to move up and down
Be-Side
The Home of Hakm's B-Side e-alter ego...his auxiliary brain or external hard drive...
I am fortunate and humbled to have accomplished Choreographer & Dancer Natalia Duong (Stanford/NYU Tisch School for the Arts) be inspired by my contribution to the As Us Literary Journal in observance of One Billion Rising, All Nations Rising in Indian Country, and the Save Wiyabi Project. Thank you for this piece of art, Natalia, it is beautiful when one person’s art touches another person’s art. - hb
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to be frank
is a return and a departure
a mourning created in night
a soliloquy of absence
complete unto itself.
It is a celebration of embodied memory
Inspired by hakim bellamy’s poem
When Love Gets Home.
for those who never find Home.
It is for the words left unsaid.
An exploration of old truths in a changed body.
It is not intended to be melancholic in nature
[though there may always be something missing]
but instead a celebration of agency
and things that feel good.
It is a movement for the moment
When the blizzard coats the ground
so we paint our presence in the snow.
And it melts.
Natalia Duong
February 14, 2013
Visit the As Us Journal #VDay edition here.
In late July of 2012, Albuquerque Poet Laureate Hakim Bellamy was invited to a conversation. This conversation was a conversation of global proportions. For years, VSA North 4th Arts Executive Director Marjorie Neset (and NewArt New Mexico) has consistently brought culturally critical African contemporary artists to New Mexico. Formally through Global Dance Fest and now through Journeys, Neset has connected Albuquerque and Africa through her collaboration with the African Contemporary Arts Consortium. MAPP International Productions administers the consortium and regularly convenes consortium members in Africa for artistic exchanges and dialogue. This year, Hakim was invited to attend, and invited himself to blog for ABQ Arts & Entertainment. We said “yes.”
Read all four episodes of this four part article from the bottom up!
Share, “Like”, Arrive, Dance, Eat, Pray, Love, Drink, Dance!!!
Visit the Waylaid Facebook Page and join us this Thursday for a FREE good time on a Thursday night…Atmosphere, Ambiance, and ATTITUDE.
Join the movement (yeah, we mean dance and music)!
Check out the Urban Verbs Fam, Reviva and more rock art for hope, recovery & heroin awareness. Breaking Bad star Steven Michael Quezada will MC as we try to raise funds to build a comprehensive adolescent treatment center. $30 a person, $50 a couple…please help us help our teenagers that need help. AND have a good time while you are doing it (Steven is a comedian too, so it won’t be all sad…there will be smiles…and hope!) Click on the flyer above to go to the site and see the details!
Pssst…if you are peeking now…don’t ruin the surprise…this poem is not supposed to debut until tonight at 7:54pm at this event! shhhhh….
Tell My Horse with apologies to Zora Neale Hurston
– hakim bellamy
Said
“We love it SO much”
That we’ll one day
Become it
They are talking about
Zombies
Cause as teens
We are so into zombies
That we
Turn into zombies
We’ve got our ways
Got our own ways
Of living between
6 feet beneath here
And hell
We’ve got out own ways
Of living dead
Of animated corpses
Of taking life out of 3D
And putting it in 2
High
And not
There is Voodoo in our veins
That they call junk
And just like food
It fills our souls
Black magic,
Black tar & Black gold
Fuels those empty tunnels
Inside of us
By keeping our trains
In tracks
Bath salts
Will only return us to the catacombs
That we just conquered
An Ex
Once told me that an OD
Felt a lot like sleep, ya know
It felt like I was close to death
And I could go
And I wouldn’t even know it
But “Life” has some nerve
We feel every minute of it
Drug from us
At the pace of a funeral procession
Kicking, screaming and laughing
Like a memory
Life lives
And leaves slow
Like a zombie
It is not what we inhale
Ingest or inject
It is what we love
It is what loves us
And who doesn’t
That. Is what we become
We’ve become walking survivors
Of society’s decomposition
Built on a landfill of backwards values
Buried next to a flag-wrapped cadaver
Suffering from the soldier’s sickness
There is nothing new about opiate addictions
Greeks have been getting high since 3rd Century B.C.
And Haitians
Invented Zombies
My chemical witchcraft
Is inherited from bokors
Forefather spin doctors
Spend dollars on witchdoctors
In an economy that wagers both,
Our unborn and our undead youth
As collateral
FOR power
FOR profit
And just like the 80s
“Dad, I learned it by watching you.”
When it became apparent
That home
Was heartless
We took to street corners
Roofless
Yet get pointed at
By outdoorsmen saying
“Just like animals
You are what you shoot”
And though we’ve killed enough of ourselves
To know we are not immortal
At least we are bulletproof
We are zombies
We dodge and eat strays like a champ
Born into this society of “bigger” problems
Hunting for villains and victims
And we are what we kill
We are simply a mirror
If your child is spending too much time alone
In their tomb
Look at us
Look at you
If you notice a drastic change in your teens appearance
Ask questions
Even though it should be obvious
That some time between yesterday
AND NOW
That we were bitten and turned into zombies
Parent,
If your child doesn’t wake up for school
If we DON’T WAKE UP
Parent,
Maybe, JUST MAYBE, you could skip class today too
Maybe we need you
To be our sangoma and reverse this spell
Perhaps this “All the time” working,
Isn’t working
We are your reflection
There is a reason
We look like the nuclear holocaust
Going on inside of us
Wage war on us
Like an epidemic
When we deserve treatment
Like a biblical plague
The last time she got high
She said, “Every follicle on her body
Resembled an a sprawling cemetery
Of empty graves…
Dirtless
Holy…
And that smack hit her bloodstream
Like a shotgun of zombies crawling out of every single one.
‘Cross
her
skin”
There is a fluidity with death
That comes
After you’ve survived
And resurrected
Again and again
There is a reason we call this shit heaven
There is a lot in common
With us,
And Lazarus
And Jesus
And zombies
And sometimes we don’t know
Who is being sacrificed
Sometimes we don’t know
What we are turning into
Because we love it SO much.
And I’m not saying Jesus is a zombie
I’m just sayin’…
We are the warning signs
Not the problem
Yes,
There is an apocalypse coming
But please,
PLEASE
Do not
Blame the zombies.
© Hakim Bellamy August 11, 2012
The Roots Revival Musical team was on KASA/FOX2 on Monday promoting this weekend’s three show run of Roots Revival. Find out more about Roots Revival (originally written, scored and cast in Albuquerque for Black History Month) and other Black History Month events at the NM Black History Month Committee website. For the price of admission the show also includes the art exhibit, FOUR + 1. The FOUR + 1 Art Exhibition curated by Ben Hazard and Tom Lark equals five professional visual artists – FOUR African Americans who live, work and show in New Mexico and 1 African artist who lives in Ghana and shows exclusively in Albuquerque. All three nights of the Roots Revival run (February 3rd-5th) will include the FOUR + 1 and be catered for the $20 entry fee.
Friday, February 3, 2012 8pm Show – Hosted by the Links Albuquerque Chapter
JAMBO CAFÉ
www.jambocafe.net
The exotic locale of Lamu Island, off the coast of Kenya, with its Swahili fusion of European, Arabic and Indian influences, is at the heart of owner-chef Ahmed Obo’s spirited cuisine. It was there, in his mother’s aromatic kitchen, that Ahmed mastered his homeland’s unique gastronomic delights, beginning a culinary adventure that would ultimately lead him to Santa Fe, New Mexico where, in August, 2009, he fulfilled his life’s dream by opening Jambo Café.
Saturday, February 4, 2012 8pm Show – Hosted by the Buffalo Soldier Motorcycle Club Albuquerque Chapter
ZEA Rotisserie & Grill
www.zearestaurantabq.com
Zea Rotisserie & Grill is a lively neighborhood restaurant serving locals & visitors alike a variety of tasty, innovative dishes in a fun & casual atmosphere. The menu at the Zea Rotisserie & Grill features rotisserie meats that have been spice-rubbed and roasted in the French rotisserie oven. Zea proudly serves quality foods with a Southern flair.
Sunday, February 5, 2012 2pm Show – Hosted by the Order of the Eastern Stars, Albuquerque Chapter
Mr. Powdrell’s BBQ House
www.mrpowdrellsbbq.com
Good Barbeque doesn’t just happen by accident – it takes time. And our family owned restaurants have been serving the best barbeque in New Mexico for over 4 decades. We pride ourselves not only on our delicious, finger-licking food, but also on our excellent service. Our restaurants provide a down home experience from our family to yours.
AN ASSORTMENT OF HOMEMADE DESSERTS EVERY NIGHT BY RAVEN RUTHERFORD, BLACKBIRD PIES
Blackbird Pies
Raven Rutherford, Owner
Please visit the New Mexico Black Expo 2011 Facebook Page. Like it. Share it. Show up…on Saturday, September 24th from 10a-6p on Civic Plaza, Downtown Albuquerque. This event is free and open to the public! Don’t just support the Black Community in New Mexico, come be a part of it. (Sponsored by the New Mexico Office of African American Affairs).
