The Price of the Ticket
“I always wonder
what they think the niggers are doing
while they, the pink and alabaster pragmatists,
are containing
Russia
and defining and re-defining and re-aligning
China,
nobly restraining themselves, meanwhile,
from blowing up that earth
which they have already
blasphemed into dung . . .”
-James Baldwin
(from Jimmy’s Blues: Selected Poems)
the future preserves itself –
pre-serves itself
the matter
the cosmic silence
the mystic noise
the grass that grows
the water that flows
mediums are mere measurements
god-forces manifest
keep the music, brothas and sistas
say yes to life
say yes to life
balance the energy of existence
health and harmony
know the way of the seer
as only the sage can hear
the calling of the void
be the messenger that you are
prophet
the eternal song
for the generation and regeneration of lifeforms
master-pilots of this vessel
the cycle of tides
ever fall and rise
Space
eternally expands
the signals of the Spirit
never end
(read for the James Baldwin tribute @ the Station North Arts Cafe Gallery: Baltimore, MD 12/1/08)