In honor of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, I’ll re-post and share a poem I wrote a while back, In the Sense of Time. As he said it best, the dream will never die… He lives on in the dreams he birthed and in the dreams he fulfilled.
In the Sense of Time
In the sense of time I [...]
Hands tied together, he looked up
As if to beg for a sliver of hope
Mercy maybe to a life short lived
Looked down to see the suffering and misery
To find, the hands which were thought to be tied
Free, but crippled and incapable of reach
For the hope dangling upfront to silence the hungry mind
He sensed, though, without letting [...]
What is happening to us, America?
Unable to listen, screaming at each others’ throat
Quick to affirm our rights, in a shouting match of sound bites
Denying the right of others, are we growing intolerant of the other
Who appears foreign, forgetting that this land we call home
Is a gift to all, to the peasant off the boat generations [...]
At the fulcrum, hangs the balance between I and we
Defining the equilibrium of love and belonging.
Does she worry about asserting of her right
Or her happiness, her body, or her income
All used to define the essence of an independent woman
Does he care just about his needs
Gratification of self, stroking of ego
Being the center of attention, effusion [...]
They claim thousands of years of glory
A civilization unlike any other
The foundation of humanity and being
Philosophy, architecture, art and history
But, where is civilization now
In a population, tied down to the barrel of a gun
Where is the glory now
In the millions of people suffering everyday
Poor, sick, illiterate, and hungry
Where are the marvels of architecture
In the home-less, [...]
Feeling ill, dysfunctional and sick
Lack of interest reaching the peak
Like a fruit wasting away; nearing harvest pick
Uncovered by fashion, which normally sleak
Hiding the rote, masking the stink
Frustration, disgust, and hate; piled like a rick
All matters of cure, unable to break
The vicious cycle, stuck in a wreck
Soul dripping away, essences of being leak
Left a flying zombie, [...]
Speckles of sand flow
From one side to the other
In obedience to gravity
Marking the timeless evolution of time
In symbolism of a body figure sculpted at the waist
Into a proportion of man-made beauty.
The narrowness of the neck dictates
The flow of time in the hourglass
Separating the present from the past
Or is it a testimony to the depravity of [...]
The ups and downs rendered in formation
Like a marching band befitting of a dawn
The oneness of rhythms and the imbalance of movement
Up and jumpy, happy and limitless at once
Down and thumping, deafening and hardened in instant.
Where is the sigh when it is sought
Where is the melody when one dances
Fickle it is flowing between fingertips
Tangible in [...]
They ask why; why are you not jovial?
Alone, pensive, and distant
They ask why; why are you so banal?
Small, shallow, and trite
Their wills live on parallel universes
Governed by rules disparate and diverging
Unbeknownst to them the gulf widens
Like the parting of the sea, only to come
Together at last up on the awakening
On the emotional journey bridging the [...]
How wrong was humanity to believe
That it was birthing a tour de force
Of ever imagined and bottled love-peace
All but, a dried silver orifice oozes
Of a life that was dressed in upside-down skirt
A top the facade for the world to see
Fluffy where it matters little, bottle-necking
Where mobility is made dead to grace.
I saw you, wished you into reality
A vision of perfection, epitomized
By the grace of movement, dancing
By the lucidity of feeling, sympathetic
By the curing of words, uplifting
By the electrifying touch, erogenic
By the insense of breath, soothing
By the sound of laughter, euphoric
You are not a dream, you are here
A wishful vision realized, heeded
By living in reality and [...]
It’s the kind of thing that’s intangible, untouchable
Indescribable, but to a calmed nerve or senses
Vivid and there, in a state of panic or desperation
In times of gain or pain, simply cruising
In autopilot, floating upstream undeterred
The feeling of empowerment with the knowledge
Of a likely failure not being a life sentence
Of doom and gloom, pain and despair.
It [...]
Finally, a wish granted, freedom from servitude
To the looks and homogeneous conformity
For pretend belonging, a steep price paid
Denying a creation’s print, subject to humility
The DNA from within, a fingerprint of outer manifest
The risen self inside, proclaiming confidence and bold
Dead of socialite-solitude, a free spirit born again, finally.
Oh please, stop dreaming that you are a superman
Able to fly and blessedly succeed, unbounded by gravity’s prison
You’re only human, made of flesh dying by the day and imbalance
Of emotion, conflict, imperfection, happiness, and annoyance
Seeking nurturing like a plant needing water and nutrients
Constant attention duly paid or accidental, to rise above others.
Stop day-dreaming now, or [...]
She is like a fall morning sun breaking
The dark night sky, suddenly springing
Hope, like a fountain, endlessly bleeding love
In sickness or health, a gentle dove
Selflessly, tenderly flying, carrying us
To forever land, tirelessly and joyous.
.
Melodic fragments, discordantly dissonant
Cacophony of instruments, boom and bust
A maestro-less orchestra, as if a disheveled fat
Flapping off the body, off a skin unkempt
Disharmoniously dashing on a collision tract
Jarring to the sense, inducing asymmetric heartbeat
Foolish and confused flesh, rendered insolvent
Letting go of the clutch of a lover’s hand
Causing, shards of porcelain cylinder scattered
About the floor and [...]
They call it a spirit of self-reliance
Excusing a futile existence in a trance
For profit and alone, selling unpaid attention
To a worldly and gothic, discombobulating distraction
Not realizing that the self is indeed reliant
On the interdependence of a family and friend
Sense of bonding long-survived, delivered
Via a mother to a new being in a child
Through the tethering of [...]
It stunk with odor so foul
For a briefly lived effect
Of wind and gas, minuscule
In volume, but potent
In its diffusivity beyond
The culprit’s hole
As soon as, it’s allowed
Out in the open
Beginning as a hissing of a sound.
To unknowing eye
Its effect would belie
Such a small thing as a lie
Would be able to fly
From a humble beginning
At the [...]
The sheer ferocity and tremble shook
The field as dews streaked down leaves
Stampeded in a fight between an elephant
In asymmetric warfare with an ant
One felt so big, one empowered
By strength of agility versus
Storming and overwhelming force
Lacking agility, the elephant
Took a step hoping to land on the ant
Sooner than when the foot
Landed on an empty land, the [...]
Shall we dance to the rhythms of tango or salsa
Chifera or cha cha cha, boiling-beings and flowing bodies
With the music, souls unified in the feet sliding, in union across
The floor floating, hearts beating, pumping blood to extremities
With awakened senses and heightened sensations
Tingled, ticklish, ecstatic, and levitated in the feelings
Of the touch of the hands, [...]
Stretched on the summer day into the desert sand
The asphalt fizzling hot, steaming the life underground
Light and life float of the oasis wide and confined
Accentuating the feeling of thirst magnified
By the salty exchange of romance and sweat
Of the lovers burning of greenhouse effect
In their two-door lovebird with windows rolled
To the ground, receptive to [...]
All men are created equal says the constitution
Telling a bald-faced ambition of astronomic proportion
Is the life of a child born at the Hamptons or Beverly hills
Equal to one birthed into ghettos, inner cities, or townships
Choiceless in arrival time or destination
Thrown into the worlds and opportunity apart by ocean.
No, they are not created equal no matter [...]
The waves tickle evading one another
The light shimmers reflecting of faces
Of troughs and crest created in collision
On wind and water married at the surface
Submissively given to the random motion
Of the rise and fall of water molecules
Bound by forces of togetherness and gravity
Collectively free flowing every-which way.
The cars pass-by buzzing as a colony
Of bees [...]
What is freedom to the free-living
Who never tested the depravity of feeling
In control of own destiny of mind and life
Absent the contrast of high and low
Is it possible to appreciate and know
The depth of rest in the rights guaranteed
Foreign to residents in a lawless land
Is it possible to know the value of free speech
To the [...]
Out in the distance of the horizon
Looms the profile of a cloud
Concatenated of parts fair and dark
All conspiring to block the rays of the sun
In their eight-minute journey to the planet
Distant in sight yet unwaveringly dependent
On the light proclaiming the arrival of a new day
Of water vapor or sand, uncertain to the gauzing eye
Until [...]
How come I am blessed
one who stumbled at the confluence
of preparation and luck
paving the way to success.
How come a boy goes hungry
across the ocean and behind the alleyways
and a girl mourns of a family destroyed
standing on shattered limbs
in a village raided, burned to ground
by the cruelty of humanity
aided and comforted
by the willful ignorance of many.
How [...]
Will you remember the time we spent
together in happiness or the nagging angst
of relationship building painful and long.
Will you remember the sight of joy
of my relief in seeing you finally missing
your loving care of compassion
or my discomfort in feeling alone and helpless
in my inability to be together in emotion.
Will you remember the happiness shared
in triumphs [...]
An epidemic of hope
avails itself to escape
to the dreamer locked
in a confined cage of no end
invading the emptiness
left behind in the abyss
from a struggle of pain and sorrow
brought to an end in a breakthrough
brightening the future and day
as a sunny night spring sky.
Oh! alive and elated
feels the heart hope filled
ready for a renewed life journey
sailing [...]
America, the promise land of people varied
to her shores flock, teleported identities
in pursuit of freedom fleeing misery
immigrating with hope and unbridled dreams.
Escaping from tyrants human and natural
destitute, depravity, and lack of dignity
away from a life endured, staring down evil
yearning for her promise of inalienable rights
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
She is made for and [...]
I see a land green
prosperous and lush
a brighter future ahead
open, free, and fresh.
Out on the horizon
I say to you my friend
the pastures are green
on this and other side
come along I say
for one joyful ride.
.
Keep at it, my friend
for sooner than later
something will materialize
out of the red sky
a destiny blue.
So, hang in there my friend
for this too shall pass.
I can see it coming
the moment of relief
a progress forward
a time of recognition
you shall be rewarded
for your efforts handsomely.
The moment is near
for you to be liberated
from anxiety and fear
of an uncertain [...]
In glory of the mind
they say it is
a super-power of an organ
complex and massive
with dominion over matter
and all things physical
conquering all if only
there is the will.
Deep in thought
a conversation I heard
relentless and vigorous
between the body and mind.
I am the master
and you are the slave
says the mind
rested you have
now it is time to work.
Irritated and restless
responds [...]
In her presence I delight
in her absence I shiver
missing the glow
of her warming care.
Her love,
a thirst unquenchable
undying hunger
a sibling never had
a companion in sorrow
a believer in truth
a guiding arrow.
Without her,
a life aimless
floating above
a lifeless canvas
restless in thought
flying aground
soulless in spirit
frozen and bound.
Her love,
eternal and enlivening
a kindred life
worth living
music to the soul
complete in her
union alive
that is [...]
There is a lot to be learned
at times I get so overwhelmed
by the almost nothing I know
about dark and snow
life and the globe
woven into a web
it makes me feel inconsequential
insignificant and peripheral.
Then came along the Internet
the great equalizer to the rescue
an outlet of expression
pent up and long overdue.
Liberated the mind and imagination
forever freed and seeking
birthing [...]
Before the magic happens
and the sense of elation descends
a calming breath blows
the winds of uncertainty
a moment of doubt and incredulity
disbelief, devoid of equanimity.
Then, suddenly, the magic happens
clearing the fogs of ignorance
endowing the gratification of patience
the orgasmic explosion of euphoria
sets in the knowledge of knowing
a mind is liberated
a soul revived
a person re-born, from strongholds of illiteracy
That [...]
It is not the food Africa is starved of, for there is plenty waiting to be equitably distributed. It is not water Africa is thirsting of, for rivers flood all across the land. It is not for the lack of means of any kind – earth-bound or alive. There is only one cancer that is [...]
