Born then drawn on your birth certificate
A full legal name and identity.
Some simple, short or long and intricate
It follows us always and plain to see.
We learn early on how to write our name
In simple letters or cursive styling
Our name travels with us as plain or vain
Through academia, records, filings.
What of streets, buildings or on monuments
Or long-faded through time and forgotten?
In directories high, like parliaments
Or lineage with children begotten?
In the end, but one written name alights
Is it written in the Lamb's Book of Life?
As I have wondered through the halls of old,
the minds of famous scribes in academia
had made me fearless, oft carelessly bold
when Mind betrayed lexical anaemia.
Soon baying at the Moon as it weeps,
a different view, depending on aspect.
The wisdom I crave inexorably seeps,
but seldom culminates into respect.
The misprision's become my badge of honour
as hyperbole swills in lexicon o’ Man.
Long years of uninformed populous dour
with magniloquent thinking that poetry can.
Yet I contemplate books in warehouse—
dyslexia transformed it into ‘wh…house’—
endless mirth that others could never douse.
Forgiving is easy
for those not directly
offended -- like, you
can’t sell love to the
loveless – no need.
Be a professor and
have a captive kingdom --
the real world outside of
Tenure. No tomatoes
tossed vs a good grade.
Win the aim
but lose the war.
evil lies torch and burn
free inquiry… dust and ash
… homegrown Hitler youth
Poison Ivy
Academia …
cesspool
of deception
harbinger
— of lies
(Dreamsleep: May, 2024)
Occam’s Edge
Plurality
without necessity
— pandering time
(Dreamsleep: May, 2024)
The Right Fork
Newness …
birth mother
to anticipation
(From ‘Calling Me Home:’ May, 2024)
The spires watch nightmares planned below, for citizenry
Who should have no foe.' From within its boundry's
They're to be fools on show, the first of April, auspisces
Known.' The donkeys are leading all reason has flown.'
Six the number..' of zones in plan? to destroy cohesion
Do we give a damn.? In academia many need real learning'
We experience much deluge, and yet there's lots of chat; that
The planet; is burning.?
The renowned Columbia professor, Edward Sa’id
influenced many thousands in thought and in deed
Pre-1970, Edward told us he was Lebanese Christian, interestingly
Post-1970, he was suddenly a Palestinian Arab refugee
_____________________________________________________
From my Dartmouth days, 1968 - 72, I remember how prominent
and revered a figure Prof. Sa'id was in both academia and on the
international political scene... Infuriating!
Like a boy in the wild
raised by wolves
my poetry is sired
Tracking the scent
of each hunted word
traps set for me most dire
Uncaught or caged
by academia
my trail still honor bound
To wander freely
beyond the wind
— alone to stand my ground
(Ronald McDonald House: February, 2024)
as chopsticks for soup
like a monkey eating scotch bonnets
you have to want it
good luck is a myth
thin as a Theban cookie
as your skin if you don't get it
checked-off triggers in academia
fired as a porcelain finger up
kilned in an undertone of glazing
grace is a saying and a Name
tweaked as an ego or a jacket
potato is a hashing at 3 a.m.
iHopper lingering is a tension
getting to the hearth of it
another homer hit past time's fence
foe knocking at your big teeth in front
like a door to your cheeks
puffed with a nut-angle oblique
playing a game of mother elephant
a recess abbreviated by a bad pronunciation
intonation of inspiration at the bell
wrung and swung along a well-tread trail
as dirty as a thurible
Like a thief in the night
academia
wears enlightenment
as a mask
hiding its true agenda
— a stranglehold on the truth
(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)
The mirror is ignorant
Of what I know is the truth:
Youth repelling the elements -
A smooth face untouched by grief -
An expression revealing no thought
Whose round eyes of ocean blue
Can't focus in on a plot -
Can't see vandals for what they do
But this face is aware of things
From academia and abroad -
Challenged by touch and theory -
Although my peers might say not
And my opinions - they run deep -
Diverse in classifications -
My humility - held steady -
By the years of my burdens.
Professors found a haven in academia
a safe port in the storm of big business' toxemia
As meaningful as writing articles for encyclopedias
as daring as interning for social media...
So now Professor's young charges want 'safe spaces'
far away from the slug-it-out world of rat races
Let me prove my point, get down to actual cases
to ensure I've covered my derriere and other places
My country's tears are falling like rain.
She is hurting, and great is her pain.
Deep in the portals of her heart,
Desperately, she is crying.
She is going BLIND
And has listened to lying.
She is losing her ability to HEAR,
And is filled with fear.
She has lost so much,
Even her sense of TOUCH.
Her halls of academia and governance
Are becoming meaningless and senseless.
Her TASTE buds for exceptionalism are dying.
Her FRAGRANCE of inspiration is fading,
And her influence is slowly waning.
Yes, she is crying,
But too few even care
And from afar, they stare.
Millions have eaten at her table,
But presently, too few adorn her label.
Please, do my country the greatest favor today.
Hold her, squeeze her tight, and cease not to pray.
050123PSCtest. Brian Strand. A BRIAN STRAND PREMIERE no 1213
A Matriculation Poem to Welcome Freshers at the University of Makeni
Welcome to an academic home of excellence,
Where hunters hunt love in excess
And fishers fish knowledge and accumulate providence.
An academic place above;
Where we build a civilization of love with no curve.
UniMak has nurtured her seed in civilized love and education of quality.
Her breed is scattered all over, serving society
While her students are victimized by Government gratuity.
Are we not children of Mama Salone?
That we should be left to wander in this journey alone!
We build a civilization of love
As we believe in the Holy Cross as a dove.
We are but benefiting under the nomenclature of Fatima’s love.
A kind and lovely mother,
She edifies us on how to build a civilization of love without borders.
We are the Genesis of love in this countryside,
And the orthodox of scholastic civilization as our pride.
We are on an academic ride;
A journey to love all and to transform society
Oh, mother! Help us now, as we build a civilization of love in purity.
William Adolphe Bouguereau
a pillar of the French Academia you know
much like Bottecelli before
Birth of Venus *he did so adore
*https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus_(Bouguereau)
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