photo | grace imbrogno mckeown | 2010

Something from Nothing

I want to see
if it is possible
to be a
nobody

from nowhere.
Creating something
out of nothing

for someone
who might be
anywhere.

~ the cardinal of crowes

A little Neruda is always a lot. Here is the ending third of  “Sonata con algunos pinos” (“Sonata with some pine trees”). You’ll find the full poem in “Extravagaria.”

… what justifies not being?
where did other people take you?

It is good to have a change of clothes
of skin of hair of work

to get to know the earth a little
to give your woman new kisses

to be a part of clear air
to disdain all oligarchies

when I went from fog to fog
navigating by my hat

I never found anyone with directions
they were all preoccupied

they were off to sell things
nobody asked me who I was

till I got to recognizing myself
till I set off a smile

in the half sky and the warp of branches
let us make peace with our tiredness

let us have talk with roots
and with disenchanted waves

let us forget about hurry
the teeth of the efficient

let us forget the shadowy
miscellany of those who wish us ill

let us make a profession of being earth-bound
let us touch the earth with out beings.

Here is a doorway to some epigrammatic verse, opened after being shut for several years online.

Come to his event if you like the Spoken Word, good food in a good place and good people on a good night. Head to Bluegrass Kitchen on Valentines Day this Feb. 14 for “Love Jones Poetry,” and hear performances by Affrilachian poet Frank X Walker, along with Tuesday Taylor, Chekera Evans, Gregg Carroll, the Cardinal of Crows and others. Hosted by Crystal Goodwoman with a special Sade listening party at 7 p.m. The word starts after 7:30 p.m. Admission $8 (includes hors d’ouevres). Bluegrass Kitchen is at 1600 Washington St., Charleston, W.Va.

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Flyer design by MoltoMediaWorks of WestVirginiaVille ~ Click on the X in ‘Frank X Walker’ to super-size for download.

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There’s a difference between
people who do things
and people who

don’t.
The difference is
people who

do things,
do
them.

People
who don’t,
don’t.

~ EPIGRAMMAR, Vol 2 | ‘Songs from the Other Side of the Street’
from “A Cardinal of Crows Reader” | The Spartan Eaglesburg Press, 2010

“How do we speak poetry — which is metalanguage — in a culture in which the primary means of communication is visual . . .?”

~ Hilton Als in the article “Sideshow: Deconstructing ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (The New Yorker, Jan. 11, 2010)