Poems and Random Ruminations

Once Upon a Time — written in reverse order And everybody lived happily ever afterafter the plants started sprouting again –after the birds started singing again –after all the poisoned debris was cleared& destroyed buildings were repurposed –after the hospital overcrowding was relievedand the population cured of radioactive exposure –after the clouded skies were cleared of floating ash& the…

A question came up during our Two Trains Running discussion about a claim by Wolf, in Act 2 Scene 2, regarding his two girlfriends in Atlanta. Wolf tells Holloway, “I got me a woman down there. Got two. Got one up on Jackson Hill and the other one stay on Lombard Street. One of them got four or five other men, but that’s alright with me. All I got to do is call. All she got to do is hear my…

In a separate class, we had an assignment to memorize a passage from The Piano Lesson. I selected the character Wining Boy because of the spirituality I felt he demonstrated when he went down to the crossroads of the Southern and the Yellow Dog. So I found a short passage that would be easy to memorize. Then I figured out it was connected to a second passage, separated by a Doaker one liner. So I…

I am bouncing between two groups. Hopefully these thoughts will contain some cross fertilization from each and to each. My first thoughts are linguistic or of a linguistic nature. I’ve been fortunate to do intensive studies of two foreign languages, Arabic and Portuguese. Presently, what I can recall from Portuguese verbs comes to my interpretive assistance in understanding this play. The two…

In our recent study group discussion on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, we talked about instances in both Jitney and Ma Rainey where anger aroused in characters manifested in extreme acts of violence. We wondered what might August Wilson be whispering to us in each play, what subtext, what subtle message. It seemed to be a subject worth exploring in more detail.  In Jitney two examples of anger…

A member of our study group highlighted her issue with Booster’s sentence and incarceration after murdering Susan McKnight. Specifically, Booster was sentenced, by Becker’s account at the end of Act 1 Scene 4, to execution by electric chair at Western State Penitentiary within 30 days of sentencing. Also, according to Booster’s father, Jim Becker, hearing news of that sentencing caused Booster’s…

I try to do something different each time I participate in an August Wilson study group. This year’s innovation is to provide a summary/synopsis of the foreword to the hardback copy of the play (since many folks will not get the hardback set (but I highly recommend making the investment)). Ismael Reed, noted author, essayist, poet, playwright and editor known for his incisive reviews on politics…

Hi all! A couple of passing thoughts on week 1 of ModPo. I am also engaged in 100 Days of Dante sponsored by Baylor U. Both Dickinson and Whitman were both heavily influenced by The Divine Comedy. Dickinson has three poems directly related to Dante’s great work, #965, How Far Is it To Heaven, #569, A Precious Mouldering Pleasure, and #1163, A Spider Sewed At Night. Whitman came across an early…

Y’all already know I am a big aficionado of August Wilson and his plays, the American Century Cycle. I led study groups since 2018 at various OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) campuses and at the DC Public Library. For each play and each ten-play session, I’ve kept a multi-disciplinary series of blog posts, tying together Wilson’s ten plays with his oft-stated primary influences,…

Final edits on my layman’s guide. I have often wondered why people put out books without an index. Now I know. It is a lot of work, and when your edits chane the pagination, you have to do the index. With three major edits, that is a lot of indexes. Anyway, it will be worth your while to check it out. E-book is already available on Amazon.

I am consolidating seven years of notes on each play in the cycle to create a workbook for new group members. I hope to post consolidated notes for each play, especially after discovering the “reach” of blogs via a.i. applications like X (GROK3), Perplexity, and Gemini. My goal is to complete a consolidation per week. It begins tonight with Jitney. Session notes on Jitney Thanks for reading…

A Layman’s Guide toAugust Wilson’s American Century Cycle:Collected notes for study groups DedicationI dedicate this collection of consolidated notes on the August Wilson plays in the American Century Cycle to the playwright, August Wilson, to everyone who has every acted in one of his plays, to every member of a stage crew, to the dramaturgs and drama teachers who help with the play…

I am consolidating seven years of notes on each play in the cycle to create a workbook for new group members. I hope to post consolidated notes for each play, especially after discovering the “reach” of blogs via a.i. applications like X (GROK3), Perplexity, and Gemini. My goal is to complete a consolidation per week. It begins tonight with…

By the end of 2025, the Black Power Movement will approach its 60th anniversary, marking a memorable moment in American history. This movement played a crucial role in shaping national and global discussions on the intrinsic value of culture and heritage, through its historical legacy initiated by The Black Arts Movement, known as the Black Aesthetics Movement, and the artistic and cultural…

At the end of time, sunset will seemto last forever – a thin, red stripon the horizon, narrowing in time,flickering in its futile attemptto stay, to widen, to reverse time itself. But we know that time only reversesitself in poetry – and in the movieswhen Lois Lane dies and the Man of Steelchanges Earth’s rotation to forestall,undo her death’s certain circumstance. At the end one might even be…

Sonnet #165 – making tea I learned from the Egyptians how to makethe perfect cup of tea: to one “tea” spoonof finely crushed tea leaves, add sugar orhoney to taste and a cup of hot waterand stir. When the tea leaves have settledto the bottom of the cup, your perfectcup of tea will be ready to be drank. It’s just a cup of tea and there’s no needfor a volta here, but the structure calls,no,…

A Meditation on Aging My walks are shorter now. A few short blocksto the grocery store twice a weekand once a month to the pharmacy isabout all I can manage. My coach warned“Getting old ain’t for sissies.” He was right.My gait is wobbly and my steps, unsure.My feet hurt. I miss those long river walks. But I make up the deficit by readinglong stories, and long, epic poetry,stuff like Dante and…