BASEBALL AT BENNINGTON LAST WEEKEND.

THE MILLER CLASSIC RECAP

Written by Dalena Frost and Ani Kazarian.

The rain poured the night before and threatened to do the same the whole of that morning. Dark clouds loomed overhead and pools of water filled the crevices throughout campus, taunting the Bennington community with the possibility of canceling the tenth annual softball game. Fortunately, the lawn dried and the clouds cleared just before the proposed time. Students and faculty eagerly awaited the game. Some warmed up for the game and some filled the lawn just outside Commons to watch. Sadly, there weren't enough poet players so the team was divided by fiction with poetry and nonfiction together. There were several great plays, almost home runs, and close calls. The players teased each other and laughed while the crowd cheered. Eventually poetry and nonfiction won. Celebrations were had with cold water and the Tenth Annual Miller Classic Softball Game t-shirts. A great game on a luminous and hot afternoon.

THE THRILL IS GONE...

I never knew why folks who were proud Americans could never let go of the Confederate flag.  We had a Civil war to protect our country from falling into sections and regions. Red and blue states might as well be another way of saying - Slave or Free. Once again black blood must be spilled in order for people to be reminded of how this nation came to be and the country that it is. Another Crispus Attucks moment? Maybe some folks were more afraid of the Blacks than the British. Tell me a bedtime story and let me sleep with my eyes wide open.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ifr4csoOY

I must be missing something. Every time there is an act of racism we expect President Obama to say or do something. What is going to happen when he is no longer in office?  Will we return to our "colored" ways?  I don't think so. Our struggle consists of highs and lows. People make history by what they do - or refuse to do. Everyday one's faith is tested. Everyday a Middle Passage and one more lash of slavery. One person is not going to wave a wand and correct our savage selves. If you think raising a family is difficult, try raising a nation. America suffers from the Terrible Twos. We keep playing the dozens. You want to know what I think?  Ask your Mama! Yeah - that's a Langston line. Dig or be dug. Too many of us dying these days. Time to fight and live. Live and fight. No excuses and no surprise after victory or defeat.

Everyday the Confederate flag flies in many parts of our nation.
Everyday another Civil War.
Everyday black people struggle to be free

AN OLD INTERVIEW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOem8Hv89mI

THE RETURN OF THOSE GOOD OLD RADIO DAYS

Right now in the early stages of doing a new radio show.  Working with Katie Davis and Jeannette Woods. Saturday we recorded a long "kitchen conversation" with Andy Shallal. Fun sitting in his house recording what is often "crazy laughter" when we get together. Katie is the genius behind this. Jeannette has the skills to make it all happen.

Photo below was taken on Columbia Road around the corner from Andy's home.
Katie Davis (L), Jeannette Woods (R):

BOOK WORLD

The new Silver Spring Public Library opened yesterday and it was filled with many book people. I've been waiting for this building to open. It's going to be a favorite destination point. It's a place filled with light and comfortable chairs and tables. Yesterday the children's section reminded me of a Disney space. Young parents are going to delighted with this new library. Oh, and I saw many adults exiting with hands full of books. Nice to see folks browsing the stacks and not just going to the computer terminals. I met Linda Curvey-Brown, the assistant Branch Manager (see below). Right now she might have one of the best jobs in the world. Well, look for me now and then to be reading or daydreaming in the 4th floor Quiet Room.

MY FATHER AS PROPHET
AND PROVIDER

          for Egberto Miller

He did not speak
often. I only heard
him when he spoke.
My fear of him
rewarded my silence.
His love was a gentle
terror. Out of respect
I was always good.
The fierce light in his
eyes a reminder that
my life would never
succumb to darkness.


 - E. Ethelbert Miller

From FALTA DE AR by E. Ethelbert Miller
Medula, 2014, Portugal.

REMARKS MADE BY E. ETHELBERT MILLER AT THE JUNETEENTH BOOK FESTIVAL SYMPOSIUM

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, JUNE 19, 2015

Two excerpts: 

I.

It’s always good now and then to assess the state of African American literature. What does this mean?  First, it should mean a close examination of all genres. Second, it might consist of a study of the work of writers of significance as well as writers of applause. By applause, I mean those writers who win mainstream acceptance and awards. Third, the state of African American literature should also be evaluated while taking into consideration technological and economic changes within our society. These changes can have a key influence in determining how our literature is produced, distributed and consumed. Fourth, we can look at the literature through the eyes and works of literary critics whose work attempts to offer clarity and understanding to the body of work created by African Americans at any specific time in history. Finally, the state of African American literature often mirrors the social and political transition and transformation of global black culture.

II.

Today there is an unregulated freedom of expression – which mirrors the Internet. What we are now witnessing might be the true "Poetry of the People."

Where poet and critic Larry Neal,  once pondered the possibility of black poets being as popular as James Brown, today Common might just be common to all of us.

Meanwhile, what cannot be overlooked is the impact the organization Cave Canem is having. This organization founded by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady might best be compared to NASA. Instead of training astronauts for space, Cave Canem is helping to create literary stars. 

BLUES FOR A SOUTH CAROLINA CHURCH

Hatred always seems to find a new destination. Now Charleston finds 9 slayed "prayers" in a church. No Sacred place. One man with a gun must not destroy love. Let God be our witness...yet forgiveness keeps getting difficult to lift. Now I understand why my mother was always walking around the house saying - " Lord, give me strength."

SUCH HAPPINESS SHOULD LEAP FROM A DREAM

          ( for Rebecca King)

 

After the storm the old trees

could be found sitting in a circle,

telling the children about the first rain,

and the day the wind disappeared because

it fell in love with a cloud.

 

They say every story remembers its beginnings

and no story ever ends. If one sits by a river

long enough, 90 years of life will leap from a dream.  

 

Each year no different from a star – a moment

of glitter, as if Time had lived just to touch one’s lips.

 

 

E. Ethelbert Miller

June 17, 2015

 

NEW BOOK

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates In the one hundred fifty years since the end of the Civil War and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, the story of race and America has remained a brutally simple one, written on flesh: It is the story of the black body, exploited to create the country’s foundational wealth, violently segregated to unite a nation after a civil war, and, today, still disproportionately threatened, locked up, and killed in our streets. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all—regardless of race—honestly reckon with our country’s fraught racial history and free ourselves from its burden? Between the World and Me (Spiegel & Grau, September 8, 2015) is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer those questions, presented in the form of a letter to his adolescent son. More ▶

POTUS?

So who will be the next president of the US after Obama?

There are a number of people running who have no chance of becoming president.

Why can't they be honest with themselves? Some of these candidates are not even long shots.

There are a few people running who probably have family members that won't vote for them.

These folks should stop before the summer gets hot and save other people's money:

Lincoln Chafee

Ben Carson

Ted Cruz

Carly Florina

Mike Huckabee

Donald Trump

Bernie Sanders

Some people run only to be considered for the VP position on the ticket.

Here are possible VP picks:

Martin O'Malley

George Pataki

Rick Santorum

So who is looking presidential in the pack?  This could change but let's go with a shortlist:

Hillary Clinton

Jeb Bush

Rick Perry

Small News:

U.S. relations with Venezuela is improving.

TIME TO CHOP WOOD - WASH HANDS

I was always curious about those lynching photographs. Faces turned towards the camera as a body hung limp and burned beyond recognition. How did those folks go home and make love?  What did they talk about at breakfast the next morning?  I read comments in the social media about different issues and folks seem to keep rope near their computers. People live with so much anger even against the little things. Everyone wants their truth to be the only way of seeing...
I see why monks tend only to their bowls.
Time to chop wood - wash hands.

VOTE FOR RASKIN

I was at David Hart's home in Bethesda yesterday. It was a wonderful support gathering for Jamie Raskin who is running for Congress (Maryland). The amazing Raskin makes a word like progressive mean something again. Here is a politician with intellect, warmth, compassion and charm. At times he reminds me of Paul Wellstone. I can't vote in Maryland but I can cheer from DC. I wrote a check for Jamie. What about you?  www.jamieraskin.com

FIRST LADY MIKKI

Yes, there are levels and degrees of love. Today in Virginia I caught up with Mikki, my first wife. We met on the campus of Howard University back in 1969 and got married in 1972. Mikki was from Chicago. She was the person who told me about the poet Don L. Lee. Her father played bass with Erroll Garner and came from Clarksdale, Mississippi. It was Mikki who inspired my early poems. This afternoon she told me a few stories that needed to pull a good suit from the back of a closet. Boy, the things a first wife will never forget.

ROBO-RACE

As we begin to move quickly into the Robotic Era it's interesting to find humans still wrestling with what it means to be human. Issues of race and gender still occupy much of our thinking. Space travel and trips to Mars, along with major changes in the automobile and transportation industry are still stories that compete with the sports page for attention.  How Kanye West can be in the news every week is a good indication of where our sea level is. After Ferguson and much talk about race matters, it seems it's time to take a Dolezal for our headaches. Are we going to return to Race 001? OK class, let's define blackness. Well, perhaps it's a good thing Dolezal's first name is Rachel and not Imani or Nia. Nothing worse than someone hiding behind a name too - right? Don't employers look at applications and immediately can tell if the woman applying for a job is black by her name? Too often we defined blackness this way - throw in a hairstyle and a tan. We continue to want to have a dialogue around race in almost every community. Might it be possible that Dolezal overdosed? Did she attend Howard University (once called the Mecca) and become confused by all the Friday dancing on the Yard? Did she see black students of every color and ask - why not me? Did her hips move too much?This seems like a Hip Hop turn of events, a story following days of transgender Jenner articles. Yes, blackness will be viewed in a different manner when our Ancient future arrives. If we can have countless discussions about post-racial topics - maybe we should stir the pot and simply taste the gumbo. I like that Rachel Dolezal's parents reside in Montana. That's big sky country. A place where I hear the night sky is black and beautiful and filled with stars. Sounds like a place I might want to be from. Call me Montana not Miller. Let me "pass" the days away.

I spent yesterday at the Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School in NE. I had a chance to meet with Naomi Ayala's poetry students. Naomi is my best literary buddy in DC. This woman is remarkable and is forever changing lives. She read my poem about Oscar Romero that Nancy Morejon had recently translated into Spanish. It was the first time I "heard" the translation. I read poems by Charles Bukowski and Ahmos Zu-Bolton. I spoke about the need to love language, writing to extend tradition, and having an appreciation to read the poetry of other poets. The room was filled with warmth, laughter and food. Sunil Freeman who works at The Writer's Center was also on the program and shared a couple of his poems.

Sunil, Lupe and Ethelbert

K-WALL

Kirsten Porter who is editing my Collected Poems (due out in 2016) sent me this picture today. It shows the first section of my book pasted on a wall in her house. I like how her dog Aggie is keeping watch.