It's about that time again...
Cosmo
9,768 Posts
- you know what time it is.Autumn is by far my favorite season. It fills me with a sense that is a combination of wonder/rebirth/melancholy, I dunno, a whole thing. It basically just kind of gets me in a way where my senses seem more atune and alive than at other times. And I feel more creative and in touch with myself and my surroundings. To put it blunt, shit is mad real.So yeah, here's to another autumn of our discontent, as short as it may be.Also, I just want to bear witness to my man. Whenever this season somes around I usually mark it with an appropriate avatar. In doing so, I'm retiring the avatar that I had up for the summer, in memory of my good friend. Mpozi Tolbert was was of my oldest friends. From the wildly impressionable teenage years of growing up in the Philly scene to the days when, as men, we felt that what we did through the arts could make a political and social difference, we walked a similar path. I was lucky enough to have the SIAM tour go though Indianapolis where, after 15+ years of friendship, we got a chance to spend some time together. It was a great evening, with me and Ayres and A-Trak deading the music so that Pozi could do a rendition of "Califonia Uber Allies" for the masses. It was hilarious and truly a mark of the type of dude he was. It made me think of where I had come from. The one night in his company made me feel what it was like growing up again, after years of doing what I do. You see, my soul is cover with callous. I've built up resistance, both through experience and necessity, to being to tap into some of the more important sensations that we as humans need to be able to feel. It's these sensations and feelings that are what helped us, helped me, become the man I am. But they get lost somewhere, I guess in the course of living one's life. However, for one night in Indianpolis this summer I felt what it was like to be a kid again. Pozi died suddenly about 3 weeks later, collapsed at his desk at work. He was 34. Soon after me and my family attended his memorial in Philly. It was bittersweet. My man was gone, but when I saw the impact that he had on so many people, I knew that he would never be forgotten.Rest in eternal peace and eternal power my friend. I will see you when I get there.
Comments
RIP to your man.
Your post comes straight from the heart of a true friend.
R.I.P.
Fall is my favorite season. Yesterday, I was raking leaves in my yard in that fact that it was fall really hit me. School always used to remind me summer was over but now its all about the leaves. That and turning off the AC and opening the windows is a great feeling. I usually celebrate the fall by drinking darker beers and listening to slower songs.
...In which the death of the foliage and the retreat of the sun
accompanies the reawakening of the mind.
Gone are the brick-oven dog days and tropical hot-dog nights
whose humidity cloaks and bogs our minds as we puzzle over
feelgood hits and airport novels.
Our spirits are delivered mild electric jolts, conducted on
the crisp and dry air. Suddenly we remember who we are. Projects
and proposals leap to consciousness, sharply angled sunlight reminds
us of our precarious position on the globe, and time is running out!
Suddenly anything seems possible - we could wear a tweed jacket for
the first time in our lives ; we could take a Chinese language class ;
we could listen to the Chilliwack 12"es we've always set aside.
But first a bunch of things must die.
The words die, floating down from your mouth after their utterance.
Once the record is pressed, the mood is enshrined, but is no longer
alive, a mere record of groupthought gone.
Yet the needle is dropped and gently dragged, and new ears hear a
new song, and jolts are again delivered, self-promises made, premises
to stories hatched, storms of brain breaking.
For the first time, it seems possible to compose an opera.
Gone is the general torpor and the conspiracy of the threads
in the case of the brick-oven fitted bedsheet. A chilly corner
of bedsheet begs for a leg to warm it.
The leg begs for lotion.
these words, word for word, could have been from me. but you said it so all i can say is word.
your father threw you in while mother
forgave his husky harms because she sees
his smile at the bottom of the flora.
The time of year where under orange moons
men took up axes, rakes, and tractor wheels
while boys courageously pawed a nearby thigh.
Grandpa would scoot over on the seat.
Now boys claw at their mothers' sides
pouting for freshly baked sugar cookies;
their fathers take up TVs, Barcaloungers,
and the cooler-temped share of sweets.
But your nose will bring you to that same
open door -- November after November --
whether it be kitchen or bedroom, spicy or sweet
mom's hair fell down slowly from a braid
as she anticipated our last earthy meal
with the same fixins: Ada's wobbly cane,
uncles fighting for the dregs of the turkey,
and locking her son outside with the cousins.
You see, the leaves I remember are not the huddle of Autumn's
but the warmth inside the memories left behind me.
Ain't that the truth.
Fall is by far my favorite season, and the fact that we don't really have Fall here in the Bay--not like back east--is one of the few downsides to living out here.
RIP to your homie, AI. I'd say the fact that he was able to affect you as a true friend and spur you to write this post is indicative of the kind of person he was/is.
it is when i most want to be outside, to walk in the woods, to hold my sweetie's hand and blow on it when its cold, and to sit in on Sunday writing and doing crossword puzzles.
enjoy it y'all, and try to make your world and life a little better in the next two months...
Autumn is also my favorite time of year
time to break out the Barbara and Ernie
cheers,
M
Been feeling the same things as of late. A chilled mellowing of the spirit but an enlightening of the mind.
Thanks for sharing C*zm*. Shit IS mad real.
amen
Sorry to hear about your man. Sounds like he was the truth. I'm really glad you were able to make the most out of your moments, and the last moment was positive. Life is fragile, and it just goes to show that we need cherish and appreciate our friends and family at every moment. Remember the important things.