KWEE: Liberian Literary Magazine AUGUST 1, 2015 ISSUE | Page 37

Liberian Literary Magazine
.

Poetry Section

July 15, 2015 ISSUE # 0715
.

His writings have appeared in
Sphere,
Gulcher,
Mothering
Magazine, The Beat, The Santa Fe
Reporter, The Writers Place,
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival,
Liberian
Studies
Journal,
Crosswinds,
and
Practicing
Planner

TRISTE TROPIQUE
One can hardly comprehend
Africa in a thought
let alone in a mythic river or two
or in a splattering enjunglement
of legend and lore
or in olympic mountains where
simians play
or stretches of beast inflected
savannah
or in old davidic gorges
where bones sit as storytellers
or in all the human beings that
were bought and sold
one can hardly imagine Africa
in a dance
let alone in stilt walking prancers
or dervishes whirling in a raffia
ruse
of roots gone down deep before
or in masks that smile and talk in
tongues
or in drums that beat in linguistic
meter
or in rattles that shake in blood
beat tones
or in all the spirits that drift in
and out
of human trance
one can hardly conjure Africa
in a scheme
let alone in tribal tribulations
or in god forsaken fever ridden
wanderings
of journeys without maps
or in philosophies animistic in
their nature
or in curings medicinal in their
charms
or in desires to be left alone
or in fear of strangers and
strange forebodings
in a full moon dream
of diamonds and gold
one can hardly comprehend
Africa
Kpaiyea, Liberia

Jack Kolkmeyer studied English
Literature/ Creative Writing at
Ohio University in the 1960's
where he developed a special
interest in the Romantic, Imagist
and Beat poets. He was the Editor
of Sphere, the Ohio University
literary magazine, from 1967-68.
His writings have appeared in
numerous publications including
The Writers Place and have been
broadcast on his popular Santa Fe
radio programs, The International
House of Wax and Brave New
World, and presented with his
performance group, The Word
Quartet.
He was a Peace Corps Volunteer
in Liberia, West Africa from 196972 and received an MPA in Public
Policy/Urban
and
Regional
Planning from Indiana University
in 1974.
Jack moved to Santa Fe, New
Mexico
in
1975
to
study
filmmaking at The Anthropology
Film Center and worked there
professionally
in
education,
broadcasting and the performing
arts, journalism and urban and
regional planning. He currently
resides and writes in Delray
Beach, Florida. His
current
writing projects include poetry,
music and city planning topics and
screenplays.
He recently completed Tribal,
his first, full-length book of
poems.

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EVERYBODY IS
COLORED
(A SONG)
everybody is colored
everybody’s got tone
everybody’s got a mother
and a bag of white bones
everybody is colored
everybody’s got hue
no matter if it’s me
no matter if it’s you
everybody’s got a mother
and a bag of white bones
the color of the night
the luster of gold
the color of fire
the swagger of bronze
everybody is colored just right
flax among gamboges
chromate tracks
in the saffron sand
flax among gamboges
everybody is colored
just right
everybody is colored
everybody’s got shades
from the Queen of Hearts
to the Ace of Spades
everybody’s got a mother
and a bag of white bones
everybody’s got a mother
and a bag of white bones
Santa Fe

http://othnieldf.wix.com/mybooks