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David R Jun 2022
boom boom boom the djembe goes
a dance, in rhythmic throws,
on bougarabou and ngoma drum,
the frenzied beating thumb

ooooh ooooh ahh the spirit grows
body at soul's behest
twists 'n turns, the birthing throes
soul 'n spirit possessed

bom bom bom, the djembe goes
in prance the rhythm flows
dum patter pat, together we hum,
ashiko and djun-djun drum

bom bom bom, the djembe goes
in trance, cataclysmic pose,
with doumbek and the talking drum
sing spirits in fingers' strum.

bom bom bom goes the djembes
ashiko and ngoma drums
dancing rhythmic on the embers
body to spirit succumbs.
BLT's Merriam-Webster Word of The Day Challenge
#behest
while humanity lay sleeping
a subtle sound came creeping
a tiny muffled murmur
of the drums  

it crept into our valley
a quiet distant sally
the reverberating tapping
of the drums

oh the drums drums drums
foretell the things to come
the tapping beat calls
hearts and minds to stir

awakened from dear sleep
we discern the growing creep
the mounting host of warriors
tramping on
      
the fifers next came peeling
the swooning mass was kneeling
the flash of brass and horns
enthralled us all

the salute of rifles thundered
leaving all of us to wonder
what this show of force
would mean for you and me

oh the drums drums drums
the flash and crack of guns
the might and mien of country
on display

yes we howl a raucous cheer
as we shout we raise a beer
the march of shock and awe
is on its way

the thundering timpani                                  
soul of a nation's symphony
united in common purpose
all in step

pressing on to foreign fields
with armies, tanks and shields
we offer sons and daughters
to the lords of war

sleek missiles flew and flashed
buildings crumble and crash
the righteous right of the stronger
proved again

but blood will wash the ground
wails of mourning will sound
dead soldiers and civilians
on all sides

percussive cannon blasts
bursts eardrums kills you fast
the awful smashing and the
bashing of the bombs

the popping flap of flags
assure a profiteers swag
much riches to be made
through the spoils of war

filthy lucre that is earned
the value of life is spurned
hoards of begotten treasure
condemns its lord

so spend it if you must
for your gold will turn to rust
and dust to dust your
soul shall return

oh the drums drums drums
calls our sisters and our sons
to step and march along
a deathly roll

constant war begets a madness
unhealed wounds endless sadness
friends and lovers sadly perish
families destroyed

oh the drums drums drums
once so stirring like a sun
the rattling snare of drumsticks
a hissing asp

oh the drums drums drums
we whistle through our gums
past the midnight graveyards
hallowed for our youth

so listen for the drums
the droning of the guns
stand firm for peace
and walk its blessed way

or you can yell yell yell
marching onward straight to hell
where death will greet you
with the devils kiss

he’ll sing you bitter taps
the music that entraps
and commends the young
to the wretched earth

or play Djembe for peace
witness all conflict cease
bongo bops for peace
may it always increase

yes the drums drums drums
the resounding joyful strums
a mirthful dance of peace
may it always increase

so play Djembe for peace
our song will never cease
our dance will be
a whirling prayer of grace

Music Selection:
Fela Kuti & Afrika 70, Zombie

jbm
3/9/12
Oakland
Sleepy Sigh Feb 2011
Ibiyinka, Ibiyinka Alao
Comes from Nigeria with a name like drums
Comes from Africa with the sun behind his back.
Ibiyinka, Ibiyinka Alao,
Mr. Ibiyinka with a smile in his hands,
Mr. Ibiyinka with a girl's shoulders in his hands
Life, he says, she is alive
She dances.

Ibiyinka, Ibiyinka Alao
Paints like the sun gilds hills and fields
Paints like the moon silvers water and thatched roofs.
Ibiyinka, Ibiyinka Alao
Freezes music into colors that dance
Freezes drums in a quilt of art from every place.
Frozen, he says, like water
Like a heartbeat.

Djembe, Conga, Bongo
Coming from Africa with the skins of goats
Coming from the fields and the homes and the dirt roads
Medium, large, and small
Speaking every language.
Ibiyinka, Ibiyinka Alao -
Djembe, Conga, Bongo.
oh, please look him up if you don't know who he is. He's marvelous.
Nina Rose May 2010
"Sorgente' " (Spring Waters)


I never knew tears could be so rough
Scratching my chest as if trying
To climb in, next to my heart.
Perhaps they would be more comfortable together,
able to fathom what my mind won’t.
I see the pain clawing on his face-
Engraved
like the tombstone we picked out for him
a couple of days ago.
All it was missing was a date…

Date the waters, watch how time will freeze them over.
Frozen in time, their memory awaits our remembrance.
It was only yesterday that we took a traditional dive
In the glistening, silkened
Waters-kissed the base
of that cold, slippery precipice. But we were gazelles that
early spring. The Impalelies and Witbietou flowers
Met rowdy cheeks and our seasoned grace.
We were Eagles, soaring to gather our prey.
Plop! To the crust of the water’s earth,
we dived uncharacteristically.
Characteristically- I, resurfaced.

You touched the Sun and the Moon that morning.
You called on God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
You said a prayer to Buddha and Indian goddess Indrani.
You kissed the fragrant air of the Jacaranda tree,
and consumed the fate of the Great Julius Caesar.
Makeda and Zulu King Catewayo,
cried in Imhotep’s arms that morning,
Tears beat upon the Djembe drum
Performing Indonesian Gamelan
We chanted the words- spero

Here I sit,
there, next to you
wondering when our eyes will meet
again.
Wondering how long you will play this game
of “who can hold their breath the longest.”
You are winning…I am crying.
My face is stained with your name,
your absent spirit, envelopes this hospital room
but your soul-
your soul will run, jump into the air,
And up there,
This time-
I will catch you.
david badgerow Jun 2015
i'm searching for the comfort
of an old flame to keep me warm
tonight knocking on familiar doorways
to foyers where my boots have already rested dripping
with snow or shedding beach sand and all i want is her
the one i remember in bouts of photographs
bright hair hidden in a knit olive colored snood
with big blue eyes set on full power
as we set out on the open road together car
packed full of soft blankets groceries illicit drugs
cigarettes and the fumes of santiago ***

she convinced me to quit smoking saying
she hated kissing the marlboro man and
i'll take you to the coast i said meaning
every single one because i had harbored
my love for her in a million ways of secrecy
and only survived on a currency of torture
pain inflicted
pain withheld
pain drugged away

she was absolutely perky for the first thousand miles
hair haloed and face lost in shadow as we drove
into the sun out of a cocoa beach condo
leaving behind bikini squeals and smiles
she was with me like an ethereal dream
eating scones on the boardwalk beach
in bitter cold new jersey and that night she was
a long legged american girl astride me
sweaty hollering in a secluded gazebo

she was a blur of parrot colors to me
spending most of july dancing in a daffodil field
in oklahoma while i changed tires on the
hyundai her daddy bought one after another i
just gave her the pink slip to my heart
under a pavilion of light pink fractal fabric
pitched on high beams ascending into
pale gold otherworldly billows

she's sweetly ****** and surrounded by patchouli haze
hanging off my back like a monkey wearing a
wide high fashion soft brim hat she found before
i surprised her with a bunch of freshly picked
wild violets from the roadside she
cripples me and we go tumbling
wrinkled and aimless both exhaling plumes
into the paisley purple sky already full of clouds
blowing straight north hair tangled together
full of windswept snarls barelegged now
and writhing creating craved friction
just two souls of pure energy on the loose

but the best memories i have of that trip
are the nights we spent in joshua tree
not-sleeping beneath a meteor shower every
night for a week when her *****
was still running the show and i
was just a poison rash itching her
calf muscle before i became the master of myself
we were a flurry mess of long naked limbs
tuned to the exact same frequency

she was a fresh meadow flower naked
under taupe corduroy overalls cut ragged
into shorts walking with her arm twisted through
mine and i thought i was the happiest man alive
when we crashed in colorado for two weeks
and every morning i woke to her incandescent
hair sprawled lazy on the karastan rug under
the turquoise glare of the television or to
the smell of a gong sized breakfast casserole
consisting solely of her dreams the previous night
and i would kiss her good morning with her hair
up in curlers and my face between her knees

but she started to grow wings in montana
little nubs etched out on either side of her spine
i noticed them one night while she was sleeping
face down chest stretched across my chest
i watched them grow the further south we got
and by the time we reached the heartland
under those glistening river cypresses
or the banks of that great muddy river
canopied by huge florida palms
she was itching and molting them all over the car
and she finally flew away from me
said she was born for the city but i hope
she's waking up now not under skyscrapers but
a metropolis of oak strands governed by the tyrannical sun

and since that day i've painted her lips on
every girl i've ever seen in the morning every
face that emerges from indigo ambience is hers simply
i hear her nothing-to-lose laugh in every fog or faint haze
after every lunar prowl through a mushroom ranch by the coast
my eyes get shined up with dew every time
i find seagulls nesting in a cypress grove holding
some kind of seance for the flash of sunlight off the nape of her neck
in front of the watery green sunrise of the atlantic
and in my teeth-grinding night terrors i have
a hard-on and i can plainly see her dancing
luxuriously on a deck stretched out over a shaded creek
tight and smooth like the skin of a djembe drum

and sometimes when i feel very weird
with something like sick stomach hunger
churning in my gut i shave my ******* clean
and trim my ***** hair into a crude cave-painting
version of a mountain lion just for her
i wade out into the sea passed the orange trees
and wait for the moon or her lips
to rise and lick me full on my face but
she doesn't return my calls suddenly
having phone
trouble i
guess
kneedleknees Sep 2015
what we need is more banjo,
more djembe, more thunder finger
bass guitar --
what we need is less boredom --
less fear of failure,
less fear of *******,
less Jane Austen.
what we need is the electric charge
of neurons fire dancing like
the night sky of the fourth of
july,
what we need is to learn the lesson
of rivers and runners -- keep up
the momentum
what we need is more honey,
watermelon,
sweet potatoes,
peanut butter,
and coconut oil.
more weirdos, more hippies,
more punks, more rappers,
more poets, if you have something
to say we pretty much need you.
we need more gin and less gender roles
more sin and less slapstick
more trees and trampolines and ties
between you and I.
we don't even need to be human
we just need to be sustainable.
Christian Mar 2011
Its a city I've never seen
as I ride waves painted on steel tracks
looking through worn out glass
to see the setting sun cast behind refineries,

I got off on McArthur, not really sure
but the voice said southbound
and I think I heard
San Francisco too,
These are good times to be aware and maybe
not wear what plays music in my ears
but I heard
cause I listened
and I found myself there,

"Man I know You!"
homeless men have diamond voices
when they sing me as I walk,
homeless times since 1982,
I'm sure you've all bought
one paper at one time for one dollar for someone before,

That night was my first night,
but I never read mine just got high on city lights
as I got lost on stockton and found myself on top of Sacramento,
and I'll tell ya I was looking for Jones street which is next to ofarrely.

12 pack PBR is a better deal then a six,
Apples make for better pipes
then glass on glass with sticks to light our way home,
home, where was I but old friends making new friends
reading old words hearing new,

"Im the Honeycomb baby
Yea baby
the Honeybomb",

Walking finding not so lonely bus's
Come out and Play yayyyyyy,
people know of warriors too
when you shout for no one in particular to hear
the public transport people know we all got somewhere far to go,

Welcome to the city streets
where leaking gutters
is one man peeing on the streets
I swear his stream was strong,

Welcome to the city view,
the tallest building,
that hill,
a university,
You can see the stars tonight
not always,
your lucky,
be ready for the cloudy nights,

Welcome to the city voice
where everyone sings their little tune
and everyone sings along,
you pick up one guitar,
two more might follow
with a bass and djembe too

Welcome to the city boy.
Its your new home for now,
and now is all that really matters.

And don't forget a bicycle
cause taxicabs ain't fun
when your broke
living life rich on something more then paper bills,

cause

You might work from 10 to 12
but your here and your living
and I hear everyone still goes out to play
cause you work for fun
and your fun is what you make it,

I might never leave
yet I might find myself coming back
its San Francisco
and I'm living near
to find out what the city means
to those who have lived suburban dreams
can only venture out to guess
what a city holds
for those little boys
finding out what it means to make a man.

So I'm welcomed to the city
and its only just begun,
cause now its my turn for another job
for more fun
made of all fun
in times to high to care,
cause it don't matter what you wear
or how you act,
as long as your discovering you
for what might be true,
Cant tell you that I know
But I'll tell you,

Welcome to the city,
cause you might already live here,
but listen to this Kansas Colorado Oregon kid speak,
everyday holds something new
no matter how long you've lived,
or plan to.
Thinking about reading this one out loud this thursday. So critique and input welcome.
BG Hermitt Mar 2013
Bus
Braving lapses in neon dreams
You don’t like the look of air max 90’s
Besotted language intercepted not digested
The babble of youths who don’t talk correctly
Basking loosely in nonchalant demise
The **** on the floor, what a mess
Buttoned lips insinuating nothing decisive
You are hard eyed from men outside the pub, you look away at
Bluebottles lying inside neatly dead
Get me off this ******* bus.
Black lines, interrupting nothing deep
Why always black and never red
Broad landscapes intrude narrowness, delicately
But you close your eyes and hum the cure
Breaking laughter, ignorant nuisances drain
I wish they all were quiet and tame
Berating loud intuitive noises, djembe
Banging hands against the glass
Banging, lightning, ignored, deleted
There’s a fight going on, you will stay seated
Buried liquidized imagery, naturally dancing
The reflection of drama in a window behind you
Because listening is not done
You think about dinner and where you will buy it
Because light is no fun
You again close your eyes and think about home
Busy lovers inseparable never daring
You enjoy your thoughts
Being left in near darkness
You enjoy your thoughts
Watching interesting things happen
Eventually yelping even shouting trill howls
After the watch, offset retina kicks
Nolia Joy Sep 2014
Home was
the sound of the djembe
As the beat of the cowbells
Joins the grooving melody
Filling the world
Black girl braids
Flying
And jiving
Feet bouncing and flouncing
Create a music of their own

Home was
the timbre of the chop saw
As the purr of the transformers
Joined by the flare of the drill
Screamo blares
Loving
And teasing
Voices filling up the room
The family dinner song

Home was
The Bumble bee tuna
As sung by tone deaf voices
And endless refrains
Fill in the void
That was never open
A harmony
And chorus
Of Wandering pitches

Home was
The aroma of a chai latte
As fresh air hit our faces
Joining the snickerdoodle scent
a lunchtime escapade
music blaring
heat blasting
laughs trilling


(Stanza Break)
Home was
The feeling of love
As you walk into your family
Join those you
love
those you
cherish
and feel
safe
Falling lightly, sounding like the soft beat of a Djembe, as it hits the ground. It gives life. A flower, slowly opening itself up, giving itself away to the cool droplets. The pitter patter of foot steps as people hurry to take shelter. The leaves reaching out to get as much as their thirsty hearts desire. The puddles forming for future puddle jumping. The road glistens with moisture and the rain, it slowly stops. People venture out in a rush. They do not observe the beads rolling off the leaves or the flower shining in the new born sun. No one stops to admire the life that was just acquired by the thirsty that surrounds them. They cannot see the roots ******* in as much as they can. They do not understand the gift of rain.
Nicole Bataclan Sep 2017
We take a break from work
From life; and fights
People we avoid
People we adore
One and the same
When the head has already left.

Amongst strangers
Widened horizons
On a rooftop somewhere
Playing djembe in the middle of nowhere
Far from everything
Suddenly it hits

Less or more,
Who am I
Without my focal points?

I will be richer
In memories
Come back tanned,
Stuffed and happy
The routine continued just fine
Without me.

Those I avoid
Those I adore
Sitting at work,
My life; and fights
One and the same
Once the heart is back in the apartment.

When we look forward to
Do we leave it all
Wherever we go?

Looking back
Did I not take it all
Wherever I strolled?
Will Rogers III May 2014
Someday I'll have my own drum set,
Someday I'll have my own djembe.
But for now, I shouldn't forget,
That I don't necessarily need drums to play.
My own two hands are all I need,
And maybe some legs, a chest, or table,
'Cause all you require is a seed
A seed of God's joy to make you grateful.
It's the Lord I should delight in.
Not the things I lack,
Who needs drums
When I can snap, clap and tap?
Someday I'll have my own "man cave"
Someday I'll have drums galore.
But today I have the Lord who saves!
Today I can praise Him with what I got once more.
[composed on 4/8/12]
Ken Pepiton Nov 2019
How many warnings taken as possible lies

shall we dare, if
first time, we were right?

Feel it? You know?

Not dying when, you know,

you could have, you know what dying is,
and
this
feeling,
that's life. Wanna risk it? What if we agree,

whatever we imagine is possible,
together, nothing can defeat us. In the most

straight-forward intuitive way you comprehend:
whatever we imagine is possible,
together, nothing can defeat us.

Virtually impossible to let such an idea free,
safely.

I'm good, three score and ten plus a few extended
journeys through
history and myth at the speed of thought

brings us here, just short of where we'd have met
in the final analysis
which
takes ever and a day

during which passings of times we breathe,
peacefully.
we troublers of our own house,
heirs of the wind and all its
princely powers,
subject

to right use, our
bhering
clear answers, affirming ever
oboroborobo oboe riffs on electric bass\
backed by Feynman pounding Djembe
drums through NAND
gates tittling jots of
rythmic swirls
in
backward 720s, time
and again,
as Sisyphus
ever rolls, happishly,
random
rocks,
laughing at jour yoke of yesteryears job titles.

Our final task, in every mortal moment,
breathe peace, and pass on.

Or that's my plan. Y'think it'll fly?
All in. Cast to the wind breathed in, breathed out. Called done.
Broadsky Mar 2019
I'm looking at the drum you bought me, this beautiful Djembe drum. You bought it for me because you saw how I lost myself in the rhythm that night at the field party. I remember the warmth and glow of the fire, music blaring from someone car, the hum of people laughing and talking. I remember the pill you took and the man you got it from, I remember after you peaked you called to one of your friends "have you met my girl? This is my girl" and how I never wanted to be anyone else's again. I remember our tent in the corner, and making love all night, I remember getting up at 6am and walking in the dewy grass letting the sun's rays warm my completely bare skin. I remember riding home with you and your clenched jaw from coming down, I remember everything; and I refuse to forget.
I still remember how you felt in my hands.
Mona Sep 2018
If only I could go back in time
That moment when my heart
Beat loud like a Djembe drum
When I danced under the moon

I was a powerful wind
Going through everything I saw
I touched and changed lives
With a kiss and a gentle smile

The serpent from its burrow slithered
Into my naïve unassuming arms
Venom slowly seeping into my veins
Turning my breeze to acid rain

My freedom stolen and my touch a burn
Nowhere to turn and no way to give
I hide in the burrow with the serpent
Waiting, waiting for one of us to **** the other
Ken Pepiton Dec 2019
one way or another is not the turtle's

whole story

I shall tell as I would, were I privy,
as I am,
to the reason for turtles at, in, of, on, under
all in all

and all we have in common, when we use
words
right, no se?

We, the gifted generation, possessors of knowns
never usable, undtil understand und ist nicht undone

unloosed, unlatched, untied until we forget

words of authority must mean
common, mean, golden-lean to good-ness,
life, per se,

se, y'know
a flow influencing the peace of a place
is a flow we may let go,

it has a smell, but so do farts and farts are always
funny, to the heart of a child

bubblin' bubblin' bubblin' in my soul, my unsould soul,

heir of wind's listening privilege. Poet, per haps,

singer say some, songs say others,
we, merest of mere promiserly whimseen sips

from the silver cup,
first class, exists, in real life, longer than in
mortal fantasies of fame in ones
own object
ification,

jest dropped in t'see what condition, my condition
was in and I for plumb sure got the message

settled, it is finished. Live with it.

Adapt. Fit to be tied, leads one to con-sider, really,
ropes and threads, and fibers

and stick to it ifity, re
al-izate
great minds think alike, just not in synch,
without a drum...

in the background, we got good ol' **** Feynman,
on the Djembe drum,
you can only imagine keeping perfect time
whith the flowing pulses of
intent
within withon withthrough withdrawn a tube

emerges and were we word bound,
once more,
assigned the chore of making peace
meal form sensible words up to the point, until,

the seals were broken,
nothing is hidden, by rightness, all is knowable,
unhide-able, and why

is that scary? Brave New World, admitting having seen

the savages view of savagery
at its mystical

old known
first tales told to each of us as we mature,
ripen, as seed we die, arize and be eaten,

AI AI OOPs cod-plat-if-icate-- yesterdaystodaysforevers

eat.

fecation perform. make of all gestated
mess
ages agone gathered round fires on winter's days,
to see who can tell the biggest lie,

-- was this not the culture of all children, once?

Did might, as in might be, make right, and the knowing

of the song, the story line intwined with all my
kith und kin
und naught be, yond m'ken, y'ken?

Kinda, sorta. Dribsndrabs. Parts 'n'pieces put to

gether gathering winds into a swirl

to explain why swastikas in their erstewelt significance,

wahrheit b'told, b'hold held
that

everything spins,
in a whirly gig fashion, we may commonly call
spiral formations of things

pineal formations, closely ob
served, say count the spaces between
the places where any seed
may
have been a tree,

look around,
how few pines can sprout, without falling

far from the mothering pine,
now,
gravity works on a fractured earth, but

squirrels and jays were intended to do the

shuffling of the deck, the scattering of seed,
in chance, on a smoother flown surface
than this dis-leveled message in stone at the bottom

of the sea we breathe and have our being in,
this bubble in ever
spark sta
static
tic
a tree form, a fractal twigging of everything
imaginable, into now.
Precisely, the moment you read this. That hapt.

Some said they heard thunder, I heard turtle stories,

all of them, all the way down. and back.
the husbandman who labors must be first part taker
Adreanna Hill Sep 2019
Running on instinct
And adrenaline
And a lust so deep that it's irresistible
The fall
Feels like flying
Downward fast
Stomach dropping
Heart racing
Craving more
Roughness
Balanced with gentleness
Kisses in the heat of the night ...
Back scratching, hair pulling, gripping sheets and the back of your neck and caressing your chin
Growl at me as I watch you until I can't help but close my eyes and enjoy you exploring the forbidden places inside of me
Finding and Unchaining the animal inside of me
A beast not from Earth
A beast so beautiful so graceful
So in tune
the rhythm of bodies against each other like wise hands to the djembe
Synchronized heart beats and breaths and *******
The savagery
Maame Yebaoh Jun 2020
Strong love
Sensitive love
Sweet love
Sweet like grandma’s clove buds
Sacred love
It sways like the baobab
Vulnerable love
Rich, illustrious love
Love of royalty
Call upon the mandrills
When that love is near
Love of great passion
It lives falsely depicted in the white world’s sphere
Misunderstood
Bold & humble
Kente clothed in pride
Wrapped in honor
Ask me what it means to hold you
My protector
My nurturer
I’d answer it is because you heal me
Strengthen me
Sensuous love
synchronized love
valiant love
timeless love

Of sticks and steel,
Between brazen sugar cane fields and bronze sunsets
I will find you
Home-bound
Smart love
It beats through the pulse of the djembe
rhythmic, lyrical love
Ah, listen
listen
Do you hear her?
Mereba
Professed on the caves
Ancient love
It lives deep
In the valleys
It skips with stones down the beaten Congo’s path
In the wells of my soul
It is whole
My, it is so whole
They crave it
a special love
The man by the river tells stories of how rare
Comet-bound
“If you seek it, treasure it”
Story tellers say
For it is gold
Rich in comfort, valuable and eternal
Callused and sun drenched
Serengeti love
Ever more Prideful
It dances through winds
The island whispers of its arrival
The lovers
The fortuners
The black love

M. Yeboah
You tug my brittle heartstrings
On course for bitterness
But I’m constantly reminded
That I’ve been truly blessed
So I scour my surroundings
And beat my Djembe drum
To the rhythm of the echoes
And to the beauty I’ve succumb

— The End —