Be-Side

Poem written for Albuquerque Poet Laureate Program Interview Segment

“Glory is not a conceit. It is not a decoration for valor.

Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself

To a cause, to your principles

To the people on whom you rely

And who rely on you in return.”

-Senator John McCain

Hero (for Poet Laureate of Albuquerque)

I’ve heard of God

Washing feet

But never writing poems

Even the Bible

Was written by man

God?

Was more of a performance poet

More about people

Than paper

More about practice

Than pens

And though God gets angry

And sometimes screams

She’s no slam poet

Not so big on ego

So in love

with nature

(And it’s androgynous qualities)

That Apollo found laurel’s sacred

And fashioned them into crowns

To king the meek

Poets & Heroes

Laureate means glory

We be the dispatches

That announce the victory

We be beyond

The Parliamentary Poet Laureate

Of Canada

With alternating terms in two languages

We before

We be

Four

Officially recognized languages

English, Spanish

AND Spanglish

Plus we speak

Sheet music

Written for the

Conquistadores’ trumpet

Before the conquest

Conjure constructs

As though our words

Carry the DNA

Of La Raza Cosmica

Our tongues

Should tie people together

Like the rope

Of Pope

Cause the revolution’s

Inside of us

But most of all

We have to meet two requirements

To be servants

And to be continually inspired

The people will admire

Us finding it

And in refinding it

            And refinding it

And we’ll feel like a hero

Every time we write it

But it is us

Not the writing

That we should be striving

For them to admire

But alas

Every laureate will strive

To satisfy

The Roman Philosopher

Inside of us

As Pliny the Elder said

True glory

Consists in doing

What deserves to be written

In writing what deserves to be read

Hakim Bellamy February 22, 2012

The Albuquerque Poet Laureate Program is sponsored by Escuela del Sol Montessori,
a 501(c)(3) organization in Albuquerque, NM.

Your donation is tax deductable.
All Donors of $50 or over in 2011 will be listed as a Founding Sponsor/Collaborator.