Poetry
i wrote "S'cool" for my high school students,
and for the teenager that still lives within me
writing keeps me alive and healthy
in body, mind, and spirit
spoken word and song refresh my soul
and connect me to life everywhere
S'cool
this is a message in a bottle
in a sea of disbelieving
a hurricane of info
they say we're either failing or succeeding
time to let your pen go
let your thoughts dissolve
into a microphone, flow!
check your head
why do we keep choosin'
like we're already dead?
do we need to die at all?
we could live long, grow tall,
dance, drum, and sing
until it all falls down!
but i think we're comin' around
each moment you have a choice
to open your heart, your eyes, your mouth
raise your voice!
Chorus
you have the time to listen to your body
listen to your mind
you have the time to speak of what you see
and who you choose to be
your imagination stirs the wind
wet thunder of eternity
open your heart, let your mouth
all spill it all out, feel free
open your heart, let your mouth
all spill it all out, feel free!
i remember high school like a fish
in a swimming pool, bumpin' up
against the walls, flouresence,
chlorination, i didn't know how to get out
but then the message came so sweet,
in a flowin' wild salmon stream of beats
and the voice of a woman who was talkin'
to me, ever so free to speak her truth
dive into a sea of believing,
combinations unravelling,
common language
she is reweaving lessons
in a fish tank, think, blank
slate, the ship sank, thus
our fate is to assimilate
and swim to the depth of our souls
Chorus
write a message in your own ancient hand
on the cave wall of your soul, raw
roll your tongue around
the whirlwind of your days
ask questions, challenge assumptions
inquire into history, stillness in motion
work with your hands, take a hike,
listen to music, ride your bike,
laugh, live light, form shapes, sounds
in the chaos, talk to yourself,
talk to me, hey, write!
write it down, talk it up, speak your truth, errupt!
the digital, vegetable planet accellerates,
invigorates by car, by computer, by gun
the crawl, the toddle, the stroll, the run
through life, always running, always falling
behind or into the future, now past, release
the confines of hours to find
you have all the time in the world to be yourself
bearing witness to all that is around you!
Chorus
i call upon nature for inspiration
Lolo and i go roamin' through the woods,
we go by smell, by feel
rocks, they always murmur about the ocean,
thorns will reach for blood
and in the runnin' of it i do heal
i do believe we have the power to make it
to love so much, water molecules
sing with the thunder of one
clear is the day you wake up and you're friends
with yourself and you're friends with the land,
and it's easy enough to talk to your neighbor,
easy enough to write a letter to your neighbor.
