Canto
XIV
Gangster
Gospel
Canto XIV
Petrus Romanus
Edensong
I woke up this morning
with the memory of last night
a night of sweet love-making
and holding you tight
but alas, it was a dream
a beautiful reverie
there's no way in hell
that our love could ever be
'til I felt the sheets rustle
and turned to my side
to find the pure woman
adorned as a bride
when I realized
that this was no illusion
I felt as though paralyzed
by the glorious confusion
of the dreamer awakened
to a true fantasy
making love to the womb
that gave birth to thee...
I made love to you
Before the foundation of the earth
My primordial arms outstretched
Precognitive tongue praising Shekhinah
As you awoke in coitus with me
And I in thee
My eyes framed your breasts (as they tamed my eyes), staining your breasts (straining my eyes), blessed
Preexistent paps
Jostling and gyrating in an elemental miasmic
As my penile protrusion prodded the involuntary tectonic
Machina precluded by an Ex inexorable Deus desire
With every salvific salvo
Your undulated thighs recoiled by deep pubescent pulsations
Chastening your nigritic synergesis
As WE achieved ever-higher viscosities of biosyncretic mimesis
That was when I fellt you
Gently D-cupping my excavated rib cage
Infuriating my infernal rage against the vaginal constriction
That lovingly stymied my biometric ambition
On the verge of the urge to converge
You and me, we merge into one becoming
WE
California Screamin'
Way out west (in a state so blue, it shows up on most maps as part of the Pacific!), is a city I like to call Lost Angeles.
So-named for its desirable weather, Lost Angeles has quickly blossomed into an entertainment mecca. But whether you've come here to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame or perhaps add your own star to it, there are a few rules which, if observed, will help you to get the most out of your LADOT transit pass.
For instance, when dining on the Sunset Strip, understand that there are different kinds of water, none of them under $5 (gratuity included!) Also, if you're Black and shopping on Rodeo Drive, don't forget to bring a scarf or a muffler (due, of course, to the draft of the security guard breathing down your neck!) -- and by the way, a scarf is just about all you can afford on Rodeo!
If you're in West Hollywood and you decide to go to a nightclub, don't be surprised when your bartender is a 'buff' topless adonis with blonde highlights. There are many gay nightclubs in LA, and the majority of the people in them are heterosexual. But when I see a dude dressed like Cher asking me if I believe in life after love, it makes wonder if I can turn back time!
There are many great beaches in LA, from Venice Beach to the Santa Monica Pier. However, due to the ice-cold water, you may find your swimsuit to be decidedly less utilitarian and perhaps more aesthetic than you might have hoped. This, of course, is the reason why Malibu surfers wear full-bodied wetsuits; but if you still feel ready to catch a 'gnarly' wave and 'hang ten', then what more can I say?: horizontal fin = dolphin; vertical fin = shark!
There are three things you need if you want to survive in LA: a car, an agent, and a pair of chopsticks! Of course, LA is known for its multiculturalism, whether it be Asian or Hispanic (and if you put 'em together, you have a Pilipino!), and then there are the West-coast Blacks -- Westside!!!
Blacks, in particular, tend to live mostly in the neighborhoods of Inglewood, Compton and Watts -- but if you're not sure whether or not you're in a Black neighborhood, ask a cop -- they're parked on every corner! -- and if you're still not sure, ask the pizza place whether or not they deliver there! West-coast Blacks like to wear bandanas and do-rags (which unfortunately are more utilitarian than they are aesthetic), but if you want any more proof of the Holy Ghost Resurrection power, it doesn't get any better than a Black LA church (with people getting saved and healed!; 80-year-old women dancing in the aisles like teenagers! -- the more riotous the church, the less riotous the streets!)
Sometimes, Black people come across as being terse (even rude!), but that's all part of the charm; you see, there's only two kinds of people that'll ever tell you the truth to your face: kids and Black folk! But oftentimes, our abruptness belies our uncanny ability to say something without saying it! It is easy to hang a Black man on his words because the pacing and tenor of his speech is where the true meaning lies, so don't get all bent out of shape when you hear a Black pastor utter God Damn Amerik.k.k.a in a decontextualized snippet, or a woman who is proud of her country for the first time! It's a dramatic device -- deal with it!
Now while Blacks tend to live in South Central, the Mexicans mostly live in the barrios of East LA, where it isn't uncommon to find a Rosary hanging from a gang-tattooed neck! However, while all Mexicans are not the same, the one thing they all seem to have in common is a 'Mayan calendar' wall-clock, a beaded car-seat cover, and a grandmother from Nicaragua!
In San Bernardino, the visages of Chicano culture can readily be seen in the Mexican flags etched onto rear-windshields of low-riding pickups and tacked to the ventanas of linoleum-tiled kitchens. On the corner, you are likely to see some enterprising vatos with money-belts selling churros and hot tamales from the trunks of their El Caminos.
Every gringo knows that if you need help moving or lifting something, there are Mexican day-laborers standing in the parking lot of any Home Depot, but when limousine liberals in their Spanish-tiled Beverly Hills 'haciendas' sip their pinot grigioes out of gold-trimmed glasses while listening to Santana beneath a wall-mounted Tijuana Sombrero, remember the Mexican farm-workers hunched over the vineyards of Sonoma, the sweat of their sun-burnt foreheads baptizing the grapes of wrath that never seem to fill their straw-thatched baskets!
In addition to the Mexicans and Blacks, LA is also the home of 'drive-thru' sushi, 'all-u-can-eat' dim sum, and is perhaps the only place in America where you can get seaweed as a pizza topping! Of course, it is a foregone conclusion that the Asians are smarter and more efficient than us, and that it is only a matter of time before they take over the universe; but if a Japanese ever became president, perhaps the only difference would be that instead of a 'chicken in every pot,' we'd have a 'duck in every wok'!
The 'unofficial' beer of the 'People's Republic of Santa Monica' is Asahi (especially when it comes with a styrofoam bowl of vegetable teriyaki and a side of miso soup to go!) But if an Asian girl starts to take off her shoes upon entering your apartment, don't get too excited -- it's a well-established Asian tradition not to wear shoes indoors!
Finally, LA is known for its 'laid back' attitude. After all, they did name their airport 'lax'! But before you invest in sunglasses, electrolysis and maps to the stars' homes, remember that there are no small parts, only small actors -- except for the nude scenes of course!
Tinsel Town
Somewhere over the rainbow,
On the same lot where they filmed Rambo,
You might find a cowardly lion,
Did I say cowardly lion? or lying coward?
Acting like a tin man, a thin man, a tiny man living in Tinsel Town?
Did I say man? I meant nam.
But what's in a nam?
Maybe it was a man
who got his PhD in order to get out of having to serve in 'Nam.
And what about the scarecrow?
Did I say scarecrow? or workscared?
Cuz he's scared to work
Yup, so he acts like a munchkin
waiting for some dorothy to show'im around
But I guess that's how it is in Tinsel Town.
Asian Persuasion
Sushi and Sashimi
(In a Mitsubishi)
Riding Through the city
Wearing Hello Kitty
Listening to Zen
On a shamisen
Waiting for Miyako
"Domo Arigato"
Reading Hentai comics
Eating rice with chopsticks
"Find a western man"
"Marry if you can"
Have another sake?
(After Karaoke)
What brings you to Asia?
Wanna f*ck a geisha?
Trading on the Nikkei?
Searching for a sensei?
Origami swan
(Sony flat-screen on!)
Solving a Sudoku
Slicing up some tofu
With a Ginsu knife
Here's your Asian wife!!
Jobama
In Hollywood, when two famous people are romantically linked, they oftentimes receive a combination-name (or portmanteau) such as TomKat or Brangelina. Most recently, this device has been used to link Barack Obama with his running mate Joe Biden. But Jobama may have a deeper significance when the now President-elect is compared to the namesake of all Josephs, that is, Joe the Hebrew!:
(Ps 105:17-22) He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: 18Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: 19Until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him. 20The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. 21 He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance: 22To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.
Whether it was Obama's selection of Joe Biden, Palin's appeal to Joe Six-pack, or the Republican everyman Joe the Plumber, the national zeitgeist during the 2008 presidential election seemed to be whispering, Joe... Joe...
Of course, Psalm 105 alludes to the liberated slave and ethnic minority Joseph whose meteoric ascendancy to the Egyptian prime ministry rivals that of our own first Black president. Surely, the comparison is uncanny, and yet if we read more deeply into the life and times of Joe the Hebrew, we are confronted with even more uncanny parallels!
For instance, Jobama is seen as a redemptive figure whose popularity helps to unite the country, improve the social-standing of Blacks, and mollify White guilt; similarly, Joe the Hebrew took away Rachel's reproach:
(Gen 30:22-24) And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. 23And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: 24And she called his name Joseph;
Jobama was also seen as a post-racial candidate with a colorful background; similarly, Joe the Hebrew had a coat of many colors:
(Gen 37:3) Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
Jobama was seen as the fulfillment of Dr. King's dream, for which he was resented by some of his political rivals; similarly, Joe the Hebrew was hated for his dream:
(Gen 37:5) And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
Jobama was attacked by the Religious Right and likened to the beast of the antichrist in the fundamentalist media; similarly, the brothers of Joe the Hebrew tried to implicate him with a beast:
(Ge 37:19-20) And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. 20Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
The notion that Jobama was an Arab was used by some as a cover for their ethnic hatred; similarly, the brothers of Joe the Hebrew sold him to the Arabs in order to remove their own culpability:
(Gen 37:27) Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.
A former president's wife made Jobama an offer to run with her as her VP:
(Gen 39:7) And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.
Jobama helped Blacks to move beyond slavery and Jim Crow; similarly, the children of Joe the Hebrew helped him forget all his toil and affliction:
(Ge 41:51-52) And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house. 52And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
Jobama assuaged negative stereotypes (and surprised many in his own party) with his well-spoken demeanor and intellectual prowess:
(Gen 41:38-39) And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, 39Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:
Jobama warned of a bad economy and what appeared to be an imminent worldwide depression:
(Gen 41:54) And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands;
Jobama is now angling congress to release TARP funds for his economic relief package; similarly, Joe the Hebrew opened the storehouses of Egypt to provide famine relief:
(Gen 41:55-56) And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do. 56And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt.
Jobama had to disassociate himself from his brethren for political purposes, and was even accused of "talking down" to black people:
(Ge 42:7-8) And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? 8And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.
Jobama supported a government buyout of private banking firms during the market meltdown; similarly, Joe the Hebrew used treasury funds to purchase privately owned land during the famine:
(Ge 47:20) And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh's.
Jobama plans to make jobs a priority during his administration; similarly, Joe the Hebrew instituted his own jobs stimulus:
(Gen 47:23) Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.
Jobama plans to raise the capital gains tax rate to 20%; similarly, Joe the Hebrew levied his own 20% tax:
(Ge 47:24) And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.
As you can see, there are many parallels between Joe the Hebrew and our current leadership. But perhaps the greatest impact our new president will make is the new precedent he set as to who can attain to the highest office. What a powerful symbol it is to the rest of the world (and to every society gripped by sectarian violence and intergenerational ethnic rivalries) that such a reconciliation can occur in so great a nation:
(Gen 50:14-20) And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. 15And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. 16And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, 17So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. 18And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. 19And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 20But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
The FOX and the Wolf
The FOX scoffs
The Wolf flows
And where it stops
Nobody knows
I saw a FOX
In my idiot box
He mocks and balks
Barack's talks
Like a rightwing coup of chicken hawks
Or a fox guarding the wall-street stocks
He uses moral stumbling blocks
To treat his workers like Adam's off ox
But the Wolf, he flows
Because he knows
As society grows
New issues, they arose
Like women's woes
And religious foes
Trying to close
The closet on those
Who chose to expose
Their sexual peccadilloes
As if this emperor ever had any clothes!
The Wolf, he flows...
I move at the speed of light
Visual stimulation all night
Look to me and forget your plight
I want to be controlled be you
But if you don't know what's good for you
I just might control you too
Some people talk back to me
But I don't hear them, naturally
Though in the Spirit, we agree
Because I speak not of my own
But that which I hear, will I make known
(Perhaps, if you are spiritually prone...)
Responsibility
Responsibility -- but what does it mean?
Turning from sin and coming clean
Forget the old white dude on the cloud up above
The greatest religion is when you believe in His love
But then there are those who bow down to themselves
Worshipping idols displayed on their shelves
Like the old saying goes, 'What you see is what you get'
But when you get what you paid for, it don't resurrect
Like a guilty man running when nobody's lookin'
Or a repeat offender that no D.A.'s bookin'
If you can't stand the heat, then get out of my cookin'
Cuz it's n*ggas like you dat turned Brooklyn into Crooklyn
Cuz just cuz you have kids, doesn't make you a dad
And saying 'I love you' when you don't is just sad
And just cuz you're legal, don't make you mature
But having a conscience will likewise endure
Navigation
LORD JESUS CHRIST,SON OF THE FATHER,SEND NOW YOUR SPIRIT OVER THE EARTH.LET THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVEIN THE HEARTS OF ALL NATIONS,THAT THEY MAY BE PRESERVEDFROM DEGENERATION, DISASTER AND WAR.MAY THE LADY OF ALL NATIONS,WHO ONCE WAS MARY,BE OUR ADVOCATE.AMEN.
LORD JESUS CHRIST,
SON OF THE FATHER,
SEND NOW YOUR SPIRIT OVER THE EARTH.
LET THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVE
IN THE HEARTS OF ALL NATIONS,
THAT THEY MAY BE PRESERVED
FROM DEGENERATION, DISASTER AND WAR.
MAY THE LADY OF ALL NATIONS,
WHO ONCE WAS MARY,
BE OUR ADVOCATE.
AMEN.
