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![Profile picture of redzone]()
redzone wrote a new post
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Read MoreCOMING HOME: SONGS OF AFRICA“Always, there is someone hungrier than the poorest in America.”“Some of us know how we came by our fortunes, and some of us don’t, but we wear it all the same. There is only one...
4 Comments-
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![Profile picture of redzone]()
Hi Adelphina, thanks for your visit. I wrote this during a time when my poems had more of an ‘edge’ to them. I wanted my poetry to be part of and reflect a culture of resistance, that was not agitprop but still drove straight to the heart of the reader. To tell the truth about the world but not preach at people. This poem began that journey. I liked this poem and so workshopped it with a writers group at the University of Iowa, and then I submitted it to some literary magazines, but none of them printed it. Oh well.
Adelphina, thank you for your comment; it is truly appreciated.
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![Profile picture of RomaJ]()
This poem is powerful. Both a song of mourning and a call to remembrance. I love how the repetition and rhythm make “Africa” itself feel like a heartbeat pulsing through each stanza.
The imagery is rich with longing and pride, and the movement from loss to reclamation is deeply moving. It feels like a spiritual homecoming through language itself.
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![Profile picture of redzone]()
What a beautiful comment, RomaJ. Thank you so much. You might be surpised, but a few of the people in the writers group (mentioned above to Adelphina) expressed similar feelings. But they also tore through it viciously. This is the final version.
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![Profile picture of redzone]()
redzone wrote a new post
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Read MoreSILENT CONVERSATIONS ever notice how silence fights for your attention fights to win over your emotions and declares with conviction vermillion is NOT the description of love lately I have been noticing many things mostly how silences have grown longer and more frequent how silence has grabbed my tongue stopped its...
8 Comments-
![Profile picture of Knight]()
These lines are incredible.
Regards
James-
![Profile picture of redzone]()
Thank you James (Knight). I appreciate your comment muchly.
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![Profile picture of Adelphina]()
Hi Redzone
I enjoyed how you put this.
How silence can be heavy and hard to escape.
Like it’s actively trying to sabotage you.
Killer ending amigo!-
![Profile picture of redzone]()
For someone who suffers from depression, silent screams implode, leaving only a muted hollow, faraway look. Alive, but dead inside. This poem represents some of the things people have told me about their struggles with depression. And Adelphina, you are right, silence is “actively trying to sabotage you”. Thanks for your insightful comment.
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![Profile picture of Tim]()
I love it when a poet covers all the avenues of a subject. Excellent writing here, Redzone. Good song too.
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![Profile picture of redzone]()
Thanks Tim for your kind words.
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![Profile picture of Willow]()
Silence has been called golden. I once referred to it as prismatic. But you perfectly captured how it can be cold and have a pressurized weight that pulls one down. Many can relate this, I’m sure
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![Profile picture of redzone]()
And sometimes there is a silence that is so strong that even your screams remain silent, internalized and damaging. I have had many a discussion with friends who suffer from depression. This poem came out of those discussions. They want to talk, to express what is on their minds, what they are feeling, but cannot. That “weight” is unbearable. Thank you Willow for your visit and kind words. Both are muchly appreciated.
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![Profile picture of RICHARD "Rascal" JENKINS]()
RICHARD "Rascal" JENKINS and
S. Libellule are now friends
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![Profile picture of Fia Naturie]()
Fia Naturie and
RICHARD "Rascal" JENKINS are now friends
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![Profile picture of Thomas W. Case]()
Thomas W. Case wrote a new post
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Read MoreAfter a torturous hour ofmath (algebra to be exact)I start dinner: Middle Eastern stew:Cardamom, Coriander, and Turmeric.Cooking is a little like math, butmuch more like art. My mind beginsto ease as Bach pumps outone of his symphonies fromthe CD...
9 Comments-
![Profile picture of Neville]()
It may be a short putt but it’s a giant leap for 21st century poetry sir .. good on ya n all that bloomin jazz .. Neville
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![Profile picture of Thomas W. Case]()
Thanks, brother.
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![Profile picture of Damian DeadLove]()
Brilliantly penned, Thomas. Cooking is art, math, & science all rolled in one. Most of all it’s relaxing in my experience. Excellent write my friend. Appreciate you.
Damian
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![Profile picture of Tim]()
I’ve never been good at math. Though I like cooking. Nice poem Thomas. 🙂
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![Profile picture of Thomas W. Case]()
lol. Thanks
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![Profile picture of redzone]()
I used to think that if I “fucked until I couldn’t walk”, I would never get old. Funny the nonsense I believed when I was young. She left and I got old!!! But, I did learn that sanity is overrated. I threw out my Wadsworth and took up with e.e. cummings, Pablo Neruda and went on “The Road” with the beats.
In reading your poem, Thomas, I am once again reminded how much I love to cook, smell puppies, and skip along the road to joust with windmills!!! Dulcinea del Toboso, I am coming!!! And “To Dream the Impossible Dream”.
-Curt
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![Profile picture of Thomas W. Case]()
lol. Thank you my friend.
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![Profile picture of Willow]()
Oh lordy…I hate math and I struggle with recipes. Maybe the one is causation of the other? I do best when I just randomly toss things in the stew pot. Maybe some of us aren’t meant to be scripted? I love how music wove through this one. Brilliantly executed!
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![Profile picture of Thomas W. Case]()
Thank you so much.
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What a raw and intense tribute to Africa!
I’ve never been but you put into words and song a powerful truth.
How do we aim to live with it. Just wow