I’ve maintained a blog for years, despite not always having something to say. When Black History Month approaches, I feel a responsibility to write– for sentence exercise, if nothing else. As I’ve gotten older and more comfortable with being a poet, I’ve begun feeling a need to push more creatively, especially with Black History. The … Continue reading “THE BLACK HISTORY MONTH PROJECT”

Roberta legendarily could play anything on piano and finally she played me. I knew her, heard her, but had not sat and really listened to her. She was a musical auntie I’d rarely visit; ubiquitous on radio and tv throughout my childhood, hers was music that sounded too rich for my palate. She had a … Continue reading “BHM #16: FIRST TIME WITH ROBERTA FLACK”

“A POEM FOR DEEP THINKERS” INSTALLATION BY RASHID JOHNSON AT GUGGENHEIM, NY Knowing oneself begins from within; take a spoon of shea butter , the first medicine grown in nature years before any chemical you claim to understand. In a scene from the disturbing film, Unmoisturized Houses of the Damned , houses vacant of Vaseline or simple Olive oil are haunted by ectoplasmic showers of ash; the windows appear dry-closed and all doors rusted. The heroine, stuck overnight in one s

I am strongly attracted to visual art. I’m a poet with visual art dreams who can take an okay photo but can’t draw or paint any better than a 5th grader. Visiting New York last summer was my first time in the Guggenheim and my first time feeling so strongly moved by and drawn into … Continue reading “BHM #14 : RASHID JOHNSON”

When the Buddha became sick He asked his disciples to make for him a cushion within the bushes where he could simply lie down. He had the luxury of waiting for death’s ride –who knows the state of traffic death had to traverse that day. 2500 years later, the world is now seeded with bronze … Continue reading “Black History Month #: POEM FOR RECLINING FIGURES IN KEHENDE WILEY’S WORK”

Jesse Jackson left us today. He was a longtime civil rights activist beginning his career adjacent to Martin Luther King, Jr. He was an politician and Baptist Minister. He was born in Greenville, South Carolina in October 1941 and died this morning in Chicago. He was 84. In the mid-1980’s, Jackson began seeking the Democratic … Continue reading “BHM # 12: I AM SOMEBODY”

Happy Holiday. No writing on weekends, or holidays apparently. Just to note President #44 Barack Obama was born August 1961 and was president from 2009-2017. This gorgeous official portrait was painted by one of my favorite artists, Kehinde Wiley in 2018. Kehinde is from Los Angeles and was born in February, 1977. I visited his … Continue reading “BHM #11: “I’M JUST GONNA LEAVE THIS HERE…””

Black men have long had to see the world through metaphor— Convert what is observed into something different- easier, better This is the science of othering –making a way out of no way – To be given nothing and still expected to finish to breathe life into pyramids of bronze, iron to converse in the … Continue reading “BHM #10 POEM FOR BLACK INVENTORS”

My mother’s currency was hair. Juanita Cagney remodeled elder’s naps and sweat flattened loops into bread, milk, cigarettes. On weekends, our kitchen was a revolving door of women getting press and curls, perms, cuts. Sparrows couldn’t match her solo of the curling iron. Breakfast would smell of shampoo and conditioner. She worked until her fingers … Continue reading “BHM #9: AMBROSIA WYSINGER JONES of CHARM BEAUTY COLLEGE”

Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child has always been with us. When I looked up its origin, there was none. One day, it stood up on his hind legs in the distance and wailed. Its origin is America itself. Its an old, traditional spiritual that traces back to slavery here in the United States. … Continue reading “BHM #8: SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD”

Watch a staging of Cry choreographed by Alvin Ailey for Judith Jamison, dedicated to Black Women and mothers. To get through the gates of heaven, you will have to pose in a gesture that expresses your life / dig down into what was meant to stay buried and flourish Write your story with the body’s … Continue reading “BHM: #7 EKPHRASTIC RESPONSE TO ‘CRY’ / POEM FOR JUDITH JAMISON and ALVIN AILEY”

We the common and ordinary only see tall men in relation to basketball hoops. They appear useless and clumsy anywhere else. Despite suit, tie and title, a grown man would be dressed down into gym shorts or an easy punchline by passers by. Tall brothers are easily objectified. Their body a uniform. They’re stared at … Continue reading “BHM #6: BLACK ALIENS with Kevin Peter Hall and Bolaji Badejo”

There is a blue sky across the street from the end of the world a sky without center or capitol even the birds have deserted the horizon birds know better only a rocket dares reach toward the eternal without consideration of heaven. On the flipside of sky is a clean chalkboard its calculus of sticky, … Continue reading “BHM #5: AN EKPHRASTIC POEM AFTER ARTIST AMY SHERALD”

One of the choir girls in my childhood church caught the Holy Spirit during service for the first time. “It was burning,” she said surprised to be chosen and touched by hot fire stubbornly invisible and eternally curious. The Holy Spirit moves like a minister of smoke through the congregation, the church, touching people for … Continue reading “BHM #4: BOB MARLEY MANIFESTS LIGHTNING AT THE ONE LOVE FESTIVAL, 1978”

Television was infected with TV Specials in the 70’s. Any comic or singer worth a mic, who could fill a nightclub on a weekend night, would eventually be tossed an hour long TV Variety Show. Richard Pryor was becoming a huge presence on the standup circuit in the 70’s and in May 1977, two years … Continue reading “BHM #3: MAYA ANGELOU ON THE RICHARD PRYOR SPECIAL”

Consider Ola Ray / cover girl, model, Playboy centerfold, actress, monument to Black History. The God commissioned creme of her delicate and dreamy skin / a full galaxy thrives in her miracle reflecting eyes Attaché to male singers who prefer their video vixens quiet and pretty as a glass of bourbon. Black royalty once denied … Continue reading “BHM #2: OLA RAY (*WHEREIN THE WRITER REWATCHES MICHAEL JACKSON’S THRILLER BUT ONLY FOR OLA RAY)”

“He was more concerned about his mustache than his haircut. He always liked his mustache to be up off the lip, like a butterfly. He would tell me, make it like a butterfly this time.” Nelson Malden, MLK Jr.’s former barber What squad of men occupy the Rushmore mountain of mustaches in Black History? … Continue reading “BLACK HISTORY MONTH (BHM) #1 GREAT MUSTACHES OF BLACK HISTORY”

What shall we do while Gayle King is in space? Cities bombed for ‘redevelopment’. Rubble raked for bones and bread. But keep ya head up; Gayle King is in space! Jupiter needs a COACH outlet. There’s no Sephora on the Crab Nebula. America’s mall looks too small to be great, so says Gayle King from … Continue reading “GAYLE KING IS IN SPACE”

Prelude A friend calls monthly, like one would check in with a therapist. A mutual acquaintance has brought her to tears multiple nights. Who is open to just listening beyond me? Our years together, she’s earned my patience. But one night she stopped and asked about me. How was I really? What was going on … Continue reading “Year End Review: How To Do A Reading”

Christmas this year feels mournful. Not just for the obvious headlines; but the air holds incense of discomforting flavor. Writing still needs to happen, though. Right? I haven’t written in months, despite my longing and desire. Despite all the reading and thinking. I’m currently reading Toni At Random, Dana Williams’ book on Toni Morrison’s former … Continue reading “Year-End Review”