I was glancing through the ocean of notes on my pack rack library, and came across this very interesting poem written by a friend. It is short and appropriately fitting.
———————-
Torture Terrible Torture
Terrible Torture
Or horrible venture?
Rather than spoil
Turn down turmoil
Under pressure
Remain calm
Except for harm
© Alik 1992
Who is she?
She is my sister, my mother, my friend
my body and my homie!
She is my true blood
my main squeeze.
She is the one who knows,
the one who does understand!
Well…, at least she pretends for a day, an hour, minute and second
for weeks gone down.
With the full force of an atomic bomb,
she marches in with a vengeance at whatever and whenever,
and stays in even if not invited.
She is your good friend,
a sincere agent
day and night
without a price.
She does not judge but listens intensively
and does not blame
just praises.
She does not interrupt but is always ready for the next round
She does not instruct and never hangs up – the
phone, there is.
She always remembers your address and always stays in touch
and is always the first to arrive
Always there!
She is my sister, my mother, my friend
my partner, my cousin, my aunt, my grandma;
she is my body, my homie, my sista
she is my true blood and
true self!
She is a woman and a friend!
@Angela Aguiar
Last Year I had a list;
a long list, a looooooong, long list.
I had a plan, a mile high all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge;
I dreamed about it,
I wrote about it and I virtually lived it
until it all went down the drain like soap water;
not the ideas but the dots on the list.
I put them all down in a cleaned, nice looking piece of paper and
one by one I intended to cross them over
but I didn’t.
I curved a pumpkin and put it in a mixer,
I made waves of promises,
sands of charts and sheaf of wheat,
blueprints of rocks
paraphernalia of my own desire
but I never crossed them over.
I envisioned stuff and made my homework,
I danced at my own tunes and rummaged the great Gods.
I dreamed big and big I did,
I did it and did it all that
I was going to do this and shuffle that
I was going to ride the boardwalks,
hang from the chandelier,
drink water from a spoon,
kick some ass and survive.
I was going to be God and miracles I expected
I was going to heaven for Christ sake
but I didn’t.
I didn’t because it got interrupted like always,
it got derailed in a exclamation point;
it got interrupted, thrown in the basket like a cartoon in heat,
discarded like a piece of garbage,
and poof,
it hit the roof.
It smelled like cinnamon and
it was thick like a twig,
slick like a stick;
it went down before the roasters were up and up before I could sneeze
but I was not discouraged.
I was not broken,
I was not saddened;
I did not get lost or wandered off in the park.
I kept cool and took a sabbatical,
unexpected it was but vibrant and much needed brake,
it gave me.
So this year, I decided not to have one;
I am not making any plans.
I am stopping the madness and am not having a list!
Dog, pig, turkey, potato or any shape or structure it will land,
I decided not to write one down or
dream about one but
to sense one.
I decided to have a pallid pretend list,
vintage checkerboard and crossword puzzles, and
check them down as they come in bundles or whatever way they feel like;
and I will just follow along masqueraded like a mermaid.
It will not be totally vain but a self-indulging atlas with cardball and all.
In 2009 my friend you will be a year older, so what?!
It will not be a headache but a beach, a footnote, the price of a tag.
It will not be a nuisance but a beacon,
a semicolon, a talent of your own trait.
There will be skies of unpredictiveness, hoist of debris,
mountains to toss, pedals to totter but
don’t falter, just keep going;
don’t load whatever into the truck, just wave it off,
keep moving and say thank you.
Don’t be just a man or just a woman,
be a good man and a good woman,
be a better person.
Don’t preach your better sermon, preach your superior sermon;
don’t wait for the sky to fall but reach for the sky – as rhetoric it may sound,
go get it;
don’t bring in the clouds, cross over,
grin;
don’t cry a river,
do what your life content and life desire.
Be yourself and let it pour;
don’t ever stop, just keep going;
Challenge yourself
don’t make any list but
the list!
ludlum drive 
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