Arte Soy

This is the symbol for “schwa.”  The dictionary (or was it Wikipedia?) had a lengthy definition of the word.  I came across it while researching phonological awareness for a college course I was taking to renew my teacher certification.  I teach pre-K and phonologial awareness is a big part of the curriculum.  Schwa in this case refers to the sound frequently added, especially by four and five-year-olds, onto the basic letter sound, or phoneme.  For instance, letter “b” without the schwa would be written /b/.  When it’s said “buhhh,” then the schwa is the “uhhh” that comes after the basic letter sound.  Capiche?

1 Comment » Posted by admin / Joshua Mapp Weiss and Uncategorized

I’ve heard the best of generations repeat themselves

Mining familiar ground for something new

I’ve done it too

And so have you

It’s what we do

Find a riff

And give it a chew

We break ground

When we make sound

Bold and true

I choose the path of loves and sees

In my work, rooted like trees

Consciously moving with strength and ease

My body, my heart, my soul, oh please

No Comments » Posted by admin / Joshua Mapp Weiss and Poetry and Uncategorized

Late again, still dark
So, so early in the morning late
Zooming, seventy-five, eighty, the empty freeways
Ninety Five

Folding time with the edges of fleeting dreams

A few cars here and there, moving ghostly
Slippery fast in the slickness of incipient dawn dew

We’re all racing, until
Up ahead a bright red flash
An urgent calling moment
Two cars want over
In a nasty scary split second of merging blind side panic

A second later
as I pass that same spot
something…a rock?
kicks loud up and around the wheel well

At the same ninety-plus
hearing the sound
I too slow a moment
release the slight pressure of my foot,
tapping the break to my hot face throb
as these palpable chunks of fear rumble through me.

(Erik Thompson-Green contributed this poem.)

No Comments » Posted by admin / Erik Thompson-Green and Poetry and Uncategorized

Who are they, these men who murder flowers?
I often see their tracks upon the crushed white flowers of spring’s sweet promise.
The fertile earth compacted into ruts and grooves – nothing can grow there.

Who are they, these men who murder flowers?
I see them speeding down the road, hell bent.
Neither seeing, nor smelling the paradise surrounding them.

Who are they, these men?
They hurry to find a thrill for their souls, thinking it’s at the end of a speedometer,
Never knowing it exists already, contained within their beating hearts.

Who are they, these men who murder flowers?
And when can we enjoy the protection they can give us?
It’s the big disconnect that sends them rushing and crushing.
Perhaps we need to send out a search and rescue for their souls.

(Sara Melnicoff contributed this poem.)

No Comments » Posted by admin / Poetry and Sara Melnicoff and Uncategorized

That chap?
I heard he’s fulla crap
Give him a slap
Silly hill billy
Like his Uncle Willy

Naw, jus playin
He’s my brotha from anotha
Naw’m sayin?
We go back, jack

lox+o-sxl+o+mxa+o-ixu+o-lxg+o-exh+o-xve

Lost in stare
I’m unaware as to where
Somewhere between here and there
What remains is his name in the middle
And my instincts and instruments
To solve the riddle
Where’s my fiddle?!
I’ll say, I’m on my way
Some day, perhaps today
We’ll say “hey!”
Break bread
And play
Let us pray
Add some color
To this gray

No Comments » Posted by admin / Joshua Mapp Weiss and Poetry and Uncategorized

Dear Josh Weiss,
This is dedicated to you
And all our namesakes
Throughout time and space.
Greetings and good graces
We are one with many faces
Emblazoned as it were
With a name, swift and pure
Like snow
But what lies below?
The will to grow
Like the lotus
Out of the muck
We truck
Called to the light
From the dark night
We shall not fright
Our future bright
Let us take flight
Be thou knight
No need for bark and bite
When we have heArt and write

No Comments » Posted by admin / Joshua Mapp Weiss and Poetry and Uncategorized

3 Comments » Posted by admin / Analyze and Poetry