with Things,

            exchanging passing smiles with a stroller family,

            or, riding past a walnut tree

                        who extends a branch

                                    low into the street as if for a high-five,

                                    i am happy to oblige, reach up

                                    & slap some leaves as i go by

Yes, bless you, bike, in the open –  

            long-live the heartbeat of your ride

guiding feet in turning circles:

                        left, right, left, right, left;      

Bicycle, O little steed,

            Praise you! Always

            on your back

                        i am one with road

                        & landscape,

                                    embodied,

                        one with breath,

            with metal, seasons,

                        time,

            & all the billion People

            & all Things.