Cry of Beauty

 

                      POURING SHADE

 

 

Pour

some shade on the road

to cool my feet

pour some on my hands

tired from the week

pour some sweet shade on my head

I need some relief

Let it flow like honey

           drip like maple syrup

serve me a glass of lemonade

stirred to the taste of sweet shade

Pour it over everything

Pour it on a rainbow

Even

the colors of nature want to know

how it feels to taste sweet

 

                      

                         PORT OF NEW ORLEANS

                                    (1)                 

 

do you remember the stories told by  the old people

did you ever talk to them when they were alive

their eyes camera’s catching images

invisible people revealing things like spies

Willie’s boy

a defiant slave

a back tattooed  by a whip

screams echoing down the cycles of time

blood of the people spilling on the ground

after freedom come the bayou claimed him

deep in her murkiness and shadows

magical things to come

the trees rings held stories

whispered in his head

anguish was his energy

he saw visions of defiance

he wanted his enemy dead

he took an axe, a chisel, and a hammer

he struck wood

there was a face in there crying for a chance to exist

he struck wood

a wooden head appeared with a mouth opened to god

he struck wood

a body came out

and two sparrows singing a tune

he struck wood

it became a dinner table with a family undivided

eating as one

the old people remembered the wagon

wooden heads and bodies up to no good

bent in unlikely positions

Willie’s boy left them at the Port of New Orleans

blood stained grotesque figures of former masters

he hoped it scared them to death

 

 

                            

                                         (4)

 

Words float here not boats

on the horizon ideas beckon

links of the alphabet rise from the ocean floor

anchors away 

words head out to sea

black people are seeking a new adventure

ancestors have released us to go

if America is not enough then we need to find more

remember how we pushed Satchmo

remember how we danced that night

remember it was all that we had been through

that knocked down that door

it’s time for us to head out

leave the Port of New Orleans

our journey has always been about imagination

Martin Luther King said I have a dream

Michael Jackson, Coltrane and Obama are real

life can be more than just a dream

I

am going on this journey

I am heading out to sea

to strike the wood in my imagination

bring back the faces I discover there

if I get lost

send someone to find me

don’t let me be like the children sold at Thanksgiving

the remains of old refrains of New Orleans

it’s such a sad thing when a mother knows

her child is never coming back home

bring me back alive

I will have stories of my own to tell

tall tales and truth

words I brought back from the sea

instruments of my imagination

resting on the next wave

nothing but the freedom of idea’s ahead of me

                             

 

 

                          GLANCE

if
glance had a mouth
it would be the sound
of a jockey winning by a nose

                                           

 

                            FIRST WORDS

 

              the animal in me is now apparent

              the teeth in my mouth separate me from

              all other creatures

              my stomach prepares to receive the food

              I

              place in my mouth

              the moments of my fledgling individuality

                         has begun

             the undertaking I have prepared myself

                         for rears its opposite heads

           the steps I take set me upon this path

           once begun they can never be retraced

            they are now only memories

 

 

                                      

 

                            THE LEADER

 

Those

that are eager to lead

must take the path of servitude

seek a reluctant one

whose light and wisdom emanate

from the love of the people

Guardians rally to him quickly

receiving the word in descending order

calling the faithful to the path

the disc of holiness refined for the mind

delivered in a room of silent praise

His coming forth announced by the strangeness of the wind

 

                                      SMILE

look

at yourself

see the true witness of HaHiYa’s

blessing

and

smile

 

                           BAIT

 

 

If

you have done

harm to anyone

walk don’t run

let god catch you

only god can save your soul

 

if

a man orders you

to harm anyone

walk away from that man

 

Pray

that the people trapped

in a nation of pain

lift the tombstones engraved on their faces

put your feet on the road of the unshackled

and stand still

let god catch you

 

my dear ones

don’t you know that it is god that has been chasing you

stop walking and talking

life is the line tossed into  a sea we call living

we are the bait god is the hook

let him catch you

let HaHiYa celebrate

the saving of another soul

peace and peace and peace

 

                               POURING SHADE

 

 

                   I

                  met

                   a

                   man

                    who

                    was

                     as

                    quiet

                     as

                     space

                       he said

                      he

                     got

                        that way

                      listening

                      to

                        god

                         pouring

                   shade

     

 

                             

                           CRY OF BEAUTY #9

                                            

 

 

bless

those who entertain us and

give us joy that reaches the soul

bless those that hold up the clouds

for shade for old people

bless those that jump on the backs

of the wicked to protect the innocent

put golden hands on the path of children

to guide their walks

bless the woman who cannot feed her children

too many men have run away

bless the wound

that cut away the good feeling in his heart

bless the journey of laffing souls  

they got on the road that leads back home

bless the sun and moon and wind and water

and mud and stone and plants and bees

without them we could not feed ourselves

or have any idea of how to build a home

 

                          

 

                                     FEELINGS

 

 

if

I

began talking about love

how do I stop

your smile reassures me

If

I try to hold back this emotion

my eyes search thru the moments

to make you reappear

 

Feelings

that roll

pulled by the moon

do you know  who the moon is?

Love is lavender

a deep hue that makes us bend

bowing in reference before this throne

I surrender my loneliness retrieving it from a hole

walking into the deepest part of you

embracing the awakening rays of your sunshine

 

as I leave the trees lean back

thrilled by the touch of love

 

 

                                   POURING SHADE

 

god said I could touch you if you let me

and a tear fell upon my soul

lie down near that bush in the shade

and he sang in my ear with the music of crickets

come to the river and put your hand in

the water poured over me soft and cool

god then said if I pour shade over you to

strike out the rays of the sun what will you do

I said I will be still in that moment

and let you touch me

 

                                         

 

                                   SMOKE ON THE GROUND

 

I see a wasteland of bodies without heads

a generation disconnected from their ancestors

their heads split into degrees of pain and suffering

Released from broken buildings

words of fire escape

the sound of hip hop ripped from heads

floating in the hood

the nation of  a brown skin people

whose child is missing

Angels fly on human rockets searching for souls

burning bodies just smoke on the ground

run into tomorrow

looking at yesterday

alive next door

the cycle of misery a treadmill that goes on and on

changing the song by switching the words

symphony’s of discord grind on street corners

 backed by the horns of gunshots

the syncopation of the rape of a nation  

the blood of passing made by holes in the back

lying men bring flowers  smoking from  gunfire

let me be the one who says it is time for us to stop

let me be the first one

and the last one to say I’m  sorry

let me be the one

looking in the eyes of the brown nation

say joy has replaced sadness

 say that the missing child

the messenger of hope is coming home 

a full grown man

the moment of healing 

resurrected  ashes of  burning bodies

smoke on the ground rises

evaporated by the light of the sun

ancestor receive us 

sing songs we haven’t heard before

the Cry of  Beauty in a  city of peace

 

                         

 

 

                                 IMAGINE

 

I went to the highest authority imaginable

your heart was on display

expanding into the universe

in love with all that could be touched

this thrilling heart bowed gracefully

by the light of the all mighty

You have brought love to me

a gift to hold and embrace

each moment a monument built upon steps of desire

each moment the trace of your lips ripples away

only to be replaced by the next wave of deep kisses

when love is new it is a band of music

we can be a silly symphony

we can be free

we can feel the earth's breeze

as it roars through the trees

our skin so sensitive we dissolve each time we touch

I want you to know that I place much reverence

on what we have come to know

on what we sharing

I want you to know the serious side of this

that we can lie beside still water 

naked without fear

without ever worrying about wearing masks

to hide something from the past

if we were out of control

I want you to know that I am married to your soul

I want you to know

that I love you as much as you love me

eternity awaits us

lets go..... lets go