Here I am, playing my harp at a Spoken Word performance at the 40th Street Stage, Norfolk, VA, on Aug. 6, 2006. It was my first appearance with the City Arts Poets. The first poem I performed that night, as a way of introducing myself to the world of performance poetry, appears below, serving as well to introduce myself to you, the readers of my blog.

Today

Today

I will start

to unpack

my sack

of all I have learned

and saved from my life.

Today

I will lay

side by side

in a row

all those memories

stored

I'd like you to know--

all the dreams

I have lived,

all the marvels

untold;

the laughter

at dawn

after fear

all night long.

Today

I will start

to unwrap

my heart,

loose oceans

of feelings

from true

and false dealings

distilled

into words,

a few choice phrases

I'll scatter

behind me

so down

through the ages

we

can recover

the one fact

of time:

it moves

in circles,

not

in a line.