Touching Words

Do you ever stop
and feel the caress of a word?
Let it shiver
across your cheek
and down the back of your neck?

Do you ever let it tap-dance
upon your spine
or play each vertebrae
as the ivory keys of a piano
climbing to crescendo?

Do you ever let it sink
beneath the fortress of your skin
and unfold its limbs
upon your aching muscles?

Do you tear into it like a present,
or let it tiptoe out of its chrysalis
and flutter around your ribcage?

Do you ever drink it like wine
and let it swim through your blood?

Or let it cry
through the porous shell of bone
into the uncultivated vitality
tucked away in our marrow
waiting for the moment
when we will actually start living?

Do you ever let it transform
your body from noun to verb?

(c) 2010 Jenna Wittaker
 
Jenna, a graduate student in Literature, is the Librarian for the Violence and Words Curriculum
being developed in memory of Michael Jackson at Voices Education Project.
http://www.voiceseducation.org/

Poet Gerri

Gerri Stone has guided many who were in the throes of grief over the passing of their beloved Michael Jackson. Her channel at You Tube is filled with comfort and the healing salve of compassion.

Gerri is responsible for the video tribute at Voices Education Project:
Take a look:
 http://www.voiceseducation.org/content/michael-jackson-spiritual-messenger-hiding-plain-sight




FREEING THE HEART  Part II

Every minute of every day somewhere
in this world someone is
watching a Michael Jackson video,
listening to one of his songs
on an I-pod, blasting it in a car.

And whenever his music plays a grief
arises.Free floating grief searching for
a heart to nest in. Pain trapped in the
stomach, eyes, throat.

And we in our ignorance think this pain is
surely here to destroy us.

But it is not.

It is Michael at work, removing the
raggedy burned-out thing
we've been carrying around in our chest
all these years,
leaving in its place our real hearts.
Awakening us from our heartless trance.

(c) 2010 Gerri Stone

Inspirations from Poet Gerri Stone

I Weep

I weep for the children in hospital beds on every continent who knew for one bright, shining moment that they were important enough for the most famous man in the world to take the time to visit and lighten their burdens. He brought smiles and laughter. He brought toys and games and music. But his most important gift to them was his presence, his thought, his caring. In that gift, they knew that their bodies broken by disease did not disgust him. They knew that their bald heads and discolored skin did not arouse his pity. They knew themselves as gifts to the world, just as he was. His smile, his eyes so full of love removed their shackles and intravenous tubing and weakness. It was only for a moment, but it was a lifetime of renewed faith. Who can do that for them now?

I weep for the children whose lives were lived in darkness, frightening and fraught with peril, until he brought them into the light in a magical fairy tale place which he had remade in his own image. They laughed and rode rides and ate snow cones with him. With magic shows and movie reels he helped them forget for a few moments the chains that bound them to a reality that held no hope. They ran over rope bridges and slid down giant slides and were allowed the freedom of childhood under his watchful care. Like all tender buds, they blossomed for those moments and he rejoiced. Who, now, can bring that blossoming?

When Michael Danced

WHEN MICHAEL DANCED

When Michael danced he was music in motion,
melody flowing through his being
Moving in rhythm with God’s orchestra
the man was a tapestry of grace and soul

When Michael danced our eyes were gifted
with passion and beauty and love
suddenly angry, insistent and bold
in your face expressions of sensuality and lust

When Michael danced we gazed at his feet
bathed in sparkles, quicksilver…don’t blink
you will miss the spin, the kick, the glide…
and we wonder why God made toes?

When Michael danced did you see the light?
It shined through him and graced the stage
Arms held wide, embracing us all
welcoming…we shared his glee

When Michael danced we saw such ease
the body and soul as one
His hat pulled low, a piece of the dance
camouflaged dedication and work

When Michael danced did you feel the joy?
Of the boy in the man and the man in our time
Then see his hands, a painter’s magic
Drawing us in and etched in memory forever

When Michael danced it was Christmas morning
a gift that stuns and thrills
Unique and special, just like the man
God, I loved to watch Michael dance

~Lauren