The Creator wants us to Drum. (God) wants us to corrupt the world with drums, dance, and chants. We've already corrupted the world with power and greed, which has gotten us nowhere. Now's the time to corrupt the world with drum, dance, and chants.----Babatunde Olatungi, Nigerian master drummer
Showing posts with label poem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poem. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

To the Spirit of the Drum: a poem by Beth Dyer

Infuse me with the secrets of old
Of pulse and rhythm, crisp and bold.
Patterns flowing out and in
Tip to skin, then back again.

Lightning hands, a-blazing spirit
Fill me up, don’t let me fear it.
That I may live in your embrace
On the beat, and full of grace.
Ashe.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Hans Bohm: The Drummer of Niklashausen (1476 C.E)- a poem by Leo Hartshorn


















Hans Bohm
played on his drum
to entertain the peasants
it was more pleasant
than shepherding sheep
which caused him to sleep
under the stars
until arousin'
from the sun coming up
over Niklashausen

it was a Saturday night in Lent
his energies spent
on the herd
then suddenly he heard
a voice in the night
from a light in the sky
wondering why
the Mother of God
would come to a drummer

She spoke of vanities
of the people under the steeple
and in the street
the heat in his heart
led Bohm to start a fire
a bonfire of the vanities
for all the insanities
of inequity and injustice
and the unpleasantness
of peasantness
he would soon preach against

upon the flame he tossed
his drum, a shame
and dumb, if you ask me
because, you see,
he could have beaten that skin
against the sin and inequality
and frivolity of pimping priests
and the naughtiness of nobles
before his drum fell silent
and peasants revolted
and heaven was jolted
by his execution
which is never a solution
for drummers who seek justice

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Drums Beat Deep: a poem by Leo Hartshorn

















Lovers O lovers, lovers it is time to set out from the world. I hear a drum in my soul's ear coming from the depths of the stars.

The drum of the realization of the promise is beating, we are sweeping the road to the sky. Your joy is here today, what remains for tomorrow?---Sufi mystic Jalaluddin Rumi


Drums beat deep
in the dance of the cosmos
the rhythm of the universe
in the gyration of the galaxies
in the pulse of the planets
in the staccato of the stars

Drums beat deep
in the dance of the soul
the salsa of the spirit
in the the hammering of hope
in the playfulness of promise
in the flourishing of faith

Drums beat deep
in the spinning of the planet
the samba of the seasons
in the splash of sunrise
in the shout of spring
in the whisper of winter

Drums beat deep
in the ears of the soul
dancing spirits skyward

Friday, March 6, 2009

What I Will: a poem by Suheir Hammad
















I will not
dance to your war
drum. I will
not lend my soul nor
my bones to your war
drum. I will
not dance to your
beating. I know that beat.
It is lifeless. I know
intimately that skin
you are hitting. It
was alive once
hunted stolen
stretched. I will
not dance to your drummed
up war. I will not pop
spin beak for you. I
will not hate for you or
even hate you. I will
not kill for you. Especially
I will not die
for you. I will not mourn
the dead with murder nor
suicide. I will not side
with you nor dance to bombs
because everyone else is
dancing. Everyone can be
wrong. Life is a right not
collateral or casual. I
will not forget where
I come from. I
will craft my own drum. Gather my beloved
near and our chanting
will be dancing. Our
humming will be drumming. I
will not be played. I
will not lend my name
nor my rhythm to your
beat. I will dance
and resist and dance and
persist and dance. This heartbeat is louder than
death. Your war drum ain't
louder than this breath.

--- Suheir Hammad, a Palestinian-American poet and political activist

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

This is the Way: a poem by Leo Hartshorn






















Drumsound rises on the air,
its throb my heart
a voice inside the beat says,
I know you're tired,
but come, this is the way
---Sufi mystic Jalaluddin Rumi


Ears tingle with tabla beat
of Bikram Gosh
complex polyrhythms throb
with my drum heart
as I play mridangam
with Zakir Hussain
a voice calls out
from the drum
this is the way

this is the way
to wholeness and holiness
this is the way
to healing and health
this is the way
to mindfulness and meditation
this is the way
to my muse and mentor
this is the golden thread
that weaves together
the tapestry of my life
this is my way
this is my truth
this is my life

Siberia of the Soul: a poem by Leo Hartshorn

















Beat the drums and the let the poets speak---Sufi mystic Jalaladin Rumi

My day begins
with hand to drum
and poet's word on page
I need the pulse
of sound and word
of rhythm and rhyme
to break the iceberg
of my frozen consciousness

a winter snow
still muffles my heartbeat
my thoughts and mind
move slowly
like tractors though
the fallen snow
O drum, warm my heart
O poet, thaw my brain
I cry out from
a Siberia of the soul