Thursday, 3 January 2013

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem


Rob Ayling writes: 

"Thom the World poet, is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearences with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth, Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not? why not indeed!!" (The wondrous poetpic is by Jack McCabe, who I hope forgives me for scribbling all over it with Photoshop)


MY PROBLEM WITH PASTS
is-there is so much of it!Lives,experiences,memories,
complex and compound into one big lump of archival material
with only a little window life to see it all.O Palestine!
did you know that a girl wrote an essay on that Newtown massacre
and was suspended indefinitely from school?O Malala!
they shoot teachers,aid workers,women ,children-
all in the name of religion!So i have been boxing up my poetry pasts
storing them in a shed to forget/just so this winter chill
might not be warmed by book burning or witch hunts.
I release all pasts!If you find these lines among your own-claim them!
You incite me to write-witness for the defense of humans-free speech advocate
Meet me @some open mike-request a song i have never done before
That way we can both release any tendency to repeat.repeat.repeat


A senior at a San Francisco charter high school has been suspended indefinitely and faces possible expulsion for writing a poem, which school officials deemed disturbingly dark, about the December school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
According to SF Weekly, officials at Life Learning Academy were particularly rattled by these lines: “I understand the killings in Connecticut. I know why he pulled the trigger. Why are we oppressed by a dysfunctional community of haters and blamers?”
Courtni Webb authored the alarming verse less than two weeks after a lone gunman killed 20 young children and six teachers at the Sandy Hook School.

No comments:

Post a Comment

...BECAUSE SOME OF US THINK THAT THIS STUFF IS IMPORTANT
What happens when you mix what is - arguably - the world's most interesting record company, with an anarchist manic-depressive rock music historian polymath, and a method of dissemination which means that a daily rock-music magazine can be almost instantaneous?

Most of this blog is related in some way to the music, books and films produced by Gonzo Multimedia, but the editor has a grasshopper mind and so also writes about all sorts of cultural issues which interest him, and which he hopes will interest you as well.