From Here to There Uneven Steps Marking Time
By Clement WhiteAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2017 Clement White
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5462-1862-3Contents
Acknowledgements, xv,
Introduction, xix,
PART I,
Uneven Steps To Nowhere, 1,
Inscription, 2,
Un Inspired Muse, 3,
The Backbone, 5,
Obamafrica, 7,
The American Refugees, 9,
Darkened The Firmament, 11,
Swinging Door, 12,
Door For Invited Guests, 14,
Inevitability, 16,
Catapult, 18,
Un Flinching Eyes, 20,
Disconnection, 22,
Myafrica, 24,
Unspeakable Silence, 26,
Unbreakale Cycle, 27,
(Un) Coded, 29,
Voicing Truth, 32,
African Haven, 33,
Truth Eternal, 35,
Fragmentation, 36,
New Search, 37,
Introspection, 38,
Authentication, 39,
Dream-Like State, 41,
True Humanity, 42,
Far Away, 43,
The Ultimate Game, 45,
Por Fin, 47,
Finally, 48,
Esencia Cubana, 50,
Cuban Essence, 51,
Ascendencia, 53,
Ancestry, 53,
Brain Games, 55,
Right Frequency, 57,
Nación Unica, 58,
Unique Nation, 58,
Cubafrica, 60,
Cubafrica, 60,
Reflexión, 62,
Reflection, 63,
PART II,
Tic-Tock, 67,
Protect The Land, 69,
Place Of Love, 71,
Trusted Friend, 73,
All Ours, 75,
Return Policy, 77,
Hat Of Tricks, 79,
Power Of Illusions, 81,
Shall The First Be Last?, 82,
Story Retold, 86,
Joie De Vivre, 89,
The Witnesses, 90,
Endless Quest, 92,
Fortification, 94,
Inverted Freedom, 95,
Journey Of The Mind, 97,
Non Instructions, 98,
Permutations, 99,
Trick Mirrors, 100,
Independence, 101,
The Fire Within, 102,
Un Liberated, 103,
The Last Will Without Testament, 104,
Celestial Encounter, 105,
Garden Of Eden, 108,
Reconfiguration, 110,
The Spies, 111,
Winding Road, 113,
Unsealed Record, 115,
Second Chance, 116,
Oilinone, 117,
GENTLE BREEZE OF un HUMAN KIND ness, 119,
The Quiet Street, 120,
The Dwelling Place, 122,
At Last WMD, 126,
Toys Not For Boys, 128,
Freedom Request, 130,
The Head Of Normalcy, 131,
Stealth For Good Health, 132,
The Secret Club, 133,
You Belong To Her, 135,
My Original Inner Truths, 136,
CHAPTER 1
Uneven Steps To Nowhere
Broken stairs protruding outward
Result of inexact architecture
Zigzagging stairs
destiny unsure
Signaling by their mere style
Guarantees of uneven steps
Proof of lapsing seconds and moments
Lost within the frenzy of designated
Yet unassigned inevitabilities,
Splintered stairs with their
Suggested upward motion in a
Fierce drive to stand still,
Motionless stairs
Still stairs
Still symbolically ascending and descending
In a paradoxical game of confusion,
And illusion
Where contradictory motions
Lay claim to movement control, stairs so fractured
They baffle those using them
As guide,
Unsure stairs
Uneven steps
Quickly moving
Rushing
Nowhere
Inscription
Sobbing sounds awoke me,
unstructured silhouette imbedded
in the wall beckons me
I refused to approach that wall
where countless acts of nature
are repressed by time's coarse hands,
amid sobbing sounds with my name sporadically
echoed,
Dexterity is the name of
nature's cantankerous clock
bearing markers of life's rugged pathways
Sobbing sounds continue to
urge me on,
in an earnest frustrated moment,
a moment of anxiety,
footsteps leading to the wall
create a trail for me to follow
the singular pathway to
the wall with its
tell-tale signs,
The wall that sits motionless
directing all to scale it
in search of
unwritten diaries of unspeakable truths
Un Inspired Muse
The Muses ran wild, laughing,
dancing at the process of creativity
that they promised to encourage,
They danced and smiled, these creatures of
Inventions,
Then turned deadly serious,
no longer serene,
No longer pacific,
The Muses ran wild in directions
undetermined and arbitrary
having seen for themselves the
new creators and
inventors giving birth
to other worlds
The Muses witnessed the birth,
the mothers,
the fathers
the creators
inventors
looked intently at their new offspring
And the Muses, symbols of inspiration,
chafed and squirmed at the thought of the
new creations,
They ran wild, the Muses
and yielded in
spirit to the new creations
and creators
and the contortionists of the New World,
alien to the Muses
with their characteristic trait of inspiration and hope
The Backbone
Tireless mothers, defiant,
yet forgotten,
names obliterated in the midst of the
unforgiving ocean tides,
History labels you obedient
passive
submissive,
clear mischaracterizations,
concoction of HISstory
Truth endlessly purged
Pained MOTHERS bitterly aware of
the activities below in the holes
of destruction,
the den of doom,
MOTHERS,
suffering witnesses of
instrumentations of death,
MOTHERS, bearers of life,
Lives snatched before
your eyes,
wretched acts of legality,
A cruel joke enjoyed only by the
pranksters on the boats of hell,
the dungeons, infernos of the
boats of your destiny and
the destiny of yours,
moans
groans
pain,
loss of consciousness in a place of no
conscience
loss of mind
all come together as one
in a unifying scent of degrading perfume
reserved for the woman still desperately
determined to rescue those around her,
headed as she was across the seas to a
glorious life in the Americas
Obamafrica
Obama
President of the Greatest Nation
Stood
At the Door of No Return,
And sighed
Emotionally drained by the thought of souls
Sent to death camps
Under the guise of God's love,
Human cargo neatly packaged to be
Bartered
Bargained
Negotiated, haggled
To the winners, possessors of the
Highest value capital,
The President stood in awe of souls
Left behind who were "spared"
The arduous journey, their newly concocted names
Omitted arbitrarily from the manifests
Of the souls of the death camp,
Metonymed by the Door of No Return,
The President felt the emotion
No other President ever felt
Because Africa runs through and through
His veins,
Inextricably linked to Kenya,
One of Africa's greatest nations and preserver of sacred truths,
Obama spoke truth,
Given wisdom
By the spirits of the departed souls
From the Gorée Island
Who looked back,
And there was a tear in the eye of each
Man
Woman
Child,
A tear for the non-departed,
Departing nonetheless to the halls of death,
Those destined to stay
Shed tears, one for each
Man
Woman
Child
Shackled in the ships with their own
Dungeons,
Safe and
Secured in the jars of pending death,
Many tears were shed as brothers
And sisters,
Mothers, fathers, locked gazes,
And we saw the residue tears in the eyes
Of the only President
Bold enough to imagine the realities
Of a sordid history that allows...
