Monthly Archives: October 2011

October 26, 2011

… coming of age

By Bri.L

The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861 – 1947)

 

… every generation was once another’s youth—blank slates with hearts & minds soft as clay, unknowingly vying for a chance to shape a bit of themselves before the world molds them into reflections of its greatest vices.

 

But, the cycle of influence is strong and inevitable …

 

Wilted Roses

 

grown folk have affairs

with younger boys

and girls

because they refuse to grow up

and face the thorn of Misery

leaving the heart of the broken youth

racing

faster than they have ever imagined

because they thought they experienced something

greater and beyond their years

but in fact

they are wounded deep

from fucking with Future

when Present has just begun

and recent Past still smells like Similac

they are left with quickly beating hearts

simply bleeding out

spilling pure life on the floor their feet once had a firm grasp of

before the tragic

This Should Have Never Happened [But Fuck, It Did]

became the title to their teenaged memoirs

and the book covers

are filled with hearts

some broken

some whole

some shattered

typical of coming of age pieces

naively sharing tales of

coming despite age

and making it all seem so beautiful

but there’s nothing pretty about the sequel

and the story before it all

must have taken a sharp left turn

like the life of a rose

basking in all of its natural glory

until everything it has ever known

is displaced

by one human touch

and it slowly approaches

the inevitable end of its childhood innocence

on a one-way road

bound for Wilted

 

 

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in ... poetry, ... quotes

October 19, 2011

… to all of the lovers

By Bri.L

… as much of the world did on June 25th of 2009, everyone in my office gathered in the conference room, shocked and in silence, to watch coverage as news broke that the King of Pop had been taken to the hospital and later pronounced dead; we followed suit on July 9th as his memorial service aired.

Amongst many things, Michael Jackson was an artist, entertainer, innovator, and humanitarian. His influence on music, dance, fashion and mankind as a whole is indeed indelible. Far and wide, he has impacted the lives of individuals, particularly the youth, since the 1960s and will continue to touch the world for as long as it endures [allude to “2012”]. His musical and philanthropic contributions helped paint a picture of the world he so avidly wished for and the class of humanity he wholeheartedly believed in.

In a 2007 interview for Ebony Magazine, Jackson stated:

“I always wanted to do music that influences and inspires each generation. Let’s face it, who wants mortality?”

“Music has been my outlet, my gift to all of the lovers in this world. Through it — my music, I know I will live forever.”

Well … as I’m sure many of us did in the wake of his death, and still do on random days of our lives, I had MJ songs on heavy rotation. His catalog, plainly said, is extensive; impressive. Intrigued by the amount of music he produced in his lifetime and trying to channel his themes and overall message, I got a little creative and came up with “my gift to all of the lovers” …

HIStory

 

This Is It Baby

I gotta Say Say Say

You Rock My World

Just a Little Bit of You

Makes me Happy and Smile

I Wanna Be Where You Are

Do you Remember the Time

You were a mere

Stranger in Moscow

I couldn’t help but wonder

Who Is It?

Dirty Diana?

Billie Jean?

It didn’t matter

You were Bad

Almost 2 Bad

Off The Wall, Dangerous

And I had to Get It

My gaze Unbreakable

On this Pretty Young Thing

 

Watching you Shake Your Body

I thought

I Got to Be There

I walked over to you

What seemed like Twenty-Five Miles

Butterflies stirring

Human Nature, what a Thriller

I approached you With a Child’s Heart

And said

Whatzupwitu?

I Wanna Be Startin’ Something

You should let me Rock with You

You countered with

Leave Me Alone

Beat It

And just like that

She’s Out of My Life

You were Gone Too Soon

Something told me

Don’t Stop til’ You Get Enough

Made me ask

What More Can I Give?

And to pretend

It’s A Brand New Day

 

This Time Around

I came to you like a Smooth Criminal

Together, the Music and Me

Convinced you to give me One More Chance

Convinced you to Give In to Me

After all, “Rockin’ Robin” was your Jam

That song helped us Come Together

But “Will You Be There”

Made our passion overflow

Spill like Blood on the Dance Floor

My heart raced like a Speed Demon

And as I repeated in my mind

The Girl is Mine

I’m gonna make her my Girlfriend

I whispered to you

Tell Me I’m Not Dreamin’

(Too Good to Be True)

 

Is It Scary?

That One Day in Your Life

I became addicted to The Way You Make Me Feel

Now, years later

I’ve realized I Just Can’t Stop Loving You

I look at the Man in the Mirror

And you are there

Another Part of Me

There Ain’t No Sunshine when you’re hurting

So when you feel the need to Cry or Scream

Remember that You Are Not Alone

Forget your troubles

They Don’t Care About Us

And In Our Small Way

Our love can Heal the World

So I will ask you

Simple as Black or White

Marry me, Baby Be Mine?

Let’s Ease on Down the Road

To A Place With No Name

Hold My Hand

We’re Almost There

Let’s make HIStory

 

 

 

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in ... poetry

October 17, 2011

… do your research

By Bri.L

… wikipedia has unequivocally earned its title of being my main squeeze. What started as an innocent encounter years ago flourished into a beautiful, balanced relationship; I give an article enough of my time and in turn get an ever growing basis of information and links, literally and cognitively. The select words and/or phrases that are hyperlinked in an article are not done so arbitrarily; each notion is integrally connected to the next. So when I read one article, I read about four, five and so on in order to illustrate a multi-dimensional picture of the original topic at hand.

From there comes the side chick, Google. Wiki treats me just fine, but sometimes you need to hear it all, and more, from elsewhere. In these instances, choose your sources and facts wisely; don’t get burned. Again, the premise is to click links to further make the connections and confirm them but don’t stray too far from home. Do enough concise research to get a clear understanding of whatever it is you are writing about be it a simple adjective about the subject of a sentence or basic facts related to a theme/setting that carries throughout the entire piece.

The last one invited to the party, that usually gets the last minute, late night phone calls, would be the dictionary. When every word matters and the wrong ones usually resonate more than the correct ones, word and fact selection is key. You are speaking authoritatively to an audience and someone in the audience may actually know more than you do about something; don’t label yourself as the misinformed one of the group. Questionable is not a good descriptive word for one’s writing.

Always try to remember: no one likes a babbling idiot, but a babbling idiot speaking a noticeably foreign language is far worse than the former …

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in ... general thoughts

October 17, 2011

… origins

By Bri.L

… to go along with the above post … I was reading up on the Nile one day, which lead to Egypt and everything that goes along with the two,  and after envisioning one beautiful thing after the other—the river, its basin, the people, their history—I was compelled to write. I can’t remember the exact thoughts/ideas that sparked the process but it all came down to the belief that modern mankind originated in North Africa and how beautiful this notion truly is …

 

Of the Nile

 

Treat me as if your mother molded me
Of the delicate earth of the Nile
Into everything she ever was
And in the image of her ancestors
Everything they would want me to be
Warm as the Sahara
Strong as the cane
And soft as the cotton
Reaped and sowed
Of home’s sweet soil
Precious as a single raindrop
Fighting to not get lost
In the great Khamaseen
In the raging spiral of this world
Treat me as if I was birthed
Of the fertile banks of the Delta
Old Kingdom pharaohs’ blood
Etched through my veins
Painting pictures of greatness
Preserving stories of what was
As the pyramids graciously do
Feet mirror prints
Left in the Giza sand
By the once living dwellers
Of the Valley of the Kings
Treat me as if the New Kingdom
Began with and lived through us
For I am the Gift of the Nile
More so than the annual floods of past

 

 

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in ... poetry