Gift
A day so happy.
Fog lifted early, I walked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
When straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.
Here is a follow up on the issues highlighted by Kwame Dawe’s poems in Hope: Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica.
The Global Issues/Citizen Voices contest is a recurring online writing competition that asks your thoughts on some of today’s most pressing issues. Each contest round features questions (also known as “titles†on the Helium website) based on Pulitzer Center reporting projects, which cover global crisis issues that are misreported, underreported or not reported on at all. The questions are sure to provoke discussion – from “What role should the U.S. play in reducing the production of illicit drugs-such as cocaine and heroin-in places like Bolivia and Afghanistan?†to “How does stigma and discrimination, as witnessed in Jamaica, perpetuate the global HIV/AIDS epidemic?”
More information on the contest is here.
Great to see Tony Brown getting some good props thanks to the title of (Cue Thus Spoke Zarathustra musical intro) Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere (End music). For the record, Tony is the poet who got me into the habit of posting my set-lists and he is also the reason why I do as many cover poems as possible when I get a feature.
This advice didn’t come by way of grand proclamation (like when folks try to shove advice down your throat in a naggy sholl teacher voice that never seems to work on anybody, including school kids!) but came through example. Tony has good ideas, and he puts them into action. That’s the kind of poet and mentor he is, a practical man of words.
LIP: How far would you like to go with your poetry?
Tony Brown: Also an easy one. I’d like for at least one poem of mine to be remembered decades after I’m gone, even if no one recalls who wrote it.
Pinecones is a podcast designed to showcase the work and talents of young poets. It is run by university students, so much of the work one will find on this website will be from poets writing in a university environment. However, we are looking to promote the fine work of any and all young poets— in other words: university-trained or not, if you are interested, please send us your work and we will get back to you as soon as we can about the possible inclusion of some of it in a future show.
Pinecones also features readings and interviews with older, more established poets, poets who have taught creative writing for many years and who, in recounting their own development as young poets, may be able to offer insight into the individual pursuits of mastery this generation of young poets is beginning upon.
Pinecones are defined here as gifts to humanity—a pinecone may be a toy sheep, a bottle of beer, or, in the case, a poem or an interview committed to disc and hard drive and made available on this website for anyone to take and keep or share with others.
The first Pinecones podcast features Andrew Cooper, Franzi Roesner, Patrick Rosal, Donika Ross, Michael Swellander, and Thomas Whitbread.
You can download the premiere episode here.
Edwards Endorses Obama
The timing on this is so right that it feels like a good turn in a poem. We all knew it was coming (Did anyone think Edwards would back the Clintons?) but it still feels like a surprise. This would also explain Obama’s calm demeanor post-West Virginia.
For the record: I don’t blame Clinton for sticking through to the very end. If the shoe was on the other foot, and it was Obama who was mathematically in the red, I wouldn’t want him to give it up. Take it all the way to the convention and plan to go out in some kinds glory.
Of War and Golf
Not gulf, but golf. Keith Olbermann goes buckwild on the Administration again. I’m digging the turn of the phrase and the build up.
Is it poetic? Well, at least it makes a stand, mirrors the ridiculous with the tragic, and brandishes language like a fine sword.
Vibe.com Adds Jeff Chang As Political Blogger
I’ve been diggin Chang’s take on the primaries and look forward to his views on the rest of this critical political year.
Fight the Power
Has it really been almost 20 years since PE brought the noise? Damn, I’m old.
Luckily, Chuck’s message is alive as ever and if there was ever a year to come on and get down. This is it.
I’m ready and hyped plus I’m amped/ Most of my heroes don’t appear on no stamps
Palabra.
