(Street Academy)
Music is art.
Music tells stories.
Music expresses feelings;
Whether happy or sad.
Music deals with emotions;
Feelings good or bad.
Music is joyous
Music is sober
When feeling drunk.
Music is jive.
Music creates feelings.
Music is soap to wash away tears.
Music creates people.
Music is a society
Dealing with life and death.
Music is the jewel of my life.
This Song Is for You by Patrick Vilmenay
(Frederick Douglass Literacy Center)
This song is for you
Because it is true.
This song is for you
Because it is from the heart.
May this song bring
Us together whenever we're apart.
This song is for you
And for you only.
It cannot be combined, copied
Or stolen. For this song belongs
To two hearts, and two hearts only.
May this song last in our
Hearts and souls every single
Day and night.
These are the words, the
Words of inspiration.
With these words may
We always remember that
Words are there
For me and you; and
That is the truth.
ON MY BLOCK by Priscilla Hawthorne
(Outreach)
On my block, the kids
they play.
They play in the Johnny pump
most of the day.
And when the sun is shining bright
and the mood is just right
they go to the pool
to get really carried away.
On my block
music can be heard from Nostrand to Bedford.
Yo, that's my word.
On my block
you can smell charcoal burning,
smoke roaming the air and
many activities going on
here and there.
The Rhythmic Sound of My Life by Teresa Mejia
(South Bronx Job Corps - Career Education Center)
I dance to the rhythm of life.
I move to the rhythm of music.
I stir to the rhythm of sound.
I do gesture to the sound of nothing.
I symbolize art, life, living and my future.
You criticize me. You say I'm nothing.
But, it doesn't reach me or hurt me
Because I dance to the rhythm of life and
You dance to the rhythm of nothing.
Gazebo by Gina Acevedo
(South Bronx Job Corps - Career Education Center)
It's smokey and loud.
The music is pumping and so is the crowd.
Everyone's smoking, dancing and singing aloud.
It's peaceful and fun.
Just sit back, relax and look at the sun.
Forbidden Dance by John Barnwell
(Beacon School)
Forbidden dance for a forbidden chance;
To love for life, or for another; to forbid to kill;
To stop to copy; to show false front, feign.
The ephemerality of it all.
The one time pleasure that can kill you forever.
You are inside someone's mind
And then the forbidden makes you forbidden.
Why waste it?
Then make it good
And take your chance. You can cover yourself.
You don't want to go,
But you have to because you are forbidden
To all others; you are exiled, a mutant of nature.
To be different, forbidden. But if we all become
Forbidden, then what is change?
The people who were calling forbidden
Are now called forbidden because roles have changed.
The insane are now sane
And the sane are insane;
Or who knows anyway?
My Country by Antoinette Taylor
(Auxiliary Services for High Schools)
It is a festival land.
When you there, you dance
to the rhythm.
You eat lots of food,
"So yuh belly full."
You scream from the mountain top.
In the valley
Hear your voice echo.
Isn't this the land
Of peace and quiet?
The Heart Of A Woman's Heart by Doris Nieves
(Auxiliary Services for High Schools)
(dedicated to Maya Angelou)
When I hear your tremendous
and magnificent voice, my heart
desires more.
When I read your glorious and
touching poems, I want them
to be endless.
I study people and their heart
is cold.
I study you and your heart is made of gold.
Oh Maya! Oh Maya! you thrill me.
Oh Maya! Oh Maya! I have
you in my thoughts and heart
when I write.
Oh Maya! Oh Maya! you are
guiding me in the right path.
Hesitation is not known in you.
If I could be as remarkable as you,
I would.
Your eyes have beautiful sparks
that could be seen
in the darkness of nights.
Your achievement in life, it's like
a kite: it flies and flies, but only
this kite has been let go of
and never has fallen
to the bottom.
Moments by Sonia T. Gordon
(New York City Vocation Training Center)
Moments, there are those that make me cry.
Moments, there are those that step aside and let me glide.
Moments, there are those when no one cares.
Moments, there are those that are quite sincere.
Moments, there are those when you really fear nothing more than being dear.
Moments, there are those that are no longer,
No longer here, no longer dear.
Moments, there are those to sit and cry,
Nothing less would waste your time.
Ten Penny Players