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Writing, learn-ing, jewelry, deconstructing t-shirts and reality - it's what I do. I live to be inspired, and to inspire.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Revolutions ~ My First Spoken Word

I'm trying my hand at spoken word. I want to make a video for this, but in the meantime I recorded it and share the link with you here. A poem inspired by the times we live in and by the keeping of good company:

Revolutions by JadeTygress


Revolutions

By Kelene Blake

Revolution cycles around the circles of oppression.

The comfortable sit and watch the discomfort of the discontent

Not realizing they are also among the disenfranchised,

Shackled by the fear of losing their fragile hold

Of the glass houses they have built to protect themselves from

The reality that lives a stone’s throw away

In poverty dwelling in the hovels of realization

That their lives do not factor into the big picture

Drawn by the minority controlling the economy

Automatons of the corporate machinery

Who have traded their humanity for spending power.

Power pulls the strings controlling a marionette society

Who puts shoulders to steel to push a stalled economy

Over the edge of a calamity because they refuse to see

That despair cannot be healed by retail therapy

And prescriptions for drugs are not permissions for life

Or lives lost in cries muffled in smoke

Billowing from burning oil fields

And the desperate gaze of starving babies too weak to cry

Haunts the conditioned mind’s wandering eye

And says this picture is wrong

This mirror is broken

But if they are not us then it’s we against them

And what’s ours is not theirs but what’s theirs could be ours

Because we must maintain this masquerade

At all costs.

But what is the cost of a life?

What is the cost of our lifestyle?

What is the price of gas as we fill up our tanks

With the blood of the thousands

The liquid gold that flows through the veins of an economy

Built on the backs of slaves

Carried on the backs of the struggling working class

Whose weary feet massage the backs of the elite 1 per cent

One life lost, per cent pumped into the tank of oppression

One humanity diminished by each bullet fired

One world shattered by illusions of separation

We come full circle, all… over… again,

Revolution upon revolution without evolution

Of thinking as we fail to realize that

One humanity, one human race

Is destroying itself over wealth that does not exist

Save for in the minds of those we seek to destroy.

The world turns in revolution

As our axis of evil shifts to the next target

To the next ideal that needs to be replaced

With something more convenient

As we fight conformity in the name of the same

As we defend nationality against, women and children

Fathers and sons, brothers and sisters playing with guns

Running around playing capture the flag

To use them as decorative shrouds

On the coffins in which we bury our guilt

Six feet under the propaganda of hate

Targeting that which does not comply with the current agenda

The land the coltan the diamonds the oil

The ideals we sell for access to the soil

So our one earth revolves and the soil soaks with blood

While the revolution continues to cycle

Through history’s familiar rhythms of injustice.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Losing Focus


Two “careers” I’ve managed to stick with for more than a year are “writer” and “student” (which often follow the words “poor” and “starving” I’ve observed). The thing that trips up most people who know my writing is I’m not studying a writing subject. My studies are related to sports science and nutritional science, which, I admit is a bit random for a non-athlete writer. But I love learning how the body works and how to stay healthy naturally. I sometimes think of school as my hobby because I’m just here to learn more about things I find interesting. That’s something I really believe in: pursuing interests, not just careers.

As we grow up, if we’re lucky we’re told we can do anything. In the same breath we’re told we can’t do everything. At some point we’re expected to focus on one career and stick with it. All other interests are then downgraded to “hobbies” that eventually get thrown by the wayside.

My question is why? Why must we choose? Why must we pigeonhole ourselves? Who says we have to only do one thing at a time? Why can’t the doctor also be an MC, the computer scientist also be a poet? Why can’t the MBA student also be a human rights activist or the math teacher also be a film maker? These “hobbies” are important because they challenge you to think differently, act differently, see a different aspect of yourself. The danger of being too “focused” is you can become an automaton. You may start to define yourself by that one thing you do. Your life and thoughts become routine and what you do becomes who you are. Then you find yourself disillusioned with life and wondering who stole your mojo.

By pursuing several interests you keep yourself sharp and refreshed. You switch thinking and exercise different muscles, so to speak. Yes pursuing other interests takes time, but so does watching t.v. and playing videogames, which many people spend a lot of their life doing. We think we need these sort of mind-numbing activities to help us unwind and relax, but changing pace, actively pursuing something you enjoy is even more renewing than vegetating in front of a screen.

Our minds are marvels of nature, capable of learning so much and our creative potential is infinite. We let all that potential fall by the wayside when we limit ourselves. So let’s stop pigeonholing ourselves and others. Let your creativity flow. Play with those dormant interests and hobbies again. How about we throw some more irons in the fire and watch the sparks fly.

(Photo by Kelene Blake. Another interest: "picture taking")

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Imperfection and Struggle


Sometimes I forget that I don’t know a damn thing. I forget that I need to be grateful for the bad things that have happened in life just as much as the good things. I forget that the good times add the sweetness but the tough times make the strength. I forget that without heartache I wouldn’t have learned how to love myself, without hunger I wouldn’t know how to make best use of what I have, without struggle there would be no growth.

If we’re not growing we’re dying. If we’re not changing we’re not living. We are more than our circumstances and environment. When we know we can hold on to ourselves when the world is going to hell in a hand basket, the ride is not as scary. When we know it is in us to face any challenge life throws at us and not be defeated then we are ready to really live.

The biggest challenge we have to face in life is ourselves. We have to face our imperfections, our mistakes, our vulnerabilities, our vices. This world is not covered in bubble wrap, and every one of us may be dented, may be damaged, may be bruised and scarred, but we are not defective and we are not broken. It may feel that way sometimes, like life has broken us, like we have been shattered, but it is what we do with the broken pieces that matter.

We are strong, but there is no way to know our strength until it is tested. When we do find ourselves in the grinder we need to just keep pushing, keep going, keep living. We may want to lay down and die, but we don’t, we can’t. Life will go on, and we will go on with it, and if we hunker down through the tough times, if we keep hold of ourselves, if we love ourselves (and others who care about us) enough to not self-destruct, we will find that we’ve made it through.

And when we can come up for air and begin healing, we pick up the shattered pieces of our hearts. The strength that we’ve gained, grown, earned during our hardships we use as the glue to bind the broken pieces together. In the end we will be a mosaic, a beautiful picture of these defining moments. The faceted surface of our hearts will shine like the piece of coal that has gone through the intense pressure necessary to become a diamond. The refining fire that burned us will be transferred to the center of our being, fueling our determination to face the world anew, because we are that much stronger.

True beauty is built on imperfection. True strength is built on struggle. True growth is built on being able to overcome.

(Photo by Kelene Blake: portion of a mosaic made of hundreds of tiny pieces of broken glass in the British Museum)