1. Welcome, Hunia Bradley
2. Libation, Rev. Mutima Imani
3. Pearls/For the Women, Mechele LaChaux, Marvin X
4. Phavia Kujichagulia, YoYoYo
5. Woman in the Box, Alona Clifton, dannce, Raynetta Rayzetta
6. Beautiful Flower, Destiny Muhammad, Tarika, Tacuma
7. Aries Jordan, Vagina Monologue
8. Ayodele Nzinga, Bathroom Graffitti Queen by Opal Palmer Adisa
9. Mechele LaChaux, Woman on the Cell Phone
15 Minute Intermission
10. Augusta Collins, song, M.A.N., Miles from Nowhere
11. Derrick Hughes, A Man's World
12. Marvin X, For the Men
13. Ptah Allah El, Aries Jordan, Confession of a Wife Beater, Testimony
14. O'Town Passions, Ten Commandments of Love
15. Parable of a Real Woman, Rev. Brandon Reems and Bishop Ernestine Reems
16. Mechelle LaChaux, Destiny Muhammad, Tacuma, Tarika, Nature Boy
17. Marvin X, In the Name of Love
18. Geoffrey Grier, Q and A
For the Women
For the women
Who bear children and nurture them with truth
Who cook and clean behind thankless men
For the women
Who love so hard so true so pure
For the women
With faith in God and men
For the women
Alone with beer and rum
Searching for a man
At the club college church party
For the women
Independent of men
Searching their souls
Who smoke crack and freak
Who love only women
Who play and run and never show
Who rise in revolt in hand with men
Who say never never, never again
For the women who suffer abuse and cry for justice
For the women happy and free of maternal madness
For the women who study and write
For the women who sell their love to starving men
For the women who love to make love and be loved by men
For the women of Afrika who work so hard
For the women of American who suffer the master
For the women who turn to God in prayer and patience
For the women who are mothers of children and mothers of men
For the women who suffer inflation recession abortion recession
For the women who understand the rituals of men and women
For the women who share
For the women who are greedy
For the women with power
For the women with nothing
For the women locked down
For the women down town
For the women who break horses
For the women in the fields
For the women who rob banks
For the women who kill
For the women of history
For the women of now
I salute you. A MAN.
--Marvin X
Circa 1981
Marvin X reads with Phavia Kujichagulia and Rashidah Sabreen
Videographer and editor, Mr. Ken Johnson
Parable of A Real Woman
There was a man who had many women in his life. They had come and gone, with himself at fault most of the time. But he wouldn't give up, he continued his self improvement and search for that special woman.
He talked with elder women about what he should do. One told him he'd never had a real woman! If so, she would still be with him, no matter what, through thick and thin, up times and down times. Well, he asked, how would he know when such a woman was in his presence. First, clean up your own act, she said. Scoop your own poop.
Rid yourself of defects of character. Make amendments to all those you have harmed in life. It takes humility to do this. Still, how will I know the real woman? The older woman answered, you will know because when she comes over your house and sees something amiss, she will take authority to correct the situation. If your house is dirty, she will immediately ask if she can clean it as a favor to you, as an act of love.
She will not want any money for her services. And she will clean your house as it has never been cleaned before because she knows what she is doing. Yes, she is a pro, not only with house cleaning but with everything she does, including her love making. She will make sure you are satisfied and herself as well. She will demand respect and will respect you.
She will demand freedom and give you freedom. She will speak in the language of love so smoothly that it will be like a razor cutting to the heart. You will be bleeding to death but not know you are cut. You will do what she suggests and do it willingly because it will not be a demand but a request said so subtly you won't recognize it for what it actually is: a demand.
And you will love doing what she requests. When you need space and time to yourself you won't need to explain, she will pick up the vibe. And you will do the same for her. She will not be jealous and envious of your talent and skills or how handsome you are to other women.
She knows she has you in her pocket because she is confident of herself, and not worried about some other woman taking her man. If you are taken by another woman, it must be the will of God that you go. She knows God will replace her emptiness with someone even better than you. But she will give you time to get a grip on yourself and find your way back home.
Just don't take too long and when you come home don't be asking about what she was doing while you were gone. A real woman will put her resources at your disposal if you are worthy of them, as the prophet Muhammad was treated by the wealthy trade woman Khadijah. There is no selfishness in love. All is for the beloved, but a wise woman ain't no fool. As the song says, the greatest thing you will ever do is love and be loved in return. The man thanked the elder woman for her wisdom and departed on his search.
--11 March 2010
You Don't Know MeYou don't know me
you had a chance to know me
before we made love
you had a chance to know my mind
understand my fears
learn about issues
help me heal some things
but you wanted to make love
so you don't know me
we made love
but you don't know me
don't have a clue
think I'm a good d
or some good tight p
but you don't know me
and never will now
because you wanted to make love
you wanted to get a nut
we didn't even talk much
a little bit leading up to sex
I went along
I was horny too
but you don't know me
and I don't know you
now we never will
we blew it forever
because we made love
too fast too quick too soon
now you think you own me
I can't breathe
can't talk on the phone to friends
because we made love
because I gave you some d
you gave me some p
now I'm no longer human
I'm your love slave
you my slave
we're in love but you don't know me
we gonna get married
but you don't know me
we're gonna have children
but you don't know me
you're gonna beat my ass
but you don't know me
you're going to jail
but you don't know me
we're getting a divorce
but you don't know me
now we're friends "Just Friends" Charlie Parker tune
But you don't know me and never will.
--Marvin X
What is Love?
What is love only kisses hugs
what is love
only meetings of the minds
what about times when minds do not meet
is love not present in the air in the blood of loving souls
too ignorant to know the test of love
the many ways it strives to be and not be
yet is always
and forever
not always tender
sometimes rough and sharp
like a razor cutting to the heart
love is pain
we take to grow
be strong again
tears in the night
alone again
we find ourselves
wondering
if love was even real
yet it was
if we see
if we look
beyond romantic notions of everything is cool always with love
but we know the blues of love
when we miss the words from lips so tender in truth
but we miss them
in haste
to be the authority on love
yet love
has been around since eternity and will stay
when lovers have gone away
it will stay
in spite of all the tears
the fights
the verbal bouts
even the put outs
and come backs
and gimme my keys
and why don't you call
and don't you still care
and why did you go
and do you really lover her or really love him
after all the time we shared
how could you do this to me
after all I did for you in the night
what is love
sometimes we must enjoy the hurt the pain
to grow
be wise again
this time
with God
in the center of things
but try
for love is precious
time is short
life must be lived with joy
somehow
through it all
let joy arise
take control of love.
--Marvin X
from Land of My Daughters, poems, 2005,
Black Bird Press, Berkeley
A scene from Marvin X's 1981 classic play In the Name of Love,
starring Zahieb Mwongozi, Ayodele Nzinga and Doris Knight
video from the archives of Leon Teasley
He's Plato teaching on the Streets of Oakland. His play One Day in the Life is the most powerful drama I've seen.--Ishmael Reed
A symphony conductor in the manner of Sun Ra. One of America's great story tellers. Maybe second to Mark Twain. Of course I'd place Marvin X ahead of him even.--Rudolph Lewis
One of the founders and innovators of the revolutionary school of African writing.--Amiri Baraka
His writing is orgasmic. He reaches in and pulls from a life lived hard, deep, wide, high and low, i.e., a sacrifice in blood. At the root of sacrifice is sacred, which is of God and for God. He has lived and examined the lives of the proverbial 10,000 black men and women...and gives us the truth of that experience, lived and examined.--Fahizah Alim, writer emeritus, Sacramento Bee
Marvelous Marvin X!--Dr. Cornel West
Still the undisputed King of Black Consciousness!--Dr. Nathan Hare
Marvin X is a human earthquake! He's known for putting together extravaganzas that border on creative chaos! But there's a method to his madness!
Mythology of Love is Phenomenal!
--Bruce George
It empowered me. I didn't know I had that much power.--A young sister
It helped me up my game!--A young brother
We should have had something like this when we were 16. It would have saved us a lot of trouble with women. It would have saved them a lot of pain dealing with us.
--Elder Brother
Blues man
Augusta Collins
There are more African Americans under correctional control today--in prison or jail, on probation or parole--than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began. If you take into account prisoners, a large majority of African American men in some urban areas, like Chicago, have been labeled felons for life. These men are part of a growing under caste, not class, caste--a group of people who are permanently relegated, by law, to an inferior second-class status. They can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from juries, and legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education and public benefits--much as their grandparents and great-grandparents once were during the Jim Crow era.--Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow
I must have Destiny in Mythology of Love. She understands where I'm coming from artistically and spiritually. We just need funding to keep our artists spreading joy.
If you would like to help make this production happen, let me know ASAP:jmarvinx@yahoo.com
Destiny Muhammad
Harpist of the Hood
by Marvin X
Dancers/choreographers Linda Johnson Raynetta Rayzetta, and drummer Val Serant are expected to participate in Mythology of Love
And it hurts like brand new shoes.
Parable of the Woman in the Box
There was a woman who lived inside a box. Her whole life had been spent inside the little box, squeezed in from all sides. She never went outside the box. People brought her food to eat but she ate it inside the four walls of the box. She was cramped to the point of being crippled because she could never stand up inside the box. Not only her body but her brain and spirit were crippled from living inside the box.
Her thinking was confined to what she could imagine inside the box, and that was very little, no big grand thoughts, only micro imaginings. Even her God was a little god, one that fit into the box. She could not envision her God outside and that her God ruled the whole world, not just her little world inside the box.
Now and then she would beat on the walls of her box in a vain attempt to break them down and escape. But whenever she did, someone would come by and whisper to her to be quiet, she was making noise and disturbing other people.
She would comply with their request, trying to be nice, since she really was a nice person, she just didn't know how to escape the box. And she had to be nice to the person who brought her food because they might not return if she got angry and loud, started screaming, hollering and foaming at the mouth. Inside the box, she lived the life of a stunted woman, her mental growth stunted as well.
She could not imagine the finer things of life, or how she might expand her spiritual development. She did not know how she might be able to fend for herself, make her own money for food and other things she needed, even if she stayed inside the box, but she really wanted to get out. Somehow she gathered the energy to have a thought that went beyond the box, energy that would stop her from being a stunted woman, unable to stand tall and rise from her condition inside the box.
She began to figure a way out, a way to free herself, mind, body and soul. She had to do some hard thinking but she was determined to liberate herself. She saw nails in the walls and began to tinker with them, push them a little with her fingernails, then wiggled around and backed into one wall, then the
other. After a time, she could see a little break between the walls. She came up with a name for the nails that kept her down. One nail she called ignorance. She knocked and knocked until it loosened. Then she beat and pressured another nail in the box she called passivity. When she put counter pressure on that nail the box started shaking.
She tinkered with another nail she called lack of desire and will. Then she started talking to the walls, telling them to open up she was coming out. She
even told her little God to give her a hand. Her little God gave her a hand. Some people came by and seeing the walls shaking, tried to pound on the nails, but the woman commanded the nails to stop in their tracks and they did as she commanded. She continued her resistance until the walls of the box gave in and was able to gradually stand and eventually began to do a little dance.
--3/10/10
From The Wisdom of Plato Negro, Marvin X, BBP, 2010.
i
He's lost in the wilderness, lost in bitterness.
For the Men
For the men
Who father children
With time and money
For the men
Who abandon children
In ignorance and addictions
For the men on the street
And the men in suites
For the men in villas
And the men in alleys
For the men with wives
And the men alone
For the men who honor wives
And the men who abuse them
For the men who rap
And the men who are silent
For the men who win
And the men who sin
For the men who love God
And the men who hate
For the men who are brothers
And the men who are beasts
For the men with holy ghost
And the men without hope
For the men of revolution
And the men of reaction
O, men, listen to the wise
Good comes to good
And the bad receive their due
There is no escape
Fro the men of this world
Or men of the next.
CALLING ALL BLACK MEN
COME OUT THE CLOSET!
Mr. Black Xerox
Clorox
Mason
Christian
Muslim
Democrat
Pan-African-
Wino
Dope smoker-
Coke sniffer
Down low brother
Calling all black men
Mr. Black wife beater-
rapist
robber
murderer
Worker
father
husband
lover
COME OUT THE CLOSET
Mr. Black back to Africa
Mr. Black I-love-America
Calling all black men, come in, come in, come in....
Memorial Day
I am a veteran
Not of foreign battlefields
Like my father in World War I
My uncles in WWII
And Korea
Or my friends from Vietnam
And even the Congo “police action”
But veteran none the less
Exiled and jailed because I refused
To visit Vietnam as a running dog for imperialism
So I visited Canada, Mexico and Belize then Federal prison for a minute
But veteran I am of the war in the hood
The war of domestic colonialism and neo-colonialism
White supremacy in black face war
Fighting for black power that turned white
Or was always white as in the other white people
So war it was and is
Every day without end no RR no respite just war
For colors like kindergarten children war
For turf warriors don’t own and run when popo comes
War for drugs and guns and women
War for hatred jealousy
Dante got a scholarship but couldn’t get on the plane
The boyz in the hood met him on the block and jacked him
Relieved him of his gear shot him in the head because he could read
Play basketball had all the pretty girls a square
The boyz wanted him dead like themselves
Wanted him to have a shrine with liquor bottles and teddy bears
And candles
Wanted his mama and daddy to weep and mourn at the funeral
Like all the other moms and dads and uncle aunts cousins
Why should he make it out the war zone
The blood and broken bones of war in the hood
No veterans day no benefits no mental health sessions
No conversation who cares who wants to know about the dead
In the hood the warriors gone down in the ghetto night
We heard the Uzi at 3am and saw the body on the steps until 3 pm
When the coroner finally arrived as children passed from school
I am the veteran of ghetto wars of liberation that were aborted
And morphed into wars of self destruction
With drugs supplied from police vans
Guns diverted from the army base and sold 24/7 behind the Arab store.
Junior is 14 but the main arms merchant in the hood
He sells guns from his backpack
His daddy wants to know how he get all them guns
But Junior don’t tell cause he warrior
He’s lost more friends than I the elder
What can I tell him about death and blood and bones
He says he will get rich or die trying
But life is not money
And if he lives he will learn.
If he makes it out the war zone to another world
Where they murder in suits and suites
And golf courses and yachts
if he makes it even beyond this world
He will learn that love is better than money
For he was once on the auction block and sold as a thing
For money, yes, for the love of money but not for love
And so his memory is short and absent of truth
The war in the hood has tricked him into the slave past
Like a programmed monkey he acts out the slave auction
The sale of himself on the corner with his homeys
Trying to pose cool in the war zone
I will tell him the truth and maybe one day it will hit him like a bullet
In the head
It will hit him multiple times in the brain until he awakens to the real battle
In the turf of his mind.
And he will stand tall and deliver himself to the altar of truth to be a witness
Along with his homeys
They will take charge of their posts
They will indeed claim their turf and it will be theirs forever
Not for a moment in the night
But in the day and in the tomorrows
And the war will be over
No more sorrow no more blood and bones
No more shrines on the corner with liquor bottles
teddy bears candles.
--May 25, 2007 Brooklyn NY
I Will Go into the CityI will go into the city
I will find work
I will find work
I will remember you, country woman
I will not forget you
Your laugh, your arguments
In order to learn
It is your way, let it be
How can I forget your lips
Your enchanting smile
I will not forget
The night we walked in the rain
Because it was free and we were free
For once we agree
The best of life is free
I will go into the city
I will find work
But you will be with me, country woman
When those city women come to devour me
With their sweet perfume
You will be there
Your spirit will protect me
I will never forget
How we sipped $1.00 margaritas
In the Mexican café in Chinatown
Our ride to the lake
Our picnic on the hill
The ranger spotted us with his binoculars
We did not care
We were filled
With the holy spirit of love
How can I forget
Hours in bed
We became children
Of the love spirit
Days, nights, mornings
Became one moment
Man and woman became one
Discovered their missing self
Eternal self
Self of love
Self of joy
Self of happiness realized
I will go into the city
I will find work
I will not forget you, country woman
I will return to claim you
In the name of love
I will claim you
Because you are woman
I will claim you
Because you are feeling and spirit
I will claim you
Because you are mind and beauty
I will claim you
Because you have given yourself to me so totally
I will claim you
In the name of Allah
I will claim you
For the glory of Allah
I will claim you.
--Marvin X From Selected Poems, 1979.
The Other Woman (from In the Name of Love)
Yes, I’m his other woman.
The invisible woman.
I love him
Just as much as she loves him
Maybe more
Cause I don’t know how much she loves him, anyway.
But I love him too!
She got papers on him
But papers don’t mean a damn thing to me
All I want is justice.
Nobody wants more than justice
And nobody wants less than justice
I want equality too.
I want equal time.
I told him to set up a schedule
And keep it.
I told him to be man enough
To tell his other woman
“Say, look, you are my woman
And she is my woman
I love both of you
It’s time we work together.”
He says he told her
He says he’s trying to break her in
Finessefully
I’m trying to be patient
Cause I ain’t going nowhere
Ain’t nowhere to go.
I’m sticking with my black man, my African man.
I been with this man off and on for 15 years
How long she been with him
What she know bout the man?
She damn sho don’t know much as I know
That’s the only reason I put up with him
Cause I know him so well.
But we should work together
Since we have the same interests and everything
Since we have so much in common
Don’t have me hating my sister
Don’t have my sister hating me
I’m bout progress
I’m willing to share him
Not because I just want to share somebody
But it just ain’t no men
You get with these men and they turn out to be punks.
Now what woman wants a punk?
Punk lookin for the same thing I’m looking for.
You know that’s a shame
So we lucky to have half a man these days
This must be the end of the world!
So like I say, I’m willing to share
We be sharing anyway
Tell the truth sisters
Your man is probably my man too!
Everything he do with you, to you and for you
He does with me, to me and for me
Let’s work together
Let’s help our men to be men
Especially those who want to be men.
That’s all I got to say.
Confession of a Polygamist
Yes, I have two wives
That’s right
Two mother-in-laws too!
Ain’t that a bitch!
And my wives love me
Even in my terribleness
They love me
Even though they hate each other
They love me
I just wish all that energy
They spend hating each other
I wish they would help me fight the devil
Help me make some money
I mean, I try to bring them in harmony
But what can you do with this
North American African woman?
All that ignorance, selfishness, possessiveness
They want you to lie and sneak around the alley
Well, I ain’t lying and I ain’t sneaking
You can call me nigguh, black, African, whatever
But I’m a man and I chart my course
I’m not following nobody’s agenda but mine
If these women want to get in harmony with me, fine
If they don’t, fine
But I’m not sneaking around like a dog
The Christian way is not my way.
To hell with monogamy!
One man one woman
That’s bullshit!
Now you tell me
What man only got one woman?
Does a man have one suit?
So many of our women don’t have no man
Now what if ten women were on an island
With one man
What would they do?
They would share him
Whether they liked it or not
And sister gonna have to do the same thing
Women don’t care if you married these days
They like it better if you are married
That’s what they’re lookin for
A married man!
But my hands are full
Two of these North American African women
Are enough for me
But women are so aggressive these days
They’ll rape you! That’s right
Sometimes I feel like the fireman
I go from house to house
Dashing flames, extinguishing passions and fears
There is no rest for me
Fire is everywhere.
Eternal Woman
I know the pain
Of love and hate
The happy hours
The long debates
Wanting to run
Wanting to stay
The lover’s kiss
And then to miss
The point of me
Rushing pass
To the point of you.
Eternal Man
What did you say?
Eternal Woman
You heard what I said.
Why didn’t you come home last night?
Eternal Man
Don’t be asking me why I didn’t come home. Matter of fact, don’t ask me shit. I’m a free man. I come and go as I please.
Eternal Woman
I’m tired of your shit.
Eternal Man
(slaps her to floor)
Shut up bitch!
Confession of a Wife BeaterI beat her because she loved me
I beat her
Gouged my fingers into her eyes
Stomped her on the floor
Because she loved my dirty drawers
I beat her
Put my hands on her throat and squeezed
Until her eyes looked like marbles
I beat her
Because she loved me
Because she gave me a child
That looked just like me
I beat her
Because I stood trembling
Watching the child ooze from her womb
I beat her
Because she wouldn’t give me some pussy
I tore her panties off and took the pussy
I beat her
Then said to her, “Baby, I love you so much.
You’re so precious to me, let me kiss you.”
And she let me
Then I beat her for letting me
Because I was drunk
Too much rum
I beat her
Too much weed
I beat her
Too much coke
I beat her
My you are so precious to me
I beat her
My I love you so much baby
I beat her
Because she was faithful
Because she was patient
I beat her
While my child stood terrified
I beat her
Kicked her
Sat on her
Punched her in the mouth
In my madness
Because she said the wrong word
Because she said nothing
Because she said the right word
Because she said too many words
Because she had a thought
Independent of mine
I beat her
Knocked her too the floor
Because she called the police
I beat her
How could she call the white man on me
As Black as I was
I beat her
Because she called her mama
I beat her
Because she called the operator
I beat her
Because she picked up the telephone
I beat her
Because she left me and I found her hiding in the closet
I beat her because I took her to Mexico and she wasn’t happy
I beat her because I took her to New York
And she didn’t smile
I beat her
Because I was sick
And she told me so.
I beat her.
Eternal Woman (I Shot Him)I shot him
Because he loved me
He loved me so much he came home smelling
Like his other bitch’s pussy
I shot him
I didn’t kill him
But I shot him
Because I got the phone bill
And saw he’d called his other bitch
On my birthday
I shot him
Cause I got papers on him
Yeah, I got papers on the motherfucker
To use his filthy language
I shot him
And I ain’t sharing him with nobody
I don’t care what the Muslims say
Bout a nigguh can have four wives
I don’t care what the Holy Qur’an say
I don’t care bout the African tradition of polygamy
I don’t care how many mo women it is for every man
I shot him
I don’t care if women are turning lesbian and bisexual
Cause they don’t want no man
I want my man. I love my man
But I shot him!
Testimony, a Love Song
Eternal Man
I remember when I met you, woman
The feeling has never left me
What is the magic of you, what is the mystery
Every day, you are there,
In my hair
In my skin
I hear you blowing in the wind
Eternal Woman
I remember when I first me you, man
You were strong then
Your hair was neat
Your fingernails were clean and cut
Your skin was glowing
Your ears were clean
You were confident, secure
Your voice was strong and commanding
I was proud to meet you
Had heard of you, heard your name
Knew you were a man of truth
You know I did everything to please you
Spoiled you, worshipped you above God
That was my sin
If the years have taught me anything
You are very much human
Sometimes less than human
When you beat me
Sometimes more than human
When you made love to me.
Eternal Man
I have learned to listen to you, woman
You been right many times
When I was wrong
You knew what to do from the beginning
I didn’t but pretended I did
You begged me for years
Do right, nigguh, do right
What did I say
Shut up, bitch!
And kicked your ass
Only a fool would hurt a flower
Only a fool would destroy a rose.
Eternal Woman
If you love me so much
Why you treat me like you do
If you love me so much
Why you treat me like you do?
Eternal Man
I make no excuses
Word is bond
If you cannot believe my words
We have no bond
I will keep trying til my words are truth
I went blind
No longer saw God
No longer cared for Him
Lost faith in myself, most of all
But look
The Spirit of God is upon me!
Eternal Woman
You act like the same nigguh to me
You don’t respect me as a woman
You don’t respect me as a human
It’s your way or no way
True, you haven’t beat me lately
But you act like you will
If I oppose you
Who can live like this?
I refuse to live in fear
I refuse
If you can’t make me feel secure
I will find someone else who can
If you cannot make me feel at peace
I will find someone else who can
If you cannot treat me with respect
I will find someone else who can!
Eternal Man
I understand
And I submit
To truth
I submit
To God.
Eternal Woman
I’m going to see, man
You’ve told me millions of words
I will see
I want to believe you, but it’s hard
I want to trust you
But it’s hard
You’ve lied so much
You’ve done such terrible things to me
You’re the worse person I know
What else is wrong with you?
You’re too aggressive
You’re too extreme
You drink too much
You fuck too much
You cuss too much
You shout too much!
Eternal Man
Why you let me love you again and again
If I’m so terrible
King Kong
I want to take you serious
But sometimes
You are full of hot air and gibberish!
Eternal Woman
You’re right
There is some good in you
We have good times together
Sometimes
You’re really a good person
But you always negate the good
With some terrible stuff
Sometimes you make me nervous
Sometimes I can’t relax with you
Sometimes I don’t’ feel safe and secure with you
Get yourself together
Don’t blow up every minute
I’m trying to control myself
I’m not perfect either
I have my faults
You know them better than anyone
I’m working on myself
Work on yourself
Take care of your business
And come at me right!
Where is your faith in Allah
You profess to the world
Keep your word, demonstrate your word
By your actions
And I’ll be your friend forever
I’ll be your very best friend.
Moment in Paradise
Now that we are in heaven
Will the scars of hell ever heal?
Let’s take a midnight swim
Don’t be afraid, my beloved
The tide will return soon
Let us talk until then
We have not talked in so long
We have not been our true selves
In so long
I don’t even know who you are
Isn’t that strange
To be with a person
To love a person
Yet you do not know their worth
That is why we came to this land
We left the wilderness
To see who we really are
My beloved, look, the tide is in
Come, let’s take that midnight swim.
II
When the sun comes up, we are up
She is making mind tea with lemon and honey
Raul’s yellow boat still parked in the water
Maybe his nets have caught another shark
If so he will ask me to drive him to town
So he can sell it for 50 pesos
My beloved washing dishes on the shore
A gayle on her head
Just think, I have never told her how beautiful she is to me
Hell put chains on our hearts
Nothing is more painful
Than loving someone
Yet ignorance separates you
My beloved
One day I shall know who you are
And love you a thousand times more
For now, let us enjoy this moment in paradise
Come, massage me
Here in the shade
Rub around my neck and shoulders
Around my waist
Then I’ll massage you.
--from Selected Poems, and In The Name of Love,
Marvin X, Laney College Theatre production, 1981.
Poet Ptah Mitchell
Minister of Ceremony Hunia Bradley
Poet, Musician
Phavia Kujichagulia
Actress, poet, director
Ayodele Nzinga
Actress, poet
Aries Jordan
Producer/poet Marvin X and Violinist Tarika Lewis
Vocalist/Actress Mechelle LaChaux
Video link to Mechelle reading Parable of the Cell Phone
(caution--Contains adult language):
http://www.facebook.com/n/?video%2Fvideo.php&v=386672567980&comments&mid=357fa34G458d6d2eG23f926fG3b&n_m=jmarvinx%40yahoo.com
For his Mythology of Love, a poetic manhood and womanhood rites of passage, Marvin X has chosen Nature Boy and Beautiful Flower as essential songs.The ritual will be performed by members of the First Poet's Church of the Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists. Date and place to be announced. Invited artists include singer Mechelle LaChaux, violinist Tarika Lewis, harpist Destiny Muhammad, percussionist Tacuma King, guitarist Augusta Collins, O'Town Passions singing group, poets Phavia Kujichagulia, Ayodele Nzinga, Aries Jordan, Ptah Allah El and Paradise; choreographers Linda Johnson and Raynetta Rayzetta. Actors Geoffrey Grier, Eugene Allen and Jermaine Marsh. Libations by Rev. Mutima Imani, Minister of Ceremony Hunia Bradley. Scene designer Renaldo Ricketts.
Associate Producer
Geoffrey Grier
Producers include Center of Hope Church, Post Newspaper Group, Lower Bottom Playaz, San Francisco Recovery Theatre and Conway Jones, Jr. If you or your organization would like to be a sponsor, please contact Marvin X: jmarvinx@yahoo.com
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