Climbing…
Paz Griot
Bone by bone,
and brick by brick
ladders emerge
from the hieroglyphs
written on the river’s edge.
Now I understand
why you couldn’t be there
and why the world doesn’t care
about the child’s cry
from the other side.
Remember all them lonely days
when the walls were caving in
and the only map we could decipher
was left to shatter.
Remember all them homeless nights
when the gunshots filled the sky
and the only roof over our heads
was a dream.
So I watch the lotuses
building bridges
to new villages
that know
how to raise children.
I feel the mud
shape the legacy
for spiritual posterity.
I’m climbing
out of the debris
and when I reach the apex
I’ll feel that burden
dissipate
into the desert waves.
We were evicted
by the people
we called home
betrayed by them tricksters
who said they built
the city for us.
Till a sign came
from a street preacher
who said
“Look for the stars
that speak to your scars
and the ladder
will appear
from the puddle
of your street tears.”
All them opportunists
said the mountain was too high
but I know
I was born
to reach the sky.
My hejira begins
with this climb.
Severing the cord
to all my past lives,
I say a prayer
over the crash site,
build an altar
from the ravaged car parts
and a mala
from broken wires.
Inscribe my mandala
in the ashes of our secrets
scorched by the funeral pyre.
So tear down the walls.
Let the ocean rise.
Let the vagrant souls
be your spirit guides.
Reach out to the zenith
where the truth lies.
Come out of hiding
to feel your wings flying.
Submerged in Stars
Inspired by the ayahuasca ceremony in the Ecuadorian Amazon
It ain’t too late
to reach out for a new rhythm.
It ain’t too selfish
to ask for a new beginning.
I remember
you said to me,
“Take a good look at the circle,
before you take your seat
at the table.”
The shaman arrives
from unchartered landscapes
to offer you a new dream
to cling to in your journey
to take refuge in
when the voices shout you down
on the road to your vision.
I will embrace
this horizon,
the Amazon glow,
the call of the river,
to paint your spirit.
I will step off the edge,
let the sky show the way
to the cosmic stage,
let you sing
to the star-spangled body.
Our earth.
Our destiny.
Our fire.
Our wires.
Our union.
Our fusion.
Submerged in stars,
these eyes gaze
into an abyss,
and the trees
find their roots
in bliss,
the fruit of the kiss,
the message of the shaman
to keep it 100
with the timing of the sacred,
knowing the dance,
then finding the trance,
abandoning the boundaries
that kept us in chains
and obscured our connection
to the human race.
Transparent eyes
in the animals,
the trees,
the skies
affirm our solidarity
believe in our destiny
as the turntables spin
and the streets lose their senses
to the gunshots and mugshots,
to the handcuffs and jail cells.
I will turn to the vision
submerged in stars,
celebrating the merger
as rainforests grow from cop cars,
as oceans flow from landfills.
They know they can’t kill
the dream that grows
from palm trees,
the heritage that evolves
in crisis,
the wild eyes
that witness
a new path.
Submerged in stars,
we find our way,
we build our home.
No borders
to betray us
just a rhythm
and a star
to guide us.
*
Release the skin striving
to feel your prana
climbing…
*
Paz Griot is a spoken word poet, visual artist, actor, playwright, and performer originally from New York City. He now lives in Istanbul. He has written and published several poems, performed in countless plays and open mic events, written seven plays and exhibited his paintings, collages, and sculptures in six gallery shows in New York. He is currently writing his eighth play, and is launching a zen meditation group.