How Did You Die ? Edmund Vance Cooke

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgDCoH79kyo&ab_channel=RedFrostMotivation

Did you tackle that trouble that came your way With a resolute heart and cheerful? Or hide your face from the light of day With a craven soul and fearful? Oh, a trouble's a ton, or a trouble's an ounce, Or a trouble is what you make it, And it isn't the fact that you're hurt that counts, But only how did you take it? You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what's that! Come up with a smiling face. It's nothing against you to fall down flat, But to lie there-that's disgrace. The harder you're thrown, why the higher you bounce Be proud of your blackened eye! It isn't the fact that you're licked that counts; It's how did you fight-and why? And though you be done to the death, what then? If you battled the best you could, If you played your part in the world of men, Why, the Critic will call it good. Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce, And whether he's slow or spry, It isn't the fact that you're dead that counts, But only how did you die? - Edmund Vance Cooke

Beat Street

Beat Street Breakdown, Raah!
Hip Hop!

Beat Street
The king of the beat
You see him rocking that beat from across the street
And Huh Huh!
Beat Street is a lesson too, because you can't let the Streets beat you!

Well a picture can express a thousand words to describe all the beauty of life you give
And if the world was yours to do over, I know you'd paint a better place to live
Where the colours would swirl and the boys and girls can grow in peace and harmony
And where murals stand on walls so grand as far as the eyes are able to see, Ha!
I never knew art til I saw your face and there'll never be one to take your place
'Cause each and every time you touch the spray paint can
Michelangelo's soul controls your hand
Then serenades of blue and red and the beauty of the rainbow fills your head
Crescendo of colours hang in tune, Man why oh why d'ya have to die so soon?
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, where the good die young it's all thy must
'Cause as life must live, death must die and the tear shall fall from the living eye, Huh!
The teardrops fall for the state of mind of the beautiful lady that you left behind
In love and alone, but now you're dead, and she still can't get you out of her head, Huh!
More tears fall for all you've done, trying to be a good father to your only son
But now who's gonna make sure that he's fed, put a shirt on his back and a roof overhead?
Tell me who's gonna dream the impossible dream of the beautiful cities in the islands genes?
When your works of art brought into being all that the ghetto stopped you from seeing
Bums on the sidewalk, garbage in the streets, abandoned buildings, bricks of concrete
The ladies on the corner are selling their bodies, and everybody wants a part in that party
I'm hanging out tough, rocking late at night, running wild in the town of the neon light
You either play some ball or stand in the hall Huh!
You gotta make something outta nothing at all
I'm sitting in the classroom learning the rules and it says you can't do graffiti in school
They can't be wrong in the hallowed hall, so my notebook turned into a brick wall
The heart of a lion and the courage of three, and the mind of a man much wiser than me
You're the soul of the brother who won't come back
Who died in my arms on the railroad track
'Cause I'm caught in the rat race, looking for my own space
There's gotta be a better place for you and me
There's pie in the sky, and an eye for an eye
Some people gotta die just to be free
You search for justice and what do you find?
You find just us on the unemployment line
You find just us sweating from dawn to dusk
There's no justice, there's Huh, just us, Ha!
Still life urban masterpiece, your trademark was written on trains and walls
A million dollar gift only God released, and yet you got killed for nothing at all
So after this there'll be no more hard times, no more bad times and no more pain
No more chump change, none of that bull
Just movies, museums and the hall of fame
So all you Hip Hops get on up, and let's take it to the top where we belong
'Cause the age of the Beat Street wave is here
Everybody let's sing along, now c'mon, say 'Ho!' ('Ho!'), Say 'Ho!' ('Ho!')
And to let me know I'm rocking the microphone everybody say 'Ramo!' ('Ramo!')
'Ramo!' ('Ramo!')
Raah!

A newspaper burns in the sand, and the headlines say 'Man destroys Man!'
Extra! Extra! Read all the bad news on the war for peace that everybody would lose
The rise and fall, the last great empire, the sound of the whole world caught on fire
The ruthless struggle, the desperate gamble
The game that left the whole world in shambles
The cheats, the lies, the alibis
And the foolish attempt to conquer the skies
Lost in space, and what is it worth, huh?
The president just forgot about Earth
Spending multi billions, and maybe even trillions
The cost of weapons ran into zillions
There's gold in the street, and diamonds under feet
And the children in Africa don't even eat
Flies on their faces, they're living like mice
And the houses even make the ghetto look nice, Huh!
The water tastes funny, it's forever too sunny
And they work all month and don't make no money
A fight for power, a nuclear shower
And people shout out in the darkest hour
Of sights unseen and voices unheard
And finally the bomb gets the last word
Christians killed Muslims, and Germans killed Jews
And everybody's bodies are used and abused, Huh!
Minds are poisoned and souls are polluted
Superiority complex is deep rooted
Leeches and lice's, and people got prices
Egomaniacs control the self-righteous
Nothing is sacred and nothing is pure
So the revelation of death is our cure
Hitler and Caesar, Custer and Reagan
Napoleon, Castro, Mussolini and Begin
Ghengis Khan and the Shah of Iran
Mixed with the blood of the weaker man
The peoples in terror, the leaders made the error
And now they can't even look in the mirror
'Cause we gotta suffer while things get rougher
And that's the reason why we got to get tougher
To learn from the past and work for the future
And don't be a slave to no computer
'Cause the Children of Man inherits the land
And the future of the world is in your hands
So just throw your hands in the air
And wave 'em like you just don't care
And if you believe that you're the future
Scream it out and say 'Oh yeah!' ('Oh yeah!')
'Oh yeah!' ('Oh yeah!')
Raah!

Beat Street Breakdown
Raah!
Hip Hop!

                  

Melle Mel / Melvin Glover

When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people’s gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Jenny Joseph

Mark Heard

These days
We put on cars like shoes
And walk faster
We form lines and remain mute
Almost unaware of the walkers around us
As we transcend space
We put on wings like a coat
And spend morning and evening in separate worlds
Instant schizophrenia
As we transcend time

Maps hide cities
Cities hide houses
Houses hide faces
Faces hide hearts
But hearts still beat quietly
Few feel even their own pulse
But hearts are made to beat
We can drown them out with more accessible rhythms
But they continue the counterpoint
Hearts are made to beat
Our souls are still within us
Our Creator waits for us to notice
As our geographical boundaries
Are chased around the sun by time
Decaying in a fashion some call normal

Strong Hand of Love

Down peppers the rain from a clear blue sky
Down trickles a tear on a youthful face
Feeling in haste and wondering why

Up struggles the sun from a wounded night
Out venture our hearts from their silent shrouds
Trying to ignite but wondering how

We can laugh and we can cry
And never see the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows
We can dance and we can sigh
And never see the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows

Young dreamers explode like popped balloons
Some kind of emotional rodeo
Learning too slow and acting too soon

Time marches away like a lost platoon
We gracefully age as we feel the weight
Of loving too late and leaving too soon

We can laugh and we can cry
And never see the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows
We can dance and we can sigh
And never see the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows

                                                                           Mark Heard

Strong Hand of Love

Wrote these words this morning whilst listening to Automatic For The People by R.E.M...

Wide blue eyes bright and open
Fresh clay skin a pure white canvas
Stretched tight over risen bones
Surf fizzed through adventurous souls
Naively laid down upon an alter
So called love raised a heavy knife
Rage flashed in the summer light
As it pierced remaining stone

All who you were is dead
Songs that stirred your heart
Words crafted by sons and daughters
Fathers and mothers who were brave
Brave enough to offer themselves
How they wrote through tears,
Embracing our fears
Of loss, gender and mortality
Child they led you astray

Did their poetry question
The control of a concrete empire
To encourage the wanderer
To wonder again and dance
With all that’s black and the white
Into a garden full of wildflowers
Where tears heal and offer hope
To those weary of a system

  Kris Lannen

For The Engines Will Be Coming

The fire station stood never far
from the post office
and the post office from the sea
where we young boys spent most of our
young lives
digging caves in sandstone banks
and when the sea came up,
surfing the large waves.

... The fire station stands next
to the post office, and the post office to the sea,
and as often as the young boys
tried to ignore the sound of the siren,
it could not be ignored.
If they stacked their houses high
with children and madness,
still it would not go away;
for the engine will be coming
for those who lie awake
and the best houses will quiver
in the orange light.

                            

POEMS FOR THE RED ENGINE

by Gary McCormick