Author Archives: Laura

Poetry Wednesday 09/09/09: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Laura's Blogs Posted on by

Gil Scott-Heron The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1970) by Gil Scott-Heron You will not be able to stay home, brother. You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out. You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip, Skip out for beer during commercials, Because the revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox In 4 parts without commercial interruptions. The revolution will not … Continue reading →

Poetry Wednesday 08/26/09: Only Breath

Laura's Blogs Posted on by

Only Breath by Jalaluddin Rumi Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen. Not any religion or cultural system. I am not from the East or the West, not out of the ocean or up from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not composed of elements at all. I do not exist, am not an entity in this world or in the next, did not descend from Adam and Eve or any origin story. My place is the placeless, a trace … Continue reading →

Poetry Wednesday 07/15/09: The Blues Poetry of Langston Hughes

Laura's Blogs Posted on by

Spirit of Harlem Glass Mosaic located at North Fork Bank 280 West 125 Street in New York, NY. By artist Louis Delsarte, Manufactured in Munich, Germany by Gabriel and Franz Mayer Blues Fantasy By Langston Hughes Hey! Hey! That’s what the Blues singers say. Singing minor melodies They laugh, Hey! Hey! My man’s done left me, Chile, he’s gone away. My good man’s left me, Babe, he’s gone away. Now the cryin’ blues Haunts me night and day. Hey!….Hey! Weary, Weary, Trouble, pain. Sun’s gonna … Continue reading →

Poetry Wednesday 07/22/09: Montage Of A Dream Deferred

Laura's Blogs Posted on by

A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. In 1960 A Raisin In The Sun was nominated for four Tony Awards: Best Play – Written by Lorraine Hansberry; produced by Philip Rose and David J. Cogan. Best Actor in Play -Sidney Poitier; Best Actress in a Play – Claudia McNeil; Best Direction of a Play: Lloyd Richards. The story is based upon a family’s own experiences growing up in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood. A Raisin in the … Continue reading →

Poetry Wednesday 07/15/09: The Weary Blues

Laura's Blogs Posted on by

John Lee Hooker by Ann deLorge   The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, I heard a Negro play. Down on Lenox Avenue the other night By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light He did a lazy sway …. He did a lazy sway …. To the tune o’ those Weary Blues. With his ebony hands on each ivory key He made that poor piano moan with melody. O Blues! … Continue reading →

Poetry Wednesday: On Turning Ten

Laura's Blogs Posted on by

I know I’ve been taking a break from Poetry Wednesday, but my son asked me to help him learn a poem for school that he would recite in front of the class. The poet’s name is Billy Collins, and the name of the poem he chose to recite is entitled, “On Turning Ten“. I was unfamiliar with this poet, and I was so moved by the poem, that I thought I would share it with all of you. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free … Continue reading →

Poetry Wednesday 12/02/09: Not So Far As The Forest

Laura's Blogs Posted on by

Not So Far As The Forest by Edna St. Vincent Millay I That chill is in the air Which the wise know well, and even have learned to bear. This joy, I know, Will soon be under snow. The sun sets in a cloud And is not seen. Beauty, that spoke aloud, Addresses now only the remembering ear. The heart begins here To feed on what has been. Night falls fast. Today is in the past. Blown from the dark hill hither to my door … Continue reading →

Poetry Wednesday 10/28/09: Jack Kerouac

Laura's Blogs Posted on by

How to Meditate By Jack Kerouac, 1961 From “Scattered Poems” -lights out- Fall, hands a-clasped, into instantaneous ecstasy like a shot of heroin or morphine, the gland inside of my brain discharging the good glad fluid (Holy Fluid) as i hap-down and hold all my body parts down to a deadstop trance-Healing all my sicknesses-erasing all-not even the shred of a “I-hope-you” or a Loony Balloon left in it, but the mind blank, serene, thoughtless. When a thought comes a-springing from afar with its held- … Continue reading →

Poetry Wednesday 10/21/09: Jazz Chick

Laura's Blogs Posted on by

Billie Holiday, 1915-1959 By Suzanne Cerny Jazz Chick by Bob Kaufman Music from her breast, vibrating Soundseared into burnished velvet. Silent hips deceiving fools. Rivulets of trickling ecstacy From the alabaster pools of Jazz Where music cools hot souls. Eyes more articulately silent Than Medusa’s thousand tongues. A bridge of eyes, consenting smiles reveal her presence singing Of cool remembrance, happy balls Wrapped in swinging Jazz Her music… Jazz Hello, and welcome back to Poetry Wednesday 10/21/09. You can sign in today and take the … Continue reading →

Poetry Wednesday 09/30/09: The Afternoon Of A Faun

Laura's Blogs Posted on by

Portrait of Stephane Mallarme, 1876 By Édouard Manet Musee d’Orsay Oil on canvas Introduction: The Afternoon of a Faun is Stéphane Mallarmé’s most well-known poem. In slightly more than a hundred lines, it presents the dreamlike erotic reveries of a faun—a mythical creature of classical legend that, like the satyr, has a combination of animal features (such as horns and goatlike feet) and human features. The poem opens with the faun becoming excited by two nymphs; he is disoriented, however, having just awakened. Finding himself … Continue reading →