poem #2 for the day

Ok, I’m going to go with continuing to try to pick a poem a day for folks to listen to, for folks to adore to, for folks, for folks.

Serena

And here’s a good link if you want to listen to the amazing music version:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2pDZYDdYP8

Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)

by Nikki Giovanni

I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
that only glows every one hundred years falls
into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

I sat on the throne
drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
the tears from my birth pains
created the nile
I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned
out the sahara desert
with a packet of goat’s meat
and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
so swift you can’t catch me

For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother’s day
My strength flows ever on

My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
jesus
men intone my loving name
All praises All praises
I am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
the filings from my fingernails are
semi-precious jewels
On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
the earth as I went
The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended except by my permission

I mean…I…can fly
like a bird in the sky…

 

Poetry

Today, I finished sending this woman I know the 30th poem, out of 30.  Doing it was incredibly meditative and fun for me, although after a while, I started wondering about all the reasons we read poetry.  I think that maybe I should be sending myself 30 poems each day.  I told a dear friend that I was sending 30 poems, roughly once a day, and he asked me to send them to him as well.  When he told me that he wanted this small expression from me, I felt something deep inside of me smile and awaken.

His request made me realize how grateful any of us should be to have someone to love, even if that love is not romantic or exactly what we thought we wanted, it is actually one of the highest forms of love — we need someone to whom we can give our love, as much as we need someone to love us.

So, I’m going to start with the last poem I sent out today, because it means so much to me.  I wonder at our ability to give more to others, than to ourselves.  Or, is it that by giving to others, I am also giving to myself?

Thoughts, my Friends, thoughts.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and is tune is heard
on the distant hillfor the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

Maya Angelou