Life in Wartime

Its possible to watch the warring nations live! Everyday!
It seems the movers and shakers fashioned it this way
The ultimate reality TV is another push button choice
Our view is broadcast unendingly we need never use our voice

The speakers of truth must now grow in number and strength
Gatherings of bright minds must build breadth and length
As images of pain and displeasure appear and reappear
Paths leading to reason must become evermore clear

Time to remove the lock and throw open the gate
We must be the ones to determine our own fate
When the moment comes to choose compassion or hate
Pray the decision to love never comes too late

This latest war has become a war of information waged by religious and capitalist power cells with the people of the world as the ultimate prize to the victor. Every person on the planet is engaged in this very public war on some level, directly or indirectly. It is gorged with battles being fought in the minds of all the people. Among the weapons are video and audio, sight and sound, as well as the weapons that physically kill and maim. We are challenged by these actions to seek out the truth, to mentally and physically take actions of our own to resist bombardment of media bytes and images that are themselves the weapons of mass destruction. If we do not we are easy prey to the barrage of vital updates, reports, news, opinions and deeds. Upon the field of play are the greatest and smallest nations, the foolish and the learned. The entire world has a live feed to all the action. It is an information war like no other.

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The Flight of the Dove

Our finest day was
Our darkest hour
We knew little
Of our hidden power
To unite with conviction
In all that we’ve done
A power as vital as the son who
Taught us to give and live as one

We know this now
We see it as true
It flows in our veins
It propels what we do
It is goodness that guides us
And encourage it we must
For in doing so shall all
Our hope we entrust to
A future of bountiful
Spiritual Love
Out of ashes and smoke
Comes the flight of the dove

Invictus by William Ernest Henley

These words have soothed and molded
how my thoughts take shape and form
thus leading to action that is conseqently born
into a world that is wide with open arms
or shuns in varying shouldered degrees
I've learned to trust in what they reveal
closer yet to something in which to believe..

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be,
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced or cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance,
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
how charged with punishment the scroll
I am the master of my fate
I am the captaain of my soul.

If Not for Love/Life of the Party

If Not for Love
If not for love, there could be no joy
There would be no you or me
Imagine no love among girl between boy
Now just how strange that would be
If not in love, the heart coughs and sighs,
Gasping for that which sustains
Give all to love, make reality rise,
Through time it is all that remains

Life of the Party
I chose this wine with love and care
Yet no one will dance with me
I did that decorating over there
Still I’m partnerless and free
What’s the use in having skills
When they’re chided and ignored
Why bother adding frills
When they end up torn and floored
You try and try to do your best
To stand out in an crowd
While all around you whirl the rest
Having a ball and laughing out loud
There’s not a lot of difference
In the urge to smile or cry
I need to understand not wince
At the given reasons why
I’ll not give up the party
Till my dance is over and done
I’ll celebrate hard and hearty
Even if I’m the only one

Worship

This poem was written in memory of my grandmother Mrs Sadie R. Webb who made the church experience fun, educational, and ultimately life changing. I always think of her when I enter any place of worship any where.

As dawn delivers day
I jump quick to your command
In the pull of swarm and sway
I move only by your hand
If I'm to shout or sing or say
I'll convey what you demand
As I travel on this way
I obey where 'ere I stand

It's my priveledge to carry
Everything to you in prayer
I'll not wait in wan nor tarry
As I go to linger there
To your countenance I marry
All my earthly wants I bare
May your light be loud and glary
O'er my soul your love I wear

All through test and tribulation
Be the task robust or small
I tune in to your vibration
And stay prepared to heed your call
Let the ear of every nation
Know the scope of this resolve
My whole selfless dedication
Is my worhship all in all

Welcome Sound

Come upon this circumstance
Given only once to prance
Up inside a moving phrase
Still repose in dazzle daze
Outward feelings left to energize
Knowing less than other wise
Times to be like non before
Simple journeys shore to shore
Moving round to cover all
Wrapped up tight in memory's shawl
Often beats a heart like drum
In early rhythms mouth to thumb
Clearly marked is chance so rare
Those who dance rise one with air
Of such a relished hour as this
Find all my self in blooming bliss
Got up too late to write this down
All that's left is welcome sound

Pride In My City

Pride has always been a word that I've had difficulty in internalizing since moving to NYC and experiencing the sometimes overbearing festivities of the yearly celebrations of the gay community each year. Granted, there is a true divide between the white and non-white camps when it comes to partying and being open and out, yet I have been a willing participant in activities of merit in each.
August 2006 finds me joyfully working with POCC's Pride in the City www.prideinthecity.com. Everywhere in NYC are the signs of the "official" Black Pride events for 2006. If you haven't been to any of the myrid choices in which to participate, then you must get OUT and go. The opportunity to FRATernize and commune with others in the family that is Black Gay NYC could not now be better or more profound. The artistic voices that are our own are rare, rich, powerful, and overwhelmingly beautiful.
At just one event, the Black Out Art Series, I was priviliged to experience the voices and visions of some of my brothers and sisters which influecned me deeply and added to the texture of my life. I've come to realize with this one evening of performance and presentation that I am not only proud to be an artist and black and gay, but I have a unique responsibility to be all these things to the best of my ability. The mere act of conversation takes on added demension when surrounded by and engaged with others who have come together openly. I have a heaven blessed chance to share in the works, wishes, hopes, dreams and accomplishments of my brothers and sisters by just stepping outside my door and that is a gift I won't turn or walk away from.
Power to the people! Power to the pride!

Day of Birth

Birthdays are moments of reflection
Time for fun and inspection
As days go by
Memories fester and fly
Yet beauty remains my protection

T is the place to B

New York is the epicenter of fun. A wonderfly fantastic place to have summer fun is a dance party called T. It's held every Sunday from 4 to midnight. The music is in the tradition of classic house but has a more modern spin. It's at a place called the Ace of Clubs on Great Jones (3rd) St between Broadway and Lafyette. The Club is downstairs beneath a very good restaurant/bar called ACME. Check it out! Especially if you love to dance for more than just a couple of songs. T is for "totally terriffic!"

Something

Something within me churns with constant haste just now. It is the need to express. It is the desire to create. It is the capacity to give. It is the yearning for love. It is the response felt when someone smiles upon me . It is the aching of my soul when my eyes encounter a beautiful face.

Something kneads on the mass of my motor muscle in magical midnight moments. It fills me with questions that have no single answer. It tears and divides me into the parts of myself that are at odds with each other.

Somehow amongst this active adoration I come to the empty canvas with a color full bag of dreams and surely toss the lot upon the fabric of life and...behold!

Trance Dance

Come upon this circumstance
Given only once to prance
Up inside a moving phrase
Still repose in dazle daze
Outward feelings left to energize
Knowing less than other wise
Times to be like none before
Simple journeys shore to shore
Spinning round to cover all
Wrapped up tight in memory's shawl
Often beats a heart like drum
In early rhythms mouth to thumb
Clearly marked is chance so rare
Those who dance rise one with air
Of such a relished hour as this
Is all myself in blooming bliss
Got up too late to write this daown
All that's left is welcome sound