rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace

moving on

SUNDAY, 11/05

im making about 4 posts a month these days
between schoolhouse and maintaining production
who got discretionary time, this me at the indian summer fest
i play that thing 2, 3 hours a day easy, im determined
to get good with it and be a real musiciian

corey down in memphis doing a memphis magazine piece
about writers position on production in your declining years
why he asked me to be part of it i do not know

this what i sent him:

I wouldn't know what to do with my life if I wasn't writing every day, I know that day will come when I am either dead or just physically unable, or have just lost my chops, and I guess I will coast at that point, scribble doodles and swear they mean something, or talk into a tape or something. I just don't know any other way to be other than being a working writer, desperately working on my projects, trying to get them done before the bell rings. I do not yet feel that I have produced the work I am capable of but every year Im more conscious of my mortality and every day I get a little more serious/desperate about getting my work done. Listening to the ticking clock. I love the literary life, its been good to me, and I have no regrets, Was I to die tomorrow I count my blessings. I could not have imagined the life that I have lived. But there are a couple of major projects I would like to finish. I have often told myself if I don't achieve my literary ambitions, if I don't write the work im capable of, I will die surprised. Cause when I rise that morning Ima rise up working. Struggling with the page, thats what i do.

 

 

MONDAY the 30th

bankruptcy in memphis preying on blackfolk
ive known family folk caught up in this trap
beihnd tickets that metasized, ima have to work
this into my text, big props for jerome payne
and his kwanza stamps, good looking out

 

SAT 28TH

dont really have anything to say, just dont want
see georges picture everytime i boot up, crunching
pages, keep thinking im done, then i start entirely
new segment that enirches the text but it will be
a couple of months before its polished work

i keep thinking im done, i keep thinking im coasting
was going to the city cause they doing something
for larry neal but then geo doing a showing of

the pilot for seaoak on the 6th, so i will make my
city run then, im gone, i have been working all night
got a lot done, but i can feel myself shutting down

goodby george, i really miss that cat
i cant for the life of me process how
he llet himself get hit by a fucking car
everytime i pass the spot it hurts

what is it about losing pets that
it is its own brand of pain

im gone, all my love

rdoc

soulful george came thru

SAT THE 21ST

souful george tanged with a car and lost, i appreciate the time he
spent with me sharing the journey of life. he was a mpst soulful

kitty, had those soulful eyes, cause he was a scaredy cat, spent the
1st year with us hiding under the futon in the guest room, then he
would come out and he lived a year on the couch back there, finally
reached the point where he would come up to you for some rubbing
then he had the coolest markings, those hearts on both sides,

bonnie called them angelwings, but he was seriously an outdoor
kitty, ruler of the neighborhood, he and serenity became running
buddies but shadow wouldnt allow him upstairs and she wouldnt
come down, i used to go down and spend the night working
downstairs because he liked having compnay while he slept

im going to miss him fiercely, but saying goodby
to pets is one of the things we do in life, good

journeying george

been crunching schoolhouse and maintaining production
on my novel, this is the 1st semester in a long time i have been satisfied
with my daily production, its cause im so close now, doing poetry revisions
which is when the text is clean, you just working the poetry (though in the
last 50 pages or so im finding glitchy passages but nothing fatal so far)

this is what i got from an editor ellen sent
the the hoodoo book of flowers to, i cant

even be mad at her, that me and the industry
dont see eye to eye is not news to me, they want
self help pablum that will sell, i want a holybook
that will engage generation after generation,
something they will never full figure out, im w/joyce
in this regard, ima give them a puzzle they will
never bore of, with illumination on the end of it

at least thats the goal

when i finish this next draft of rest for the weary
ima put it aside, catch up on all my obligations
(inclu tons of manuscripts i have agreed to read)
and do another poetry draft of the hoodoo book
of flowers, try to take it to higher ground

then one nore poetry draft of rest for the weary
then put it down until the december break
im gone, i got pages need clocking, all my love

------------------------

I greatly appreciate Ellen sharing with me The Hoodoo Book of Flowers—and for her patience. Arthur Flowers is doing something truly creative and ingenious here. Through his words I felt like he was opening up the reader’s soul and allowing them to explore their own growth to achieve a particular level of consciousness. And, Arthur is a strong, lyrical writer, and of course extremely knowledgeable. However, the material is really dense. One needs to truly concentrate to absorb the ways in which we could become better human beings. Part of what makes this challenging is the narrative format(s). For us to find a market for Flowers’ wonderful concepts, the narrative structure would need to be more simplified. I find that it’s tough to find a broad audience when one is explaining high-minded concepts while using high-minded literary language.

I’m truly sorry that I won’t be working with Arthur on this. I can tell that it was divinely inspired. I don’t know if you’ll be willing to take a risk on me when his novel is ready, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Many thanks for thinking of me for The Hoodoo. I hope you find a good home for it.

 

the art of resistance

 

 

FRIDAY THE 13TH

everyday i wake up, i check the news to see what trump has done today
hoping that he has done something that will break the hold he has on

americas soul & set repubs up for sea change elections in 2018 and 2020 -
the % to which he is sabotaging america and the world is breathtaking

and relentless - and i wonder if the folk who say there is no diff between
dems and repubs still feel that way cause we need you in the game

and everyday i get some of my own work done, assuming we survive the
nuclear challenges, this world will need rebuilding and i hope my vision is

part of that rebuild, two things this demand, one is production, i have in
the last 9 months finished 20 year projects (more than 20 truth be told)

finished my holybook, finished my novel, doing poetry drafts now
making them sing - the other thing is your work got to represent

the best take on human destiny that it can possibility be,
shaping generations, a call to our very best me/you/us

it must be a corrective to the bullshit

you working at the crossroads now, the
stakes are high, it must be all your love

rdoc 

 

showtime, brer rabbit redux

 

SUNDAY 10/1

I need gigs, got this book just came out w/tara book india
brer rabbit tales on a hoodoo tip, art book, handmade

Silk screen, incredible works by indian artist,
CD included me telling w/3 indian musicians but its
what I do w/them now im selling, me and my array
mbira we making real music, I sing them now, I need
gigs, preferably on the college/museum circuit cause
I need to get paid but will do bookstores and the like

I gotten good w/the array, I will command the stage,
I need gigs, got no shame, go to do some guerilla
promo, please contact me at [email protected] if
you got a gig for me, I will represent - showtime