Poetry Source
Patrick Farmer
When I was five, I had my first and only birthday party.
Hot dogs, potato chips, grape Kool-aid,
And a two-layered sheet cake from Smoak’s Bakery
With chocolate icing making my mouth water and eyes gleam.
Don’t remember any of my gifts except for one.
The lights in the house were blanketed by a black void
Suddenly I heard sirens blazing, blue and red lights flashing,
Moving about in a circular motion across the floor,
My eyes widened, shoulders scrunched,
Body cringed, screaming as tears overflowed.
I rested my head upon my mother’s bosom
As she cradled me in her arms,
Feeling her heart beat in unison with mine.
In awe of the midnight sky
Painted with flashing strokes of blue and red,
Stepping out of my front door,
There was a gathering of crowds on the street.
"Let Junior go!" my cousin shouted.
Handcuffed, wrestling with two men in dark uniforms,
Gold star badges pinned over their hearts.
"Let Junior go!" he yelled
The white of his eyes the color of urine,
Babbling at times, trying to wiggle
Out the metal rings binding him,
Dragging him, the heels of his shoes
Blistering the pavement, to a black and silver car,
Sirens piercing my ears, dissecting my heart,
Parted the crowd like the Red Sea.
Soon the night became as loud as a whisper
And the midnight sky turned pitch black once again.
Waiting, silence germinating, sprouting, shooting up,
Wishing for it to no longer grow.
A man in dark uniform enters the room,
Gold star badge pinned over his heart,
Sliding me a sheet of paper to sign my life away.
I write "No comment."
I follow hurriedly, tip-toeing outside
The campus safety office into the parking lot,
With the cool September’s air wisping about my head,
Looking around as I hop into
The back seat of the black and silver vehicle
That takes me downtown to the station
Steering me in, he is greeted by other men
In uniform, catching glimpses of me,
Shaking their heads as I bow mine,
Fingerprints, mug shot,
Hair uncombed, wrinkled jeans, tattered sweater,
The whites of my eyes, that make me recall the color of urine,
No sirens, no blue or red lights flashing,
Water mounts at the edge of my eyelids and freezes.
Tears flow inwardly forming icicles rigid and tart,
As the cool breeze wisps around my frigid heart.
The Book Club
SHELIA DANSBY HARVEY was inspired to write Illegal Affairs when she returned to her alma mater, Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University, as an adjunct professor. During the 90s Shelia and her husband, Henry, published Black Tie, an African-American lifestyles magazine. Illegal Affairs has been eagerly anticipated by those familiar with her writing. Shelia and Henry reside in Houston, where she is at work on the sequel to Illegal Affairs.
| What's Illegal Affairs about? | |
| One reader said to me, "At first I thought it was a simple romance, but that's not what it is at all." Illegal Affairs is about a lot of things, like getting over past hurts, forgiving yourself for things you've done in the past and moving on. You'll get caught up in the mystery that unfolds, and develop strong feelings about some of the characters. You'll laugh,for sure, but be prepared; some of the themes might hit too close to home. | |
| Do you have a favorite character? | |
| I'm intrigued by Vicki, Keith's ex-wife. I can't imagine how hard it must be to have your husband, who is also the love of your life and the father of your child, fall for another woman. As for the main characters, I wonder what it must be like to be Raven. I wonder what she really thinks of herself. | |
| But you created the characters; don't you know how Raven feels? | |
| Not really. Once I start to develop a character, that person takes on a life of his or her own. All that I try to do is keep up. For example, I wouldn't write a scene in which Keith hits a woman, because that's just not Keith. But Omar? Maybe he would--I'd have to think about it. | |
|
They say that a first novel is autobiographical. Is that true? | |
| No, I'm not Raven, or Callie, or Janna or anyone else. But when I finally sat back and read Illegal Affairs, I realized that we all have things from our past that we think that we've forgotten about. But we don't forget the past, we just put it away. Maybe a little bit of my "stuff" is in Illegal Affairs, but I'll never say what! | |
| What's your next project? | |
| I'm working on the sequel to Illegal Affairs. | |
| Will all of the characters from Illegal Affairs be in the sequel ? | |
|
Raven will definitely be back! As for all the others, I'll keep that a secret. I realize that Illegal Affairs leaves you wanting to know more about what happened to certain characters, but one could argue that that's just life. We don't always get to know how things ultimately turn out. Maybe Raven and Callie go their separate ways and never see each other again, or maybe Callie makes good on the promise that she made to Raven at the end of Illegal Affairs. We'll all just have to wait and see. Order Your Copy Now:
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Cheryl Robinson became a remarkable success story after self-publishing her first two novels, When I Get Free and Memories of Yesterday. Both received stellar reviews on Amazon.com and the Barnes & Noble website, cultivating an intense fan base for Robinson's work.
New American Library is proud to build upon Robinson's previous accomplishments by republishing Memories of Yesterday under the new title, IF IT AIN'T ONE THING (NAL Trade Paperback; February 2005; $13.95), hoping to bring this spectacular story to an even wider audience.
When titled Memories of Yesterday, IF IT AIN'T ONE THING was a Book Remarks 2002 top seller and an Essence Magazine bestseller. Cedar Valley College in Lancaster, Texas selected the novel as required reading. Exciting word-of-mouth buzz is building for the republication, resulting in promising advanced sales.
In IF IT AIN'T ONE THING, Winona Fairchild, a single mother of two, knows she's made her fair share of mistakes. Life begins to change for the better when she leaves Texas for her hometown of Detroit, Michigan. She gets a great job, buys her own house, and meets her match in Porter Washington a man with his own devastating failures and secrets. Can the two overcome their pasts and scale the dark secrets to find love?
Robinson has said that she wrote this novel as a representation of hope for her readers. Her characters suffer through anger, disappointment and looming troubles yet they eventually triumph over their personal hardships. Robinson wants her readers to reflect on their own lives throughout the story, and to believe in the possibility of a brighter future.
 Bookcover |
 Author - Terri McFadden |
AFRICAN-AMERICAN MIDWEST AUTHOR SELLS OUT OF DEBUT NOVEL
 Bookcover |
 Author - Cherlyn Michaels |
NEW NOVEL FOCUSES ON 200 YEARS OF BLACK WOMEN'S HISTORY
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 Author - Hilda Gurley-Highgate |
A poignant and engrossing multi-generational saga reminiscent of the recent bestseller, Cane River, SAPPHIRE'S GRAVE (Broadway Books; Publication: January 2003; $24.99) by Hilda Gurley-Highgate marks the arrival of a major talent poised to take the literary world by storm.
The novel, an epic work of historical fiction, spans over 200 years to trace the lives of women who battled unspeakable injustices to create a legacy of hope and achievement. Opening in 1764 in Sierra Leone, a woman of staunch pride and unbreakable will is captured and taken to the New World on a slave ship. Once on American soil she gives birth to a daughter who shares not only her mother's strength, but also her black-blue-black complexion.
The child is called Sapphire and grows up and gives birth to several daughters of her own, but she eventually is faced with tragedy that kills her physically, but creates the beginning of a legend. That legend is Sapphire's defiant and prevailing spirit a spirit that is traced through the lives of her descendants and sustains the women through poverty, oppression, abuse, humiliation, and scandal. Gurley-Highgate writes with lyricism and sensitivity, offering vivid, descriptive passages attesting to Sapphire's legacy of strength that lives on in the women who follow her, each carrying something of her mother, her grandmother, her aunts; each passing on to her own daughters blessing and cursing, the consequences of her own choosing.
Passionately written in luminous prose, SAPPHIRE'S GRAVE not only illuminates the meaning of roots and links between women and their female ancestors, it evokes the deeper story of several generations of black women in America since slavery and their search for dignity and respect. Bringing to life a slice of American history at once devastating and uplifting, Hilda Gurley-Highgate offers a deeply moving and universal tale that is sure to resonate with readers of every race or gender.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hilda Gurley-Highgate is an environmental attorney with the Wayne County Corporation Counsel's Office in Detroit, Michigan. She writes and performs poetry at local Detroit-area venues. This is her first novel.
REVIEWS
"A Lyric Paean To Black Women Throughout The Centuries." - Kirkus Reviews
"Hilda Gurley-Highgate's writing is vivid and powerful as she details the spiritual and emotional consciousness of these women individually as well as collectively through their link to their African foremother. In doing so, Gurley-Highgate also evokes the larger story of black women in America since slavery and their search for dignity and identity." - Booklist
"Well-crafted and deeply emotional, Sapphire's Grave is by turns a heart-rending and uplifting trek through women's history. Gurley-Highgate writes with a crisp, unsentimental style and captures regional cadences as succinctly as the poetry of the inner self. Attention, Oprah: time to reopen that book club." - The Baltimore Sun
"By turns brutal and uplifting Gurley-Highgate provides a powerful statement about the toll of slavery on those who experienced it and those who came after." - The Bergen Record
SAPPHIRE'S GRAVE
By Hilda Gurley-Highgate
ISBN: 0-385-50323-7 / US $24.95
Publication: January 2003
Published by Doubleday
AFRICAN AMERICAN RELATIONSHIP AUTHOR TO SPEAK AT NCNW'S YOUNG WOMEN'S ISSUES FORUM
 Bookcover |
 Author - Darryl James |
Washington, DC - Darryl James, author of "Bridging The Black Gender Gap," will be in Washington, D.C. on February 28, for the Third Annual Young Women's Issues Forum, a production of the Greater Washington, D.C. Millennium Section of the National Council of Negro Women. James will join author Kevin Powell in a plenary discussion entitled, "Can You Help a Sistah Out: The Black Gender Gap," and will co-host a reception on Friday, February 27 at Republican Gardens.
"Bridging The Black Gender Gap, Volume I" is a new mini-book based on years of research and more than twenty discussions with men and women regarding the growing number of unmarried Black women conducted by author Darryl James (Detective's Affair & The Los Angeles Riots: Three Decades of Revolution). James, through Tenacious Entertainment, has also launched a national series of seminars and speaking engagements to initiate dialogue between men and women.
"The charge for each of us-men and women-is to begin to discuss the problems we both face, without expressing the fear and hatred that have been welling up inside of us," said James. "I want to facilitate healthy discussions with people who can provide qualified information and advice."
James said that many discussions are steeped in negativity because, in general, men and women are not communicating, and are making grave mistakes in the dating process. "Unfortunately, many people believe that a relationship is all about finding someone to give you what you want," said James. "A relationship is about an exchange of ideas and information, and the exchange of bits and pieces of each individual to form a sense of oneness."
Bridging The Black Gender Gap, Volume I also discusses conflicts between the sexes, while offering practical advice from qualified professionals. "My philosophy is that people usually have conflict because of the way that they process pain," said Angel L. Gaines, a relationship counselor who appears in the book. "Until they can pinpoint the way that they process pain, they will use band-aids as opposed to seeking the root cause of the pain. The mentality is that if I can convince myself that I don't want what I really want, then it doesn't hurt as much when I don't get it."
James recently received the 2004 Non-Fiction Award at the Seventh Annual Black History Month Book Fair and Conference in Chicago.
Published by Tenacious Books, Bridging The Black Gender Gap, Volume I is the first installment of a series and a much-needed contribution to the communication needed between men and women. For more information, call (310) 491-3363, or go to www.theblackgendergap.com
DETROIT BUSINESSWOMAN LAUNCHES SECOND BOOK
 Author - Angela Boone |
 Bookcover |
Detroit, MI - African-American Angela Boone is the author of the books titled, "Faith cometh by Hearing" (Romans 10:17), and "Live What "U" Preach PREACHERS". "Faith cometh by Hearing" is based on Boone's journey as a business owner, and how she overcame significant trails and tribulations in a male dominated industry as owner of her own construction company.
"Live What "U" Preach PREACHERS" is based on the worst type of abuse there is; and a relationship torn a part by jealousy, envy, pride, homosexuality, adultery and prostitution, both real stories. But out of all, what the devil meant for evil, God turned it around. Every year thousands of women and men fail to leave abusive relationships and some end up dead. Read the books for yourself, and/or be a blessing to someone you know. Boone shares with her readers in both books great Testimonies, and what to look for in a good relationship, friendship, business partner, and even a church home.
Boone shows you ministries that will outwardly appear righteous unto men and women, but they come to you in sheep's clothing. Start your year out by knowing, what you need to know to excel in life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. We are dealing with principalities and powers sent by the devil to steal, kill and destroy. There are so many people that don't understand what they are up against with their families, in their businesses, on their jobs, and in churches that are under messy leadership. People need to know what to do". Hopefully, these series of books will serve as a guide and a blessing. The Bibles says, "For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?
Boone said, "Everybody is not who they say they are", and God is no respecter of persons.
Order today by calling or going to our website: www.AngelaBoone.com or send your check or money order for $14.95 for "Live What U Preach Preachers" or $12.95 for "Faith Cometh By Hearing" plus $3.00 each book for shipping and handling to: 1150 Griswold, Suite 3126, Detroit, Michigan 48226.
This book is for the entire family, we need to educate our children.
Each year, millions of us make New Year's resolutions, but the majority of us don't keep them. In fact, half of all New Year's resolutions are abandoned within a month, according to a recent survey. This survey result begs the question: Why do so many people "give up" on their goals? "It isn't a lack of motivation," says Ramon Williamson, a Virginia-based author, life coach, and motivational speaker.
"The real issue is a lack of focus and time. Most people are just so busy doing what's urgent; they have no time to work on their most important goals." To help his clients focus on and accomplish their most meaningful life, career, and business goals, Williamson has created a simple system, which he calls "8 Minutes to Success." Here are eight key tips from the program:
1. Let go of the past. Don't dwell on what you haven't accomplished. Forgive yourself, and focus on the present and your goals for the future. 2. Begin with a vision. When coaching my clients, I suggest that they NOT make "resolutions." Instead, I have them begin with a clear vision or theme for the year based on their true values and desires. 3. Throw out your "should" goals. These are goals based on feelings of guilt or shame. Yes, you probably SHOULD lose some weight-but until it becomes a "must" that you are truly committed to, leave it off your list. 4. Create a 90-day plan. Make a list of the life areas you want to work on such as: spiritual, physical, financial, career, relationships, etc. Next, write out your goals for each area. Then, put your goals into a 90-day plan. Planning in 90-day cycles will help you accomplish twice as much in half the time. 5. Track your results. Whatever you measure, you can improve. Use a personal planner or journal to track your progress and document your success. 6. Take time for you. Take time to renew yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Schedule a day at the spa. Enroll in a weekend seminar. You can't give to others if you haven't replenished yourself. 7. Find a mentor/coach. Ask a friend, associate, or hire a coach to hold you accountable. Schedule a weekly time to meet together and check-in on your goals. Make sure you are completely honest about your progress and obstacles. 8. Reward yourself. On a weekly basis, review the progress that you are making on your goals. When you accomplish or complete a certain goal or task, celebrate.
Ramon Williamson, author of Six Simple Things That Can Change Your Life, is a life coach and motivational speaker. Busy people use his "8 Minutes to Success" program to quickly improve their careers, finances, relationships, and health. Named one of the 50 best in personal and business coaching, he is a popular keynote speaker at meetings and conferences worldwide. He offers a FREE 5-part introduction to coaching at www.ramonwilliamson.com MEDIA AVAILABILITY:
Print and Radio Interviews, including Expert Comments on Fast-Breaking News Are you working on a show or article with a New Year's resolution or "change your life" theme? Ramon Williamson is an articulate, entertaining, high energy expert that delivers fresh ideas to motivate and inspire.
Availability: in-studio in the Washington, DC area; worldwide by telephone, web cam or online chat. Last minute bookings welcome. To SCHEDULE Ramon Williamson: Call 800-811-1577 or email media@ramonwilliamson.com For INTERVIEW QUESTIONS / BIO, email: interviewquestions@ramonwilliamson.com For Six Simple Things BOOK EXCERPT, email: bookchapter@ramonwilliamson.com For Ramon Williamson's PICTURE / BOOK COVER, email: pictures@ramonwilliamson.com
Do you love to read good books; well we are getting ready to start a book club soon. If you know an undiscovered author or an interesting book that has you on the edge of knowledge and achievement, or that has that special meaning to you that leaves an lasting impression on you, email us at n23platnl@myway.com attention book club.
The Poetry Network
Buffalo Slick (Ode to Rick James)
For Buffalo's native funk lord,
Acclaim was made rather critically,
Stone City produced the instrumentation,
Its adjective was the truth, un-pretty...
For when one stands on the top,
Getting down will resound,
Oh, oh, oh, temptation may say,
As intrigue comes around...
...each passing day...
Ghetto life produced a desire with fire,
All the time was the party, and at 17 never tire,
Blood, freezing cold, as life would migrate into a stupor,
Dancin' with Mary Jane yielded freaks that were super...
A genius is the guitar star by far,
Songs on the street, made the lonely forget who they are,
Leather expressions accented aura with precision,
Scalpel injected funk with every incision,
Now many ebony eyes cry as spirits cast sighs,
In concert exist many wonders as a mouth asks why,
Effects of God’s Will may not send an immediate thrill,
But its perfection is unparalleled and cures every ill,
Life is precious as time transpires...through each tock tick,
Golden are the memories as we celebrate...the life of Buffalo Slick
Rest in Peace Rick,
Marc Lacy
Author - The Looking Heart