Today's posting is a PR blitz for the next Mariah Carey. Not really. But it is intended to introduce the world to my first and only grand niece.
Kala, who just celebrated her first birthday, is the first child of my brother's youngest daughter Karis. After having a couple of false starts in the romance department she met a young man a couple of years ago and fall in love. My brother's family (his wife and other daughter) lives in Memphis, one of only four cities in America with a real-live panda in their zoo. Memphis is one of those surprisingly progressive cities in the "New South". Its neighborhoods and schools have long been integrated and the city's power base is shared by both Blacks and Whites too. One of my cousins is the city's treasurer.
Anyway, what makes Kala special, besides the fact that she is a gorgeous baby, is that one of her grandfathers is Italian, the other Creole, one of her grandmothers Filipino, the other Native American/Afro-American. Talk about a "rainbow baby". You can see colors in Kala even without a bit of precipitation. When I think of her I think of all the other kids from mixed-heritages that have come before and went on to make a success of their lives; Halle Barry, Keanu Reeves, Senator Barack Obama, Sade Adu, Keira Knightley, Marsha Thomson, Shemar Moore, Nicole Richie, Tamara Taylor, Arabella Kiesbauer, Tiger Woods and of course Mariah Carey. Obviuosly, Kala is in good company.
Now, here's a couple of poems in "Black & White":
Come Closer.Listen...
Yes, my wrench was there.
So were the two sacred mounds of prickly pears and a blindfold
the hangman decided not to use. There was a liquor store that
had been robbed and all the pills she could swallow. It was a place
where identity theft began as a beautiful boy with a red rash on
its bottom and ended up as a bowl of chicken soup. And the feeling
didn't even last one song. Neither did bird flu or porcupine quills or
urban blight. No on questioned the curious incident of the dog in the
nightmare or the village that could talk under the sea. And as I found
out later, it was all intended just to kill time until the right radio-jingle
came along. Unfortunately, it never did!
The Trick To Eating Slowly
She likes to put all her knives in a museum.
I like to turn my deckchair to where it's facing the sun.
I prefer wine to beer and wish my first name were
Richard. I've never lived a pious life and hate fish on
Fridays. I do like walking in the fog on the beach and
try to make it a habit to eat slowly. I'm afraid of matches
and allergic to feathers. I want my bar soap labeled in
German and hand towels that glare till my eyes hurt. I
use to be attracted to dubious companions but now my
best friend is my Lazy Boy. Best of all, I'd never even
consider living in the suburbs of a cutlery-making city.
These poems first appeared online at: www.othervoices.org/vol25
Copyright 2007 by Maurice Oliver. All Rights Reserved.
Visit my E-zine at: http://www.concelebratory.blogspot.com/
And my music bolg: http://www.medleymakersant.blogspot.com/
Kala, who just celebrated her first birthday, is the first child of my brother's youngest daughter Karis. After having a couple of false starts in the romance department she met a young man a couple of years ago and fall in love. My brother's family (his wife and other daughter) lives in Memphis, one of only four cities in America with a real-live panda in their zoo. Memphis is one of those surprisingly progressive cities in the "New South". Its neighborhoods and schools have long been integrated and the city's power base is shared by both Blacks and Whites too. One of my cousins is the city's treasurer.
Anyway, what makes Kala special, besides the fact that she is a gorgeous baby, is that one of her grandfathers is Italian, the other Creole, one of her grandmothers Filipino, the other Native American/Afro-American. Talk about a "rainbow baby". You can see colors in Kala even without a bit of precipitation. When I think of her I think of all the other kids from mixed-heritages that have come before and went on to make a success of their lives; Halle Barry, Keanu Reeves, Senator Barack Obama, Sade Adu, Keira Knightley, Marsha Thomson, Shemar Moore, Nicole Richie, Tamara Taylor, Arabella Kiesbauer, Tiger Woods and of course Mariah Carey. Obviuosly, Kala is in good company.
Now, here's a couple of poems in "Black & White":
Come Closer.Listen...
Yes, my wrench was there.
So were the two sacred mounds of prickly pears and a blindfold
the hangman decided not to use. There was a liquor store that
had been robbed and all the pills she could swallow. It was a place
where identity theft began as a beautiful boy with a red rash on
its bottom and ended up as a bowl of chicken soup. And the feeling
didn't even last one song. Neither did bird flu or porcupine quills or
urban blight. No on questioned the curious incident of the dog in the
nightmare or the village that could talk under the sea. And as I found
out later, it was all intended just to kill time until the right radio-jingle
came along. Unfortunately, it never did!
The Trick To Eating Slowly
She likes to put all her knives in a museum.
I like to turn my deckchair to where it's facing the sun.
I prefer wine to beer and wish my first name were
Richard. I've never lived a pious life and hate fish on
Fridays. I do like walking in the fog on the beach and
try to make it a habit to eat slowly. I'm afraid of matches
and allergic to feathers. I want my bar soap labeled in
German and hand towels that glare till my eyes hurt. I
use to be attracted to dubious companions but now my
best friend is my Lazy Boy. Best of all, I'd never even
consider living in the suburbs of a cutlery-making city.
These poems first appeared online at: www.othervoices.org/vol25
Copyright 2007 by Maurice Oliver. All Rights Reserved.
Visit my E-zine at: http://www.concelebratory.blogspot.com/
And my music bolg: http://www.medleymakersant.blogspot.com/
1 comment:
Hi Maurice,
this is Ludwig from Hannover
I tried to get in contact with you on so many words
no luck
maybe here
luhi5050 @ hotmail com
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