Poetic Resurrection
Episodes
Sunday Oct 24, 2021
Colors of Life - The Little Girl
Sunday Oct 24, 2021
Sunday Oct 24, 2021
Yesterday, I was honored to once again interview Luis J. Rodriguez for an upcoming episode on Poetic Resurrection. We spoke for about two hours and we had an amazing conversation about many subjects, including sexual abuse. Being a survivor of this, I had written the poem The Little Girl featured in my first book, Inspire Me: Raw. I’m grateful to my parents for being there for me. It was an experience I thought I had overcome since I could talk about the situation. But, I hadn’t.
It wasn’t until I wrote the poem that I could release the shame and trauma I was holding onto. It served no purpose but to keep me down. Why would I want to hold on to that? The situation is that we sometimes don’t know we’re still holding onto the past. It has a way of showing up as a trigger and that’s when I knew I had to work on letting go. I don’t believe in “forgive and forget”. Yes, I can forgive, but you don’t forget. You learn to forgive them and yourself for holding onto so much pain throughout your life.
I’ve noticed many survivors talk about their experience and I wanted to do the same; I just wrote from the perspective of the child, because the child doesn’t understand.
And now the poem
The Little Girl from Inspire Me: Raw
The little girl walks to schoolTenements line gray streetsShe does well in schoolHer five-year-old statureShows resistance & strength
Drawings of prismic colorsJoy and glee adorn her faceHesitant to show teacherWaiting for praise—teacher questionsShe understood but couldn’t answer
Teacher screams at herPoints—to disappear intoThe sea of moveable deskShe gazes at her tattered shoesHer friend speaks English, she does not
Colorless teacher was unkindTo the little girlWho only speaks SpanishTears flow down her faceShe hides - the teasing kids
Goes home, keeps to herselfPretends to be an actressLiving a world that wasn’t her ownOnly hearing voices of a different landCitizens we are, but not considered same
Pretending so young to be okayHer seven-year-old friendSaid she wanted to playA store basement, dark and clammyHer friend gazes on while she screams“It hurts,". “Why did you do this?”
A teenage boyTook friend’s innocence andNow he’s taken the little girl’sHer soul and worthBut she doesn’t understand
The store owner saves her,Atop soaring stairsBold voice of disgustVibrates the cryptBoy halts, he runs
She now rests at homeA peeling grey wood porchThird-floor view—sits on stepSunless hallwayLooking at the sky so blue
Doesn’t know how she got thereMind’s a haze of eventsDiscolored panties, hand washed oftenAdvertise the status of her little life
The bandages trying to holdThe innocence lost. It’s too lateMom looks at her—Turns away and cries.Did she do something wrong?Sorry you’re hurting; doesn’t know what to do
I’m sorry momDon’t mean to make you cryDon’t mean to make you cryTears never came to meThe little girl who didn’t understand
Monday Oct 18, 2021
Colors of Life - My Story
Monday Oct 18, 2021
Monday Oct 18, 2021
A speech I gave over the weekend prompted this week’s episode. Poetic Resurrection is in its third season and I realized I haven’t told you my story. How did I get started in poetry, writing, and acting?
I grew up in Chicago to loving parents who stated “follow your dreams”. My parents were the working poor, but during the holidays we had live music parties with family and friends. Therefore, I wanted to be a singer-songwriter. My poetry became lyrics for songs I wrote in the 80s. Yes, I’m dating myself. I was a punk rocker. I even had a fanzine called LOZT and at the time, I was. I interviewed and photographed bands like the Clash, Echo & the Bunnymen, and The Cure to name a few. After this, I realized entertainment journalism wasn’t for me, even though it was fun for a while. After recording a demo, performing in a video, and a few shows. I realized that I just enjoyed singing and the music industry which I loved was not right for me. I had pursued music for so long that I felt I had to keep at it, but I didn’t.
An actor friend had a medical problem and had to stay home. He offered to give me free acting lessons, and I said yes because I thought that would help my music. I was hooked. I fell in love with acting. I started with theater and then musicals. Got an agent and started acting on TV and film. I’m still doing it.
Throughout all the different avenues in entertainment I’ve tried, my passion has been poetry. I wrote poetry, just to write it. I’d put it in a drawer and save it. It was my therapy. In 2016, I decided I wanted to publish my poetry. The poetry dealt with raw emotions. I contemplated using a pen name, but then I decided I needed to get over myself and use my given name. I hired an editor and researched publishers. I realized a manuscript takes six months to be read and then they’d tell you yes or no. I didn’t want to wait that long. Basically, because I was afraid I’d changed my mind about publishing. I went to Amazon Kindle because it was easy to publish a book. I was on the phone with the rep from Kindle and she kept telling me to press publish, which is the enter key and she had to tell me three times because I thought about how everyone would know how I felt. My traumas, my heartaches, and some humorous experiences. I pressed entered and ended up receiving great reviews and now I have three books and I’m currently working on my fourth, which is the third installation of the Inspire Me series entitled Inspire Me: In Time of Need.
The poem for this week is Sadness from Inspire Me: Raw.
Drizzle of a tear on a mountain
Chisels the gorge
Smoothing the surface—starting new
Flow of waves of full moon
Surrenders like a soldier near death
Nowhere yet peace
Mourning former actions
An abundant essence yearned
Live the now- dismiss the rest
Soul’s journey brings me home
Master task—Letting go
Rewind thoughts confirmed
Dissolve elusive dream
Purge past yet debris clings
Sun warmth coddles me
Time wasted. Was it?
Serene breeze expels fears
Life’s resurrection
Mesmerize by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500005
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Sunday Oct 10, 2021
Colors of Life - Season 3 Intro
Sunday Oct 10, 2021
Sunday Oct 10, 2021
Welcome to season 3 of the Poetic Resurrection Podcast. This season we will touch upon the “Colors of Life”, an international perspective with an introspective edge. We have poets and writers of different backgrounds who will read and discuss their writings. This is a breakaway from the usual podcast which steers away from politics and religion. They will speak about what happens in their culture, belief systems, and challenges they face. As always, love and acceptance are our perspectives. Just the experiences and acceptance of self and others. Join us for this insightful look at international existence and the different cultures and beliefs that create our world.
The poem for this week is Citizen from Inspire Me: Raw. I wrote this poem several months before Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. I was surprised to hear from many people that they didn’t know Puerto Ricans were American citizens. On a side note, people from Guam are also American citizens. Please join us in this new and exciting season and here’s the poem Citizen.
Citizen
Curly red hair
Freckled skin
Speaking Spanish
Not fitting in.
People’s bias
Perceptions
Ignorance
Citizen
Where are you from?
How did you get here?
Was it a struggle?
No—citizen.
No boats.
No tunnels.
No hiding.
Airplanes.
I belong here
Born here
Educated
Citizen.
Sunday Oct 03, 2021
Season Two Recap
Sunday Oct 03, 2021
Sunday Oct 03, 2021
Thanking all our guests and listening audience for joining us for Season Two of the Poetic Resurrection Podcast.
Jaclyn Steele—Soul of Connection we discuss the Soul Connection and how our soul’s calling intertwines our lives, beliefs, and our connection with others.
Alex Greenwood—Soul of Mystery We laugh, joke, and discuss the soul of writing mysteries.
Trini Rodriquez—Soul of Healing We discuss Native American and Mexican American sweat-lodges and how this brings you closer to your soul.
Che’Rae Adams—Soul of Writing We discuss what it takes to write a good story and how the story germinates from the soul. That inner voice drawing us to write our story.
Ian Brooks—Soul of Intention We had a lively discussion on the process of intention. How the pandemic, perceptions, and beliefs affect our lives and how we can change the characters we created in our story.
Jonathan Troen—Soul of Self-Love We have a lively conversation about the Self-Love Revolution.
Martin Espada—Soul of my Father A reading of Letter to My Father and how it affected him. We discussed historical events and perceptions of Puerto Rico and its people in this heartfelt interview.
Joachim Brackx—Soul of Self We discuss the self and how our perceptions play an important part in compassion, self-love, and acceptance.
Rick White – Soul of Understanding We have a great discussion about grief, life, illness and acceptance of self, our value, and how life changes.
Samuel Ashe II – Soul of Giving we discuss how our experiences teach us to help ourselves and others.
Melissa Da Silva – Soul of a Relationship We discuss Her journey from a toxic relationship to self-acceptance, love and grieving of love lost.
Charlie Sheldon – Soul of Storytelling We discuss his journey from Yale to being a fisherman to writing his books.
Andrew Seaton – Soul of You We discuss spiritual awakening and how it’s simple.
Louise Alexandra Erskine—Soul of Imperfection We discuss toxic relationships, parenting, and being a single mother raising boys and how her poetry and photography clarified and taught her acceptance of being imperfect.