Do Cowboys Dance?

Poems from Kin'Lin for the Soul by Beverly Jenai

Astral Traveling

Thoughts of you making love to me

often make me feel illegal in the

euphoria of it all

While visions of crackling lightning storms

give off sporadic dreamlike sights

of firecrackers on a 4th of July night

of your hands all over me

and thoughts of you tracing my spine

as it winds down my back

give me spasms of mental delights

Thoughts of your mouth

touching caressingly my lips

moves me and soothes me

Cause I can feel you encircling

and embracing the globe of me

from Vermont to Seattle

from Wisconsin to the Pacific Ocean

while touching the New Mexico of me.

not missing the New Orleans of me too

causing breathless palpitations

while being showered

with the feelings of your powers

all leaving me to lengthy

and shivering thoughts

of electrical thunderstorms

pulsating within my veins

that will not stop

* * * * *

The Escape

Didn't you realize?

God sent me to you

To love you

and take away whatever pain is left

and to cover you with the

blossoms of his grace

to help you to remember

how capable you are of intimacy and love

the kind that leaves you breathless

while reminding you of how special you really are

and the reason you were placed here on this earth

Didn't you realize God sent me to you

to tell you you no longer need to feel anger

and to help meet your further needs

'cause he's sorry

really sorry

you didn't quite understand

his plans of his deeds

But instead you decided to

leave me behind

and retreat further

into the refuges of your mind

* * * * *

To: Whoever's Next

May I love you?

May I be real with you?

May i feel your heart's beating

when laying next to you?

May i weep on you?

May I show you my fears?

Are you strong enough

to let my sorrows

and sometimes weaknesses

spill and sometimes appear

and sometimes even

seep all over you?

May I be with you?

Can we share intimacies

secrets

forgiveness

visions and intellect

around the clock

maybe even our polluted air

If so, would you put

your oxygen mask on me

and let us breathe as one?

And then let others

color us

all in between the lines

with adoration

and with wonderment

of how we accomplished this

* * * * *

Kin'lin for the Soul

(For Those Who've Loved, and Dare to Love Again)

Poetic Renderings by Beverly Jenai

* * * * *

Bev Jenai Bio

Responsibilities were at the forefront of my life until I became a permanent resident of Sedona, AZ in January 2005 after retiring early from the University of Michigan Health System. After a trip to Ghana in that year, I seriously pursued my dream of becoming a serious artist. “When sub consciousness becomes consciousness, the seeds in our winter clad selves turn to flowers, and the silent life in us sings with all its might.”

As an artist . . . I AM now singing.

I guess if one cares to label me, I’m mainly a figurative artist who tries to pick up the tiniest of nuances/movements in the faces and figures of my subjects. Infused on the foreheads of most of my paintings/pastels are blends of many strong earthy hues of color, which Sedona embraces, and then creatively transfers to inhabitants. I’ve been strongly influenced by the old masters, Henry Moore especially, and contemporary artists such as J D Challenger, Simmie Knox, Hung Liu, Gary Grier, and Charles Bibbs.

My ethnic kinships and respect are for the many African American women who sculpted during the 20s & 30s. At that critical time, many in order to find acceptance, were forced to move to Europe, especially Paris in order to grow and continue their studies, i.e., Augusta Savage, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, and Meta Vaux Warwick Fuller. My admiration for the contemporary sculptors Eddie Dixon (African American sculptor of the Buffalo Soldiers) and Dr. John M. Soderberg here in the Verde Valley is beyond measurement.

Trained as a social worker, my studies now are being transferred into art, which has always been my first passion and love. I believe my diverse family background, and my travels have been the pallet from which I now spring and my main educator, for which many of my paintings and sculpting works reflect. I AM now creatively home at last . . . however my past was/is my pavement and the structure that now enable me to be the artist I am today. I’m told my works are “refreshingly different.”

I’ve studied art at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI, with Jon Lockard, a professor at the University of Michigan, Sculpting at Purdue University and the Ann Arbor Center for Creative studies with Norma Penchansky. My quest towards perfection in the arts continues here at the Sedona Art Center where I’ve studied with Gretchen Lopez, Joyce Killebrew, and Jan Sitts.— Beverly Myers

* * * * *

posted 14 June 2008