The mind, a dormant stone

Thank you to Jennifer Carroll for teaching me what Love was, how to show it, how to give it. Thank you to Anthony Greene for teaching me unconditional Love, and showing me that it is the single greatest gift any one human can give. Freely. Love is not perfect, often messy; and you'd have to be willing to get your hands dirty to make it right... Sculpt it...or care enough to try.

I wanted to write you a birthday poem, but all that came out were bubbles. Imagine that; a paper with fading lines underneath a soaking sud. The small round imprint teeters on its hump, pretending it's a letter trying to nestle between two lines. This is not the case friend, bubble. Your girth is grand and the liquid sliding down your gentle skin is much too heavy. You're out of place. Still...your day is now. Birth more bubbles out of yourself... sneeze and a few more can drop to the side. Wiggle and watch them grow independent. Blow the suds around to form more complex shapes, add some music for tempo. Suds like to dance around...singing " Happy Birthday, Sis! "! for cjm

This Los Angeles morning lends itself to rainfall dropping like pills, sliding down throats with steamy black coffee. Makes me proud to know this weather and greet this day...no make-up on. Same teared up cheeks from last night's drama, left little room for new melancholy. I just sit still to listen to earth's new noise. A continuum seeping without injury; hard to sustain. Don't burn the timbers in vain. Share your hands to lend warmth. It is in this pocket where humanity is cradled.

I do. And tomorrow, I will celebrate you! For cjm

Lost in this holiday spree...our chain broke in my hands. I think I pounded down with a stake while you refused to look. Then you pulled at the chain throwing it to my ankles when I was too stubborn to listen. Now we have separated. We acted. In result my sadness is not comforted without you, my friend. sistra.

But I love your soul And who you are, And I pray that days don't take away from the years we have left together. I hope to grow old Smile Be beside you Eyes closed, but hands held. That should always be us. For cjm

Can't make tonight's show!!? Tonight's reading at The Last Bookstore will be broadcast LIVE on our U-Stream!  Login at 8pm! http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ the-poet-s-soapbox Broadcast will proceed at 8pm PST. WRITE NOW! Writers' Row reading covered by KCET

December is a great month... marking many pivotal achievements made throughout the year. I am proud to state that Writers' Row will always remain one of my proudest moments, and I've been so pleased to host this literary tribute to the "Written Art", for the past two years...  Writers' Row found a wonderful home at the Last Bookstore. Chances are that won't be the last of Writers' Row and the Los Angeles Poet Society, paired up with the Last Bookstore, but will be at the moment.  Celebrate the year and your words with us December 19th! Our features to close out the year are Melissa Alvarado and Abel Salas. Our Special Guest for the evening is Poet S.A. Griffin ! It's often hard to construct what to say about S.A. because he is really awesome and just an honor to hear and see! Dr. Melissa F. Alvarado probably grew up in the smallest town in Nebraska and pursued a Doctorates in Pharmacy, but decided to pursue her love of writing poetry after the late an...

December 19, 2012 Los Angeles, CA: In 2010 I created Writers’ Row: Downtown Los Angeles’ Official Written Art Showcase. It began as a showcase of Writers during downtown’s popular monthly Art Walk. From this, interest grew, but a quieter space was needed. In 2011, I partnered with Peter Woods and the Last Bookstore. Their beautiful and historic venue provided a unique home to Writers’ Row giving it the nurturing it needed. While our tenure at the Last Bookstore is coming to a close for 2012, the New Year brings many hopes for the event as it continues as a quarterly salon, still in the heart of downtown LA at a private loft in the Brewery Artist Colony. I am exceptionally proud of Writers’ Row and what has been accomplished. Since its conception, downtown LA’s literary scene has continued to explode and build together as a solid network, with The Last Bookstore and Writers’ Row as a hub for organizing and coming together. This series has always been of no charge to the people, ...

So I've got a new attitude as they say... I'm much happier than I have been in such a long time. Today was an Alison day, and that meant we were heading to The Voice!

Through the lens.

We all shared a vision at the Mazatlan Theater in El Sereno... to stand as a united voice of Los Angeles in the doorway for change. Michael Rothenberg and Terri Carrion began the movement...100 Thousand Poets for Change. It gained worldwide momentum, created a united campaign for change. Michael said it well, " I don't know what your communities need. You do." Change is the urgency in our hearts, panic in our chests, that causes us to see a new way about the things that have been static for so long. 100 Thousand Poets gather arm in arm, finding strength in each others' words, missions, embrace, to fight on and propel change. The 100TPC road trip, from Santa Rosa to Florida, is a means to unify the agents of change; all of us. The messages that were shared at the LA meeting