July 19, 2007

Poetry Friday: Hope & Glory - the 51st (dream) state

Today, Poetry Friday is hosted at NYC Teacher's place, and the topics are wide, far ranging -- and original and beautiful and thought-provoking and heart inspiriting and flat out AWESOME today -- really, as they are every Friday. The 7 Imps, however, are the only ones with nude poetry.

Just thought you should know.

excerpt from the 51st (dream) state by Sekou Sundiata:



What if we were Life


Or Liberty


Or the Pursuit of something new?



Between the rocks below


and the stars above




What if we were composed by Love?



And what if we could show


that what we dream


is deeper than what we know?



Suppose if something does not live


in the world


that we long to see


then we make it ourselves


as we want it to be



What if we are Life


Or Liberty


and the Pursuit of something new?



And suppose the beautiful answer


asks the more beautiful question,



Why don't we get our hopes up too high?


What don't we get our hopes up to high?


High!



Sekou Sundiata, the eloquent and much loved poet, performer, artist activist and educator, passed away this past Wednesday, and I am grateful to the lovely people who brought his work to my attention. This is from a musical and spoken word performance designed to bring audiences together to envision a more perfect Union, and was still being performed until this week.

So much of what we find, we discover when it is fading or almost lost.

What if we began to search sooner?

Here's to hopes set high.

4 comments:

Sara said...

"So much of what we find, we discover when it is fading or almost lost." Yes. I hope you're writing about that...one day, sooner or later.

Saints and Spinners said...

I like the combination of poem + graphics. Thanks!

Andromeda Jazmon said...

I've jus discovered him too, too late. :( Thanks for posting this today.

"And what if we could show

that what we dream

is deeper than what we know?"

divatobe said...

Wow. This is much of what has been discussed in my philosophy class this week. The ability to create spaces for shifts in paradigms....which is a complex way of saying "hope high"

I love this poem.