Instincts (a found poem from an article in The Las Vegas Review Journal)

Earlier this week,

a 3-year-old boy was

bitten and squeezed

unconscious by an 18-foot

reticulated python.

"She wasn't trying to hurt him,"

the grandmother said of the snake.

"She just instinctively, as a snake would do, coiled him."

The child's mother stabbed the snake 17

times with a kitchen knife.

"I'm so proud of my daughter," the grandmother said.

"Her mother instincts kicked in."

The snake belonged to a strip club that was being renovated.

The toddler had a few bite marks on his chest--none 

required stitches,

according to the grandmother.

"The snake was a good snake," she said.

© Linda Peterson, 2012

Reticulated python
Wikimedia photo by Mark Patterson

No One Can Wear a Hat Like a Black Woman

No one can wear a hat like a Black woman.

As she prepares for church, finding her gloves and

Straightening her stockings,

Greasing the children’s elbows and knees,

The last thing she must do

Is place that hat on her head, 

Tipped a bit to the side.

As she pushes the children out the door

She takes that last look in the mirror.

She may have made breakfast, started dinner, and

Pressed a few heads, but

When she walks out the door,

She has a walk that shows pride,

With her gloves in her hand and

Her bag tucked under her arm.

She walks tall as a beautiful Queen.

No one can wear a hat like a Black woman.

She may have been on her knees scrubbing floors or

Cooking in a white woman’s kitchen;

She may have scrubbed clothes on a washboard

And set loaves of bread for the week;

And she may have made a few sweet potato pies for church.

But when she dons that Sunday hat,

She walks with an elegance that is regal,

And her head is held high with that wide brim.

So no one can wear a hat like a Black woman

Because it covers hard work and a life of struggle,

But it adds a sense of pride that can’t be removed.

Today she may not be greasing children’s elbows and knees

Because they are grown and on their own.

She may not have to press heads and fix dinner

Because she now lives alone.

She may not be on her knees scrubbing floors

Because she is now a supervising scrub nurse.

She may not be cooking in someone’s kitchen

Because today she owns her own restaurant.

She doesn’t scrub clothes anymore or set any bread

Because she now sets policies and laws.

She may not make pies for church anymore

Because she is now the pastor.

But she still wears that hat with pride.

And no matter what she does in her life today,

No one can wear a hat like a Black woman.

So think about her when she enters church.

Look around and admire that woman in the hat

And know that’s a special woman who needs recognition

Because she makes changes in the world

Each and every day!

© Hilda Ward, 2012

Black Woman Wearing Hat at Church
Photo from http://www.myspace.com/electladykim/blog/538749384

“Just Lyricz” Live at Random Row This Thursday, January 19

“Just Lyricz” happens at the Random Row bookstore, 315 W. Main St. (just south of Staples), on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month.  The shows run from 7 to 10 pm (admission is $5) and are open mic, with a lively combination of poetry, hip-hop, rap, and music.  

This is one of the few places in Charlottesville where you’ll find a genuine mix in terms of race, age, and social class, with a high level of mutual support and encouragement.  With open mic, you take what you get; it’s bound to be uneven.  But that’s part of the real fun of the show.  Some of the folks who climb up on that stage have talent that will knock your socks off!  Give it a try; highly recommended.

The Sound Barrier

Exactly 2

That’s the number of times most people tolerate being asked:  “Could you repeat that?”

Then conversations come to an abrupt halt, like a telephone line gone dead.

No one likes being hung up on, so I pretend to understand when I don’t.

I shake my head “yes” when the answer should be “huh?”

Being hearing impaired is like filling in the blanks of a Wheel of Fortune puzzle.

Ca_ You U_de_s_a_d _he Wo_ds Comi_g out My Mou__?

My ears are constantly tuned to a station with a weak signal.

Broken radios are considered throw-away items, so I hide my affliction.

It wasn’t always this way.

At first, I tried different techniques.

I asked for specifics: “Could you repeat the last THREE words?”

I gave instructions: “It helps if you enunciate and pause between the words.”

And when that didn’t work, I asked, “Could you just write it down?”

I glanced at the paper and pen pushed back at me, the backs of those who hear well as they walked away, and wondered what seemed so unreasonable about exerting ½ the effort I did.

I have a memory.  It is of walking down the street with a friend.

He is on my right and we are talking.

He places his hands at my waist and they guide me to the right.  He shifts to my left.

He knows I can hear better that way.

When I still don’t understand what’s said, he repeats himself a 3rd time.

It isn’t just the words I hear.

It is in moments like these that I know -

Even with these defective ears -

I am able to hear everything that’s really important.

© Camisha Jones, 2012

1935 Zenith radio

Nonviolence Requires Courage... and Other Principles of Martin Luther King

Monday, January 16, 2012 / 5:30 pm until 8:30 pm at Random Row Bookstore, 

315 W. Main St., Charlottesville (directly south of Staples)

Come celebrate how the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King (and many other Civil Rights activists) lives on here in Charlottesville. This is a gathering for all those who have a dream of social justice and a desire to see it come true.

The theme is Dr. King's Principles of Nonviolence and how they can guide us in today's world. 

~ We will serve homemade soup, bread, salad and desserts.

~ Special guests will offer poetry, music, stories, and other artistry related to the theme.

~ The Presence troupe will use playback and forum theatre techniques to reflect on audience members' hopes, fears, frustrations, wishes and dreams for the future for Charlottesville and the world. We encourage you to share your own anecdotes, situations, and concrete strategies for change!

 ~ Diverse elements will be interwoven artistically, supported by visual projection, freestyle poetry, interactive theatre forms, and the soulful rhythms of DJ "Double A1K". 

~ Local groups are invited to display their work in the areas of social justice, diversity awareness, and nonviolent change.

~ Produced by Presence Center for Applied Theatre Arts and JustLyricz/ Skies the Limit Entertainment

Feel free to spread the word, and we hope to see you on MLK Day!

EVE

Thru' its heaven this planet spins.

Night awakes to nurse her twins.

She suckles both upon her breasts;

One is evil, the other then rests.

She further feeds a famous fable--

She knows that Cain will murder Abel.

The stars come out to steal my breath;

Night has nursed her infants--Sleep & Death.

© F. Carroll Harrison, 2012

The Serpens star-forming region; photo by NASA

TWENTIETH CENTURY LIMITED

For women, the end of the twentieth century

is no big deal.

After Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem

we had hoped for better things,

but where has all that consciousness raising gotten us?

We are stretched thin,

trying to fill the shoes of our mothers

while pushing our way

into the world of our fathers.

Meantime, we are blamed

for the problems of our children.

Some harsh master or mistress expects us to be all things,

including

having an ageless body,

incredible orgasms on demand,

and the calm nature of a Zen master.

We try for a little spiritual sustenance,

only to be bombarded by articles in women’s magazines

blithering about decorating the perfect house

in the 1950’s style.

At the same time

we are expected to whip up

a gourmet meal in twenty minutes,

not forgetting our aim

of losing twenty pounds

in ten days.

Men are discovering their inner feminine nature

as we go off to offices

dressed in tailored navy slack suits,

leaving the children in the hands of tired workers

at the local day care center.

Some call this “the sandwich generation.”

Often we must care for aging parents

while trying to cope with rebellious teenagers.  

We wonder what the new century will bring.

We begin to long for the dull world of our mothers,

who stayed at home to suckle their babies

and be there with milk and cookies

when the kindergartners came home from school.

We are told that now we can have it all.

I can’t help wondering

what “all” is.

© Peggy Latham, 2012

Gloria Steinem, 1972: Photo from
Wikimedia Commons