 My name is Linda Brooks-Burton. I'm the branch manager here at the Bayview Library and welcome to the Bayview Library's 31st annual poetry recital. I've only been here 12 of those 31 years. So I'm going to introduce the man though that has been here all those 31 years and he's a local poet, community activist, small businessman. He is Larry Ware. Please welcome him up. Thank you very much and good evening and we look for some more folks to show up here. Thank you and welcome to the Bayview Annie Wadden Branch and thank you Linda. And let's give Linda and her staff a great round of applause for their hard work and and Eric and his staff and Dave they do a wonderful job covering this event and some of you this may be your first time I used to gather poets and writers and we used to meet outside and we reserved a community room here and just brainstorm and I say hey, let's get a recital started and here we are 31 years later and still going strong and it is customary that we pay homage and tribute to those that are not here to share this evening with us and a person who is very special and dear to our hearts is Dr. Wayland C. Fuller. We like to dedicate this program to Dr. Fuller. I like to dedicate this program to my uncle Ray in Philadelphia, passed away a couple of months ago and I would like to dedicate this to your friends, the loved ones who the Lord called home and we're gonna have a wonderful show tonight and I'd like to and we're on the brink of history with Obama being the next president and this poem was inspired out of a Martin Luther King written as a tribute to him and he had a dream and now the next dream is going to be Barack Obama, next president, so it's entitled Somewhere Someone Has Said and Done Something Beautiful Out of the midnight blue as a gentle breeze tames the turbulent winds and the pouring rain Then as the rainy clouds parted the sunshine smiled upon all of the people of the world Then the eyes of the sky open and gave us a beautiful day in the sun People open their eyes with the profound respect for life People open their hearts and gave love that filled other people's hearts with appreciation for life People open their minds to reservoirs of wisdom and poured golden knowledge into the mainstream of society as Hearts of love and rhythm with life get ready to set sail from which the ships of friendship will sell Carrying the cargo of love trust unity brotherhood friendship and understanding the Regencies have mellowed down from the love touch waves Tranquility and sweet serenity as the music we hear somewhere someone has said and done something beautiful I've touched upon every shore as my desire to rise to the golden heights Inspiration elevated my heart and I saw it above every mountain I spoke of unity for all mankind and the skies were peacefully filled in fire in rain In darkness in times of a storm and times of uncertainty. I know that there will be sunshine because Somewhere someone has said and done something beautiful Thank you and Thank you, and our next port is gonna be Ava so let's get Ava a great round of applause. She's gonna come up and do some poetry Thank you It's nice to be here tonight and I Didn't prepare anything, but I think I remembered some poems by heart that I've written I'll try to remember them the best I can The first poem is called San Francisco man San Francisco man You're really from Oakland Or maybe from Vietnam An ex-patriot of England Take me by the hand San Francisco man Laughing with comedians Dining with some friends Playing with your band be my favorite man San Francisco man You're a real fan of Museums in Thailand Kiss me in the park lands Love me in the beach sands That was San Francisco man and now this poem is So e-luna Your love is like a sun Warm against my skin Hot between my legs a Fire in my soul My love is like the moon cool and mysterious dark and lovely the light in your eyes and This is another poem it's It's called affirmation The sun is shining The sky is blue It's good to be alive and I love you I thank God our love is real I thank God for how happy I feel Nothing is better than our love It's the stuff that dreams are made of So say one more And this is the last poem It's about me because I'm into astrology or sort of into astrology and It's called the moon and Pisces My life is a sweet nightmare Strange and scary Unreal and unique Dreamy and dangerous Okay, our next poet is gonna be Henry Calhoun. Let's give Henry a great round of applause well, my name is Henry Calhoun and I Feel that Life is poetry That's why it's been with us for so long It's just that at certain moments Something really happens to us that inspires us and we stop and write it down So I think every moment that we're here Poetry is being made It's just that you just kind of like have to put it together and just think about it So this is a poem that I wrote It's called whipped by love And it goes like this I am suffering from the pain Nights are dark and long I Listen to the cries of a lonely heart Who cares what I feel I? Have been whipped and pushed aside Love has marked me for life My flesh feels beaten My emotions have been dragged Love is dripping from my eyes. I am so sad Every drop of love has been drained from me. I Am left with the scars from the whipping that you gave me If there is mercy Love has none. I Have been whipped so bad My body is numb What is left to give My life is sickened The love that I wanted walked away untouched. I am left trembling holding nothing But myself the title of this next form is called Golden veil of life in silence in the quietness the golden veil of life lifted pushing you into the orbit of time as The steel small voice whispered allowing you to be mystery captures your soul birth unfolds a freshness a newness of living You were there in the beginning Just a little bubble bursting with life Aware yet not knowing the wisdom of your most cherished possession We grow into the vastness of life Confronted with the elements of living We learned from falling and from the pain of getting up trying once again We hurt in so many places We heal ever so slowly Sometimes never causing us to be handicapped for life At times we think we are really great Our ego dances away only to drop us down in the valley of depression Our true spirit is what we should be about If we would just listen to the quiet steel voice of God that allowed us to be Within us the quiet voice of God will speak if only we will listen the next form is called a Mental nightmare once in my life love opened my mind But rejection closed it forever. I Spent the day thinking about what could have been the next thing. I know I'm sick in love again. I Dream of hours and hours how we could have kissed and loved hugged and held hands But something wasn't right because I'm on the outside Looking in I'm looking at your tender feelings your kind words your gentle touch Each living day is a mental nightmare without you in my life Now I just paced from one place to the next living in the pit of love That is so deep the bottom keeps moving further and further away. I Am living in a mental nightmare Once loved opened my mind, but rejection closed it forever And I got one more poem the last one It's called believe this on the deep blue sea far away You will be with me believe this if you please On a rocket ship between the stars of outer space You will be with me believe this also Deep inside prison walls behind the bars for life you will be with me believe this every day in A strange land with a strange heart You will be with me believe this Keep these words close to your mind and never give up on the sidewalks of poverty Concrete becomes my bed You will be with me believe this you must believe this When I finally say goodbye and my voice is shed forever My last thoughts will be of you believe this God knows you must believe this Thank you Next poet is gonna be a Jenny Powell. She's welcome to see her again. She's participated in several shows So let's give a Jenny power a great round of applause How much time? Okay, is this is this good? Can you hear me? Hi everyone? I'm gonna read from a little book called word dancing and I think I'll start out with some love poems You put that idea in my head this is called reflecting Let me start over. I like everything about him He hurls impatience at men friends down on their luck who hide out too long on his living room floor He caresses a serpentine cat who guards the steep winding staircase to his private world He laughs about the train wrecks littering his love life He makes minestrone from scratch the way his grandmother taught He stretches nice and slow filling a doorway without making a sound He caresses a guitar before rippling its strings into sound blasts of anger He waits free of time and judgment for the old scars of a new friend to heal He is a nurturing silence with sake at sunset Let me start over. I like everything about him I think I have more than one but I'll have to search for it yeah one summer I was hanging out with some friends in the mission and We were working with the poems of Lee Po the Chinese poet and Clara would translate into English for us telling us basically what the poem said and then we would work with that translation and create our own poem and This is called endless longing from Lee Po Together such words we spoke Memories of Chang'an breathed into our skin our flesh Golden light bathed us through open curtains Sounds of autumn chirped a warning at our well of happiness Even as we drew close together at night light frost Formed a bleak rim around our mat Lamp light leaked away and deserted to the moon leaving futility in its wick Soon your rose petals divided and reformed beyond the edges of clouds Beauty now above me and far away My thoughts rippled through waves of bitter longing above and below tears from my dream soul Burnt offerings our flowering lies and embers under a moon bright and sad I am a phoenix rising now searching for my music man My loot leans on a hardwood column Longs for favor and fidelity in the past sweet harmony Where is my music man our strings attuned we played in pairs Mandarin duck and Drake Now a spring wind blows and plucky swallows struggle to carry my tears toward a blue sky So far away too far my love our past falters falls back Shadows mirror longings. I am broken in the wrenching come back. I am broken Now the other side of love. I Had power once last Tuesday the 16th took all your fancy clothing from the laundry hamper Basement trunk and upstairs closet piled it all in the front seat of your shiny new Pontiac truck poured gasoline from your tank and lit it up with an eight inch hand painted fireplace match from Pottery Barn You could see the flames for miles and miles. I didn't have a choice really you disregarded my five-minute warning more than once And another one of that same ilk Lazy Susan I saw you leaving tonight with a surly foreign winch Buried behind mounds of dirty dishes. I surfaced long enough to see you to slide into your favorite Mercedes Her fire engine lips pulled on your Egyptian cigarette and she grazed your skin with her glossy nails When I finished these dishes and closed the cafe tonight I plan to sit up late in the humid dark and wait I'll have a kitchen blade in my hand when you come back for more cash the way you do and then we'll talk It's time You ever feel like you don't have quite enough time. I'm gonna finish with this one and this one I think and so this this I wrote this one day about time Seems like I'm running out of time The world is ready to rumble showcasing weapons cataclysmic inmates are running the asylum Lost time when I was sleeping beauty and when I chased a tardy rabbit through those looking glass doors Seems like I'm running out of time My one true Prince is tied up in a colossal traffic jam on the twilight side of Malta Billboards selling soylent green dominate the grimy landscape Texting outpaces the scriptures my boots ran over their heels The wind is blowing down my door too many paces behind seems like I'm running out of time Do some more poetry here. These are some new ones that I just wrote so I won't have to read from them but Also, I want to dedicate this show to three of my favorite entertainers Bernie Mac Isaac Hayes and Levi Stubbs at the four tops who you know one of my all-time favorite singers So I like to dedicate this these poems to them The first one I'm gonna do is a It's called projected destinations and it's Knowledge is the fuel for the fire that inspires our deep creative desires It gives us inward depth and outward perceptions Elevating our levels of thought and as a wave of inner self expression beautifully flow Let us seek to realize as we visualize the dreams of our heart Let us treasure the pleasures of life for not living we would never know what life was and as we master the tools of knowledge We become architects of own destination then as a beautification of the inner self progress We become endowed in the midst of our enlightened visions as we begin to instill and assimilate the golden ways of life The sign of life is paper in our pockets mind power equals green power spread the bread feed your thoughts inspirations and desires and As you know, I'm a romanticist. So this next poem I wrote this a couple of weeks ago. It's entitled Yes, yes, yes. Oh, yes, your lovely lips. They are truly so very sweet Hey, my sweets Let my heart tell you why You're the sweet love of my life You kissed my heart with your warm and loving heart The moment was so beautiful And the shy guy that I Once was is no more My heart tenderly kissed your heart back You cut it all up next to me Then you tenderly Kissed me just melting my heart Oh, what a joy. I feel to know that me and my lady love share a precious love together Now with each loving kiss we share My heart can only say to you my lady love Yes, yes Yes Your lovely lips. They are truly so very sweet While we're on that subject This one is entitled The sweetest kiss is always the one that says I love you It was when I kissed Or was it when you kissed me? Was it the sweetest kiss? A kiss so special The kind that always warms the heart When we shared our first sweetheart kiss You started sighing and crying. I felt your tears of joy Then you tenderly touched my face Then you softly whispered I love you while touching my heart Now I know Now we together we know That the sweetest kiss is always the one that says I love you We share a feeling so dear and near our hearts And a love that in that is endearing and everlasting Now that we realize That it was the sweetest kiss when our hearts touched And said I love you The special bond of two hearts beating as one I look into your loving eyes And feel so blessed Oh my heart goes zing with the strings of love A symphony of love for two The beauty of knowing now that the sweetest kiss is always one that says I love you I love you Bring your sweet cell phone over here Hey, sweets, I'm standing right here in the moonlight waiting for you and um Another one I wrote this as a tribute to Nat King Cole to me Nat King Cole is my all-time favorite entertainer And everybody loved Nat King Cole and this was entitled A velvet splendor Warm and so very tender Oh my love you came to me so softly so warm and out of a velvet dream And like the midnight moonlight shining at sea your eyes begin to sparkle like a sea of beauty on a summer evening Oh my love dreams of you and me romancing dancing winding and dining in the evening moonlight Building sand castles by the sea just you and me Love for love together as our hearts walk the soft white sandy beats of the paradise The mellow sweet soft summer breeze of your love touches my heart in a warm and loving way And on our way home we got caught in the rain and each and every raindrops smiled after they touched your face And the warmer raindrops kissed your sweet lips Velvet splendor i'll always be in love with you velvet splendor i'll always be in love with life velvet splendor so warm so tender Dreams can be beautiful dreams can become a reality if you let the love in your heart inspire that which you feel deep inside Velvet splendor so warm so tender And another one before I let's the next pull it up This one is entitled Write it out all the way to the top And write on Inner self-respect became the light of my soul in a way of life And my heart became entrusted with the virtues of dignity and pride And my outer appearance was just an inner reflection of self-esteem self-love respect and understanding As I stood alone at the top of my world I became the builder engineer and architect of my own destination Then as I became totally immersed in the stream of life I started to write it all out all the way to the top And as the eyes of truth got brighter self-love surface and warm horizons turned golden as timeless wisdom Dazzled in a wave of beauty and splendor And as the gray clouds filled with rain get kissed by the lovely sunshine The skies turned lovely blue then I knew that I could see forever and ever Now I'm in harmony with myself as the spirits in a temple of wisdom touch my heart and filled my soul And I became enriched with the many qualities of life That which appears disappear then reappear Seek the plateau of the horizon for your field of vision is clear And when those creative productive and constructive thoughts begin to fill your minds go for it Because at one solid moment could strike any minute now I desire to blow my own horn in a band of glory as heroes march across the sky I've seen a light of many dawns I do not lust for showers of unwavering self-glory for I will reach for the fire that will bring me rain And give my heart for the cause now because we have chance for righteousness And be the dream of the dreamers so right your way out right your way up right your way over right Way to the top and don't stop then light up and right it all out all the way to the top and right on Fulfilling are the virtues of emotional poise composer Self-control so exert the leadership qualities lead the way to the top and right on And uh one more before I finish up here, uh this just to show you You know you follow you study and follow all of the great writers and songwriters like smoky Robinson Isaac K's uh gamble huff and bell holland does and holland mcfadden and whitehead and The braille building tin pan alley writers The watt stack vote writers uh that can go on and on but uh That inspiration hits you like well lino richie uh Bill withers and just when you think you heard the most beautiful songs somebody Poems somebody comes out of nowhere with some that's the beauty of uh life in the arts This only took me three minutes to write And it won seven national awards and essence magazine magazine selected for one of the issues And it was raining one day. This was many moons ago as Bernie Mack would say many many moons ago And uh it just you know that the rain was falling and Falling love falling love. So that is the title of poem falling love it goes uh Should a warm smile in the rain turn your days into beautiful sunshine falling love Should a loving kiss awaken you amidst a beautiful dream tenderly in a night falling love Should a beautiful song of togetherness a sweet song of love caress and warmly embrace your heart falling love Should you find a feeling real and that's someone who is true from deep within their heart falling love As the eyes of the heart look through the windows of the world They can see that there's just so many beautiful things in life for people to do together And should you find it wonderful Fall in love fall in love with me so we can fall in love with life together fall in love Thank you Thank you Would you like to do some port would you like to do some more poetry? Sure. Okay. Ava's gonna come up and do uh another poem. So come on up Did her love poems? I was inspired to do a love poem And this is One of my love poems I mean I was inspired to read one of my love poems And this is one of my love poems And it's called My adorable boyfriend I want to be bothered by love I want a mess of happiness I want a little something something every day And this is another poem. I wrote I guess you'll recognize the name in this poem It's called I like Madonna Blonde Blue-eyed soul Cute baby butch diva Dancing and singing and sex Fashion and politics and sex Attitude and ambition and sex Around the world and sex Into the pages of history and sex And this is another poem. I wrote It's kind of a brutal poem Um But um sometimes this is the way I really feel about love And the name of this poem is called Love is a four-letter word It teases me It taunts me It sparkles and glitters With cruel beauty I ache and I cry Oh, actually the line is I ache and cry The I guess that's about it for now Henry Calhoun is going to come up and do some more poetry Thank you Most of these poems here are Mostly love poems. I was I was in that state of mind at that particular moment in life Uh, so I don't have anything too political, but I guess love is political. I guess when you think about So, uh, I'll read this I'll read this one. I'll read this one. It's called This is called sour note I play the tune A sweet melody But your love is not true You take me for a joke So I hit a sour note I left a note for your love You totally ignored that I play the tune I hit a sour note I want to take you in my arms Play something jumping To keep your heart pumping You don't love me I play the tune. I hit a sour note I'm not talking about the blues Because you turned the blues gray And you know, that's bad on a stormy day I play the tune I hit a sour note So what are you going to do? Feel bad all day long Talking about crying I play the tune I hit a sour note Okay, this one is called Walls Walls brick walls Hammer chisel strike One chip breaks away One small indent Strike again and again Matters fall hard Rocks stone that has sealed the pathway I chisel poking a hole Searching for light Rocky stones hit my face I want in I want to see within The block blocks of brick hard rocks That protect your heart The guard of mass walls that shield your vital parts One chip at a time I pry to get in Inside your heart Inside your mind Where the fortified walls you have built Seem heavy to carry Keeping all invading thoughts out Up against the wall I push I pound I fall to the ground Fighting your resistance I hammer I chisel I think there might have been another part of that, but I don't see you If you if you only knew the deepness of my feelings I dare To dip your hands and feel inside my heart Touch what lives inside of me I am standing on the edge The final drop My heart was has reached the point where I am afraid of my next thought I have tried to back away and take a good long look But the deepness of my love for you has my vision totally blocked All I see is you All I think is you All I want is you Please understand my moments of the deepest love I've ever known If only you knew what lives inside of me You would change what you feel I'm gonna do three more poems and then we're gonna uh have some food there Um As I said like uh talking about the songwriters from around the country and like you know the street corner The doo-wop singers and you know all around the country and the teen idols and This one was inspired out of that like coming up as a kid like uh It's entitled the splendor of ghetto swabs sweet expression And I dedicate this to the tune masters and the tunesmiths and the wordsmiths um Hey there lovely lady Warm beautiful sweet tender sexy sincere and all of them kind of nice things You even more to my heart Lady love I've searched all of my life All of my life looking for your kind of loving tenderness. It's beautiful and real Oh, what is all the sweet love I feel? I see it in your eyes and I feel your love looking through the windows of my world And my lovely one your smile is a warm and wonderful reflection of the love that's in your heart And when I look into your eyes, I find myself saying my goodness alive Your lips sure look tasty. I'll bet they are very very sweet. Lady how my chance is very good. I hope I'd be proud to be your love a lot any time all the time day and night Then we can share the beauty and pleasure of evening walks hand in hand strolling through the park Stop under palm tree dancing in the moonlight so we can kiss and hug and whisper sweet somethings As a warm and lovely summer breeze strum sweet melodies from the strings of tender summer leaves Baby you and me together sweet melody magic as our hearts dance in celebration of the beautiful beginning of our love affair Hearts touch on this lovely day sweet love smiles. Now. Let us listen till the sweet beat of the falling rain Beautiful music to our ears sweet music for our hearts as we dance to love The next one is entitled Love is life Love is life and life is so very very nice When the atmosphere is pleasant and thoughts are peaceful Life for living is like a warm and beautiful feeling touching me touching you As I look into the beautiful horizons. I see children playing warm and safe under the loving eyes of the friendly skies Vivacious energetic and so full of life and love is life as the wonderfulness of the day settles in A lovely lady placed a warm and very sweet kiss on my lips. My heart has been touched and blessed This beautiful feeling created by me and you was made to be shared Always remembering the beautiful days of summer Love is what we make it and may it always be something beautiful dear near our hearts Love is me touching you. Love is you touching me. Love is being in touch with each other's feelings Love is giving sharing and caring love makes two hearts singing harmony. Love makes wedding bells ring Love brings rain to the flowers and trees and helps them grow beautiful and tall Love is you and me together living for the love this beautiful life has given us love is life And the final poem Um again I like to dedicate this to our next president of the united states barack obama and and vice president joseph biden The winning ticket and this one as I said like young people they are the president of the future and Uh, they're the leaders of tomorrow. So I like to dedicate this to all of the young people And uh, it's a dream and think big and who knows you could be the next president You can be the next governor the next mayor or you can be a world famous doctor a writer But this one is entitled Young america we need the light People of the world, please listen to me I am the youth of america and as a beauty of wisdom unfolds and uses the tools of knowledge and time To begin shaping and rounding our character and personalities Let the hands of wisdom hand off the batons of knowledge as generation after generations Run eternal marathons of life Let them run into the beautiful horizon spreading the righteousness of life The master plan the way the great creator meant for it to be Today's youth are tomorrow's leaders Let them be groomed and endowed with eternal fires of wisdom and life As they become knowledgeable and equipped with the tools to build Taking leadership roles today preparing us for tomorrow's world As they positively and constructively affect the qualities of life Exerting the necessary direction leadership and guidance So that there may be a better world today and tomorrow for all of us to live in As their thoughts for progression pyramid to the sky touching the sun Life's source of energy as hearts of desire become inspirational sensations May the wings of life take them into picture perfect flights as they quest for the dreams of their heart as endeavor span the universe Taking them near and far have no fear my friends for the wings of life Will take your hearts and minds on adventurous journey beyond beyond Let us not complicate life's constructive process and become a society of high breath thinkers Trying to rule a universal airways of communication true We need the super minds with eternal fires of a love desire An inspiration in our hearts that help this world we live in grow Truth is the light of justice all the beauty of balance May there always be light to guide our souls young america you are the light young america Please be the light young america let the light shine because young america we need the light And in closing I would like to thank everyone for your participation and your attendance here 31 years and counting and as you look around this is uh um director the bayview hunters point historical preservation project and We've assembled some really wonderful exhibit and artifacts and pictures And I tell you bring back so many pleasant and wonderful memories growing up here in hunters point bayview 57 and to see all of these wonderful people and the families And uh, we must protect and preserve our neighborhood history in our city history in our history period And just a joy like just briefly uh I interviewed mr. Miss Smith there in 96 years old their granddaughter as you see chelsea smith is miss america 1996 and uh, some of the pioneers uh pastor Madaris of double rock baptist church mr. Ellis finley of bayview mortuary uh, dr. Wayland see fuller full of pharmacy and we like to pay a tribute to joe and uh, mary of uh castangels uh, they're Sandwich shop that have been there 55 years and also the longest standing business in the community here uh, mosaic hardware and uh, there's many other businesses, uh, pete at um Sportsman barbershop been there 40 years and uh counter stick barbershop and like I said, there's a lot of uh historical, uh places and Significant people and we want to pay homage and tribute to them and this program is dedicated to them and their hard work in their tireless efforts And again, we'd like to thank Eric and his staff and we'd like to thank lynda brooks bird and her staff and again Thank you and god bless you and next year number 32. So good night