A list of 5 best quotable quotes from the year 2016

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art, authors, Blogosphere, blogs, books, celebrities, culture, current events, Education, faith, literature, novels, people, Poetry, Politics, quotes, Reading, research, US History, websites, World History, writing

There’s plenty good reasons some people refer to our Quotable Bard as “The Poet of the Rainbow” or “Poet of the Angels”. They turn up a lot in his work but never the same ones in the same way. So it’s not too surprising that some of his most famous quotes from the year 2016 have angels and rainbows in them.

1. First pick for the year is one that got that got a lot of buzz after the killings in Orlando, Florida, and after the crazy murders in Nice, France. The picture quote was posted on Twitter by Hendrik Klaassens for Aurora BlogSpot but the quote was shared all over the net.

“There is no envy, jealousy, or hatred between the different colors of the rainbow. And no fear either. Because each one exists to make the others’ love more beautiful.”
––Aberjhani (from Journey through the Power of the Rainbow, Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry)

2. The second citation is from a book review titled Taking Time to Think, and Love, Again. The review was about the book Already Here, the Matter of Love, and it gave us these lines:

 

“Imagine if we chose as eagerly to cultivate practices which increase the presence of Love and Joy in the world as we do to engage actions which hasten the destruction of our fellow human beings. That is within the realm of possibility for everyone.”
(QP, Bright Skylark Literary Productions)

 

 

3. One of the biggest moves the Quotable Poet made in 2016 was to give his first novel a reboot on the new Freed Reads platform. Who saw that coming?
“At its core, the novel Christmas When Music Almost Killed the World has always been about lovers attempting to reconcile the demands of their mysterious almost-mythical destinies with the ache-filled longings of human hearts. That enigmatic core, however, is only one of the drivers behind the book’s Valentine’s Day reboot with this new title: Songs from the Black Skylark zPed Music Player.” (Aberjhani from Christmas Gets a Valentine’s Day Weekend Reboot)

4. Resolving social and injustices and racial inequality is something the QP has been writing about for a long time so a lot of his work is a natural fit for Black Lives Matter and dealing with “the New Jim Crow.” Hard as it was for some of us to imagine the body count in 2016 going up for black people killed by police in America it kept on doing that.

“There is no such thing as overstating the crisis of oppressive human rights violations represented by the so-called ‘high school to prison pipeline’ in the United States and its devastating impact upon African-American communities. The modern industrial prison complex is dangerously emblematic of apartheid-like practices. Dismantling it means coming to terms with how it came to be and why it continues to expand.”––(Aberjhani from essay 10 Books Keeping One Writer’s Company)

5. An election year by definition is all about leadership. When it came choosing either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, citizens in America and other countries quoted the QP’s famous words about the job facing voters. But we like this:

“Leadership has never been an exact science but it has always found itself particularly challenged when tasked with elevating one segment of a society onto a level more politically, socially, and economically equitable with another.”
––(Aberjhani from The 2015 Bid for Power and History in Savannah)

Here’s hoping we all make it to beginning of a Happy New Year 2017.

 

MS/25

 

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5 Amazing Quotable Poet Quotes from the Year 2015

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African-American authors, Attacks in Paris, Best Quotes of the Year 2015, demographics, Diversity, Eiffel Tower, Happy New Year, Happy New Year 2016, Internet news, poet of the angels, quotes, Savannah author, terrorism, the quotable poet

Motivation speakers like to tell us one of the best ways to know where you’re going is to check out where you’ve already been. We’ve seen similar suggestions from the Quotable Poet as well. So since it looks like everybody’s in agreement with that idea our quotes for December are 5 of the best from the year 2015 for hipsters and dipsters to take with them into the year 2016.

As for the QP himself the year 2015 was obviously a BIG ONE since he announced that he was cutting back on column articles and administrative duties at Creative Thinkers International to go big on his current literary projects. That’s not something we can complain about around here because like Adele fans always hot for the next release we’re always pumped for the latest from the QP:

Best Quotable Poet Quotes of the Year 2015

 1.

“Diversity is an aspect of human existence that cannot be eradicated by terrorism or war or self-consuming hatred. It can only be conquered by recognizing and claiming the wealth of values it represents for all.”
         (Aberjhani, the quote’s on Goodreads but it came from his masterwork on the Paris attacks: For Love of Paris and a More Compassionate World)

2.

“Much of this [the 21st] century’s first decade and a half has been comprised of trends and unforeseen progressions that basically trashed reality as humanity knew it and reconstructed it via the mechanisms of a technology-based revolution.”
           (Aberjhani, from When the Lyrical Muse Sings the Creative Pen Dances)

3.

“From opposite ends of time and space
a dream and a song quietly embrace…like
the sun’s murmuring lips upon the moon’s blue face.”
(Aberjhani, from Rainbow-Song for the Angel of Tao)

4.

“Leadership has never been an exact science but it has always found itself particularly challenged when tasked with elevating one segment of a society onto a level more politically, socially, and economically equitable with another.”
Aberjhani (from The 2015 Bid for Power and History in Savannah)

5.

“Periods of shifting demographics, along with the often overwhelming giant crashing waves of sudden historical events themselves, often create odd partnerships and dangerously extreme polarization.”
(Aberjhani, from Abbreviated Mind Syndrome Article 3: Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson)

So all we need now are some rock-solid dates on the new releases. But for right now if you’re into the holiday spirit have some good safe times and let’s hope we all get to enjoy a great New Year 2016.

Closing out with a shout out to BSLP for permission granted to use intellectual properties.

MS/25

Poetic Notes and Quotes for Month of July

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African American poets, American poets, Andre Gide, authors, Authors frequently mentioned on the web, Best Quotes of the Year 2015, books, Charleston Shooting, Claude Mckay, Confederate flag, current events, essays, Famous People born in July, famous poems, famous poets, Harlem Renaissance authors, Harlem Renaissance poets, Hilliary Clinton, Literary Genius, Marriage Equality, Maya Angelou, Nobel Prize Winners, nonviolence, quotable poets, quotes about freedom, quotes about poetry, Quotes by Aberjhani, William Shakespeare

In his amazing essay “Text & Meaning in Claude McKay’s If We Must Die,” the Quotable Poet pays appropriate tribute to the great author McKay. He reminds us that the poem first came out in July 1919… so this July 2015 is the 96th anniversary of its publication. But wait, why should any us care at this particular time?

Well how about this… Think shooting massacre in Charleston, think Supreme Court decision on marriage equality, think Hillary Clinton’s “in-it-to-win-it” second run for the U.S. presidency, think no more Confederate flag raised on government property. For all those reason we’re joining the Quotable Poet  in his tribute to Claude McKay by presenting 3 of the best quotes from the article throughout this blog. We’re also going to zero in on another topic but first this is quote number 1:

“Poetry has often proven an effective instrument for amplifying the voices of those who believe they have been targeted for unfair social and political discrimination; or, worse, tagged for a campaign of potential genocide.” (QP Aberjhani)

We’ve been noticing something all year long. It’s nothing that’s going to make the Flash ditch his red super-threads for blue or pink ones. Just a quotation thing that’s worth sharing.

What we noticed is a lot of people put quotes by the Quotable Poet to good use in blogs, stories, quote-pics, status updates, books, and all kinds of fun things. What we DON’T see so much of are the literary critique type blog and essays bold enough to say why it is one search engine places his picture between the late author Maya Angelou and William Shakespeare at the same time that another places it next to Nobel Prize for Literature winner Andre Gide and half a dozen writers from the Harlem Renaissance.

“That Blacks and Whites have made tremendous advances in securing social and political equality for all Americans is something most reasonable thinkers would not deny. The conditions as they existed in 1919 were the kinds that challenge poets of any race to prove the significance of their craft.” (QP Aberjhani)

 Don’t get us wrong. There are some, like the Mankipedia article by Vince Corvino where he talks about the meaning of travel and the word “nightmare” in one of the QP’s most famous quotes. You can also find a lot dealing with the “dare to love yourself” quote and there are some important reviews of his Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. But when you look at the size of the body of work in different genres it seems like there’s supposed to be more and it seems like publishers should prob be making that happen.

“When confronted by social, political, or legal disagreements, options for nonviolent conflict resolution are often plentiful if allowed into consideration.” (QP Aberjhani)

Drop-down sample list of poem titles by the Quotable Poet.

One organization we have to give their due creds is Google for making available a drop-down list of poetry titles by the QP when you type in “Poems by …” Some search engines do the same thing with his quotes which is cool because these back up what some of us have been saying all along.

MS/25

The Quotable Poet 2014 Review and Literary Timeline

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Aberjhani, African American poets, African Americans, African-American authors, authors, Authors frequently mentioned on the web, Black History Month, books, contemporary poets, famous poets, famous quotations, famous quotes

You can tell from this blog there’s not a whole lot the Quotable Poet did not do in 2014 and it looks like he might be gearing up to take it to a different level in 2015. We’re combining the report prepared by the WordPress.com stats helper monkeys for 2014 with the timeline section from QP Aberjhani’s Timeline Table of Contents for the Year 2014 Going into 2015. Nobody here’s taking claim for his phenomenal output but we like the way his timeline backs up what we’ve been blogging for a few years. If it works out right you can see for yourself from the link list after the WordPress blurb…

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,800 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 47 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Timeline Table of Contents for 2014 Going into 2015

• Jan 5, 2014: Putting Tex and Meaning to the Guerrilla Decontextualization Test
• Jan 11, 2014: Honoring the Life and Legacy of Amiri Baraka
• Jan 26, 2014: Text and Meaning in TJ Reddy’s Poems in One-Part Harmony (part 1 of 4)
• Feb 10, 2014: Angel of Valentine Days and Nights Editorial with Poem
• Feb 27, 2014: Text and Meaning in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (3 parts)
• March 26, 2014: Poets of the Past and Present in 2014 Spotlight (2 parts)
• April 3, 2014: The Miracle that Was Gullah Artist Allen Fireall Poem and Remembrance
• April 24, 2014: Gifts of the Poets: Eugene B. Redmond and Coleman Barks (2 parts)
• May 6, 2014: Mothers Daughters and Slavery Make Disturbing 2014 News
• May 26, 2014: New Gallery Represents Cultural Milestone in Savannah
• June 3, 2014: Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry (book)
• June 4, 2014: Maya Angelou, Elliot Rodger, and Getting the Work Done (2 parts)
• June 16, 2014: Text and Meaning in Michael Jackson’s Xscape (5 parts)
• July 21, 2014: The Year of James Baldwin Now in Full Classic Literary Swing (3 parts)
• and A Commanding Voice from the Past Speaks with Brilliant Clarity to the Present
• July 30, 2014: The Saving Grace of an Old School Strategy and Impulse (2 parts)
• Aug 23, 2014: Notebook on Michael Brown, Kajieme Powell, and W.E.B. Du Bois (2 parts)
• Aug 29, 2014: Creative Flexibility and Annihilated Lives
• Aug 31, 2014: Military Voices Escalate Worldwide as Diverse Voices Call for Compassion
• Sept 19, 2014: Introduction to Tao of the Rainbow (new blog-site launch)
• Sept 19, 2014: A Beautiful Breathless Painted Pose (blog essay)
• Sept 24, 2014: Tao of the Rainbow No. 5 (blog essay)
• Sept 24, 2014: Text and Meaning in ELEMENTAL The Power of Illuminated Love (3 parts)
• Oct 9, 2014: Modiano Edges out Thiong’o and Murakami to Win 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Oct 22, 2014: Tao as Reflected in the Ways of All Things (blog essay)
• Oct 27, 2014: 7 Ways to Help Replace Legislated Fear with Informed Compassion and 7 Steps to Help Replace Legislated Fear with Informed Compassion
• Oct 27, 2014: Ode to the Good Black Books that Served My Soul So Well (poem in Poetry Life and Times)
• Oct 28, 2014: Reflections on Ode to the Good Black Boots that Served My Soul So Well (essay)
• Nov 16, 2014: Citizens of Newark Honor City, and, Historian Clement Alexander Price (2 parts)
• Nov 20, 2014: How Creativity and Social Responsibility Inspired 5 Memorable Moments
• Dec 14, 2014: Tis the Season for the Magic of Poetry (3 parts)

That’s what we been talking ’bout. Laters,

MS/25

October 2014 Poem of the Month: The Unseen Companion

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Aberjhani, African American poets, African-American authors, American poets, Art and Poetry Books, Author Fansite, authors, Authors frequently mentioned on the web, Best Poems of 2014, books, contemporary poets, Ekphrastic poems, famous poems, famous quotes, fansites, Halloween, October Poem of the Month, poem of the month, Poetry, popular poets

“When all the lights fold back into their silence,
in a place secret and safe, warm and fragrant like stars,
you will realize without thought, or sound or color,
that for one second I stood knee-deep inside your heart.
You had gone looking for a friend, and one had found you.”
–Aberjhani , from poem The Unseen Companion
(Quote graphic courtesy Bright Skylark Singing for MS/25)

We were set to offer up the Quotable Poet’s poem “Christ Listening to Stereo” for the October Poem of the Month. But you probably know already what happened. Just as things were getting set up the QP published it in part 2 of his “Text & Meaning in ELEMENTAL the Power of Illuminated Love” articles series on LinkedIn and AXS Entertainment. Booyah! The post also included the music video for the poem “Angel of Better Days to Come.”

Can’t blame a poet for struttin’ his own copyrighted stuff. He followed up part 2 with the poem “The History Lesson” in part 3, a back-to-back poetry slam-jam you don’t get a whole lot from QP these days. A 3-part essay with poems would have been enough for most bloggers and writers posting schedule but on top of those QP launched something on AuthorsDen that we’re gonna be keepin’ an eye on: Introducing Tao of the Rainbow . That’s got BIG texted all over it. It’s always cool to see what he’s up to on AuthorsDen ‘cause there are tons more reader reviews for work by QP Aberjhani there than on Amazon or anywhere else.

But in the meantime right now bounce-back action we’re going to follow the QP’s posting lead. Our October 2014 Poem of the Month “The Unseen Companion” was first published in Visions of a Skylark Dressed in Black and then ELEMENTAL. It’s a great read for Halloween but it’s an even better read for when you think about all the bodies dropping on battlefields and city streets.

THE UNSEEN COMPANION

This place shall not be warm.
Nor shall you find its cool breath pleasant.
With a heart heavier than death
you will wonder when and how
you came to occupy such a deadly stone.
There shall be no lovely voice begging and weeping
for the company of your sweet tongue.
Despair shall pimp you like a whore
and sell your thighs for less than a dime.
Then a moment, shaped like an angel,
and a time and space as brilliant as a comet,
shall rise above the horizon of your
battered affection, and peace will lift you
like a diamond made out of pure love.
As if stepping from a cloud, one name
shall come forward to embrace your tears.
You will almost know who I am.
In a place secret and safe,
you will almost remember this style.
As we dazzle, and merge, and vibrate like twin
realities flowing back and forth
between our birth and our eternity.
When all the lights fold back into their silence,
in a place secret and safe, warm and fragrant like stars,
you will realize without thought, or sound or color,
that for one second I stood knee-deep inside your heart.
You had gone looking for a friend, and one had found you.

–poem by Aberjhani (from ELEMENTAL The Power of Illuminated Love)

Post by MS/25

Poem of the Month for March: The Consecrated Soul of Whitney Houston

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Black History Month, celebrity deaths, creative thinkers, Death of Whitney Houston, tribute poem, Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston Tribute

Smokin’ HOT Whitney Houston photo courtesy of Black Celebs.com.

 

It didn’t take long for the Quotable Poet’s tribute poem The Consecrated Soul of Whitney Houston to ricochet around the web. But that’s not why it’s our Poem of the Month for March.

The last time the Quotable Poet Aberjhani ran an editorial combined with a poem was when the Fukushima tsunami and nuclear catastrophe hit hard and he posted Nuclear Snow in Japanese Springtime in his Examiner column. That’s something to think about because it means he did the same kind of hard digging and muscle flexing to acknowledge Whitney Houston’s passing as he did to honor the people who suffered from that world-class nightmare.

On top of that, the last celebrity that he posted an elegy (a poem like a eulogy but spelled a little different) for was Michael Jackson. If I’m wrong about that somebody can let me know. I’m not posting The Consecrated Soul of Whitney Houston with this blog because usually we get permission to do that but the Bright Skylark Literary Productions site that we get the permission from seems to be down for maintenance or something because the admin’s not responding to emails (MORE ON THAT LATER). You can still check out the poem with the editorial on Creative Thinkers International or Examiner at these links:

ON CTI:
http://creativethinkersintl.ning.com/profiles/blogs/notebook-on-black-history-month-2012-part-6-the-consecrated-soul-

ON EXAMINER:
http://www.examiner.com/african-american-art-in-national/notebook-on-black-history-month-2012-pt-6-consecrated-soul-of-whitney-houston

MS/25

January 2012 Poem of the Month: American Widow Song for Coretta Scott King

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Aberjhani, Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr., Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday

This is an AP photo of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King.

Since Martin Luther King Jr. Day has become one of the most popular holidays in the world, it would make some serious sense to feature a poem about King for the Quotable Poet’s January Poem of the Month. But guess what? I couldn’t find a poem by him about Martin Luther King Jr. specifically. What I dug up was his classic, “American Widow: Song for Coretta Scott King,” from the Collected Poems of Aberjhani.

You can see on the AD page where a lot of people gave this poem props because the poet gave props to the woman who kept King’s dream alive for years after the man himself had been assassinated. I give it double props because he wrote it in her voice, which a lot of black men poets wouldn’t dare to try. Outside of that, not a whole lot else need to be said except here it is…

AMERICAN WIDOW: SONG FOR CORETTA SCOTT KING

Martin you could not of course
but you should have seen it,
the wind turned to frozen thorns
when your coffin kissed the earth,
they drilled leprous holes in my arms
and the children all said
Mama please don’t Mama please—
but Friend where are you?
I have searched the bellies
of stars and storms for your
miraculous voice, I have walked seas
and seas of crippled night to hear
the songs of your touch and…

Friend of Mine when the dirt covered
your coffin crowds fainted
in the streets and up on the hills
of their souls our children sang
“I’m goin’ up yonder, I’m goin’
up yonder to be with my Lord,”
but not without me I’d always thought.
Oh my Soul, why did you go
so far without me, but the most
wondrous thing, the kind of wondrous
thing that amazed you most
was the sun gushing blood all over
my bereaved life while the preacher
said such nice true things about
you he must have thought
he’d made them up, I recalled
as he spoke, the early days
when we burned like two summers
in the shade of our hearts, I recalled
days of swimming bare-skinned
in the waters of each others’
freedom-hungry minds and even now
a cloud is coming yonder dripping bones
over my bones it is the kind
of wonder that amazed you most
oh dear good Martin, call me to where
you are please I long to show it to you.

by Aberjhani
© 2006

Post by MS/25

November 2011 Poems of the Month: 20 Major Poems by A Modern Poet

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African Americans, authors, poet of the angels, Poetry, quotes, Ranker Lists, Savannah poet, the quotable poet

Far as I know this book’s not out yet.

On most days I ignore it when somebody challenges me to do something on the Internet.  This time I couldn’t do that because I’ve been blogging on the Quotable Poet for a while and kind of had to say my piece when it came to the List of Poems by Aberjhani on Ranker. For one thing it was just too short for somebody who’s written and been published so much. And for another thang the first two titles were actually the same poem. When I SHARED that info it was suggested I create and submit a list of poems that represent the Quotable Poet’s work in a better way.

So guess what? I did, and that’s why the word “Poems” is in the title of this blog instead of just “Poem”.  The list is called 20 Major Poems by a Modern Poet and you can click and check it out: 20 Major Poems by A Modern Poet.

More news notes will be coming up soon.

MS25

September Poem of the Month: “How Poets and Words Burn Truth into Love”

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Aberjhani, African American poets, African-American authors, authors, famous poets, Internet news, modern poets, multiculturalism, poet of the angels, Poetry, poets, quotes, Savannah author, Savannah poet, spirituality, the quotable poet, Twenty-first Century Authors

"How Poets and Words Burn Truth into Love" artwork from original poem post by Aberjhani on Authors Den.

I’ve been saying for the past year how the Quotable Poet Aberjhani has posted more journalism articles and essays than poetry and he said the same thing in Seduced Once Again by Poetry. But the other thing he said in the same blog was that he was going to post a brand new poem on September 1, which was yesterday.  Well he did just like he said he would.

The poem is called How Poets and Words Burn Truth into Love  and so far seems to be posted only on his AuthorsDen site.   I’m calling it the September Poem of the Month because the Bright Skylark crew basically took over my Quote of the Month slogan. I’m also calling it that because it’s presented as a tribute to “the 100 Thousand Poets for Change initiative, and dedicated to all struggling at this time in history for life, love, peace in the world, and peace within themselves.”

You can read it by clicking the you know what:
How Poets and Words Burn Truth into Love

MS/25

Video Version of “Angel of Peace” by Aberjhani

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Aberjhani, African American poets, African-American authors, American poets, angel poems, famous poets, Google News, Internet news, modern poets, music, musician Mesje, New Age, poet of the angels, Poetry, quotes, Savannah author, Savannah poet, spirituality, Twenty-first Century Authors, videos, YouTube

From “Angel of Peace” by Aberjhani video poem with music.

 

It didn’t take long after the link for the SlideShare version of Angel of Peace got posted for a couple of emails to arrive asking why it wasn’t made into a video. Well guest what? It was, and you can check it out at this link: http://youtu.be/0Jpfe4Z1btk

The music is called “Raindrops” by a musician named Mesje. Funny thing is Mesje had a lot of songs available for downloading for free but nothing on the site about her or him. Tried buying the music on Amazon and it wasn’t there. What up wit dat? So the hunt’s on to find it someplace else. But for now this is MS25 saying thank you Mesje for putting it out there:  http://www.last.fm/music/Mesje  And hit me up with any comments or requests about the video because I would really really really really appreciate permission to use more of your music with other projects.

I’m almost caught up now on my promise to catch up with this blog. Don’t look for me to cover every single there you’ve been seeing or reading about Quotable Poet Aberjhani because apparently he’s been one busy writer and it teaming up with the 100 Thousand Poets for Change deal.  That’s reason enough to make the next blog a news point sheet or something like that. What’s it called, a fact sheet? Maybe…

Mindsurfer25