frOM mY aSHEs... a pOeT?

sometimes particular themes take hold of me and i revisit them in different poems. there's the timelessness of love... the single drop in the ocean [u know the whole submerging yourself in another thang... ha ha ha]... the many natural signs that say, "love is the message", so MFSB... learn to love. don't know what i'm talking about? love is... U causing someone to feel so full of joy that they smile... a smile so full of... light... that... if they do it after a rain, and U stand at just the... right... angle... you'll see a rainbow above their head![a friends smile whispered that in my ear] [photograph courtesy of Triambika ] the question that came to mind was... where have i seen your face before? the answer... was another question... wherein endless answers lay... waiting... to be voiced... to be heard... where have I... not seen U? I... see your face in the... rising of the sun... your radiance... paints my horizons... with... the

someone called love the... vanishing point, but that just confused me becuz... i didn't sea love... until u... appeared! i... hold on to the "idea" of being a "single" drop... just so i can feel the pleasure of... losing myself in the... ocean of your being. the point of no return? how can u return to somewhere u never left? find something u never lost? become something or somebody u... already are? playing hide and seek... so i can experience the joy of... finding myself... over and over again... in u! falling down laughing becuz... u were me... ALL of the time! in fact... we only created time to measure... how long we can keep up... the charade of separateness, creating illusory moments... past and...future.... veiling the now... of our union. like... clever ventriloquists we throw our voices... our spirits... from one form... one body... to the next, becuz... no one for

"And the evening and the morning were the first day" Genesis 1 ever wondered why the... scriptures... phrase it that way? what exactly were the... prophets... trying to say? perhaps the measure of time... did not begin with the sun... instead... it's mother... is the moon, it is She... who gives birth thru her... night... nurturing him... in the darkness of her... womb... giving him... dee'light. hmmm... what are we to assume? while contemplating this metaphor her... image came to mind... aaaah! this! is what i... met her for... so she and i can... come... together... a love divine... giving birth to... the cycles of... time. i bow to her... the sun sets and She... ascends to her... heavenly throne... we... give birth to a... UnIverse and... call it... home! O nwo Olodumare l'oju l'oju (looking at god in heaven) O nwo ara aye l'enu. (looking at humans on earth) Isoro Orun, e wa ba mi t'oro yii se, Isoro Orun. (heavenly spirit

terra-forming... mental landscapes with... seeds of thought rooted in star... stuff that test the limits of imagination and... rational mentation... we... create heaven on earth... giving birth to... noospheres where there's... no fear... things dont... "seem to be" they... are! conversely like... all-stars we... rise to the top and... stop! the... terror forming... in our... hearts and minds... by... continuing our... close encounters with... man-kind thoughts of... illegal aliens... creating artificial borders... barriers... dividing our sense of... space and... time.. no sense of... true history? [isn't that an oxymoron?] we remain a... mystery... even to... ourselves. is it any wonder we don't... recognize each other! come together... right now... over me. [photograph courtesy of  Denise Harris ] someone said, " U BETTA RECOGNIZE! "... so i did... i... recognized... i... re-cognized... i thought about... he... and her... again. continuou

there have been many times i found myself with... no pen to write... yet... my mind overflows with thoughts of you... desperately i cling to their... momentary present... i... long for a pen... and paper... to record those moments... and those moments of longing... were... just long enough... for the moment to pass... damn! I... missed another moment... where i could have... should have... experienced oneness... having been merged with your essence... consumed as i am... by your presence... and these... endless thoughts of you... but the glimpse of then... was enough to propel my thoughts to the future... looking forward... to a time i could be one with you... again? i looked past another... now... compelled by visions of you... i travel back... and forth through time... searching... for that... one moment of annihilation... causing the loss of all senses... especially the sense of separateness... the sense of self-importance... that gave birth to the illusions of..

[photograph courtesy of Issil* Ishle Yi Park ] i participated in my one and only national slam during the summer of 2001, in seattle, the highlight of this event was seeing Ishle Yi Park and hearing her poetry. do not get me wrong... there were amazing poets there, from all over the country... but Ishle... her poetic performance was a spiritual event. After her recital i asked the friends who had accompanied me, "did u see that, did u feel that?" they both looked quizzically at me and said, "what?" LOL... i went on to explain how i saw the roof split open to the heavens, the room was flooded with ancestral spirits who had come to hear Ishle speak. their granddaughter was paying homage to them in her poetry, they had come to watch her. it was as visible to me as these words are to u. at that moment i knew i wasn't a poet yet... but now i knew what to reach for, to aspire towards [writing poetry that transcends the barriers of time... makes the Ancestors want t