marking time and mo kwani kommentary

`A RAINY SATURDAY MORNING
my best kind of workday

god im struggling

this novel is beating me all about the head and shoulders
its crawling and limping along, defying me every step of the way

2 hours already today - got 2 usable paragraphs and they iffy
ill never get to the promiseland at this rate

this simply will not do, as of this moment rickydoc is officially in the woodshed
schoolhouse is now a facade, can i maintain it for 10 more days lord

as of today moving from a semester 3 to a woodshed 6
that means 6 hours a day minimal on rest for the weary
(looking for 9 and would love to get 12)

hells bells i got 5 novel manuscripts ive committed to read for folk

been on my plate for months now, they been waiting too long for me to blow them off
crunch those out of the way in the next 2 weeks, no more accepted till post woodshed

nothing gets thru as of this moment
but new renaissance and the hoodoo way

lifelong organizing initiatives
that must be maintained

no matter what

in struggle
rdoc

and family, family always gets thru

no matter how tough you hanging, family gets thru
what can you do, family emergencies, they get thru

and acts of god, they can stop the show too

when i was a young man i didnt allow acts of gods to stop
me from gettting my work done but over the years
god has taught me different

now i try to work with the big whatever
you the boss hoss, can i get a couple more productive
years please

a decade or 2

i got so much work to do

THURSDAY

looking for a deal

every once in awhile when the dollars are tight
i will slip into the local wal mart looking for a deal

but always with the guilt, the resolution never to do it again

i know the dogs to be the face these days of ruthless corporatism
and would like to see them tamed

so it was with some % of surprise that i read civilrights warhorse
andrew young is chairman of the 16 member steering committee of
Working Families for Wal-Mart:

"we all have an interest in wal-mart; we all want wal-mart to succeed." he says
at recent arkansas news conference,"we don't think it ought to be trashed. we think it ought to be perfected."

well i hope he gets paid more than a wal mart associate do
and some health benefits too, must be getting soft in the head

this puts me in mind of another account i ran across

seems the mijikenda people of kenya erect carved wooden statues called vigango
to honor and appease the spirits of recently deceased relatives

seems stealing these statues is a pretty lucrative business and two recently stolen vigango
were traced to two museums - the illinois state museum agreed to return their stolen vigango
to the aggrieved kenyan family, the hampton university museum has not

hampton?  our hampton?
say it aint so lord

apparently they got 99 of the things but wont return 1 to this poor farming family from
which it was stolen in the night (cost them $895 apiece, thats a lot of money for
a poor farming family in kenya, family say they had bad luck ever since)

our hampton?

we really need to make it clear to the folk at hampton
that type of behavior is unacceptable

it is unworthy of the people i see

word by
rickydoc flowers

wouldbe prophet of the
hoodooo way

TUESDAY

mo kwani kommentary

cause of my relationship with sls kenya
(i will be there december 2006, if you know whats what you will too)
i keep up with literary events in east africa

those familiar with my kwani kommentary
will recognize in this interview w/doreen baingana
the comment, "she arrived, a little later than planned"

thats my girl
she may not be on time but shes always in time

also i see the kwani krew still getting attacked by
various kenyan academics as literary gangsters

in a series of caustic warring articles in the east african standard
as commented on by chris werimo, impressive young brother i met last time i was there

says critics who have themselves experienced the creative process are redeemed
quotes one wanjana as saying publishing his own novel made him 'a more sober critic'

well good for him, everybody knows critics are curious creatures
chris himself is a budding critic who also writes fiction - he got potential

i been trying to save him from the darkside

hanging tough
rdoc

war in the holyland

islamic jihad bombing in tel aviv kills 9
and hamas says job well done
israel will try to make them both pay for that

hamas just named a wanted militant head of their security services
and israel threatening to assassinate the whole cabinet behind it

the war weary world sighs again
will this family squabble never end

its almost biblical
how much war in the holyland
affects us all

MONDAY

hello world, i havent posted all week

all i want to do is work on rest for the weary
apparently im moving into a early woodshed

trying to put closure on schoolhouse obligations
two more weeks but in my heart im already gone

been feeling giulty about rootsblog posting though
so let me get started w/some quickies off the cuff,
clean them up later

spreading the pain

chad rebuffs sudanese backed rebels

chad accuses the sudan of trying to 'export fundamentalism to sub sahara africa'
this is mostly deby trying to cover missteps that have made him vulnerable

but the truth lurks within

100% zuluboy

ex vice president zuma of south africa testifies on stand that he had to force himself
on woman he is accused of raping because she was aroused and no true zulu man
would insult an aroused woman by not sexing her

says he knew she was hiv positive so he took a shower afterwards to
cleanse himself - not a condom mind you a shower

hard to know what to say to this one,
i will let the zulu women at his trial have the last word

the ones wearing t shirts that said: 100% zuluboy

chocolate city and the blackbelt south

racial aspects of new orleans mayoral election becoming more and more overt
forget chocalate city, we talking black belt south

this intriguing article say there are two kinds of power
organized money and organized people

say the people of new orleans organizing best they can in the face of an
attitude that has fatcats still partying on basinstreet while bloated bodies
still being dug out of the ruins of the 9th

talks about how the basinstreet fatcats turned on their tame negro
when he refused to write off the black neighborhoods like they told him to

how they backing forman and landrieu now as their best bet for cleansing
new orleans - and that the spotlight of american concern has moved on

we on our own on this one yall
cant be waiting around on no more rescue boats

reminds me of that old delta joke about the deacon in the flood

old deacon of the church got caught in a flood and waiting on god to deliver him
one rescue boat comes by and he waives it on, god will protect me he says

another boat comes by and he waves it on too, samesame a helicopter

finally he dies and when he gets to heaven he got an attitude - howcum
you didnt save me he ask god - god say look here, according to my records
i sent you 2 boats and a helicopter

howcum you didnt save yourself

do your duty black new orleans
each 1 of you voting for 10, do whatever you got to do but make that vote

that goes for all of you in this voting year
we got to wield electoral power beyond our numbers

i am a child of the 60s, we marched struggled and died for our right to vote
do your duty (and while you at it do something about that crime)

a luta continua

its all relative

was all proud of myself in previous weeks post for saying things other progressives wont
but was looking at conservative black blogs the other day and their opinions appalled me

my transgressions are only transgressions for progressive audiences
and not even transgressive to the young generations

race moving steady to the right
neocons cleaning our clocks

dynamics of the times pushing blackfolk to the middle
our strategic posture needs to finesse that

looking for the zone

i guess thats it for the moment, im feeling pressed
supposed to be working on my novel - stealing time

cause this gon be a do or die summer
im ready to throw down and im ready to throw down now - its do or die

im scared im always scared

what if it doesnt work, what if i finally have to acknowledge i just dont have
another novel in me - always scared but that aint gon stop the show -

whatever i come up with is what i come up with
got to get this baby to the promised land

ima desperate man
ima desperate man

in struggle
rdoc

Comments

[christopher werimo]

Hey Arf,
Just keyed into your blog, men am impressed that you actually track the discourses down here. well i was kinda not amused by the literary gangster thing. Anyway aluta-conversa continua.
CHRIS

[Racquel]

Unsure if this is the appropriate way to contact you. I pray you actually do read this. I'm not an internet person, I can't find your address. To the point: Mr. Flowers, I read Mojo Rising. Loved it ---interrupted my flow; It's a good thing. Mr. Flowers, I want to be a writer. Have very little time left and I need to learn to be a writer. Not doing anything but the 9-5, wasting space. Willing to go anywhere. Was most impressed by John O' Killens. I love that name. What a beautiful spirit he must've had. I desperately want to find my O'Killens. Have called a few Colleges in the Washington DC area. Howard has journalism, Georgetown has $400 writing class. I'm lost Sir, I humbly ask for your guidance, (((please))). Any advice, anything at all to steer me in the right direction. I know this is blatent, probably improper, not professional, but I'm sincere and very serious Sir. 202-722-7835

[rickydoc flowers]

relax raquel
its a done deal

you call me
i will come

i am rickydoc
and im feeling you