I thought I died a desert
rolled inside
lava beds
paralyzed by the eight legged
photophobic sun
I thought I died a desert
until the coyote laughed
heaps of boulders
into rear view mirror [Read more…]
‘We Real Cool’ – an Animated Imagining of Gwendolyn Brooks’ Poem | Video Worth Watching
Using simple, illuminative paper-cut puppetry, this enchanting video imagines the moment of witness that inspired Gwendolyn Brooks to write her landmark poem, “We Real Cool.” Created by Manual Cinema in association with Crescendo Literary, with story by Eve Ewing and Nate Marshall and music by Jamila Woods and Ayanna Woods. [Read more…]
“Things That Make White People Uncomfortable”: Michael Bennett’s Essential New Book
By Jessie Hagopian / Common Dreams
Today, my good friend Michael Bennett, former Seattle Seahawk, and current Philadelphia Eagle, releases his new book, “Things That Make White People Uncomfortable”—the memoir/manifesto that he wrote with my other dear friend Dave Zirin.
I am going to assume my position as a teacher here and officially assign you homework: read this book! Take notes. Report back on it to your community. Then take action. It is indispensable for anyone who wants to understand why so many players today are refusing to just shut up and play and are creating the new national pastime of protest and play. But this book is much more than just an expository essay about the new Black athlete.
This is one of those rare books you read that will change the way you understand yourself and your place in the world. Only a few books have had that kind of impact on me. Books like “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” and “Angela Davis: An Autobiography.” Uncomfortable has me feeling like a kid again, remembering how those amazing autobiographies turned me upside down and inside out. [Read more…]
Helter Swelter | National Poetry Month
By Amy Fan
San Diego Free Press continues its National Poetry Month coverage with the poem Helter Swelter by Oakland based writer and film maker Amy Fan. [Read more…]
‘They Feed They Lion’ by Philip Levine | National Poetry Month
The Poet as Witness
During the 1950’s Philip Levine was working in Detroit auto plants and writing poetry. In an interview at that time in Detroit Magazine he described how he found his compelling subject material. “I saw that the people that I was working with…were voiceless in a way. In terms of the literature of the United States they weren’t being heard. Nobody was speaking for them. And as young people will, you know, I took this foolish vow that I would speak for them and that’s what my life would be. …I just hope that I have the strength to carry it all the way through.”
They Feed They Lion was written in 1968, when Levine returned to Detroit following the race riots of 1967. It is one of his finest poems, reflecting the degree to which he found “the strength to carry it all the way through.” The poem is merciless in its judgements and propelled by the rhythmic insistence of the language itself. [Read more…]
Paper Bag | National Poetry Month
By Igor Goldkind
I am a paper bag, I am.
I’m not the smart one,
I’m not the successful one
I’m not the tall one who always won and
Then died.
I am a paper bag.
I’m only as good as what I can carry.
I am a paper bag,
I’m not plastic, not I. [Read more…]
What Poems Do | National Poetry Month
By Sonia Gutiérrez
Let me tell you what poems do.
With letters hanging
from their chipped beaks
and sharp talons,
poems with their immense wings
fly over tempestuous oceans,
where an eye of a hurricane
awaits them—swallows
and spits them out.
Because some poems,
I must confess,
are difficult to chew. [Read more…]
Bluebird – Charles Bukowski | Video Worth Watching
April is Poetry month. To kick off this event here’s a favorite of mine: Charles Bukowski’s Bluebird, read by Harry Dean Stanton, with animation by Monika Umba. [Read more…]
‘From Where We Sail’: Six and a Half Years Navigating Three Oceans and the Human Heart
“If you can sail to Catalina,” someone once said to me, “you can sail around the world.” — From Where We Sail
The road trip is a well-established genre in America’s literary cannon, and San Diegan Dianne Lane’s recently released memoir From Where We Sail is an engaging narrative within this literary tradition. The full title of the book includes the additional description: A Family’s Six and a Half Year Journey Around the World on Sorcery.
Dianne dedicates the book to her family and “beloved Sorcery who brought us home.” Sorcery, their 61-foot sloop-rigged sailboat, is as much a character in the memoir as her husband Robb and their young children Alex and Annie. [Read more…]
Resurrection | Geo-Poetic Spaces
I will still be wrapped in silk
when the winding cloth
is placed on altars by priests
Fasting
when the darkened churches
glow [Read more…]
Shedding Tears of Hope and Joy As Children Make America Great
I’ve lived a life
among children,
as a child initially, obviously,
and who knows how many
young ones there are
with whom I’ve had the honor
of being in their company
as their teacher
or their vice-principal
or their principal
or as Mr. Ernie [Read more…]
Daphne’s Dilemma | Women’s History Month
Bernini
makes me cry,
but it’s not his
personal history
of course,
his anger,
his desire to murder
his brother,
his orders to slash Costanza’s face.
But it is his Daphne,
pursued by Apollo, [Read more…]
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