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On Almost Meeting Alice Walker
By Mary Weems
She is stature-small, wears
the universe
and comfortable shoes. Center stage,
the ancestors dance around her like the fire
next time, their spirits the light coming
from the ceiling, the voices that echo
when the distance-learning children
ask their questions.
I am listening to the white and black people
address her as Alice, wondering if they think
they are lost in the looking glass
of a fairy tale where respect disappears
in the drink that takes that Alice
to the Mad Hatter.
In the live audience, all
of us reach for her breath; a wisdom
of purple, solitude, and love
slowly reversing evil, one word at a time;
like a water drop on a mountain
timeless, and as much a part of the world
as her wire rimmed glasses, her poignant
morality, a wildflower—unbowed.
12-7-07 |
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Kwansaba for James Brown
By Mary E. Weems
James Brown brought God some funk cologne
made his head tilt ace deuce, hair
fried, dyed, laid to the side, even
his angels wanted hats with chains, capes
a chance to make Maceo hit it!
At night brother Brown writes freedom! on
wings sends love
South—with some skin. |
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Say it Loud: Poems about James Brown.
Edited by: Mary E. Weems, and Thomas Sayers Ellis. We grew up on
James Brown’s hit me! When he danced every young Black
man wanted to move, groove and look like him. Mr. Brown
wasn’t called the hardest workingman in show business
because he wasn’t. Experiencing a James Brown show was
like getting your favourite soul food twice, plus desert.
His songs, like black power fists you could be proud of
and move to at the same time. When Mr. Brown sang make
it funky we sweated even in the wintertime. Losing him
was like losing somebody in our family. This is a shout
out for poems about the impact James Brown had on our
lives. Poems that will help people remember,
honour, and
celebrate his legacy. Don’t be left in a cold sweat,
send us your old and new James Brown poems today.
Submission Guidelines: 3-5 Unpublished and/or
published poems with acknowledgement included. No longer
than 73 lines Deadline:
April 30, 2008
(Receipt not
postmark) Send hard copies along with a Word Document
and short bio on a CD to: Dr. Mary E. Weems / English
Department / John Carroll University / 20700 North Park
Blvd. / University Hts., Ohio 44118 / Send via e-mail
attachment (Word Documents Only) to:
mweems45@sbcglobal.net, and
mikeoatman@hotmail.com
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Mary E. Weems,
Ph.D. is an accomplished poet, playwright, author,
editor, performer, motivational speaker, and
imagination-intellect theorist. Weems has been widely
published in journals, anthologies, and several books
including
Public Education and the
Imagination-Intellect: I Speak from the Wound in My
Mouth (Lang, 2003), developed from her dissertation
which argues for imagination-intellectual development as
the primary goal of public education. She won the Wick
Chapbook Award for her collection white in 1996, and in
1997 her play Another Way to Dance won the
Chilcote award for The Most Innovative Play by an Ohio
Playwright. Her most recent chapbook
Tampon Class
(Pavement Saw Press, 2005) is in its second printing.
Mary Weems currently teaches in the English and
Education departments at John Carroll University,
and works as a language-artist-scholar in k-12
classrooms, university settings and other venues through
her business Bringing Words to Life.
Contact Professor Weems,
mweems45@sbcglobal.net, for readings and
more information. |
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posted 9
December 2007 |
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