Monday, October 30, 2006

just a theory


loving you
means
space
takes time;
continually
spent all my energy
squared
shoulders
slumping
from the pull
of your words
nonplussed
by the posture of
bad habits
and the though
time
spent
cannot be destroyed
only changed
from
your heart
to mine
body does not will itself to stay in in motion;
one thing overcomes all
all things return to dust
all love resturns to Source
and all theory in the presence of spirit
is partial

Sunday, October 29, 2006

DEVOTION

Plot: Sean, a young man looking for salvation his place in life, believes that music will heal his family, friends, and his neighborhood.


Character Descriptions

Sean Jones: A young man looking for his way in life, an aspiring party promoter
ADULT SEAN JONES: Narrator
Shara Moore: Cousin and best friend to Simone
Pharaoh Conners: Charismatic, bright, but bad best friend of Sean.
Simone Jackson: A young budding dancer, the pastor’s daughter, love interest of Sean.
Reese Jones: Sean’s mother
Duke Jones: Sean’s father
Pastor Art Jackson: Simone’s father
Ms. Calle Jackson: Simone’s mother
Cesar Alvarez: Close friend to Sean.
Mrs. Candice: A teacher
Mrs. Davis: An elderly woman Reese cares for

ACT ONE, SCENE ONE

ADULT SEAN
(Off Stage)
Memory is a funny thing. I don’t remember my father leaving my mother, but I do remember his dancing.

(Lights Up. A couch and coffee table sit in the middle of the stage. Sean, age 10 is dancing with his mother, Reese, and his father Duke. The song “Devotion” by Earth Wind and Fire plays, Emphasis on “We believe that is there is anything you want to do in life, you need devotion.”)


ADULT SEAN
My father was a musician. He played drums for some of the greatest soul bands around. And when he played it was like everything in the world was on time. Mama and Daddy were the class of 1975, so you know they had to keep it real. Mama and Daddy would throw parties every weekend for the neighbors, family, friends. We’d dance and eat and laugh. Nobody ever faught. On Sundays he played for different churches.

(Silently, Reese and Duke begin to argue. Duke gets upset and exits the stage. Sean looks on.)

Then one day, they had a fight. About money. Mostly that they never had any, and he left. And when he left, the music stopped. My mother threw out all the records.

(Reese reaches into the closet and puts on an attendant’s smock. Sean sits on the couch listening to a walkman.)

REESE
Sean! Come on boy, I gotta get to work. (Sean can’t hear her. Reese pulls his arm.) Sean! Now! (Sean gets up and follows his mother down stage to a hospital bed, where MRS. DAVIS lies. Sean sits in the chair as REESE attends to MRS. DAVIS.)

ADULT SEAN
My mother got a job as a caregiver at a nursing home. She didn’t have a babysitter, so she took me with her.
We were a team, but I missed the music. I never asked her about what happened, and that probably was a good thing, because she never offered an explanation. We’d go to church every now and then. I’d always ask mama, what we getting dressed up for? She’d say, “I’m looking for something.” She’d read the Bible to me. Then one day, we just stopped. I used to wonder why if God loved me so much, why did me and mama had to struggle. After my father left, my mother stopped looking for God.

(LIGHTS FADE BLACK)
As I got older, I guess I did too. This is the story of how He found me.
SCENE II
(LIGHTS UP. SHARA and SIMONE are talking and laughing at SCHOOL. Enter, PHAROAH, CESAR and SEAN.)
ADULT SEAN
Like most men, I tried to find God for the wrong reason.
SIMONE
(To Shara)
Shara, What did you get for the perameters on number 6?
SHARA
I got nine.
SIMONE
Me too.

ADULT SEAN
Now Pharoah, --and yes, that is his real name, was the only one I knew who was crazy enough to hang with me. We spent the majority of our days looking for some trouble to get into if it didn’t find us first. Cesar, tagged along, and tried to hang. Now Simone was fine, but off limits. She was the Pastor’s daughter, and even I didn’t have the audacity to overstep my boundaries. Cauze rumor had it her daddy was crazy. He might bless AND beat you.
PHAROAH
AY, Ladies, you know if you really want to get an A on that test, you should’ve just called me. I got ALL the answers.
SHARA
Did you hear someone talking ?
(SEAN stares at SIMONE who looks away, annoyed)
SEAN
Why you looking at me, I didn’t do nothing.
SIMONE
(Sarcastically.)
Anything. Nothing is a double negative, (under her breath) just like you.

PHAROAH
Aww, don’t nobody want you, church girl. Why don’t you go on back to reading your little love stories, because we’re playas.

SIMONE
I’m praying for you, Pharoah.

PHAROAH
You should be thankin’ me, child, ‘cause I just blessed you with my presence.

SHARA
(ANNOYED)
Oooh! I don’t believe we asked any of you “playa, playas” over here. You don’t go to school half the time anyway, so since y’all are such wannabe “playas” why don’t you play on?

SEAN

You know you want some of this, girl, don’t fight the feeling. (The boys break into laughter and pounds. The girls go back to studying.)

PHAROAH
Man you got these girls agitated man.

SEAN
Don’t hate, congratulate!
(More laughter. During the laughter, a record falls out of Sean’s backpack. Cesar picks it up.)

CESAR
Chaka Kahn and Rufus. Ay, man you be listening to this stuff?

PHAROAH
Didn’t you get the memo? Rufus went the way of the jherri curl. Tell me is your wallet plaid, too, man?

SEAN
I don’t care what you say, this is good music. I’m gonna have a 70’s party for my birthday. (Does a 70’s spin) and we’ll see who reigns then.

(The bell rings for school.)

PHAROAH
Whatever, man. Look I gotta bounce.

SEAN
You headed to the mall?

PHAROAH
See you up there.

(Pharoah exits, with Cesar following.)

CESAR
Wait up!

(Simone and Shara pack their backpacks and head to class.)

SEAN
Hey Simone. Can I talk to you for a moment?

SIMONE
I can’t be late.

SEAN
Just a moment.

(Simone hesitates and then motions to Shara that she will catch up.)

SIMONE
What?

SEAN
I just wanted to see how your day is going.

SIMONE
How my day is going? You stopped me for that?

SEAN
Yeah. You look like you’re studying hard.

SIMONE
And you look like you’re hardly studying.

SEAN
I’m just trying to be nice to you. So what does a man have to do to get your attention?

SIMONE
Well, first of all, you’d have to be a man. And secondly, you’d have to have some substance to hold my attention.

SEAN
And what makes you think I don’t.
SIMONE
Does Pharoah do all your thinking for you. (Sean is quiet) That’s what I thought.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Pilate’s Question

What is truth?


Does it have a name?

Though I have been called many things that I am not
And am many things I have not been called
I am

I have stood before
Rulers and the ruled
Knees bent
To Him alone

What is in a name?

It has been said that in life
Nothing is personal
But what is more personal
than this
Ritual of rites
Than the substance of things hoped for
The evidence of things not seen

What is in a name
That could be of such value
That even the King of Kings and Lord of Lords
Of whom one day every knee shall bow
And every tongue shall confess
Had to prompt his public for their praise
Beg his betrothed for their mercy

Yet is it not in His name that everything absolved by loss
Is restored?

Who, then, does she think she is?
This girl, this not even a woman, this child
That stands before us?

I am my mother’s daughter
A sister to Erica
A grand daughter To Harrison and Mary Rhynes
And Thelma and Walter Milam
Who chased the Hot east blowing wind
From dream heavy red Texas to California shipyards
I am the tears in my slave ancestor’s hopes
I am imperfection perfecting
A public servant
A private dreamer
A practical optimist
a mere moment held by this space
to disappear in the great vacuum of time
Yet in it, my hope is resolved
I was not supposed to survive
Period, not comma,
Period, not comma,
But I live because He lives in me
A woman of few means, but great resources
A child of God
a servant of Jesus Christ
Son of the most high God


And who knows if I have come to such a time
And place as this for this purpose?

So you ask me who I am?

I simply return the favor,
I simply pray that God grant you mercy
Kindness and love
And that you wake up in the morning, knowing
That you are not your own, nor are you here on your own

I answer the question with a question asked long ago

Who do you say I am?

What is truth?

Friday, October 20, 2006

This Bridge Called My Back

verse i. (repeat x2)

There is this bridge
I call my back
and it is where I carry my pain

I've labored
been highly favored
sent to the back
when I was next in line
I've carried
wounded wishes
of the enemy
upon my spine
and I'm cryin'
Lord, don't you think it's time
That I come home
from home
I'm ready to lay my burden
at the throne

Chrous
I carried it
(Depression and fear)
I carried it
(doubt in my ear)
I carried it
(so filled with fear)
I carried it
(Can't hear the still small voice)
I carried it
(history's shame)
I carried it
(stipped of my name)
I carried it
(I must reclaim)
I carried it
(My soul from all this pain)


Chorus
And I'm cryin'
Lord, don't you think it's time?
That we come home
from home
We're ready to lay our burdens
at the throne


I'm ready
I'm ready
I'm ready, Lord, I'm ready
I'm ready
I'm ready
I'm ready Lord, oh so ready...

To lay down this bridge(called my)
Back---
at your throne!

To lay down this bridge(called my)
Back---
at your throne!

To lay down this bridge(called my)
Back---
at your throne!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Reach and Remember (For 3rd i)

For every one of you who fought a battle
In her own mind over her own worthiness--

"A moment of clarity where I remember who we were
I stretch my arms to the sky to embrace the sun
To show you that although I will never touch the sun
I can always reach"


This poem is dedicated to the memory of a fellow
Poet who penned those words

Fallen verbs into hungry ears of
A world that loves us coldly to the tender bone
Epitaph of a black woman soul gone home

This is the poem I wanted to write her, but
Ran out of time

You must remember God is with you

You see one august bloodied by too many
Loose words and stolen promises
She clutched a gun to herself
And silenced her wanting heart

I know how she felt; and you do too

And if it hurts to hear this, then you need this word
A hard word
Sometimes a hard word can save your life

You must remember God is with you

Sometimes while reaching for a distant sun you might get burned

By all the people who claim to love you
Love everything about you, but you
Love to handle you like a knob
Until you are tarnished and turned

Because you were just the moment they had before they walked
Into something more important
A forgotten tool that enabled their development
Left for the next man
to hold and release

Can you understand
It is just that you’re so articulate
So passionate
So intelligent

An unexpected concert of unexpected things
Conducted by faith
Accompanied by big sounds
Too big
To be found in a black skinned body
Bloated with stale possibilities
Waiting for the pin drop
Silence to pop

You must remember God is with you

When they say
If only you were more polished
Less rough around the edges
If only your soul was the color of the
rattan sand footstool on which you perch
Waiting on somebody
To acknowledge who you are
If only you were more like us, we’d
Take your sweet song of self
Into our arms and lay you down
Before the banks of the river jordan
and make love to you soul

Long as you
Ain’t misbehavin’
Yet because I chose me
The only sound you hear afterwards
Is the soulless silence

Love was never meant to be battlefield
And though perfect love casts out all fear
In her defiled name every gain has been wagered and won

Still, you must remember God is with you


This is for every colored girl who has considered suicide
After being forced to watch her hope dropped out six story windows
Like schoolbooks, and wedding rings, luck
And babies

This is for every colored girl who has
Been the water bearer
drunk the
Bathwater to carry the dream high
In her belly
For every woman that has kicked her way out the belly of the beast
Which hunts her happiness daily
Who has cried a red sea of rivers
Who has eaten the last supper

And like Old Mother Hubbard
Found her insides bare
From the brutal truth

That we are a tea set

not meant to survive
For anything outside of service
A compliment to the crumpets, but not the chef

You must remember God is with you

When wounded by words and tears you’ve held under your breath
Because when they all walk into the destiny you trained them for
You’re left

You must remember God is with you

No matter what man has never been man enough to love you
For who you are
Because he feared his own betrayal
For every spite you endured like a spider bite
Until it formed a depression in you smooth skin
And needed filling
But how can you fill a hole that once held who you are?
How can you smile in the face of a world that loves to love
Everything about you, but your ownself
How can you carry your cross that marks the spot
Where they even took the life of God himself
`Cept but to

Remember God is with you

after loosing your sons to your sorrow
And your daughters to your shame
And your men to the hate for the womb they feel cursed their existence

Seek repentance
Without silencing your own hurting heart

you must remember that no matter how many battlefields you
Are on you are somebody’s hero
Somebody is alive because you nursed them
Somebody is free because you lived
Somebody walked within your womb through wildernesses to build this country
Remember what is wonderful to the wise
Is meaningless to God
What good are towers when compared with the magnificence
Of the ocean?

Stand up, then, like a woman.

Like David, come in the name of the Lord
Let God’s sling shot
Cast its heart on all those who refuse to let you shine
Because it blinds their eyes to the truth

Don’t be ashamed of your everyday use, but use it
Until it nourishes the brilliance He plans for you.

though it may be hard to touch the sun
Put your weapons away
from you own heart
back away slowly
Reach
And remember

Monday, October 02, 2006

There is a Rose in the Valley

Scriptural Basis

Psalm 23 (NIV)
A psalm of David.
4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;

Song 2:1,6-8,16 (NIV) I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys...

Luke 12:27 (Wey) "Observe the lilies, how they grow. They neither labor nor spin. And yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was as beautifully dressed as one of these."



A Rose in the Valley

There is a rose in the valley and it grows
There is a rose in the valley and it grows
Though I may walk
Though I may walk
Though I may walk

I know I’m not alone


There is a lily in the valley and it grows
There is a lily in the valley and it grows

Though I may walk
Though I may walk
Though I may walk

I know I’m not alone

Poem
Give in to the wind
And lean in
But never allow my joy to be stolen
Or my legs to become unstable
I know that I can walk now only because
He’s able
I trek because He tries
I smile because He cries
I live because he dies
So I rest my laurels on no one but
Him whose head shall be crowned
I’ve been forgotten so long in lost
That I don’t know if I remember found
But I believe that life breathes
Releases my promise in my pain
Even the forgotten earth calls out his name
His name


Verse 11
I have struggled
With God and man
Victory is in His hand
I have labored
Been favored
But Lord I have
Fought the good fight
Entrusted You with my life

I am a rose in the valley
And I grow
I am a rose in the valley
And I grow

Though you may walk
Though you may walk
Though you may walk
Though you may walk
Though you may walk
Though you may walk

You are not alone
Not alone
Not alone