Category Archives: Uncategorized

even in my deepest bouts of insomnia, i always seem to wake up just in time to get to my early morning commitments. key words- just in time. i barely made it out the snackbox in time. anywho. all went well on the radio this morning, they said it should already be on the archives so i will tune in later to see just what my voice does sound like 30 mins after i wake.

leave the studios to get mildly soaked by the rain. ok, no worries. arrive in the bronx to see a full snow storm. huh? its the fkucin second week of april, fer chrissakes. where am i livin, canada???

you know sumthin, i can not wait to get to the west coast.

Sometimes It Snows In April by Prince

Tracy died soon after a long fought civil war
Just after I wiped away his last tear
I guess he’s better off than he was before
A whole lot better off than the fools he left here
I used 2 cry 4 Tracy ‘cause he was my only friend
Those kind of cars don’t pass U every day
I used 2 cry 4 Tracy ‘cause I wanted 2 see him again
But sometimes, sometimes life ain’t always the way

Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad
Sometimes I wish that life was never ending
And all good things, they say, never last

Springtime was always my favorite time of year
A time 4 lovers holding hands in the rain
Now springtime only reminds me of Tracy’s tears
Always cry 4 love, never cry 4 pain
He used 2 say so strong, “Oh, I’m not afraid 2 die”
Unafraid of the death that left me hypnotized
U know, staring at his picture I realize
No one could cry the way my Tracy cried

Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad, yeah
Sometimes, sometimes I wish that life was never ending

But all good things, they say, never last

I often dream of heaven and I know that Tracy’s there
I know that he has found another friend
Maybe he’s found the answer 2 all the April snow
Maybe one day I’ll see my Tracy again

Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad
Sometimes I wish that life was never ending
But all good things, they say, never last
But all good things, they say, never last
And love, it isn’t love until it’s past

© 1986 Controversy Music – ASCAP

i will be on WBAI’s City Watch tomorrow sometime between 10 and 11 am (eastern daylight time- gotta be specific since i’m all bicoastal and sheet)

its live radio so who knows if i will get 12 minutes, the whole hour or just enough time for a three line poem but i’m down for the adventure

if ya want to tune in on the web, just click here

rey mysterio jr is the new world heavyweight wrestling champ.

maybe not so much on the heavyweight part as rey is exactly my height and 20 lbs lighter

and this sports entertainment moment brought to you courtesy of a convo i had over the weekend with OBB, where he revealed his love of pro wrestling and mixed martial arts matches.

Rey Mysterio def. Kurt Angle and Randy Orton in a Triple Threat Match (new World Heavyweight Champion) April 3, 2006
more here

louderARTS: the reading series
celebrates EIGHT YEARS of poetry and performance
at 13 Bar/Lounge (35 E. 13th St., Union Square)

Monday, April 3, 2006 @ 7 pm
$5 ($4 for students)

featuring KIMIKO HAHN and THOMAS SAYERS ELLIS

… with showcase poets including Oscar Bermeo, Patrick Rosal, Patricia Smith, Rich Villar, Mara Jebsen, Abena Koomson, Elana Bell, Matthew Charles Siegel, Scot Lee Williams, Raymond Daniel Medina, Tara Betts, Bassey Ikpi, Samantha Raheem, Roger Bonair-Agard, Lynne Procope, Marty McConnell, Laura Moran, Emily Kagan, music by Rebecca Hart and more.

Since 1998, louderARTS has provided a nurturing and challenging community for NYC artists, showcased established and emerging poets, and set a standard for excellence in fusing the written and spoken word.

louderARTS’ Monday reading series includes seven formats: SLAM, Pinion, louderEDGE, Raise the Red Tent, GrooveNation, OUTloud, and UPPERCASE. Each format incorporates an open mic and seeks to shape or expand the audience’s understanding of poetry and the world in which we seek to create it.

For more information on louderARTS: the reading series, please visit louderARTS.com, or email curator at louderARTS dot com

“a name orients one to his universe the Lakotas believed/so a change in a name meant a chance for improvement/for the child who was not doing well”

it took me a lot of years to get comfortable with the name oscar. other kids found every way possible to use the name against me and i prayed for some kind of magic name fix. it wasnt till my mid twenties that i learned to appreciate the uniqueness of the name and settled in pretty well with it. then i picked up the moniker OB along the way. outside of poetry, only one person has ever called me that so i like to think of it as my “poet name” (as opposed to ‘de la palabra.’ an amusing story i will happily share with good company)

enough with memory lane. heres a damn good poem. latah…

…naming and other Christian things by Roger Bonair-Agard

At 31 I finally learn that Lena is short for Magdalene
one of those enigmas of biblical lore whore found religion
I have often questioned her motives
this love of Jesus Christ
this holy supplication to the Son of Man
… and I think about Lena my grandmother
great big woman, skin of ashy obsidian
hair whitened with the burden of conviction
and wonder about this business of weeping and foot washing
but I can only remember her iron hand and rigid schedules
her admonition on catching me daydreaming
up on the outhouse roof
-Get down off that thing boy!!
-You have your book to study!!
-What kind of man do you expect to become?!
I recall her jacking up
of my equally stern grandfather
informing him of the folly
of any repeated attempts to hit her
…never does Mary Magdalene come to mind
not in the helpless ‘weeping for the crucified way’
not in the convenient Catholic depictions
of feminine frailty of morals and spirit
I know of a Magdalene with fight
more Joan of Arc than Maid Marian
more Sojourner Truth than damsel in distress
and I want to tell the withering two-dimensional ghost
couched and crumpled at the foot of the cross
-Get up and fight woman!!
-Wake up and live if you love him!!
-Jack up the Pontius Pilate and refuse surrender!!
a name orients one to his universe the Lakotas believed
so a change in a name meant a chance for improvement
for the child who was not doing well
so having learned the root of my grandmother’s name
I cannot summon the sympathy for Mary Magdalene
cannot help her weep tears of distress
only wish I could retroactivate a name change for her
show her my grandmother carrying 30lb sacks of coffee
dragging her swollen leg behind her
rising from her deathbed to fight her daughter’s battles
One day if I am worthy enough
I will become a man worth crucifying
and all her beatings her lessons her Puritanism
and super-human strength
will have taught me
that surrender is not an option
On that day I expect to see
standing at the foot of whatever urban cross they fashion
all five-foot-ten of Lena
pointing one huge gnarled finger at me
the shining authority of her eyes
coming from the black forest of her flesh
the white electricity of her hair
lips trembling in rage
-Get down off that thing boy and fight!!!
-What kind of man do you intend to become?!

© Roger Bonair-Agard