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Here's a poem I composed for a local poetry reading at Half Off Books in Whittier. The night is called Shout and it is hosted by poet Eric Morago.

It's on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stkTfj-I3ow

- Bones

Here's another post about freedom. This is the information I disseminated in 2010 at the TechEd conference in Ontario.

School/College Self-Publishing:
How Faculty Can Fight Neo-Colonialism

I could have said "Faust's" in the title, but I think Faustus's is more funnier.

Faust's story is not funny, though. It can be made into a comedy only by throwing in some escape from the devil and some ending in love. That would probably cheapen it.

For those who don't know, Faust(us) makes a deal with the devil for success, meaning his soul will belong to Lucifer when he dies. But while living, he will be richly rewarded and well taken care of. It's a kind of moral tale.

Hey Party People,
Since I've been using these poems from Mikka Mi Amor as summarizing and paraphrasing exercises in one of my classes, I find myself visiting the site more and more.
And in the process, I'm usually looking for a specific poem, the one I assigned that week.
I find myself having to bring up mikkamiamor.com regularly. But I rarely use Internet bookmarks. And if I did, it would only be to mikkamiamor.com, and so still have to click to find the individual poem I want.

you've never fuckin' wrestled
until you've wrestled with me
poetry
it's what I am and all that I be
but you have to have eyes to see
poetry
the most complex psychology
both fraternity and sorority
poetry
it's all that I am and what I be
and I bring it to I and I, great we
poetry
so try it, try me, try to be free
to make a kinder kind of humanity
poetry
I lost control of my soul recently
but I go not afraid because I know
poetry

- Bones

Now available... Truth & Pain starring the Gangsters & Retards in... The Mystique-cal Person-a of MC Cripple Crip

http://gangstersandretards.com

It's good to write. Writing is a kind of therapy. It is a sign and a pathway to good mental health, even if sometimes it doesn't feel at all like that.

Spinning words with others is also a popular activity. No matter how good a person is with words, when it comes to the with-others part, there are some considerations.

Readers are few. Audiences are still there, but readers are few. Some published and reviewed writers I know only have a few readers, their writing groups. The overabundance of television and video have made mostly the only paid writers into craft writers.

"Free your mind" means...

I actually always wondered. There's Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" in which he sings, "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery / None but ourselves can free our minds." The movie The Matrix also gets into this idea of minds that are slaves.

I came across some of these ideas reading writers like Franz Fanon and other post-colonial theorists.

I have another book of poetry in me about Japan, where I spent some time living and working while participating in the world's biggest international exchange program, The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (http://www.jetprogramme.org/).

I was stationed in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture.

The book of poetry requires me to revisit Japan for an extended period of time. When I was there, I already had my academic training and this collection of poems. I focused in Japanese poetics and I began studying the language.

I even inquired about it and so as soon as I can afford to place an advertisement for Mikka Mi Amor on Dave Sperling's Web site: Dave's ESL Cafe (www.daveseslcafe.com), I will.