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This poem by Bassey Ikpi sang to and burned me as I read it. (You can also hear her read the poem here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-BfYjZsn5A ) May it speak to you too... Apology to My Unborn i fear that you will never sleep that like these fingers long and too thin to hold rings and commitments you will inherit your mother’s insomnia her restless spirit child, i wish I could quiet all your questions tell you the exact number of stars show you where the moon goes at sunrise i wish i could temper your fear of good byes prove that the earth spins regardless of whether or not you are awake to see it i wish i could give you one morning worth rising for I pray that you can close your eyes see the world through the only thing i have fit to pass down to you this heart of a dreamer but i want you stronger sooner want you kind and brave want you unafraid to fight for what you believe and need want you beautiful and free i want you nothing like your mother this girl trembling before each new day frightened of herself love this girl who finds the word ‘woman’ a cloak too heavy to don most days you deserve someone who carries the moniker like banner wears it easy like sun in summer but, child, what can i tell you of peace when you were probably conceived in a cacophony of questions still i think of you as possible can almost smell the breath of god light against you skin can hear you, softness, eyes closed laughing real as the beating staccato against my chest but future, i fear if i cling too fiercely to your unconditional that i will bruise you because i can not hold my breath long enough to shrug off these imperfections i wonder, if they will make me too nervous to nurse you leave me unable to find a place where just loving you is enough child I will begin counting those same stars and in dreams these arms will hold you whisper you soft into a still slumber these hands, small and strong, like your grandmother will build for you a world of colored things will pray, palms towards the heaven, for a quiet without the tumble and chaos of words and worry child i pray that you know that though feared, you are wanted know how you’ve lived lifetimes in this hollow expansion of breath know how easy you’ll fit in my spaces need you to know this now before time and distances help me to forget to tell you often enough i hope that we will not be too much like shadow and brick voices thrown against walls these hands are tired of building and child i hope you will forgive my quiet those moments when i just can’t find the words to speak i hope my silences don’t scare you won’t have you questioning your worth have you turning towards friends and strangers for comfort i want you to like me to know me to know that there are moments when i will wrestle with moments that shade my best intentions moments like now your mother lays awake watching, yet, another morning from the wrong side practicing slow this breathing that will usher you one day into this world here, i can, almost conjure up a proper image of you i still fear that you will never know peace but i already know i need your laughter need the gentle curve of your fingers need your eyes locked on mine need you here now for balance you deserve more than this threat of me as your mother still attempting my own world of colored things so child, just promise me that you will be, eventually i need your possibility like i need a night worth sleeping for -Bassey Ikpi

By Taylor Mali www.taylormali.com He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers: Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.I decide to bite my tongue instead of his and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests that it's also true what they say about lawyers. Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company. "I mean, you¹re a teacher, Taylor," he says. "Be honest. What do you make?" And I wish he hadn't done that... (asked me to be honest) because, you see, I have a policy about honesty and ass-kicking: if you ask for it, I have to let you have it. You want to know what I make? I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor and an A- feel like a slap in the face. How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best! I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups. No, you may not ask a question. Why won't I let you get a drink of water? Because you're not thirsty, you're bored, that's why. I make parents tremble in fear when I call home: I hope I haven't called at a bad time, I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today. Billy said, "Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don't you?" And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen! I make parents see their children for who they are and what they can be. You want to know what I make? I make kids wonder, I make them question. I make them criticize. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them write, write, write. And then I make them read. I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful over and over and over again until they will never misspell either one of those words again. I make them show all their work in math. And hide it on their final drafts in English. I make them understand that if you got this (brains) then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you give them this (the finger)! Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true: I MAKE A GODDAMN DIFFERENCE! WHAT ABOUT YOU?

And if it is...I'd sure love to hear you sing it. ANI DIFRANCO: SELF EVIDENT: (inspired by the WTC disaster) yes, us people are just poems we're 90% metaphor with a leanness of meaning approaching hyper-distillation and once upon a time we were moonshine rushing down the throat of a giraffe yes, rushing down the long hallway despite what the p.a. announcement says yes, rushing down the long stairs with the whiskey of eternity fermented and distilled to eighteen minutes burning down our throats down the hall down the stairs in a building so tall that it will always be there yes, it's part of a pair there on the bow of Noah's ark the most prestigious couple just kickin back parked against a perfectly blue sky on a morning beatific in its Indian summer breeze on the day that America fell to its knees after strutting around for a century without saying thank you or please and the shock was subsonic and the smoke was deafening between the setup and the punch line 'cause we were all on time for work that day we all boarded that plane for to fly and then while the fires were raging we all climbed up on the windowsill and then we all held hands and jumped into the sky and every borough looked up when it heard the first blast and then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed and the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar looked more like war than anything I've seen so far so far so far so fierce and ingenious a poetic specter so far gone that every jackass newscaster was struck dumb and stumbling over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and on and I'll tell you what, while we're at it you can keep the pentagon keep the propaganda keep each and every TV that's been trying to convince me to participate in some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate retribution perpetuate retribution even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution is still hanging in the air and there's ash on our shoes and there's ash in our hair and there's a fine silt on every mantle from hell's kitchen to Brooklyn and the streets are full of stories sudden twists and near misses and soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters with tales of narrowly averted disasters and the whiskey is flowin like never before as all over the country folks just shake their heads and pour so here's a toast to all the folks who live in Palestine! Afghanistan! Iraq! El Salvador! here's a toast to the folks living on the pine ridge reservation under the stone cold gaze of mt. Rushmore here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors who daily provide women with a choice who stand down a threat the size of Oklahoma City just to listen to a young woman's VOICE here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now awaiting the executioner's guillotine who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads to find peace in the form of a dream 'cause take away our playstations... and we are a third world nation under the thumb of some blue blood royal son who stole the oval office and that phony election I mean it don't take a weatherman to look around and see the weather Jeb said he'd deliver Florida, folks and boy did he ever! and we hold these truths to be self evident: #1 George W. Bush is not president! #2 America is not a true democracy #3 the media is NOT fooling ME 'cause I am a poem heeding hyper-distillation I've got no room for a lie so verbose I'm looking out over my whole human family and I'm raising my glass in a toast here's to our last drink of fossil fuels let us vow to get off of this sauce shoo away the swarms of commuter planes and find that train ticket we lost 'cause once upon a time the line followed the river and peeked into all the backyards and the laundry was waving the graffiti was teasing us from brick walls and bridges we were rolling over ridges through valleys under stars I dream of touring like Duke Ellington in my own railroad car I dream of waiting on the tall blonde wooden benches in a grand station aglow with grace and then standing out on the platform and feeling the air on my face give back the night its distant whistle give the darkness back its soul give the big oil companies the finger finally and relearn how to ROCK-N-ROLL yes, the lessons are all around us and a change is waiting there so it's time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets and clear the air get our government to pull its big dick out of the sand of someone else's desert put it back in its pants and quit the hypocritical chants of freedom forever 'cause when one lone phone rang in two thousand and one at ten after nine on nine one one which is the number we all called when that lone phone rang right off the wall right off our desk and down the long hall down the long stairs in a building so tall that the whole world turned just to watch it fall and while we're at it remember the first time around? the bomb? the Ryder truck? the parking garage? the princess that didn't even feel the pea? remember joking around in our apartment on avenue D? can you imagine how many paper coffee cups would have to change their design following a fantastical reversal of the New York skyline?! it was a joke, of course it was a joke at the time and that was just a few years ago so let the record show that the FBI was all over that case that the plot was obvious and in everybody's face and scoping that scene religiously the CIA or is it KGB? committing countless crimes against humanity with this kind of eventuality as its excuse for abuse after expensive abuse and it didn't have a clue look, another window to see through way up here on the 104th floor look another key another door 10% literal 90% metaphor 3000 some poems disguised as people on an almost too perfect day must be more than poems in some asshole's passion play so now it's YOUR job and it's MY job TO MAKE IT THAT WAY! to make sure they didn't die in vain sshhhhhh.... baby listen hear the train?

Made in Romania Babi Minune A song about Romanian brotherhood and Roma/gypsy integration. It was written by a Roma child!!! I love it Chiar daca esti moldovean, ardelean sau tigan suntem Made in Romanie Even if you Moldovan,Ardelean or a gypsy,we are all made in Romania Nu conteaza cine esti sau ce limba vorbesti It doesn't matter who you are or which language you speak Asta este tara ta, Romaniaaa.. This is your country,Romania Hai cu moldoveanu, cu ardeleanu, bucuresteanu Come with the Moldovan,with the Ardelean and the “Bucharestian” Haide sus tiganuu.. Stand up gypsy.. Si cu olteanu, cu moldoveanuu, cu ardeleanuu [dadadadadaa] With the “Oltean”,Moldovean and Ardelean[dadadadadada] Nu conteaza unde stai sau ce dialect ai It doesn’t matter where you stay, or what dialect you speak Distreaza-te si bea ca-i tara taaa.. Have fun and drink to your country!

De?teapt?-Te, române! (Wake up Romania/Romanian!) I only learned the words of the Anthem this summer...after approximately 4 years of living in Romania. Quite frankly, I was blown away by the fierceness of its sentiment. First, its a far cry from "Oh Canada We Stand on Guard for Thee". Secondly, its a sentiment that I haven't particularly felt in all my time of living here... Apathy yes...Brotherhood no. I think it would have been GREAT if Madonna sang the anthem in her Bucharest Concert *I've taken some poetic license with this translation (which I originally took from Wikipedia) for the sake of making it more accessible to foreigners...Please if you are Romanian and have suggestions for the translation, let me know Romania/Romanian, awaken your Spirit from the sleep of Death Impressed upon you by Tyrannies of barbarians; The time is now or never to fashion a new fate, A fate stronger than your foes', A fate that they will bow to! Now or never, we will prove our legacy to all, We will prove that through our veins still flows the Blood of Ancient Rome, That in our chests we proudly hail a Name, That is triumphant in battle... Romanian, raise your strong brow and gaze around you.. A forest of brave youths stand a hundred thousand fold.. They await an order and are ready to pounce, as wolves among the sheep Old men, and young, from mountains high and open plains. Gaze mightily, at the glorious shadows of Michael, Stephen, Corvine. The Romanian nation, the descendants, With weapons in our hands and fire burning in our souls "Life in Liberty or Death", we all shout together. You were vanquished by the evils of envy By the blind disunity at the Milcov and Carpathians But together our Spirit was touched Liberty, And we Swore allegiance, to be forever Brothers! A widowed mother from the time of Michael the Great Asks of her sons a helping hand today And curses, with tears in her eyes, whosoever In times of such great danger, proves to be a traitor.... Is it not enough that despotism and its unseeing eye , Which for centuries enslaved us as cattle, Now attempts, in blind haughtiness, To steal our Language? We will fight them to the Death... Romanians of the four corners, now or never, Be United in your Thoughts, United in your Feelings... Priests, with the Cross before you.. The motto is Liberty and its goal eternal Better to die in battle, in full glory Than be enslaved again in our ancestral homeland! Wowza!

I would like to take the time to both congratulate and thank Madonna for Wednesday night's concert in Bucharest. I'm a Canadian citizen who has been living and working in Bucharest for the past 4 years (I speak basic Romanian and have been closely studying the country's culture). I was at the concert and quite frankly, I couldn't have cheered any louder for her!! My VOICE still hurts Madonna, as "The Material Girl", is a Romanian national icon. Many Romanians have hailed and embraced her material girl image under the assumption that it was meant to be interpreted LITERALLY. To many Romanians, the achievement of "material girl or boy status" has been a life long goal. In fact, they have even have a word for it, fite: the ability to buy and show, often implying VIP status. When translated from a more critical perspective, fite can also be defined as: utterly mindless consumerism. The Romanian media, in its efforts to raise its ratings, constantly reinforces fite’s message, using both foreign and home grown examples to support its cause. It relentlessly depicts women as VOICELESS sex symbols, regardless of the fact that the vast majority of its audience hasn’t yet learned to be critical. Thus, In Romania, it is almost unheard of for a woman to publicly speak out against anything. The fact that one of their female idols had a VOICE....a VOICE that spoke out against the discrimination of two HUGELY unpopular ethnic/social groups (Roma/gypsies and homosexuals), came as a rude awakening. I was in my element BUT Romanian’s felt cheated. Where was the material girl they had PAID to see? What happened to the MTV idol that they have grown up with- the one they have emulated and idealized for so long? Her concert was anticipated to be a homage to their icon …. They came after years of walking her walk, only to be insulted and challenged, imagine their disappointment! I am both elated and disturbed to read this morning’s headlines. Bad news first...The local paper reads: "Many witnesses maintain that after her show Madonna tested fite by discreetly living it up in a posh VIP Club." (Source: Adevarul de Seara) The Romanian media is continuing to perpetuate the Material Girl image, while missing Madonna’s TRUE BLUE message. A message which I believe is: the assertion of a dominant female perspective, the encouragement of rebellious critical thought, and a call for an end to racial and social discrimination So what’s the good news? The fact that the international community took notice: "Madonna Booed in Bucharest for Defending Gypsies"( Source: omg.yahoo.com). Its wonderful to see that the concert, its message and the response to its message received some international attention. Yet, I remain saddened by the fact that, in Romania, too much of Madonna's message was lost on naive, uncritical , and unsuspecting ears....Especially given the fact that it so desperately NEEDED to be heard. If Madonna truly has the energy she promotes herself as having, it would be wonderful if she could direct it towards the SERIOUS challenge of honestly educating Romanians (and any others that may be in a similar prediciment) as to WHAT it is she truly stands for and WHY MADONNA I CHALLENGE YOU TO BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD! NO ONE ELSE CAN A DO IT FOR YOU, THEY ARE NOT IN YOUR POSITION! If you're ready to Jump PLEASE contact me! I am currently working on a project that deals DIRECTLY with these issues. Your VOICE would be greatly appreciated