Poetry

Song of Praise

2006-02-09T13:04:37Z

Song of Praise 

Sing the song then, let it sound
through the land. The song that now
keeps us alive, when the other noise

is there to kill us, to deaden our ears
to the song of our selves that
these musicians sing. Let the force of it

make its way into our hearts
in the last days of this era,
this error less human men have made

of our time. The time is now, that we can make
a true song of our selves, a music that will
open all of our I's to each

other. Let such a man as
Jimmy Garrison be your base, you can
build on a music strong as his

& make your time as free as
Elvin's, your touch as McCoy's, your song as
pure as Trane's, sing a song

as strong as theirs, a song of praise
for all the humans on earth, & for the love
of all of our selves'

a song to lead us on
in this cold december
of a long & murderous year

Detroit
December 6, 1965/
New Orleans
December 4, 1995

Spiritual

2006-02-09T12:52:17Z

spiritual 

for linda jones

what is jazz, but spirituals
played thru saxophones
& trombones,

spirit voices
thru metal tubings
& the terrible repetition

of the formal premise, viz.
trance-like
at its best, or boring

when the spirit doth not move,
oh what is blues
but spirituals with a line

removed,
that is structurally,
& in content just a prayer

to the gods of daily life,
to ask the blessing
that the body of another

may lay warm in the bed
beside you at night, and the rent
be paid, and a meal

on the table, with the sheriff
far away
from the scene of the crime -- oh

what is jazz but the registration
of the human personality
in relation to the spiritual,

stripped of literal meaning
but full of sound & portent,
direct as the voice of the gods

detroit
september 15, 1985

It's All Good (Knockout)

2006-02-09T12:39:59Z

It's All Good

For Michael Veling & the 420 Café

[Hey William!
Lemme have one of them reefers.
Thanks, Greg.]

When you go to the Cannabis Cup
in Amsterdam
They got people coming there
from all over the world
bringing the finest marijuana
grown by the seed companies of Holland

for us to smoke
& get high
& enjoy the wonderful atmosphere
of a society
where people just don't care
if you wanna get high--

Hey,
that's just fine,
c'mon over here to the coffeeshop
& order whatever kind of weed
or hash you might wanna smoke
'cuz it's all good--

it's all good
it's all good
it's all good
it's all good
it's all good
it's all good

And by the end of the week
they gonna pick the finest marijuana
that's been submitted
for the testing
of the exalted panel of judges
here at the Cannabis Cup

& guess what? While we're smoking
all those different kinds of weed
& trying to figure out
which one is gonna win the Cup,
every different brand we try
is gonna be the bomb

'cuz it's all good--
it's all good
it's all good
it's all good
it's all good
it's all good

But when we get back to the United States
it ain't gonna be nothing like this.
In the United States
it ain't nothing nice
'cuz they got a war on people like us,
they call it the war on drugs

but they don't give a fuck about drugs,
'cuz if you got a prescription
you can get as loaded
as any human bring
has ever been
on the planet Earth--

They just don't like us getting high
on marijuana
or cocaine
or whatever we might want to use
to effect a certain change
in our consciousness--

Now, I like to get high.
I'm not going to make any bones about it.
I like to get high, & you know,
whatever I like to get high on,
I believe I have a right
to do this--

And you too!
And everybody in our society.
Because people want drugs.
They want to get high.
People have been getting high
ever since there's been people.

They've been fucking,
they've been getting high
& they've been buying some pussy,
you know. These things
have been going on, & they will continue
to go on.

So to keep us from getting high
like we are today
at the Cannabis Cup
They got police--
they got so many police
you couldn't even believe it--

they got electronical equipment,
they got helicopters,
they got exotic chemicals
killing the shit off in the fields,
they got people going out all over South America
& Asia

& all over the world
trying to keep this shit
from getting to the United States
& when it finally does get here,
you got to pay so much money for it
that it's about to drive you crazy--

& that's another thing:
they ain't got nothing
for people like us
in terms of money--if you're an artist
or a poet
or an authentical musician

they ain't got a motherfucking thing for you
except the war on drugs
& a whole bunch of police,
undercover agents,
narco terrorists,
rat bastards & snitches,

they got motherfuckers coming in
through your front window
with guns in their hands--
& ain't none of that shit good,
That's no good
& they wrong for that,

Because the war on drugs
is about building a police state.
The war on drugs
is about building prisons
& filling them up
with more & more people like us

& employing more guards,
employing more cops,
more special agents,
more prosecutors,
more judges,
more wardens,

more jailers,
more parole officers,
more assholes testing you for drugs
so you can get some kind of job
or keep from getting evicted--
the worst elements of our society.

And not just that, but also the way
they've inflated the cost of things--
what you could buy
for 10 dollars in 1973,
now you've gotta pay
a hundred dollars--

you gotta hustle
10 times as hard today
than you did 25 years ago.
You're living by your wits
& you're trying to figure out
how to get some money

without having a job,
but everything costs 10 times as much--
That's severe. And that's one more reason why
we wanna have some drugs--
we're out here living by our wits,
& our heads are sore.

We wanna get home at night
& put something in our heads,
or get up in the morning
& put something in our heads. We don't know

what we're gonna have to face
out here in these streets that day,

& we need a little something
to help us get straight--
like everybody here
at the Cannabis Cup,
smoking that reefer
& having a good time--

'cuz it's all good
it's all good
it's all good
it's all good
it's all good
it's all good

So we gonna forget about America
& enjoy ourselves here in Amsterdam
at the Cannabis Cup
all week long
& on Thanksgiving Day
when they announce

who grew the best pot
for us to smoke
& get high on,
let's give thanks
for every strain of weed
that makes its way here to us

& to all the growers of marijuana
all over the world
& our intrepid comrades
who risk life & limb
to supply us
with the substances we require

& all the warriors
doing time
in the vast penitentiaries
of America
as prisoners
of the War on Drugs--

We salute you all
& thank you once again
for all the good
you have done--
because it's all good,
that's right, it's all good

it's all good
it's all good
it's all good
it's all good
it's all good
IT'S ALL GOOD

New Orleans
November 11-15, 1998/
Amsterdam
November 2002/
New Orleans January 13, 2006
with additional edits & emendations 11-15-98]

White Buffalo Day

2006-02-09T11:15:39Z

IV

White Buffalo Day

A Gathering of the Tribes
for Unity, Peace & Healing

On August 27th, 1995
in the City of New Orleans
on the site of the old battleground
by Claiborne & Poydras
& on the sacred ground
of Congo Square

WHITE BUFFALO CALF WOMAN

was honored
by the prayer of Leonard Peltier
and the pipe
of the elders
of the Thunder Clan

On that day & in those times
the mouth of the Mississippi
opened up & called out
to the 5,000 Nations of Tribes:

to the Eagles of the North,
to the Condors of the South,
to the Phoenix of the East,
& the Falcons of the West,
She called & sang out

UNITY for the Family,
PEACE for the Tribes,
& HEALING
for the wounds
of the Nations

Since 1995
the City of New Orleans
has recognized

WHITE BUFFALO DAY

as a day on which all races
& religions
come together
to pray for harmony.

On that day
the people paraded
from the Superdome at sunset
down Poydras & down Rampart
to Congo Square
in Louis Armstrong Park
where the birth of the

WHITE BUFFALO CALF

& the coming together
of the Mardi Gras Indian Nation
with the Nations of First Peoples
was honored
by the prayer of Dave Chief

& celebrated
in song & dance
by those who hold close
to the teachings
of the

WHITE BUFFALO CALF WOMAN

Join us in New Orleans
every August 27th
for White Buffalo Day

Join us
NOW
and get ready
for
ALL OUT PEACE

To All Our Relations

White Buffalo Prophecy

2006-02-09T11:14:36Z

II

The White Buffalo Prophecy

In the words of Chief Arvol Looking Horse:

"So
we carry
these messages
up to this day

& the belief
[Lakota words]
that some day
there's going to be some signs.

And so the elderly people
have been praying
for the return
of the white

buffalo calf.
And but so
these signs
that we see,

they said there's gonna be like
four
white buffalo calves
to be born

during this time,
& today
there's three of them
that were born.

[& now,
in the spring of 1998,
the fourth white buffalo calf
was born in Michigan]

2

Back in 1890
a way of life
they say
the sacred hoop was broken

at Wounded Knee
&
for a hundred years
we could not practice this way.

And once again,
in 1990,
the seventh generation,
that's when

our way of life,
the sacred hoop
would be mending
the mending

of the sacred hoop
we have to
complete ourself
spiritually.

The last one hundred years
we re not sharing,
there's so many things that
we do not tell,

so we have this
because we are not sharing
everything
is so closed in

& in the seventh generation
once again
people would start
to feel this.

So we live in that time when
the seventh generation
since 1890
the mending of the sacred hoop

is once again
start sharing
& start understanding
this way of life, because

when we do this
in our way, we say that
when somebody is not sharing
& when they carry that pain

then it turns to violence,
anger,
hatred,
& jealousy,

& all the things that
because
we are not teaching it,
we are not sharing them.

But
when we start
doing
the ceremonies,

we let go of that pain,
& we feel good
inside,
spiritually.

So these spiritual
connections
that we have
today,

we have to really
think about
not only ourselves, but
all things

the two-legged,
the four-legged,
the winged ones,
the ones that crawl.

We say
Mitakuye Oyasin
To All
My Relations

So I m really thankful
that there's a lot of good things
that's happening,
& I m very thankful to be here

3

This is an historical moment
for First Nations. For our people,
the birth
of the female white buffalo calf

signifies
that many changes
are coming
to the world.

In 1890,
when the 7th Cavalry
massacred my relatives
at Wounded Knee,

the sacred hoop
of our Nation
was broken. The prophecies
also tell us

that seven generations would pass
before we would be strong enough
to begin mending
the sacred hoop.

We are in the 7th generation
today. In this generation,
healing will begin
not only for ourselves,

our families,
our nations,
but also
for the whole world. We pray

to never see
another Wounded Knee happen
to any peoples
anywhere.

4

The birth
of the white buffalo calf
tells us the time
to begin this mending
of the sacred hoop
is now. Elders
have declared June 21st
to be World Peace

& Prayer Day. On this day,
people around the world
will gather
at their sacred sites

whether it be a church,
a temple,
a mosque,
or a mountain, they will pray

for world peace. If we do not do this,
much hardship is ahead
for all peoples
of all races. We have a short time

to return
to our spiritual roots
& begin respecting our Mother
who we depend on

for the sustenance
of life. Our Mother Earth
is needing to cleanse herself
& it is our duty

to also pray for her
so that we may see life
for our grandchildren
in the 7th generation."

White Buffalo Legend

2006-02-09T11:13:33Z

The White Buffalo Legend

In the words of Chief Arvol Looking Horse:

Hua Kola!

As the 19th Generation
Keeper
of the Sacred
White Buffalo Calf Pipe,

I bring you greetings
from the Lakota,
Dakota
& Nakota Nations....

Our prophesies
have informed us
that changes would come
with the birth

of the white buffalo calf. I believe
our voices & message
will be heard
through the medium of music.

I

The White Buffalo Legend

We have the stories
& the songs
that goes with
the White Buffalo.

A long time ago,
after the creation stories,
the people
were in the Black Hills,

heart
of everything
that is. And the people
used to go around

the Black Hills,
they used to travel
great distances,
but they always came back

to the Black Hills
because that's where
we the people
have come from.

And when they,
the people,
were in the northeast
of the sacred Black Hills,

when
a long time ago, they say that
the camp,
that somebody was sick in the family,

that one person
would hold the whole camp back
& so
they wouldn t move camp.

Then one day
all the buffalo disappeared,
& the game,
so the people at camp

sent scouts out to travel,
& then,
after so many days,
they sent two scouts

out again
& it was,
I bet you,
it was a good day like this.

2

As they were
going back to the camp,
from the west
they saw a cloud of dust.

So
these two scouts said,
as they were talking
back & forth,

the cloud of dust
all of a sudden came over
the ridge
was a woman,

dressed in buckskin,
fringes,
black hair,
& she was carrying a bundle.

So
as she came down
that little dip there
then come up that hill

they both stood up,
said
one said,
She is a beautiful woman,

I must take her for a wife.
But the other said,
[Lakota words]
Surely

The Creator must have sent this woman,
because
the braves are sick,
the people are hungry.

As they were talking back & forth
she came to them
& said
she pointed to the one with the bad thoughts.

She motioned to him,
& he approached her,
& then a cloud
enveloped him.

Then the cloud lifted,
[Lakota words]
[Lakota words]
a skeleton.

Then
she turned to that one,
the other scout,
& said

Go back
to the people
& tell them
what you have seen.

So
he
went back
he thanked her & went back

& told the people.
Then she said, Tell them
tomorrow
I'll be returning

with this bundle.
Prepare an altar with sage,
cherry trees to the four directions,
& a tepee.

So
the people
went
& prepared this.

3

The next day,
sure enough she was coming.
She was singing
these songs.

(And to this day
we have kept these songs.)
And when she came in
to the altar

she laid the bundle down.
She said, This red stone
is the blood of your people,
your ancestors.

And the stem
is the tree of life,
the root nation.
[Lakota words]

We put it together,
you pray,
you humble yourself,
you pray

to the west,
to the north,
east,
south,

your Creator,
& Mother Earth.
In time you will know
the seventh direction.

Then when she left,
before she left them she said,
Only the good
shall see the pipe.

The bad
should not even
see it
or touch it.

So when she went,
she went towards the west
& on the hill
when she turned over

the first time
she stood up
was a black buffalo
young one.

Then the second time
was a red one.
The third time was a yellow,
buckskin.

The fourth time
was a white one.
So the people said,
she was a [Lakota words]

the white
buffalo
calf
woman.

4

So we kept
the stories,
we kept the songs,
& people had dreams

because
the way that we live,
the cycle of life,
that each one of us

would have to live
these moments,
the good
& the bad.

That's what we pray
we pray with these sacred bones
& we try
to clear our minds.

We tell people
we have to have that respect
for these sacred places.
Your walk

has to become sacred.
The people pray at these places
for a long time,
& it becomes sacred.

We live upon Mother Earth,
for a very short time,
then we go
into the spirit world

to meet our relatives
a way of life
so the ceremonies,
when we pray then we look good,

then we see
we have to give away
something,
then we see that

that's the way that life is,
that's the way
what they call holistic
everything

that's the way we
pray,
that's the way
we feel,

that everything is connected.
[Lakota words],
everything
that moves

has a spirit.
So
we have these teachings
at the sacred

sweat lodge
we call it,
you can only see
half,

the other
goes beneath the earth,
& that makes
a complete circle

that is Mother Earth
& our life
when the White
Buffalo Calf Woman,

when she came to the people,
what they said was,
that's the way
we saw things,

that one is good
& one is bad,
& one
had good thoughts

& one had bad thoughts,
that's the way
we are
as common people

.

sing the song

2006-02-09T11:09:23Z

"sing the song"

sing the song a-
gain, we are gaining on it,
looks like every day now
the sun will shine a-

gain, the seasons
change, the seed with-
in the woman
swells & grows to

live within us all,
the seed within our earth
is the seed of all life,
all song is in the air,

the seasons change again,
the song will change,
our lives will change,
the changes will move us

as the music moves us, we
raise our lives to the sun
& sing of it, sing change, sing
the new year in,

it is ours

detroit
december 16, 1967

music by john Coltrane

I Talk with the Spirits

2006-02-09T11:08:18Z

I Talk with the Spirits 

after Rahsaan Roland Kirk

The hand of John Coltrane
seems never to have stopped
guiding his family,
says Leonard Feather,
quoting Alice McLeod Coltrane
in the Los Angeles Times, July 25, 1982:

Just two or three years ago
there was a definite conver-
stion with him,
while I was in a meditative state,
on the subject of life
after death, & living

in the particular existence
that he's in. I noticed
that he did have an instrument
it looked something
like a soprano, but much
longer

& larger & he was
quite absorbed
with looking at its structure.
I asked him, Do you think
about Earth life? He said,
not much.  I said,

Do you consider
that you might prefer
living on Earth
as opposed to your life
in the afterlife? & he said,
No,

I wouldn t prefer
living on Earth. So I said,
Really? Not with all
the acceptance, the
recognition, the fame?
His reply was, I prefer

the Spirit
life
to the way
life
is
on Earth

Detroit
August 1982

Vigil

2006-02-09T11:07:05Z

Vigil 

implies watchfulness.
Anyone tring to attain perfection
is faced with various obstacles in life
which tend to sidetrack him. Here, therefore, I mean
watchfulness against elements that might be destructive
from within or without.

John Coltrane

There are forces that will move against you
even though the world is yours. You must watch for them,
all ways, even though you should not have to. They will move

in ways you will not know,
for you are pure, & their movement
is not as yours is, straight & direct, as you move

all ways through the world. Oh they will strike you
as you move to grow, they will knock you down,
they will kick you in the face & smile,

they will have you understand
that the world is not yours, it is theirs they say, & you will
not know why they would have you die a

death like theirs, no, you will not come to
understand them, & they will keep at you. They will call you
their enemy, even though you know not

what an enemy is, you are not bent, you are straight,
straight & open to their blows, you cannot know
that they get their kicks that way, you go your own way

& it is good, it is only natural that you do, I don t try
to set standards of perfection
for anyone else. I do feel

everyone does try to reach
his better self, his full potential, & what that consists of
depends on each individual. Whatever that goal is,

moving toward it does require vigilance.
& you will watch for them,
you will be vigilant,

because you have to. You do what you have to. You are a meat
creature, moving in the world. You will move
as you have to move,

& they will move to stop you. You can not be stopped. They do not
know that, & they will move against you. Watch for them,
& be strong. They have the

world to lose. The world is yours.
Move in it as you wish,
& be strong. Yes. Be strong.

Detroit
February 9, 1967/
New Orleans
December 4, 1995/
Amsterdam
December 2, 2002

blues to you

2006-02-09T11:03:30Z

"blues to you"

for danny spencer

we wanted them to love us,
as a first term. to know that we knew,
& would tell them with our eyes,
& our pumping feet. would sit & stare

at the bandstand
or at each other, & grin. or get up from the chair
& walk smack into a pole
after 45 minutes of elvin jones. john coltrane

was a hero beyond legend, i mean
he was right there in front of us, right there
where we could see him, & know for ever
the whole thing was real.

or sit for days, literally days,
& play the records through our meat, & dream
of touching them, the musicians,
as they walked off the stand, & moved past us,

smiling, toward some secret place
we would never go. & loved them always
for a simple nod, as if we were really real.
we needed them to speak to us

of pure revolution. to put down their saxophones
& spout pure poetry, or our lives
weren't shit. were gobs of dream
splattered against the world.

oh we were young
& made of america. it made us
what we were. & are. &, if we are lucky,
we will live through it all. yes, & the music

will ring in our ears. & we will hear it,
& it will bring us through. we will wake up
singing
of a world of our own. a world

where they will love us, just as if
(& only if)
we are as real
as they are

detroit
january 3, 1967/
new orleans
december 22, 1993

/