Under the Influence: Red Wine

*Wine is an alcoholic beverage typically made of fermented grape juice... (Shiraz is my favorite)*

Red wine
How do I love thee?
Let me sip the ways...

I lust love red wine, and it loves me back... (Don't judge me) I lust poetry, and it loves me back... I think poetry is a lot like red wine. Let's explore:

• Red wine is reported to be good for the heart. I think my poetry (or anyone's genuine expression of poetry for that matter) is beneficial literally and figuratively. In the literal sense I think anything that relieves stress or brings pleasure to your soul is quite positive for the health of your heart. It surely can't hurt. Also, anything evoking emotion, even sadness or anger, is a good exercise for you heart (soul), things like sympathy, empathy, caring, love must be practiced and poetry is a pretty good calisthenic plan.



• Red wine stains. Trust me, I know. (Don't judge me). I think any great expression leaves an indelible mark on you. For example, I will share one of my favorite poems written by one of my favorite poets. In the poem I will share, Nikki Giovanni speaks of how the lacking of a freedom of choice affects the human spirit. This piece left me with the mark on me to analyze and make use of the things I DO have the choice over. In her short poem I changed an entire piece of my thinking. This is an example of a large stain that OxyClean is not getting out, but other pieces may only leave a drop, but they touch you nonetheless... this is the piece I was referring to:

CHOICES, by Nikki Giovanni

if i can't do
what i want to do
then my job is to not
do what i don't want
to do

it's not the same thing
but it's the best i can
do

if i can't have
what i want . . . then
my job is to want
what i've got
and be satisfied
that at least there
is something more to want

since i can't go
where i need
to go . . . then i must . . . go
where the signs point
through always understanding
parallel movement
isn't lateral

when i can't express
what i really feel
i practice feeling
what i can express
and none of it is equal
i know
but that's why mankind
alone among the animals
learns to cry

• Red wine tends to be an acquired taste. I have found that poetry is the same way. The way I approached a glass of red wine for the first time is the same way I approached reading poetry. It was a foreign expression, a little bitter at times, and was only thought of as a broad topic. Now when I sip red wine I enjoy it, the full body, the richness. Also I now recognize the subtle nuances, be it a Shiraz, Merlot, or Cabernet. I can identify the notes and quality. Just like I now have haiku, sonnets, odes, love poems, etc.

• Wine gets better with time. As you live, learn, and grow, so does my (and hopefully yours) appreciation of poetry.

What in your life is like red wine?

ATL Shawty!

*Partners in (c)rhyme*

Hi y'all! How's it going? Splendid I hope! Two weeks ago I got the oppurtunity to travel to Atlanta. One of the highlights of the trip was getting to attend a poetry slam with the one and only Tiha! ***the crowd goes wild*** I missed my friend and blog partner immensely, so we got a chance to reconnect and it felt great! The Poetry Slam we attended was called the Bloodbath Slam, and was at a spot in Atlanta called the Apache Cafe. It featured the following teams: 3 time winning National Poetry Slam* Champions, Slam Charlotte, and Atlanta teams Java Monkey and Art Amok. Let's just say this was one of my most memorable and inspiring poetry moments right up there with Southern Fried Poetry Slam and my first feature performance. The crowd was so beautiful, artsy, down-to-earth, and the poetry is beyond words (yes, poets are allowed to be at a loss for words). Below are a few pics from the event:



































*Speaking of the National Poetry Slam:


More than 300 slam poets will descend upon West Palm Beach August 4-9 to battle for the heavywrite crown. Representing 64 teams from 54 cities across the United States and Canada, these ferocious performance poets will spit fire on molten microphones during five days of lyrical combat in front of roaring audiences and randomly-selected judges. Only one team will win. Three days of preliminary competitions will be held Aug. 4-6 with simultaneous bouts held at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at West Palm Beach venues. Four teams will compete in each bout. The top 16 teams compete in the semi-finals Aug. 7. The top 4 teams make the finals Aug. 8 at the West Palm Beach Convention Center at 8 p.m. Throughout the National Poetry Slam there will be day events (Haiku Head-to-Head, Hip-Hop Showcase, Nerd Slam, etc.) and late night events (Comedy Showcase, Erotic Poetry Showcase, etc.) For more information on all the event times and locations, please visit the official 2009 National Poetry Slam website at http://nationalpoetryslam.com.

Cubicle Crusaders Poetry Greatest Hits

Since we started this week off with a poem, I thought I would share some of my favorite poems Tiha and I have written over the course of our blog. Let us know what you think!

from Poetry Wednesday's: MEH (my response to the debate last night)
-Tiha

Meditating Endlessly about my Horizons
because the view at ground level sucks
I’m too close to the manmade earth
which is made up mainly of mistakes and rocks.
I’ve taken to tugging on my hair
to relieve all this anxiety I have built up inside
in school I believe they said it’s a disorder
anxious obsession that I know is felt countrywide.
I have no sense of control
but what I sense isn’t too good
in fact its keeping me with bald patches on my head
and my eyes rolled up looking like a crackhead in the hood.
If drugs were an option
I’d be smacking my arm right now
but my youth has already taught me
that short term is not an option, not for me anyhow.
So I keep my eyes on the horizon
my mind floating amongst the clouds
keeping my dreams alive and safe
and protecting my goals underground.



from Free
-Alise, written to Tiha

if there were no cliffs
how would we know if our wings are working
instead of accessories taking up space
decorating cubicles
next to the family pic
and puppy calendar ...

on those cliff edges
are where emus transform
into mighty eagles
and lemmings get a clue.


from Poetry Wednesday - A sexy mind is a terrible thing to waste...
-Tiha

i swear i'm not great in my own mind,
my own mind just happens to be great
my brain is soooooo sexy
all gray and goowey
oozing sense and sensibility
sensual thoughts verbalized as creative ideas
genius bottled as grey matter
matter of factly packaged for success

from Coincidence?
-Alise

So time for me
... to abandon the vicious cycles
.....and running in circles...
I am gonna run ....
in some new shapes,
ellipses,
rhombuses*....
no. fuck that.
I am multidimensional
I'll run, walk, and glide in 3D,
run in dodecahedron
excel in this sphere....
yup.
no more running in circles
...that always ends in a cube....


and our first joint poem we ever did, and probably our fave!
from Yet To Be Realized Potential of a Creative Class Superstar....

There are the bullies and the bullied

There are the popular and the socially awkward

There are the Bes and the wanna-bes

Some time after high school class culture meets real world life stressors meets survival of the fittest the lines blur and roles change.

The bullies become leaders or dictators (depending on the country)

The popular become entertainers

The Bes are being happy

And the bullied, socially awkward and wanna-bes are in management.

Welcome to cube life!

I think, therefore I am......an outcast in this cubicle nation

Weirdo among automatons scared of recreation...

Not satisfied with status quo and placation

But it is I who is the skeleton key to workplace rejuvenation...

Yet when I cross the cubicle borders I am faced with condemnation,

New ideas faced with scoffs and irritation....

Even complacency is complaining about the tedium of my cubicle existence.

Going against it's very nature, it has planned a mental revolt.

It kidnapped serenity and left a note saying:

give us fulfillment! give us challenge! give us free! or the bitch gets it...

I am a wolf in business casual attire

Ribs are touching..... so I am stalking, staking, slithering, & scoping....

Shuffling around in sensible shoes searching and salivating for something worth sinking my fangs in

Trying futilely to fit in with the flock.....

A time bomb with teeth....

tick.... tock....

Southern Fried Dreams

This past weekend was one of the best times I have had probably in years. Durham, NC was the host of the Southern Fried Poetry Slam. What is the Southern Fried poetry slam? So glad you asked:

from http://southernfried2009.org The Southern Fried Poetry Slam was started by Allan Wolf in 1993 in Asheville, North Carolina. This performance poetry competition, which travels to a different southern city annually, has grown into one of the largest poetry convention in the nation, second only to the Poetry Slam, Inc.’s National Poetry Slam, which started in 1990.

The weekend was filled with Poetry Slam Competitions, Open Mics, Workshops, Ciphers, and Parties. I got the chance to be around all my poet friends, and met so many new folks that are my new family. I got several chances to perform at open mics and I even competed in a Haiku Slam. Needless to say, I was in heaven. Actually I would describe it as a dream, that unfortunately I had to awake from. Next year it is in Knoxville, Tennessee. I will be there with bells on. I'll share some from the weekend with you below :



See how happy I was!


3 members of the Bull City Slam Team (Axiom, Kane, Dasan), they came in 2nd, I am so proud!


Ciphers just popped up randomly in the streets of Downtown Durham, spontaneous poetry is beautiful...


Another spontaneous freestyle session...


Nothing like good friends ....


New family!


Natural hair EVERYWHERE... loooooooooove it!



My sisters in poetry!


Slam Finals, as winners were being announced.

Free

Now that I’ve entered the 30+ realm of hotness and uber sexiness, I’m in awe of the level of understanding I have. I mean, I’m not saying I know it all, not even close, but I now understand so much better all of the things I’ve come to know during my 3 decades on this flighty planet. I understand things about myself and the way the world works. This understanding has rendered me calm amidst the man made storms, even that non man made ones. My faith in things intangible has strengthened. Me no worry over things I can’t control.

Specifically artistically I am so much more free. I mean people have told me, actually they haven’t really, I’ve told myself that I am free to do what I want, but now I believe me. And this newfound freeness has my mind boggled, but in a good way. I’m out on the edge of the cliff, and I don’t care…will I fall…I don’t care…will I come back…I don’t care…and it feels good…to only care about what I love…

sounds like the start of a poem….


{naturally alise steps in} well i think i'll write one of many that is all up in my spirit....

if there were no cliffs
how would we know if our wings are working
instead of accessories taking up space
decorating cubicles
next to the family pic
and puppy calendar ...

on those cliff edges
are where emus transform
into mighty eagles
and lemmings get a clue.

[so tiha: sometimes it's okay to jump..... use your wings...]

Poems to the Wise

*wise*

Rudyard Kipling said:

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:*

*If by Rudyard Kipling

and I find myself reciting these lines to myself now more than ever. When I first read this poem, IF, I was a teenager and couldn’t really relate. I understood what he was saying, but had yet to experience it in practice. Now that I’m older and have the fortune to deal with many people in many different situations because of the life I chose to lead, I see the wisdom in this poem. I feel good that I have been able to live the virtue of this poem. At the end he says that if I can do all of the Ifs:

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

Sometimes its hard when you try to do what you know is right, what feels right to you, and those around you condemn you for it. Sometimes I have to take a step back and not let myself be swayed by someone else’s…insanity. I always say, in the face of undue pressure from the outside: what you eat don’t make me sh*t. That’s the dirty dirty version of it all. So I leave you all with this wonderfully inspirational message: Don’t let what other people ingest be your entrée and give you the runs.

Coincidence?

..... heck naw, you know me & Revolutionary Eysqueen don't believe in those things, you should know that by now... Lately I have been getting things in my inbox, IM, or beating on my ear-bass-drum that have been either inspirational or right on point with what I am feeling. An example:

From Cubicle Crusaders: IM Revolutionaries (Naturally Alise and Tiha)

My cartoon of the day this morning was the one above. Just yesterday I was lamenting my feelings of being out of sorts because I do not have that day job I was so used to. That cartoon reminded me of the vicious cycle that place had perpetuated. I need to get it through my head that the routine I was in was unhealthy and making me crazy, and I need to get over the routine change. I must remember it is what I wanted. I put my wish to leave there out in the universe and guess what? ....the universe called my bluff. So where do I go from here? ...not exactly sure yet (but not exactly unsure either), but I have a support system that is strong and they are helping me along the way (yeah Tiha, you are part of that system :) ... ) I just thought of a "poem-esque" something:

So time for me
... to abandon the vicious cycles
.....and running in circles...
I am gonna run ....
in some new shapes,
ellipses,
rhombuses*....
no. fuck that.
I am multidimensional
I'll run, walk, and glide in 3D,
run in dodecahedron
excel in this sphere....
yup.
no more running in circles
...that always ends in a cube....

*I love that word...

Do you know what today is?

anniversary - Tony Toni Tone



Yes, this is our 150th post. We Deed it Mayne! Isn't it exciting! To commemorate this fantabulous, vanglorious day I want to do something a little interactive and fun to get to know you all. Today is the day I want all the lurkers and regular commenters to let me know about yourselves. Tiha is gonna drop a hot 16 bars, and I am going to spit a poem about ourselves. So, in return for these blazing verses I would like you to tell me about yourselves, where you are from and how you found us and anything else you'd like to tell us.

*1,000 bonus cool points if your introduction is in the form of a rap or a poem. (Who doesn't want cool points?)


alise writes:

Seems just like yesterday but all of a sudden it hit me
This blogging adventure done hit one-fifty
Me the Durham, N-C chick with my Yankee partner in crime
A perfect cohort to make this artistic climb
We never had to show any T & A to show we're fly
Only had to be the real Tiha and Alise and knew you 'd comply
So thank you readers for witnessing this journey and please don't stop
We'll never forget y'all when me and the eysqueen make it to the top....


tiha writes (for the lurkers):

peeking through the blinds
what's popping this time?
slinking down the halls
tip toeing trying not to fall
I just wanna see
no need for meet and greet
I just want to hear
just wanna be near
oh no I’ve been spotted
lights shinning bright
oh no there they are
over to my right
“lurkers we see you,
come out and greet
lurkers we see you
here’s the mic
go head and speak…”

"They" Say......

Howdy Cubicle Crusaders, et. al. ! I have been swamped with work. So I know I was supposed to have a tepid hot rhyme for y'all today, but no such luck. BUT, Tiha's post yesterday brought a blog to mind that I wrote on my personal blog that was fitting. I actually wrote this back in October when I first cut off my locs, people were so judgmental and lamenting over the fact I no longer had long hair. Yet, if they really knew me, they would know that I could care less about some long hair or what anyone thinks of my hair. I hope you guys enjoy the piece and the song! (I'll have a lukewarm blazing 16 bars for ya tomorrow! (I promise.)

*originally posted 10/8/08*



*Baldheaded me*

Living my life by other people's rules was like listening to wack ass hip hop (read: radio) when there is so much good music out there that is not neccesarily the most popular, the poem coming up speaks to that, I have had a trying evening dealing with judgmental people telling me what beauty is and what it ain't, what success really means and what it ain't..... le sigh...... but I don't care anymore what "They Say", so I'm good, real good:

You have finally faced the music
Cut through the overproduction,
Pushed through the synthesized keys and unlocked your destiny
Swam against the tide of superflous watered down beats
Escaped the trap of snares...
Came up and breathed in the pure air of lyrics.

Unearthed what lie beneath and between the lines.

Found the treasures of knowledge in each syllable.....

Tiha's comment:

1 comments:

eysqueen said...

bald heads unite!
we too...ecletic to be confined to just one state of mind always trying to find something to call mine to make my own something homegrown too raw to be cut but they want it to be diluted wtf?! just let it be and do what it do and maybe one day they'll write a poem or create a song for you...

Sensitive Thugs - Hourly Wage Warrior Stories

To quote the great poet Shawn Carter:

Look, I'm on my grind cousin, ain't got time for frontin'
Sensitive thugs, y'all all need hugs

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I also work part time at a drug store. Well, yesterday I had to go a store meeting, (grrrrrrr, meetings), and I swear it was the most entertaining meeting I have ever been to. Let me introduce you to the two characters who provided me eternal joy:

Shift Supervisor (SS) - 40-ish black lady of short stature, sharp tongued, no nonsense, the epitome of a "I don't care what the fu*k you think" person, but weirdly she is silly and funny as hell to me.

Regla Ol' Cashier Gal (ROCG) - White trash gal, looks about 30, but is 23. She is getting trained to be the photo supervisor, which was the shift supervisor's old position .


SS and ROCG bump heads on the daily, and it is hil-funny-larious as hell. ROCG is tragic and has been garnering sympathy from the head manager and other coworkers by saying she is being mistreated by SS (but in every other situation plays like she is super thug). In fact everyone in the store had tried to get that sympathy saying how overbearing and her attitude.... everyone EXCEPT myself and one other coworker. Do you know why? Instead of being a punk and allowing people with strong personalities (read: bitches) to continually talk to me badly or try to intimidate me, I tell them what they are doing and how I feel about it. I don't go crying to the manager. I also know that no retail job will ever be sunshine, rainbows, glitter, & sh*t, so I don't go in with high expectations anyway. I only bumped heads with SS one time, count 'em: 1 time, and in that same day I calmly went to her and told her I didn't like it and I was grown too and we have been cool as fan ever since. Why can't people do that before running to a manager or acting all punkish and crying? This made me think of a poem by a poet I love more that anything in this world: me.... lol... here goes:

Be careful of what you don't ask for…
You might not get it..
Closed mouths don't get fed
(Commonly true with minds as well)
Though I am very literate and quite the bookworm,
I still cannot read your mind.
So say what you mean…
Mean what you say…
Backbones are pretty cheap these days,
…….even with inflation and all.

How do you deal with these types of characters?

Some Cubicle Crusader Stanning

When I am off work it makes me happy, so I'll take a couple days off from bitching about that place and share some of the things I love with you all. Below is a poet that Tiha and I 'stan' for definitely, enjoy our favorite spoken word artist, Marc Marcel, (I think Tiha has a crush on him.... )

Gotta tell y'all something!

Hey, come close..... a little closer....

Guess what?

Come on guess!

One more guess...

Ok, I guess I'll tell ya......

I got a book out y'all!

I'll put the link up soon, it's a book of poetry called "Alise in Wonderland", word on the street is it is the hotness, but I ain't one to gossip, so you ain't heard that from me...... and guess what else?

Cubicle Crusaders will have a book/tome of awesomeness early 2009, BOLO*!

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled programming..... :)


*Be on the look out

Ode to Tiha & Other Nonsense

This is a tribute to Tiha and her new Cube with a view.... this for you kiddo!




She's moving lateral,
It's a reorg
To a deluxe cubicle in the sky
She's moving lateral
It's a reorg
She finally gets a crumb of the pie!

Go team!



Okay, now that's out of the way, let me tell you what had happened at my job and our "reorg". It really isn't a reorg for one thing, I'm just dramatic. One of the people that indirectly work for me quit last week because she found a better job, that is awesome, I like to see people move on up and get a piece of the pie and what not. Her job duties are vital to various functions of my account, and deadlines are very tight. The powers that be at Bullshit Headquarters my job decide not to replace her. What in the ham and cheese sandwich is that about? So now we have to divide her 8 hours a day of work amongst 3 people who already have full 8 hour days during our busiest time of year, and none of us are getting raises. womp. boooooooooo. hisssssssssss. That is not hot in the street, boiling on the block, or scalding in the cul-de-sac. Needless to say I have been actively searching for new jobs in all the places I would like to go..... Wish me happy hunting!

Everybody feel a way about K....

Better than a "Why lie? I need a drink."sign

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday (more like rambling, but whateva...) about my need for attention. Also a pal of mine wrote a blog about her similar need for attention... Tiha was gone yesterday on her lovely 'gubment' holiday... so in honor of my 'hateration' I am posting a convo with my buddy ol' pal Luvvie instead of her, go check her blog, she likes attention too, AND I am guest blogger at SOME point today *eye roll*....


me: i have a new blog follower and that makes me happy, lol
luvvie20: YAYYYY!!!
me: why do the things i write with the most passion and fervor are the ones no one pays attention to?
that rings true with my perfomances as well
luvvie20: really??
me: girl yes
luvvie20: weird
me: el too, we were talking a while back about our favorite pieces and how they get the most lukewarm response
it even translates to the working world sometimes
like the projects i work the hardest on and actually feel a connection to go unnoticed
it can be discouraging sometimes
we are all human and on some level want recognition, pat on the back, or some shit, or even for someone to say it sucks
bc even if they say it sucks aat least they took notice and feel something
as kanye said "Everybody feel a way about K, but at least y'all feel something" *
luvvie20: yup!
me: dang, thats a blog
and dang, a poem is a-brewin

attention haiku:
Someone look at me
I am easy on the eyes
Please behold my sight**

*

**please?

When keeping it philosophical goes wrong....

"Zenemies"

I think being intellectual is great. I think philosophizing about the ways of the world is just as wonderful, we come up with some really great conclusions that way. However, I think that being smart and highly intelligent, like power, comes with great responsibility. If you find yourself to be one of the few intellectuals, a true intellectual, then you already know that you are quite capable of over analyzing everything and sucking the fun out of a Saturday night. Everyone knows how smart you are, you’ve left a trail of dissertation length emails, blogs, and discussion replies to back up your intelligence. And I give kudos to those who can express their thoughts like a Charles Dickens novel. Now I’m going to snatch the kudos away. I have a real problem with the intellectual over analytic types who are real good at pointing out problems and ramifications without offering up solutions. Because lets just keep it real, a 3 year old can point out a problem. That part of philosophy isn’t rocket science, but it takes real intelligence, real analysis to come up with proactive solutions to these problems. This is where intelligence meets cynicism and produces inactive wastes of space. I don’t want to hear about how shitty the world is, in a 3 page discussion or a 20 minute conversation unless you plan on interjecting some solutions somewhere in all that wordy lukewarm air. I can ramble on and on for pages as well, I went to school too, wrote tons of papers and birthed a thesis. I’m real good at stretching out content to take up space. But I also know that the average person’s attention span isn’t long enough to absorb all of my genius at that length. Even this blog is getting a tad bit long. So let me wrap this up.

The definition of philosophy: the critical study of the basic principles and concepts of a particular branch of knowledge, esp. with a view to improving or reconstituting them: the philosophy of science.

I’m going to need you long winded, wordy, negative, cynical, wanting to call yourselves intellects to adhere to what philosophizing really is, or just admit that you are NOT an intellect and sit at the back of the conversation with the rest of the onlookers, because in my revolution, you will not be invited to join. How do you feel about the intellectual posers, what defines a poser to you?

alise pokes her head in at her own risk:

I felt this poem i wrote a while back fit in with the whole general idea of tiha's post, and also i am waxing poetic today....:

If by revolutionary you mean talking in circles
....and circumventing responsibility, then by all means you are the spokesperson......
I ain't buying the fight the power act.....

love, life, and loss.....
that's what causes a creative commotion in my cranium
when pain permeates my person and pummels and pounds my peace
it is the real revolutions, revelations, and resolutions that relieve my worries, weary, and woes
... but hey that's just me

Take Me Back

*Take me back pleeeeeeeeeeease, I promise I'll stop fooling with these crazy nuts in the cube...*

Just like foolish exes, extra pounds, and old school mixes, my passions always take me back. This meaning: no matter how much I neglect doing the things I really love, I can always jump back in and get it proverbially "on & poppin'". It seems when I get back into the art scene or to writing everything just falls into place. It always feels right, so why do I run away? The answer is that fear we talked about on Monday and I already told you I am putting fear in a headlock ASAP. Sorry if I am beating the topic of fear to death, but the longer I say it the realer it becomes to me, kind of my Cubicle Crusader affirmations, can't hurt..... (Hmmmm, maybe I can write some cube affirmations... note to self...)
Enjoy the conversation and poem below:

Alise: i wanna write a blog, but i don't know what to write about
Alise: aha, by george i think i have something
Alise: ....****scurries off to the lab****
T 2U: what flavor is the bread crumb my little squirrel friend?
Alise: i found a poem i wrote
Alise: i'll send it to you, maybe you can add to it green squirrel

I love you poetry, but I have a confession:
I have neglected you, and you deserve more
I got caught up.
You know me and Corporate America started off as friends,
But we started spending more and more time together
And one thing led to another, ya know how that goes.
And poetry you were so kind to me,
Even your family spoken word and freestyle brought me into the circle.
Treated me like I was fam.
And what did I do to repay you?
I ducked your calls and visits
Ignored your pleas for me to come back
But now I've learned a valuable lesson.... balance......
I am sorry.... will you take me back?

T 2U: so what is the blog idea?
Alise: like i am the prodigal son to my passions..... you kinda slow today...

Poetry Wednesday's: MEH (my response to the debate last night)

*Poetry selection from Tiha*

(Untitled)
Meditating Endlessly about my Horizons
because the view at ground level sucks
I’m too close to the manmade earth
which is made up mainly of mistakes and rocks.
I’ve taken to tugging on my hair
to relieve all this anxiety I have built up inside
in school I believe they said it’s a disorder
anxious obsession that I know is felt countrywide.
I have no sense of control
but what I sense isn’t too good
in fact its keeping me with bald patches on my head
and my eyes rolled up looking like a crackhead in the hood.
If drugs were an option
I’d be smacking my arm right now
but my youth has already taught me
that short term is not an option, not for me anyhow.
So I keep my eyes on the horizon
my mind floating amongst the clouds
keeping my dreams alive and safe
and protecting my goals underground.

*Note from Naturally Alise: Her poem was so hot that I dare not touch it, so below I will post the Cubicle Crusaders favorite poem by Nikki Giovanni, because it captures how we have been feeling as of late and has invigorated our journey!*

revolutionary dreams
i used to dream militant
dreams of taking
over america to show
these white folks how it should be done
i used to dream radical dreams
of blowing everyone away with my perceptive powers
of correct analysis
i even used to think i'd be the one
to stop the riot and negotiate the peace
then i awoke and dug
that if i dreamed natural
dreams of being a natural
woman doing what a woman
does when she's natural
i would have a revolution

-nikki giovanni

Poetry Wednesday: Project:Roam

OK, today me and T-Boogie have no blog in us, but we want to shout out our favorite soon to be wandering poet, who is embarking on a fabulous voyage tomorrow. So visit his site Project:Roam, and check out his awesome project and subscribe or follow the blog to be part of something great. Here is his latest poem below... We'll back tomorrow for Random Thursday and sh*t!!!

Where's the revolution?

ask us

First generation to be worst off than their parents

financially, the corporate and social ladder pulled up from above

Lower rungs made slippery with a mixture of oil and blood

Too abstract? How this

We enter the workforce with more debt on our backs

than we can ever pay back

You have to pay for power

Power comes from knowledge

You have to win the Power Ball to afford college

Power to the people!

Revolution?

Brown Vs. Board didn't abolish separate but equal

You go to school in your district

which is populate with your kind of people

How many billionaires live in your hood?

How many kids with a choice go to public instead of private schools

Poor people try to separate by race but their all equal

Middle class separates by gates but are all equal

Rich people separate by their money's dates but are all evil, equal

But between those 3 lines

there is no equal

Power lines don't just direct current - see

They separate people

-Elliot Axiom

Poetry Wednesday - A sexy mind is a terrible thing to waste...

*Triple Threat*

You may think Alise and Tiha are dorks, maybe even weirdos nerds... but we ain't even mad at ya. You know why??? Because brains are sexy, at least that's what I've been told a time or twelve two(*brushing off shoulders*). Today, I will present an interesting convo that led to the topic of sexy minds and what not, a short and sweet poem written by Tiha, and an oldie but goodie piece of mine that touches on sexy mind type of activities. Please enjoy, tell us what you think and sh*t....

Yesterday:
T 2U: do you know what grinds my gears?
T 2U: when people cant do something and they think no one else can either
T 2U: i.e. some people are not tech savvy, i am-i have the gift of being able to read user manuals and understand because my brain is half code friendly
T 2U: but because the people cant get it, they think i don't have the capacity to get it either
T 2U: i don't know what that kind of thought is called, but it really grinds my gears
T 2U: i think its a generational thing
T 2U: i know if a gen x says they can use any computer application, they really can
T 2U: i need to be a manager
T 2U: shit
Alise: tell me how u really feel though, lol
Alise: I totally understand your dilemma
T 2U: damn boomers
T 2U: i swear i'm not great in my own mind, my own mind just happens to be great
T 2U: blog about that chick
Alise: hee hee!
Alise: sounds like the beginnings of a lovely poem
T 2U: sounds like an ego tripping poem
T 2U: but not about looks, about smarts

Tiha's masterpiece of minimalism, lol

i swear i'm not great in my own mind,
my own mind just happens to be great
my brain is soooooo sexy
all gray and goowey
oozing sense and sensibility
sensual thoughts verbalized as creative ideas
genuis bottled as grey matter
matter of factly packaged for success


Oldie but goodie (Click to hear the audio) ... it is a bit more sensual, but mindsexy nonetheless, and it is my blog I can post what I want and I think you will enjoy it. *wink*

“The Dictionary is Our Kama Sutra”

Please refer to me as a sexy nerd....
Attracted to the utterances of the likeminded .....
I am enchanted by creative expression
... simply said words turn me on...
The foreplay of your witty banter nibbles on my ears...
Arousing me with adjectives
.....seducing with syllables,
Don't get me wrong: I do enjoy the emotions in your hearts ocean,
but best believe the size of your word power matters...
You penetrate me intellectually ,
And my mind wraps around you.
Expressing yourself in positions I never imagined.
The dictionary is our kama sutra.
Poetry is our candlelight.
You illuminate the deepest caverns of my mind.
Conversation is our bedroom .....
I am not intimidated by intelligence,
In fact I want to be immersed in it,
Inundated until I explode....
I scream out analogies and idioms...
I pulsate with multiple eargasms
And after you cuddle me new concepts...
Lightly stroke my face with similes
Protecting me in the arms of your prose...
And we slowly slip into a small talk slumber.......

What music inspires you creatively?

As well as being a Cubicle Crusader and degree waving indentured servant to the dept of education, I’m also an artist. We artists have a need, almost like breathing, to create, but sometimes we also need a little inspiration. For the kinds of art I do, I use music to get my juices flowing and put me in a place to create. What music inspires you to create?

Eysqueen’s (#0220) Music Roll Call:

Dwele- painting, landscapes of pretty places and of places I travel in my dreams and fantasies.



Jill Scott- burning incense, drinking, and losing myself in memories of past hurts and tougher times. This leads me to hash it out on canvas, drawing about memories from the heart.



Lupe- this brother makes me want to write. The way he puts together words to tell stories inspires me to dig deeper to write my own thoughts and stories.



Little Brother- These guys remind me to go for my dreams and never let them die. We went to school with these guys and who would have known back then that they would have made it. So when I have a creative block, I put on some LB and reminisce about undergrad and alumni parties during the summers in Durham and I keep pressing on. (yes I sweat LB hardcore)





"Music makes me high!!!" like for real, LB (Lost Boyz not Little Brother) were on to something.




Naturally Alise (Java-lin)chimes in:

***(Little Brother Stan moment: Tiha, myself and another friend got taken out to IHOP after a semi-wack house party (yes, IHOP, it was afterhours) by Big Pooh of Little Brother a few years ago and Tiha blasted their CD in her car, I am sure he thought we were lame as hell, or maybe appreciative that we were fans, either way we were trying way too hard, lol)***


I cosign like a million times over with miss lady's picks above, especially the sweating of Little Brother, but there is a song in particular by LB that really gets me in the zone and that is "Watch Me" on their album "The Minstrel Show"...... but below is a couple more to add to the list:


Nas - He is the self proclaimed "street poet, a thug certainly", his poetic flow is mind blowing, he reminds me that great art sometimes has to come from pain and true life personal situations, that even fiction has to be non-fiction (if that makes any sense)... Illmatic, Stillmatic, and the Nigger album and some jewels from some of the the other albums really speak to my creative process....

Erykah Badu - I love this woman, "Mama's Gun" speaks to me from so many angles, every song is a 5 - 8 minute double entendre of love and life (i.e. "Orange Moon"), listening to this CD gets my mind to working figuring out her metaphors and artsy logic.... LOVE IT!


So since it is Poetry Wednesday and we are talking about inspiration and such, here is an old Naturally Alise poem that seemed appropriate.....

“Inspire Me”
Faces ranging the spectrum..... all here for one common goal.
INSPIRATION.
Thirsting for it... hungry
And I truly understand each of you.
Because at one time I was famished.
Just needed a scrap thrown in my direction
To let me know what direction to go....
Left? Right? A push just to go.
I needed a catalyst . Something to make me react.
I needed a jolt of electricity
Just a spark so I could glow
Just shine and shed some light,
But first I had to shed my bullshit reality
I needed to grow
Sprout... so I could spout the truth.
Encourage those that endured my rain.
Others who too were soaked with doubt and uncertainty
Those who had swam the river of pain and adversity.
*deep breath* And just barely kept their head above water to breathe.
Back then I too needed to breathe.
But not the foul air of the world.
I needed the fresh air of poetry..
of deep thought...
soulful melodies....
Air brought in by winds of change,
I needed gusts of inspiration to blow,
.... to soften the blow of what life threw at me.