she says with a smile dot blogspot dot com

FIRST VLOG recorded by (taryn!) THAT'S ONE SLIPPERY ROCK a poem by (me!) Sandra, tvgp

*** I suppose it took me about 30 years to write this poem in 2 or 3 days. Took me 3 or 4 tries reading it aloud to my daughter... And still couldnt do it without getting choked up. So we planned to video tape it a different day. I read it out loud by myself, over and over until I was numb to the emotion.. But not so numb, that it lacked emotion. Fine line... Fine line. And then on the next beautiful day that yielded us both the time, and place, and climate.. We walked to a bench at the back of the park, away from traffic, and bless her heart... She got it in one take. It's unedited and all~natch-ur-elle. Wow, Does it feel good to have this -one; slippery rock, out of me and into the great unknown. Thank my mom here for her video camera, my daughter for her patience, talent, recording, uploading, Dr Maya Angelou for obvious reasons.. And how blessed to live in the time of blogs and vlogs, YouTube, etc..... Cellphones, and I phones and iPads and iTunes...and earphones..



."THAT'S ONE SLIPPERY ROCK" a poem by (me!) sandra, tvgp

  when i heard my doctor

Maya Angelou
recite her poem at the inauguration of president bill clinton in 1993

i listened

with the methodical heart beat and limited attention span of a chronically ill patient

we've heard it ALL

  starts to sound the same, doesn't it

not hard to read my indifferent pulse on this blanduary morning -doctor

Maya Angelou

i surrender

one more time. what did you just say?
  can you

  Write that down.

so i can look (that) up

i'll never remember

-on my own, what does that even mean, doctor

  Maya Angelou?

  you are talking over my head

  -no less to midas than the What?!

 is she tryin' to say exactly?

    "Good Morning?"

very simply? with hope

   -you want me look in my "sister's" eyes?! doctor
Maya Angelou

in my "brother's" face

that's awfully optimistic Mz. doctor.

. 'do not be wedded forever to fear,' you say 'yoked eternally to

  Bruitishness is all i've ever known doctor
 Maya Angelou. Bruitishness is all i've ever known.

  from the middle eastern "brother" who kidnapped me from my own bedroom

  to the mexican "sisters" that bullied me until i changed schools. i had to change schools doctor Maya Angelou

how can i say "good morning" to anyone?!

  when a black man raped me at gunpoint

and another held a gun to my head in a bank robbery

   -when a giant white man abused, controlled, and dominated the little white child, me

speakin' of oppression.. and slavery.. did you think you had a monopoly on this?

all i've ever known is bruitishness

    - pirates desperate for gain

starving pillaging my dreams, bombing my family with nightmares.

that's all i've ever known

cynicism and blood and fear and
 nothing.

seems to matter

  -evil lurks
 everywhere and -ask me who -ask me who

because evil lurks inside the asian, the hispanic, the african and jew
indian, irish catholic, muslim, atheist too

say 'good morning' -i will not!

to the turk, the swede, the german or scot

that's one slippery rock doctor
Maya Angelou.

that's one toxic river; and one question for the tree...

when were we all one?

once upon a time... we're we really all one

  doctor Maya Angelou... your words, your voice, your presence dares me

-you dare me? you dare me

     -to climb back on that slippery rock and find my balance

to clean the river with my own two, fully functioning, hard workin' hands

dare me: to swim against my own current

circumstances toward that forward leaning horizon and mythical unmoved tree

is that where i find courage doctor
Maya Angelou?

or do i need it to get there?

where all my dreams that were murdered, and hopes that committed suicide
are resurrected

over years

 it took me to heed your advice doctor
Maya Angelou

"too good to be true" common for chronically ill patients to say

simply

very simply

"Good Morning." a piercing need? THAT is your prescription for our country?
   -are you serious

ly.

     -it IS a piercing need; how did you know?

  "good morning." i whispered it to a perfect stranger today doctor

Maya Angelou and he said 'good morning' back. check my pulse!

"Good Morning." i said it to a mexican today doctor -she said 'Good Morning' back!

Oh! doctor Maya Angelou!

   "GOOD MORNING!"

i said it to a black man, a gay man, a priest!
  i said it simply -very simply. it's like a "Good Morning!" feast

to a lesbian, a blind child, a store owner; his labor
i even said 'good morning' to my republican neighbor!

check my pulse! it's one fine morning

  doctor Maya Angelou...

-something tragic happened.

over the years its taken me to heed your advice something tragic has happened and grown worse every year

that's one slippery rock
doctor Maya Angelou

i haven't said "good morning" for months

  i've been silent. unnoticed, unheard
not one simple, very simple, not one simple word

"GOOD MORNING!" i say,

 but not one of them hears
they've all got those friggin' phones in their ears!

i look out and up, but my sisters and brothers look down

  what good,
 doctor Maya Angelou
is my courage now?

posted by she @ 9:34 PM