AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

Love and tenderness,
I've heard those words before;
No one else was listening,
Too busy keeping score
Of the endless body count.
Though no one will admit
To pulling the first trigger,
To stirring up the - bit

About you and I together,
It seeems a little odd
That we could kill each other
- in the name of God.

Love and tenderness,
In chronic short supply.
The only tears ever shed
Are after someone dies.
Peaceful negotiations
Always end too soon.
Each one of us is hostage
To every fatal wound.

Love and tenderness,
In this I'll keep my faith.
I'll hold myself together
And hope for changing tastes.
But though the wind is changing,
It still whispers in my ear;
Of those who fear for what they speak
Not speak of what they fear.

Lacking rhythm, the rain danced,
Spaces filled with puddles of hopping
Notes of peace; and bits, and pieces
Of where you wanted to be.

Being warm, from inside out.
Unbuttoning with the fluff of
Questions still moist
On the back of your teeth.

Faith is an island,
Where they speak in tongues
Which wrap around my gut,
And stick to my soul.

I know I’m not elegant
Watching where my money’s spent;
My landlord still wants the rent.
Hell, I’ll never be chic.

I’ll never be as square as Sloane.
Mortgage? I can’t raise a loan.
Public transport brings me home.
Aw hell, I’ll never be chic.

Tax man still on the hunt,
I’m just ahead of the blunt
Edged sword of the government.
Who know I’ll never be chic.

Maybe I’m a novelty
Proposing peaceful philosophy,
But I think you know what I mean
When I say I’ll never be chic.

If I’m a child of the world,
Why is my parent bought and sold.
What other children are so cold?
No. I’ll never be chic.

It's a Thursday night, which means that I'm prepping for an early 'Breakfast'... that's The English Breakfast, the radio show I've been working on for a couple of years now.. or nearly!

It all began one EARLY spring morning – a Friday - when a friend, the irrepressible Jimmy 'sausage legs' McHardy, invited me onto his newly formed radio show. He and his co-host, Mike Berry another Kiwi rugby player and radio roustabout, needed a guest... and funnily enough, Jimmy was pretty sure I wouldn't be backwards in coming forwards with an opinion or two.

So you want to pull a Henry James, a Hemingway, you’re sure that everyone in Europe will be interested in your take on what it’s like to be a foreigner in a foreign land. Rule one: They’re not. End of story.

Now that that’s out of the way, let me tell you how to meet all your expectations of being an English language writer in Europe – have none. Rule two.

Rule three is probably the most important – there are no rules.

I've been questioning the DIVINE IS LIGHT--EVIL IS DARK concept lately. It keeps coming up, and has always felt untrue, because humans born blind don't know what light is.

I love the metaphor of "leaving the darkness and moving into the light," because it's so easy to SEE...but come on, kids...it IS simply a metaphor for AWARENESS.

I found myself at a Ra meeting (somewhat against my will/thought it was a yoga fest:) recently, where they described "God" as a speck of light in the darkness, and everyone seemed really happy and enthusiastic about that. Yet if "God" is "all that is," "the Universe," "Tao" and the Universe is mostly darkness, then "God" is mainly darkness, no? The LITERAL translation does not hold up.

http://www.communiversity.org.uk/worldcommunityartsday.htm

Click here to learn more about World Community Arts Day. AMP's contribution is AMPer Federico Hewson's Valentine's Peace Project.

Learn more about the Valentine's Peace Project here:

http://www.valentinepeaceproject.org/

well, Iam going to share my feeling about my culture with you. Maybe I can interest you in it.First, I would like to say that Iam an Iranian Artist and I am proud about it.Because my land has more than 7000 years background.I live in a country that is ancient. My culture is full of things that I can learn and use it in my paintings.Before revolution our goverment was tried to show our culture in the world.But after that we would get involved with somethings that are rubbish.After revolution most of people in around the world think that Iranian people are Arab. But It is a mistake. we aren't Arab.Our race is different.we are Aria the same as German people.When Islam entered to Iran in SASANIAN period.

coming Monday, April 28, 2008!

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• Nicholas Carpenter reads an excerpt from The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
• Jimmy Greenbeam is sick
• The Great Cincinnati Piano Burning of 2007 (an experience revisited with Shannon Bousquet, Kathrine Monnig and the Gregory Morris Group)
• The Business of Being Born: www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com