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Internet Poetry Jam 2002
Americans and Kenyans create a poem together via the Internet for A Happening in Brooklyn, 2002—a harbinger of BrooKenya!
Hello hello
We say hello...
Greetings from Mbita, Kenya!
We are here in Brooklyn, New York!
The distance between us so small and so large
The distance between us deep and calm
We wait by the light of the screen for your response.
Between souls are never distances
We are united by screens
This is a big universe, but a small world.
Together we are ready to take flight
The rain and dry breeze kissing our skin as we reach
Through screens towards each other
Ready ready ready
We pass words like birds migrating across oceans
Through clouds
Rain
Sun
Flatbush Avenue
Diving into Lake Victoria!
And the birds all land on Mbaasa Island
Singing the most heavenly songs
Saying Brooklyn, New York, Mbita, Kenya!
I have a dreamed
I have dreamed of your warmth
Hello, hello, hello
Feel my heart dancing drumming
An act of friendship coming across the screen
Creating a brand new scene.
This drum unites us
Dancing to dreams unvoiced
Let's ride the rainbow and pick a color neutral to our existence
And when the friendship bursts out of the screen into being
Let the real dance begin.
The colors streaming out from neutrality into passion
Our beauties
Our horrors
All that we must speak about together now.
So many seem-to-be walls
Can crumble with the tiniest breath of communication
The tiniest breath of intimacy
Hello hello hello
New conversations
Enveloped by oceans and salt.
Horrors of existence
An Arab child killed
An Israeli child killed
When we sit in Brooklyn and Mbita staring at screens
We see faces of wasted humanity.
Dictators hearts chilled
Unthawed
Flawed
Lacking Allah or God.
We do not rule the world
But not powerless
We take the task of building stages
Running microphones
Setting up speakers
Gathering our courage to speak what must be said
Gathering the voices that must be heard
Gathering ourselves to take our place on the world stage that is our home.
Look at the rainbow again and see the beauty of creation
A true testimony that God/Allah/Yahweh never meant us to be the same color.
We will take your words of love and extend them to all we meet
In our homes and in the street
From Brooklyn to Mbita we say peace out...and peace in!!!
So long friends and lots of love from Mbita!
COMMUNITY THEATRE INTERNATIONALE © 2002-2004