Alice Walker
Be nobody's darling;
Be an outcast.
Take the contradictions
Of your life
And wrap around
You like a shawl,
To parry stones
To keep you warm.
Watch the people succumb
To madness
With ample cheer;
Let them look askance at you
And you askance reply.
Be an outcast;
Be pleased to walk alone
(Uncool)
Or line the crowded
River beds
With other impetuous
Fools.
Make a merry gathering
On the bank
Where thousands perished
For brave hurt words
They said.
Be nobody's darling;
Be an outcast.
Qualified to live
Among your dead.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
John Legend -Take Me Away
Oh, la la la la la
Yeah, yeah
We dance and sing
Somewhere in between heaven and hell
Gabrielle, that was her name
Everyone was smiling
Even through their tears, under a spell
But in Gabby’s eyes, nothing
I ask, do you not like the music
She says it’s alright
But she dances to her own sad tune
She says…
Take me away from here
Take me somewhere where love is like breathing
I don’t care where we go
Long as I’m there with you, baby
Long as I’m there with you
I could tell she’s been through pain I could only dream
Nightmares that live where you live
Tears well in her eyes, but she wouldn’t let them fall
I’d give the world to know where her smile is
I ask will you dance with me now
Let me try to figure out
The fastest rout out of town
And she said…
Take me away from here
Take me somewhere where love is like breathing
I don’t care where we go
Long as I’m there with you, baby
Long as I’m there with you
Oh, I got a full tank of gas girl
Anywhere, you wanna go girl
All you have to do is ask girl
Oh, she said…
Take me away from here
Take me somewhere where love is like breathing
I don’t care where we go
Long as I’m there with you, baby
Long as I’m there with you
Yeah, yeah
We dance and sing
Somewhere in between heaven and hell
Gabrielle, that was her name
Everyone was smiling
Even through their tears, under a spell
But in Gabby’s eyes, nothing
I ask, do you not like the music
She says it’s alright
But she dances to her own sad tune
She says…
Take me away from here
Take me somewhere where love is like breathing
I don’t care where we go
Long as I’m there with you, baby
Long as I’m there with you
I could tell she’s been through pain I could only dream
Nightmares that live where you live
Tears well in her eyes, but she wouldn’t let them fall
I’d give the world to know where her smile is
I ask will you dance with me now
Let me try to figure out
The fastest rout out of town
And she said…
Take me away from here
Take me somewhere where love is like breathing
I don’t care where we go
Long as I’m there with you, baby
Long as I’m there with you
Oh, I got a full tank of gas girl
Anywhere, you wanna go girl
All you have to do is ask girl
Oh, she said…
Take me away from here
Take me somewhere where love is like breathing
I don’t care where we go
Long as I’m there with you, baby
Long as I’m there with you
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Let Me Get This Straight
Republicans want to 1.) Not Feed the Children 2.) Let people sit in the dark without access to the very airwaves that belong to them and 3.) Give money back to rich people. Oh so so so very typical!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
I Want to Post These Poems Here and Study Them
ELIZABETH ALEXANDER: “Praise Song for the Day.”
Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other’s
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.
All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.
Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.
Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.
We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.
We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what’s on the other side.
I know there’s something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.
Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,
picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.
Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.
Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?
Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.
In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,
praise song for walking forward in that light.
ALICE WALKER: A poem honoring the people who don’t believe this is happening. I wanted to write a poem for the people who are still saying, “Oh, no, this can’t happen,” you know, because all along the line of this struggle to get Barack Obama to the White House, people feared that something awful would happen to him, and so many people hold so many angers and pains that they just can’t believe today. So this is a poem for the people who basically don’t believe that it’s happening. It’s called “The World Has Changed.”
The World Has Changed:
Wake up & smell
The possibility.
The world
Has changed:
It did not
Change
Without
Your prayers
Without
Your faith
Without
Your determination
To
Believe
In liberation
&
Kindness;
Without
Your
Dancing
Through the years
That
Had
No
Beat.
The world has changed:
It did not
Change
Without
Your
Numbers
Your
Fierce
Love
Of self
&
Cosmos
It did not
Change
Without
Your
Strength.
The world has
Changed:
Wake up!
Give yourself
The gift
Of a new
Day.
The world has changed:
This does not mean that
You were never
Hurt.
The world
Has changed:
Rise!
Yes
&
Shine!
Resist the siren
Call
Of
Disbelief.
The world has changed:
Don’t let
Yourself
Remain
Asleep
To
It.
Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other’s
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.
All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.
Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.
Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.
We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.
We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what’s on the other side.
I know there’s something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.
Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,
picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.
Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.
Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?
Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.
In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,
praise song for walking forward in that light.
ALICE WALKER: A poem honoring the people who don’t believe this is happening. I wanted to write a poem for the people who are still saying, “Oh, no, this can’t happen,” you know, because all along the line of this struggle to get Barack Obama to the White House, people feared that something awful would happen to him, and so many people hold so many angers and pains that they just can’t believe today. So this is a poem for the people who basically don’t believe that it’s happening. It’s called “The World Has Changed.”
The World Has Changed:
Wake up & smell
The possibility.
The world
Has changed:
It did not
Change
Without
Your prayers
Without
Your faith
Without
Your determination
To
Believe
In liberation
&
Kindness;
Without
Your
Dancing
Through the years
That
Had
No
Beat.
The world has changed:
It did not
Change
Without
Your
Numbers
Your
Fierce
Love
Of self
&
Cosmos
It did not
Change
Without
Your
Strength.
The world has
Changed:
Wake up!
Give yourself
The gift
Of a new
Day.
The world has changed:
This does not mean that
You were never
Hurt.
The world
Has changed:
Rise!
Yes
&
Shine!
Resist the siren
Call
Of
Disbelief.
The world has changed:
Don’t let
Yourself
Remain
Asleep
To
It.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Poem I Wrote
The way we were in West Lafayette, Indiana
Barbra Streisand amidst conformity and corn
they shoot horses don't they rising out of
the bathrooms in the Union
Creativty rising throgh the cracks in the concrete
Touching the slender thread threatens to pull apart
the very fabric that holds it together
The citygo bus rounds the corner towards the mall
Barbra Streisand amidst conformity and corn
they shoot horses don't they rising out of
the bathrooms in the Union
Creativty rising throgh the cracks in the concrete
Touching the slender thread threatens to pull apart
the very fabric that holds it together
The citygo bus rounds the corner towards the mall
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
You can play the game and you can act out the part
Though you know it wasnt written for you
But tell me, how can you stand there with your broken heart
Ashamed of playing the fool
One thing can lead to another; it doesnt take any sacrifice
Oh, father and mother, sister and brother
If it feels nice, dont think twice
Just shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel
Things are gonna work out fine if you only will
Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way you feel
Things are gonna be much better if you only will
You can run but you cannot hide
This is widely known
And what you plan to do with your foolish pride
When youre all by yourself alone
Once you tell somebody the way that you feel
You can feel it beginning to ease
I think its true what they say about the squeaky wheel
Always getting the grease.
Better to shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel
Things are gonna be just fine if you only will
Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel
Things are gonna be much better if you only will
Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel
Youll feel better right away
Dont take much to do
Sell you pride
They say in every life
They say the rain must fall
Just like pouring rain
Make it rain
Make it rain
Love, love, love is sunshine.
Oh yes
Make it rain
Love, love, love is sunshine
Yeah, all right
Everybody, everybody
Shower the people you love with love
Though you know it wasnt written for you
But tell me, how can you stand there with your broken heart
Ashamed of playing the fool
One thing can lead to another; it doesnt take any sacrifice
Oh, father and mother, sister and brother
If it feels nice, dont think twice
Just shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel
Things are gonna work out fine if you only will
Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way you feel
Things are gonna be much better if you only will
You can run but you cannot hide
This is widely known
And what you plan to do with your foolish pride
When youre all by yourself alone
Once you tell somebody the way that you feel
You can feel it beginning to ease
I think its true what they say about the squeaky wheel
Always getting the grease.
Better to shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel
Things are gonna be just fine if you only will
Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel
Things are gonna be much better if you only will
Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel
Youll feel better right away
Dont take much to do
Sell you pride
They say in every life
They say the rain must fall
Just like pouring rain
Make it rain
Make it rain
Love, love, love is sunshine.
Oh yes
Make it rain
Love, love, love is sunshine
Yeah, all right
Everybody, everybody
Shower the people you love with love
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)