Verb: to remember

I am of this World, of this Earth. I breathe this air as i look at this sky, these clouds. This world is not out to get me. I am safe and grounded as my feet touch this soil. Even as i am driving, i am realizing this, as incongruous as that may seem. I see a hawk. I see the Crescent Moon rising. I am home.

poem...not a haiku

Corn Moon
Cherries Turn Black Moon
Full Moon light/casting
hollyhock shadows
as
three Owls call
across the mountain

my life is now complete

"Moonlight" - directed by Barry Jenkins (2016)

and another!

"Paris Is Burning" - directed by Jennie Livingston (1990)

film viewed, finally

"Moon" -directed by Duncan Jones (2009)

poem

the vast stretch of city lights on
the horizon
forms an unnerving necklace
for the
rising
orange Moon

this is not a "dream" post

i can tell that i am still depressed
when i don't have the energy
to write
even though
my last dream was very detail-rich
and interesting

i'm looking at you, Hanif

when you read an
astounding
poet
and all of your subsequent thoughts
are in
lyrical cadence/
it is the inspiration that
centers you

quoting truth

"But I can say right here and now that the absence of a day in honor of the end of slavery in this country is shameful, which to my mind makes it unjust - the opposite of justice." - Ntozake Shange in the essay 'justice', from lost in language & sound. *POW*

Craft Beer: 2017

• “Brrr Hoppy Red” ale – Widmer Brothers Brewing, Portland OR
• “Unearthed”barrel-aged stout – Long Trail Brewing Co., Bridgewater Corners VT
• “Christmas Morning” coffee bean conditioned gingerbread stout- Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Richmond VA
• “Autumn Maple” brown ale – The Bruery, Placentia CA
• “Sunday Mole” Imperial stout – Weyerbacher Brewing Co., Easton PA
• “Orange Is The New Stout”Imperial chocolate stout – collaboration: Center Of The Universe Brewing Co., Ashland VA & O'Connor Brewing Co., Norfolk VA
• Bourbon Barrel German Chocolate Cake lager- Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery, Goochland VA
• Shiner Cold-brew Coffee Ale – Spoetzl Brewery, Shiner TX
• “Promise Gone Aw-Rye” red rye IPA – Rogue Ales, Newport OR
• “Live Wire”IPA – Ocelot Brewing Co., Dulles VA
• “Invisible Art” bourbon barrel-aged black IPA – Adroit Theory Brewing Co., Sterling VA
• “6^th Seal” chocolate stout – Apocalypse Ale Works, Forest VA
• “People's Porter” - Foothills Brewing, Winston Salem NC
• “Evil 8” Belgian-style Dubbel – Blue Mountain Brewery, Nelson County VA
• “Hotbox Coffee Porter” - Oskar BluesBrewery, Longmont CO
• “Ripper” pale ale – Stone Brewing, Escondido CA
• “Rabid Duck” Russian Imperial stout – The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery, Farmville NC
• “Dark Hours” Genius Loci Series: Imperial stout – Lost Rhino Brewing Co., Ashburn VA
• “Fresh Tracks” pale ale – Harpoon Brewery, Boston MA & Windsor VT
• “Roundhouse” India red ale w/honey – Bell's Brewery, INC., Comstock MI
• “Devil's Tramping Ground Tripel” unfiltered ale – Aviator Brewing Co., Fuquay-Varina NC
• “Partner Ships: Imperial Brown IPA” - collaboration: Clipper City Brewing Co., Baltimore MD & Stone Brewing...
• “Frootwood” maple syrup bourbon barrel-aged cherry ale – Founders Brewing Co., Grand Rapids MI
• “Selassie” Imperial stout w/Ethiopian coffee beans & vanilla – Omnipollo at Crazy Mountain Brewing Co., Denver CO
• “Hopfen Ale” German-style IPA – Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Mills River, NC
• Peach IPA – Sierra Nevada...
• “Dark Hollow” Bourbon barrel-aged Imperial stout w/Chocolate & coffee – Blue Mountain Barrel House, Arrington VA
• 2016 “Black Note Stout” Bourbon barrel-aged – Bell's...
• “Uber Home” DIPA – Ocelot...
• “Pounding Trees” DIPA – 3 Stars Brewing Co., Washington D.C.
• “Headspace” IPA – Kindred Spirit Brewing, Richmond VA
• “Superb India Pale Ale” - Alewerks Brewing Co., Williamsburg VA
• “Hop Cooler” citrus IPA – Ninkasi Brewing Co., Eugene OR
• “Archdruid” red ale aged in Irish Whiskey Barrels-Clown Shoes Beer, Ipswich MA
• “Tangerine Quad” Belgian-style Quadrupel Ale w/tangerine peel aged in Bourbon Barrels-Avery Brewing Co., Boulder, CO
• “Nasty Woman” Tequila Barrel Tripel Ale – Lickinghole Creek...
• “Minute Man” IPA – Three Notch'd Brewing Co., Charlottesville, VA
• “Marshal Zhukov's” vanilla hazelnut Imperial stout- Cigar City Brewing, Tampa FL
• Coffee Stout- Schlafly Brewery, St. Louis MI
• “Hop commander IPA” - Captain Lawrence Brewing Co., Elmsford NY
• “Pernicious” IPA – Wicked Weed Brewing, Asheville NC
• “Enjoy By 04.20.17” IPA – Stone Brewing...
• Honey Rosemary Hefeweizen – The Farm Brewery, Broad Run VA
• Blueberry Hefeweizen – The Farm Brewery...
• Red IPA – The Farm Brewery...
• Coffee IPA – The Farm Brewery...
• Tangerine IPA – The Farm Brewery...
• Mosaic IPA – The Farm Brewery...
• Triple Berry Blonde – The Farm Brewery...
• Prototype: KA-1 – Adroit Theory...
• Prototype: KA-2 – Adroit Theory...
• Prototype: KA-3 - Adroit Theory...
• EBK (warning shot) DIPA – Adroit Theory...
• B/A/Y/S Bourbon Barrel Chocolate Cherry stout – Adroit Theory...
• "War Cannibal" Imperial milk stout aged in maple whisky barrels - Adroit Theory...
• Mexican Cake Imperial Biscotti Break ale w/coffee,cinnamon,almonds, cocoa nibs, vanilla & habanero peppers – Evil Twin Brewing / Westbrook Brewing Co., Mount Pleasant SC
• Freak Of Nature DIPA – Wicked Weed...
• Fresh Roast ale – Rogue Ales...

*update coming soon*

Books Read: 2017

• The Black Panthers edited by Bryan Shih & Yohuru Williams, 2016
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, 2014
• From #BLACKLIVESMATTER To Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, 2016
• The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin, 2012
• Freedom Is A Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, And The Foundations Of A Movement by Angela Y. Davis, 2016
• Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon To White America by Michael Eric Dyson, 2017
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, 2012
• Love Is Love edited by Marc Andreyko, 2016
• Universal Harvester by John Darnielle, 2017
• Paper Girls: Volume 2, by Brian Vaughn & Cliff Chiang, 2016
• The Blood Of Emmett Till by Timothy B. Tyson, 2017
• We Gon' Be Alright by Jeff Chang, 2016
• Iscariot by S.M. Vidaurri, 2015
• Giant Days: Vol. 1, by John Allison & Lisa Treiman, 2015
• Are Prisons Obsolete? By Angela Y. Davis, 2003
• A Gate At The Stairs by Lorrie Moore, 2009
• Phonogram Vol. 3 :The Immaterial Girl by Kieron Gillen, 2016
• Adulthood Is A Myth: Sarah's Scribbles Vol. 1 by Sarah Andersen, 2016
• The Sisters Are Alright: Changing The Broken Narrative Of Black Women In America by Tamara Winfrey Harris, 2015
• Invisible Man, Got The Whole World Watching by Mychal Denzel Smith, 2016
• Negroland: A Memoir by Margo Jefferson, 2015
• Parable Of The Sower by Octavia Butler,
• Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship With A Remarkable Man by William Shatner w/David Fisher, 2016
• Drift: The Unmooring Of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow, 2012 **re-read**
• Revolutionary Women: A Book Of Stencils by the Queen of the Neighborhood Collective, 2010
• Nightwood by Djuna Barnes, 1937
• Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, 2017
• Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Damian Duffy & John Jennings, 2017
• Slam! : Issue #1 by Pamela Ribbon
• Slam!: Issue #2 by P. Ribbon
• Slam!: Issue #3 by Ribbon
• Giant Days: Vol. 2 by Allison, Tremain & Max Sarin, 2016
• Giant Days: Vol. 3 by Allison & Sarin, 2016
• Saga: Vol. 7 by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples, 2017
• Lumberjanes, Vol. 5: Band Together by Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters, Carolyn Nowak, Grace Ellis & Brooke A. Allen, 2016
• The Walking Dead, Vol. 27: The Whisperer War by Robert kirkman, 2017
• Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 by Eric Foner, 1988/2014
• The Book Of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor, 2015
• Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor, 2014
• Speed Enforced By Aircraft by Richard Peabody, 2012
• Blue Suburban Skies by Richard Peabody, 2012
• Binti by Nnedi Okorafor, 2015
• Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor, 2017
• Bitch Planet, Book Two: President Bitch by Kelly Sue DeConnick & Valentine De Landro, 2017
• The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams, 1989 (re-read)
• Stone Of Farewell by Tad Williams, 1990 (re-read)
• To Green Angel Tower by Tad Williams, 1993 (re-read)
• The Heart Of What Was Lost by Tad Williams, 2017
• The Witchwood Crown by Tad Williams, 2017
• The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore, 2017
• Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls In Schools by Monique W. Morris, 2017
• Wet Moon 2: Unseen Feet by Sophie Campbell, 2016
• The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship by Patricia Bell-Scott, 2016
• Ruins. by Peter Kuper, 2015
• Raven Rock by Garrett M. Graff, 2017
• The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin, 2015
• The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin, 2016
• Killers Of The Flower Moon: The Osage Murders & the Birth Of The FBI by David Grann, 2017
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, 2009
• The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 4: Rising Action by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie & Matthew Wilson, 2016
• The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 5: Imperial Phase Part 1 by Gillen, McKelvie & Wilson, 2017
• The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin, 2017
• At Mama's Knee: Mothers And Race In Black & White by April Ryan, 2017
• The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy, 2017
• Phonogram, Vol. 2: The Singles Club by Gillen & McKelvie, 2013
• Giant Days, Vol. 4 by Allison & Sarin, 2017
• Giant Days, Vol. 5 by Allison & Sarin, 2017
• Queen & Country, Vol. 1: Operation Broken Ground by Greg Ruka & Steve Rolston, 2002
• Paper Girls, Vol. 3 by Vaughan & Chiang, 2017
• Lumberjanes, Vol. 6: Sink Or Swim by Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh & Carey Pietsch, 2017
• Descender, Vol. 3: Singularities by Lemire & Nguyen, 2016
• Descender, Vol. 4: Orbital Mechanics by Lemire & Nguyen, 2017
• Monstress, Vol. 2: The Blood by Marjorie M. Liu & Sana Takeda, 2017
• Noumenon by Marina J. Lostetter, 2017
• The Walking Dead, Vol. 28: A Certain Doom by Kirkman, 2017
• Maus: A Survivor's Tale, Vol. 1: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman, 1986
• Maus: A Survivor's Tale, Vol. 2: And Then my Troubles Began, by Spiegelman, 1992
• I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman In Guatemala by Rigoberta Menchu, edited by Elizabeth Burgos-Debray, 1984
• From Here To Eternity: Traveling The World To Find The Good Death by Caitlin Doughty, 2017
• Sourdough by Robin Sloan, 2017
• Smoke Gets In Your Eyes: & Other Lessons From The Crematory by Caitlin Doughty, 2014
• Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse by Todd R. Clear, 2007
• Shaler's Fish by Helen Macdonald, 1997
• We Were Eight Years In Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2017
• We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2012
• Reckless Daughter: A Portrait Of Joni Mitchell by David Yaffee, 2017
• Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor, 2017
• My Favorite Thing Is Monsters: Book One by Emil Ferris, 2016
• Tainted Witness: Why We Doubt What Women Say About Their Lives by Leigh Gilmore, 2017
• American Fire: Love, Arson, And Life In A Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse, 2017
• Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, 2017
• Strange Weather by Joe Hill, 2017
• Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, 2014
• I Can't Breathe: A Killing On Bay Street by Matt Taibbi, 2017
• Lumberjanes, Vol. 7: A Bird's Eye View by Watters, 2017
• The Underground Girls Of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg, 2014
• Bingo Love by Tee Franklin & Jen St-Onge, 2017
• The Doomsday Machine: Confessions Of A Nuclear War Planner by Daniel Ellsberg, 2017
• The Inner Life Of Animals by Peter Wohlleben, 2017

poem

mine is a visual poem with evergreen raindrops
on glass
and
abandoned bicycles in
the woods

poem

brief moments spent wondering the sound
dried leaves moving across asphalt/as wind
caresses my face and
hair/ dances

Poem

even in the bright blue
i search for Moon sliver
   setting Sickle
(and think of cosmic kilonova
birthday
BOOM)

poem

Walk with cloud mind and crow calling blue skies
give ground, but forward
passing aromas of lives lived
seeking, yes - but being now

poem

my dreams from the past
lie scattered on the floor
subconscious debris

poem

vulture shadow moves
diagonally
as i stride
North,
milkweed pods ripening
in my reveries

Dream

i go to Kay's house to wait for them to come home...i am in my jammies & robe...i go in the bathroom and notice that i am having trouble seeing, it's as if a hand were over my eyes...i look in the mirror and see that my face is all swollen around the eyes, and very red...i grow concerned and try to rinse my eyes with cold water, which does feel good, but the swelling does not ease and actually gets worse...i think that i should go home, but how could i drive when i cannot fully see?

dream

my friend has driven down the snowy driveway, so now i will attempt it in my van. i call Rhiannon to me, and she runs and jumps aboard. navigate some tight turns, and then here we go! get stuck immediately...talking with a friend, and then decide to try again as the snow seems to be melting somewhat. and down the driveway to the road we go.

dream

a co-worker gives me a message that a customer wrote on a reusable shopping bag. it intrigues and amuses me. i walk down the sidewalk of the shop-lined street thinking that i might see him, and converse. as i walk, i think that i should not seem to be looking for something, so as to not draw the wrong type of attention, i am actually trying to keep a low profile. i am carrying two plastic bags with something in them, and another bag/backpack...it has become dusk, and the Moon is beautiful in the sky, with clouds passing by. a woman passes by me and speaks a friendly salutation. she pays me a compliment and smiles broadly-she has an instrument/guitar slung across her shoulder. i call out a reply - thinking about how when i get to the bottom of the hill, i will turn around and walk back...just then i hear a call-out, and see a friend of mine emerge from a wooded path off to me left on the other side of the road...we meet, and talk, she asks me what's up, and expresses surprise at seeing me out & about at this time, since i am so often at work at this time...[as i am getting ready to reply, i awaken]