Napowrimo day 2 of 30 - Gratitude

I know a blessing when I see one
My hands and feet
This heart that beats
This body these eyes these lashes
My nose and neck
My back and legs
All gifts I am forever grateful
For arms and smell
For the little voice inside that reminds me to pray
To give thanks for lips and lungs
I am thankful
For my mind and memories
For my life my liberty
For happiness and hands
For shoulders
For stories and secrets
I am thankful for thankful

Napowrimo day 1 of 30 - Easy

I hold this peace like blossom
Like egg, like bubble
Walk softly for it blows away
This happiness
This smile cross my face
Nothing lasts forever
This easy breathing
This breeze through my hair
I am happy now
Now
Now
I hold onto this feeling like
Wet grass on my toes
I will not worry it away
Will not put up with sadness coming before her time
I will swim in this
This feel
This smell
This touch
This this
This time

I hope

I miss posting in this blog. Soon though. Soon.

Getting ready

I'm doing 30/30 this year because I seriously need some new work. I have one more day of poetry rest then it's on April 1.

Unsung Sheores. Blessed. Teaching.

It's 4:08 pm and I am at home writing. I am in a production coming up called Unsung Sheroes. I'm honoring V Kali. So I'm working on that piece. I was anyway. Now I'm preparing to leave for a meeting with Center Theatre Group an acting group I'm working with until February. I'm posting in this blog today because I haven't in some time. And with the new year I'm trying to be more consistent with it. I haven't really set New Year goals, not really. I do plan to be more active in my life. It seems like I'm floating right now. Floating from project to project and not really excited about any of them. I mean, I'm excited, but not really lit up. I'm not on fire happy. I want to be. I'm not though. The good news is that I'm not depressed either. I'm just here. Here is a blessing though, because I've been there (if you know what I mean) and there sucked. I'm not in a sucky place. I'm here. I have enough to keep me busy which is good. The fiction class I'm teaching for CLI at USC starts again on Monday and I'm looking forward to that. That's my favorite job right now. Anyway, I'm going on and on. Basically I'm cool right now. I'm healthy, my son is healthy and happy and my family and friends are happy and healthy. I'm blessed.

I've been thinking a lot about how blessed I am since Monday, well I often think about how blessed I am but Monday I taught a poetry lesson based on Tammy Vatai's poem called Stars. Stars is about how Tammy grew up with her three siblings and mother living in a car. They told stories and loved each other and stuck together. The story is told in a very hopeful and positive tone despite the things they went through. I left thinking a lot about that. I want a bigger place for Uraeus and me but the place I have is beautiful and artistic and clean and enough for us. It certainly is not a car. We are safe and eat every day. We talk and laugh. We watch television. I was worried the other day about how the cable was going to get paid. Cable. Cable? When I compare the luxury of cable to living in a car I know I'm tripping. And the cable got paid. The cable keeps getting paid. The rent keeps getting paid. Food stays in the refrigerator and cabinets. I forget sometimes how blessed I am.

I will

I took a little break from posting in this blog but I'll be back soon. Soon soon.

Favorite

On Saturday, November 14 my son turned 18 years old. I am so proud of him and super happy I got to share the day with him.

D Knowledge. Funeral.

I woke up in prayer and meditation and thanksgiving. I'm getting ready to go to D Knowledge's funeral. I can only imagine what his parents are going through today. My prayers and deep thoughts are with them.

Creating matters

Sometimes I have to turn all the lights on and pull out a canvas and just start painting. The colors don't matter. The canvas matters. My fingers holding the brush matters. Art therapy matters.

Stories

I am reviewing my stories from Women in the Village to be published March 2016. I've been working on this collection for a long time and finally found a publishing home for it. Still Waters Press. Also I'm getting poems together for the chapbook to be released late December / early January.

Say her name

2:25 pm. Home.

Last night Gina and I went to a Say Her Name even hosted by Kimberle Crenshaw, Eve Ensler and Thandie Newton. It was a heavy evening. Say Her Name is about telling the stories and saying the names of black women who have been the victims of police brutality. The media would have us believe that it's only happening to the men but no, we are being brutalized and killed in alarming rates as well. The conversation got so heavy at one point while Kimberle was trying to get a video working for us to see I, along with many others, were hoping the video wouldn't work.. As spirit would have it, the video did not work. The event was important and heavy and necessary. I'm glad I went. There is another Say Her Name event in New York on December 5 and Eve asked us (Gina, Aja and I) to come out and perform. I'm looking forward to it.

D Knowledge passed

12:17 pm. A beautiful Sunday afternoon. I am thankful for waking up this morning. I am sending love, peace and prayers for the family of Derrick "D Knowledge" Gilbert who passed away this morning at the age of forty-five. May D rest in peace. I am glad I got to see him again before he passed. Life is so precious. I know this.

I am also thankful for my aunt Janice visiting with Uraeus and me yesterday. We had a good time reconnecting. Talking, laughing, sharing stories and smiles.

Today I am going to see Thandie Newton, Zoe Kravitz and Eve Ensler in a play called Say Her Name about black women who are abused and killed in police brutality. Gina Loring and I are going together and I expect we will enjoy each others company catching up.

Uraeus is busy with homework. I'm really proud of how he is handling his college classes.

Again, this is a beautiful Sunday and I have a ton of papers to grade and perhaps I'll get to some of them today. Whatever I do, I plan to make it a good day. A nap first before anything because I didn't sleep well last night. But the goal is a good day nonetheless.