I am happy to share this new piece I recently completed for the poet and activist Bruce George. Bruce is the co-founder of Def Poetry Jam, the founder and managing editor of The Bandana Republic and a published author.
The piece is Bruce’s EPK (Electronic Press Kit), and it will be sure to get him a lot of attention.
Enjoy!
Melissa
“And I have put my words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant heavens, and lay the foundations of earth, and say to Zion, You are my people” (Yeshayah 51:16)
I am grateful for a challenging, productive, complicated year. I have been pushed and pulled many different ways, and traveled many wonderful, albeit short, journeys. I’ve stretched and grown and hate what maturity has been foisted upon me, yet love my place in this world more every day.
I am reminded, during this time of joyful miracles, of my own series of personal miracles. I am grateful for them, though they have shocked me in and out of belief. Faith still there, but denial of the fantastic nature of my spirituality fought against its overwhelming pull. I was reminded of these incredible moments, the series of them, when speaking with a new friend over lunch.
When I was a baby, about a year old, I had spinal meningitis. I had a seizure in the emergency room (my brother was getting a cast for a broken arm). The doctors shaved my head, put an IV in my skull, drew a blood and spinal fluid, and basically told my mother I was not going to make it. My grandmother flew in from New York, took one look at the red hair shavings on my pillow, my dirty diaper and my general state of illness, and had a fit. A functional fit, Irish New Yorker style. She took me out of the hospital, had me baptized, and took me to a hotel room near by. My grandmother bathed me, fed me, rocked me and loved me well into the night, until a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit the area. From the stories I remember, they were fine, and I was, in fact, fine. Well, even. A laughing, hungry baby girl again. (more…)
Hear my plea…
I’m Ramones’ing
I know you exist in my very fibers
That particles of you are particles of me (more…)