Forever

The child understands that your love is forever
As permanent, that is, as the smile that overcame you
As the tongue you snuck out as you played peekaboo
The child sees clearly, trusting in this truth
And worries not
Forever is your burden to share
No, the child does not worry
The duty of worrying is yours alone

And so child, I worry about what you might learn about forever
That the things that God creates only approach forever
That the pleasures of the senses are best appreciated in proportion to their rarity
That even hugs and kisses have their limits
That your very presence is not guaranteed
That your very smile, mischievous at that, might be fleeting
That your roving mind, lively and inquisitive, might enter autumn
That those unending questions could one day be silenced
That, in this land - prone, you could be brought low for a nothing
That there is a difference between forever and eternity
That here on earth, we can only promise forever
That indeed, we are only promised forever

But my child, even if eternity is foreclosed to us by fickle gods
Know that my love is forever
Know this, my child, forever
Forever and a day

Forever, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note, one of my favorite playlists, quietly devastating soul (spotify version)

• 4ever by Entouch
• Forever by Jonathan Butler
• Forever in my Life by Prince
• Make it Last Forever by Keith Sweat
• Always and Forever by Heatwave
• All I Want is Forever by Regina Belle
• Forever my Lady by Jodeci
• Forever, for always, for love by Lalah Hathaway
• Forever, for always, for love by Luther Vandross
• This love is forever by Howard Hewett

File under: life, love, culture, parenting, life, observation, poetry, toli

Writing log. June 6, 2022

Teddy Mink

Along came Teddy Mink, as usual, with the girls in tow
The Mink Quadrant was a tight unit, a hard act to follow

Sheila, Joyce, Melissa, and Stephanie came up in lockstep
The classic lineup, they danced as if they were doing it to death

But Teddy insisted, he laid down the funk rules of the beat
And Diana and Mary couldn't handle the supreme heat

They’d opted for Motown and greener pastures
Get down on the one, the groove was the master

The drum is a woman, The Duke had said it before
Teddy agreed with this aspect of Ellington's Law

He'd had a falling out with Cucumber Bones
Over the woman, and the song, Aretha is Home

Something about the credits and, as usual, the royalties
But, mostly, it was the oversight in the liner notes that he found petty

And now that he had something to prove on his hands
He was determined not to lose the battle of the bands

As a bandleader, he drilled the musicians harder then the Godfather
His work ethic approached Prince, truly, no one did it better

In the warehouse, the grooves and ideas flowed, the pace was unrelenting
And as for the dancers, he wouldn't let them quit - man, it was exhausting

His love language was a jam session, he lived for music, it was an obsession
But who the hell knew if they would defeat Cucumber Bones and Frankie Ocean?

A brief sketch, as told to me by the then 4 year old

The names of my son's imaginary friends have become more interesting. Who is this Cucumber Bones? And what is he singing with Frankie Ocean?

Teddy Mink, a playlist

A soundtrack for this jam session. (spotify version)

• Doing it to Death by James Brown
  The immortal groove

  We're gonna have a funky good time.
  We gotta take you higher

• Jerk Out by The Time
• Another Part of Me by Michael Jackson
  Before the then 4 year old got into Cucumber Bones and Teddy Mink, he was obsessed with Michael Jackson and the Bad tour. Or perhaps it was the other way around? The performance for Another Part of Me especially got him moving.
• Teddy's Jam by Guy
• Let's take it to the Stage by Funkadelic
  Both of my children are grounded in funk
• Battle of the Species by Antibalas
• Battle Royal by Count Basie and Duke Ellington
• Blues at the Five Spot by Oliver Nelson
• Blues for M.F by Oliver Nelson
• The Cocoa Boys by Prince
  We'll end with this soundtrack for a mooted film about a battle of the bands. Essential funk. Let's take it to the stage.

See also Mingering Mike: The Amazing Career of an Imaginary Soul Superstar

File under: culture, youth, children, imagination, music, whimsy, competition, storytelling, humour, parenting, family, fun, Small Things, poetry, toli

Writing log. Concept March 25, 2017. May 5, 2021

What Paradise Have We Lost? (Age of Innocence Edition)

"Mommy?", her eyes twinkled with a mischievous smile,
"Were you born in the last century?"
Promptly disarmed, we waited to discern her purpose
To learn what aspect she would query about our new normalcy
In the event, she just giggled, she merely thought being old was funny
Thankfully, despite the upheaval, she hasn't lost her child's pose

This wasn't the moment to bring up our fraught modernity
Albeit there is reason enough as this pandemic stands
It was a half formed thought but she could have pursued any number of strands
In prior times, we would have spent the afternoon at the public libraries
Those venues now closed that are the stuff of wist and former memories
So many idle pleasures denied, what paradise have we lost?

...

Gee kindly Doctor Fauci
You know who's getting to be such a bore
The good doctor Walensky
That new CDC Director
Quite unlike her predecessor
Keeps saying that we need to mask up
And that restaurants should restrict capacity
Contra wishful thinking, a touch of reality
She seems to know what's in store

Soundtrack for this note

Innocent by Alexander O'Neal

This note is part of a series: In a covidious time.

File under: coronavirus, pandemic, humour, culture, observation, satire, modernity, youth, change, life, parenting, poetry, covidious, whimsy, toli,

Writing log: March 25, 2021

What Paradise Have We Lost? (Real Talk Edition)

Think about it, would we have Dickens without child labour?
What a world when the youth of Bangladesh, or say, Ghana
Are no longer doing graveyard shifts in the textile factory
Or planting yams and pineapples in the hills of Aburi
Call me a contrarian Scrooge or a prematurely old codger
Our modern day Oliver Twists, Little Annies and Artful Dodgers
Coddled as they are with this modernity,
   no longer have the hard knock life
My own childhood, despite my parents' challenges,
   was blissfully free from strife
Kids these days have school, not farms and, get this,
   activities for enrichment
Moreover they now constantly demand
   fondleslabs of mobile entertainment
What about the old toys: stick, ball, string, dirt and box?
Is it nostalgia to ask, what paradise have we lost?

...

Gee kindly Doctor Fauci
Food banks can hardly be the response
To this covidious misery
Starving children don't cry
Tears waste too many calories
No, the kids are not alright
Parking lot wifi out of sight
True, man cannot live on bread alone
But surely you can find some crumbs to loan

Children, a Playlist

A soundtrack for his note. (spotify version)

• Children by Burning Spear
• Save the Children by Marvin Gaye
• Jesus Children of America by Stevie Wonder
• Children of the Sun by Courtney Pine
• African Children by The Heptones
• Children under the Sun by Israel Vibration
• Teach the Children by Eric B & Rakim
• The Kid from Red Bank by Count Basie
• Star Children by The Mighty Ryeders
• Ballad for the Children by Roy Hargrove
• Marcus Children Suffer by Burning Spear
  Ending as we started with Burning Spear's words of wisdom.

See previously: What Paradise Have We Lost? and The Dishwasher Situation

This rumination on kids these days is part of a series: In a covidious time.

File under: humour, absurd, culture, observation, satire, modernity, youth, change, life, parenting, poetry, covidious, toli

Writing log: March 15, 2021