Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Where the Heart Is




Poem by Cantice
The following is a poem written by Cantice over 10 years ago. We thought it might be a suitable entry for a day that is often symbolic of love and or passion for people around the globe. This poem was written for a woman who had not yet exercised her ability to end the series of meaningless romantic (sexual) encounters that came her way.




How Do I Tell You?

The greatest thing you did
Was hug me goodnight.
You didn’t kiss me with
Your lips or your tongue.
You didn’t rub my body
To arouse me and
You didn’t try to
Squeeze until you
Entered through my
Pants.
You didn’t try
To walk me up
The stairs to
My empty bedroom.
You didn’t
Whisper sex
Games in my
Ear. You watched
My begging
Eyes, my
Wanting lips,
You felt my
Desperate respiration and
You stepped back
From my pulsing
Heartbeat and
Toasty thighs, my
Longing neck,
And my pouting
Breasts.
I had put it on the
Table like hot Thanksgiving
Dinner
And despite your
Hunger
You didn’t eat a lick.

We welcome your reactions or responses.
Happy Valentines Day!

This poem and other monologues about relationships will be featured in a production called The Art of Losing which will be performed Friday Feb. 15 at 7pm at Spelman College by a drama team compiled by Verge, the organization Cantice directs. This set of monologues has also been presented by Verge under the title The Hymen Maneuver.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

For the Love of God and Money


Commentary by Cantice

My mom called me the other day and asked me who I was voting for. I told her I had already voted for Huckabee. She said, you know who I’m voting for. I said rightly, Obama. We tried to talk about other things, my pregnancy, other family related issues, but we ended up at politics again. My mom insisted that Republicans misrepresent entitlements, claiming that Aid to Dependent Children saps the taxes, when it is actually big business subsidies that increase government spending (and subsequently increase taxes. From what I know, Aid to Dependent Children's Budget is decreasing and being replaced by increased funding for Medicaid through taxes. To her point about big business, I asked, rhetorically, What happens when businesses do well? They create more jobs. More jobs for who? For you and me. She didn't really let up, and I didn't expect her to, and we tried to move on.

I just made the following comment to a girlfriend. Democrats can not talk out of both sides of their faces. How can you end poverty without creating favorable conditions for business owners and high income individuals(who create jobs)? You can’t. What are favorable conditions? Lower taxes and/or a completely revamped tax code.

I heard Neal Boortz ask why Romney didn’t do better yesterday on Super Tuesday. A woman responded that her kids had asked their peers who they’d vote for. The peers said they didn’t know, but not Romney because he’s a Mormon. I’m afraid that his Mormon belief probably has made him a less viable candidate for some voters. I don’t know if I contributed to that with my own blog comment about Romney and the LDS (Latter Day Saints) organization. I was beginning to feel like I shouldn’t have brought it up a week ago. Then I spent last night reading about Mormonism again at lds.org. And I reaffirmed myself. There is just something arrogant about a pseudo-Christian group who believes that their denomination is the only correct one about Jesus and the Gospel. They believe that the Gospel was restored through Joseph Smith and recorded in The Book of Mormon. You mean to tell me that all of Christianity was wrong from the third century AD until then? And now the LDS church is the only one to whom priestly authority has been restored? I just can’t go for that. And anyone who does, well, I think is a little arrogant, or at least grosely misinformed. So, I, like the kids' friends, just feel a little uneasy about Romney. He is undoubtedly an economic powerhouse. He knows how to turn a failing budget, economy, and/or business into a thriving one, there is no doubt about it. But I think his appeal ends there. So, while I realize that this country is in need of an economic mind such as Romney's, I still want more out of a president than a thriving national economic portfolio.