redemption:the legacy of john o killens, bill forde and marie brown

WEDNESDAY

hello world, im laying low

taking a week off before digging
into the woodshed - meanwhile

ishmael is on the warpath

ishmael reed's counterpunch article
calling out black newsfolk for being
he calls mind doubles has stirred up
a hornets nest

the trickster is loose

FRIDAY

sigh of the freeman

whew, semesters over - ima freeman

got to get back in my personal groove:
rest for the weary, the hoodooway and newren

delivering two presentations tomorrow at blacktech conference
supposed to be on panel about future of afroam struggle
in syracuse (longgame) and a seminar on blogging

got to be prepared cause whenever i speak
i speak in words of power

brooklyn workshop sunday
and 3 novel manuscripts to go

never truly free

but all obligations personal ones now
nothing but my work for 4 months as
god intended

gon be a struggle, always is
but thats the kind of struggle i live for

god i love summer

praying for the sudan

rebel groups been recalcitrant about signing peace treaty
in the sudan - the african union, the un and the world seem
to think its a good deal so the pressure is on them

today the largest of 3 signed the peace treaty
everybody hoping the end of this nightmare is near

lotta questions:

- main rebel group has reluctantly signed but 2 smaller ones have not
- previous peace treaties have been broken (but none w/this % of world attention)
- power sharing and integration of forces issues
- moving refugees back to viable homes and ensuring their security
- developmental issues that inspired revolt
- tribal issues that aggravated it
- etc etc etc

so many questions

that the odds against this peace being signed
they against it holding

got my hoodoo fingers
crossed

rdoc

MONDAY

i am flowers of the delta clan flowers and the line of o killens

all my books start with that line - a griotic formula: who you are
and who you were trained by - i was trained by john o killens

the great griot master of brooklyn

i think of him often
as i wade thru novel manuscripts ive agreed to read for folk

got a stack of them been on my desk for months now
and trying to clear the decks for the summer woodshed

most of the time i have to tell folk i dont think this piece
is ready for prime time just yet -

got to hit it again, full court rewrite

thats always a bummer
sometimes my frankness discourages folk

often my advice just alienates young writers and make me feel
like im wasting my own writing time trying so hard to be so frank

easier to just stroke folk
but if you really believe in their potential you got to give it
to them straight - hope they finesse it - take it to higherground

cause this a sacred calling this thing and it will eat your life
cant let folk waste life and all it takes to write a novel
to put long hard and sacrificial years on a fantasy

cause i didnt tell them the truth

my basic mode is to encourage encourage encourage
eyes wide open and in full knowledge

if i agree to help somebody -
i try to help them get to a professional level of craft
and vision - one that can break thru the wall

otherwise its a joke, playing with life
wasting your time and mine on something aint real

hard out here for blackfolk trying to do something
got to be twice a good as the best -  dont
understand that you aint ready

that goes for my students at the schoolhouse too
schools turning out thousands of mfas thesedays

one or two get thru - cant go out there with what
everybody else got and think you in the game

got to shine - so strong you cannot be denied
so deep they cannot afford to tell you no

looking at my own stack of manuscripts to be read
i often think of john killens and what it must have cost him

he had so many folk depending on him
and im amazed once again at how freely he gave

of all the greats john o was the one who systematically gave to
young wouldbe writers - who worked hard to established a literary infrastructure
that would nurture and support committed young black writers

the older i get the more i appreciate his sacrifice
the more i appreciate his blessing

john killens saw redemption for the black race and its destiny
and he saw a role for literature in that redemption and it is a great
and wondrous vision that he had

he trained two three generations to be the kind of writers he saw
these long distance runners - his influence yet to be felt - his story
yet to be told

he dont get no respect nowdays and nobody knows him but i cant let
what john was and saw disappear - no he trained me better than that

i often feel inadequate to johns legacy but ima do what i can
this one baton i willnot drop

helping folk make books is a skill in which i have been trained
it is a skill of which i am proud - unleashing young talent is what i do

my hoodoo specialty

enable an artist you blessing them
and everybody their work touches

but it is a very delicate process, fiddling with their souls
like that

give them the wrong suggestions and they lose years
wandering down sidestreets

perhaps never ever to find their way back to their true path

over at the schoolhouse me and ling na been tussling over her thesis
ive cautiously but insistently suggested it could not stay where it was  -

i feared i had lost her

sometimes the visions just arent compatible
what you say of no use to them

but at the graduation ceremony ling na read a poem:

   conversation over the chessboard

       the earth is our chessboard
i make the last move and say to arthur
      my army went across the river
   he blows away the mist and says
         you lost your last soldier
    it feels like a million years before i
         find the beheaded soldiers
           runaway commanders
        broken swords in the water
            i then say to arthur
      i can never get across the river
he says, you will, you need a new army
                   and time

i detected moisture in the corner of my eye

one dreams of awards, big dollars and recognition
but it dont get no better than that

hanging tough
rickydoc flowers

Comments

[Denise]

Well, I understand her appreciation for you. You even make those of us that think we could never be creative feel like we have something to offer. You deserve those kudos and more.

[sungoddess]

Alafia Baba Ricky Doc.... dropping by to say I've just re-read "Another Good Loving Blues".... the pages of my copy are getting yellowed with age, but not dog-eared in the least. Still a wonderful read... still one of my faves.

Working on any other love stories?

[rickydoc flowers]

hey sungoddess
good to hear from you my friend

hope things well w/you
and yours

trying to put rest for the weary
to bed this summer

pray for me

much love
rickydoc

[sungoddess]

Is Rest For The Weary, a new novel? (Sorry I been out of touch...)

[sungoddess]

....and of course I shall pray for you.