Suffering Silence

Because of these.
No, these…
that declared war on my native tongue.

I’ve been suffering the insufferable,
suffocated,
sullied,
sullen,
stunted.

Silenced of words to scream out that which submerge
for life savers to be thrown at my pleas.
Not knowing what to say has swallowed my delight.
All that remains is a bloated ill-figured shape.

To converse with the sensible is beyond exhaustion.
I’m a child again trying to talk in “big people’s business”,
stuck in between sentences with stuttering importance.

Gone mute now, a Carthusian monk’s vow is my tongue
I’m but a beggar for a point of view
some kind of vision that will help me escape
this state, where even grunting seems useless…

Encountering

That notebook holds my heart in its stem
That notebook holds love in its leaves
flicking a new chance on a page, I watch
every time, I watched her naked body
through the curtains of each misspellings
as I try to replicate her touch, her, her gaze
erase the words that doesn’t see the depths of her
a notebook heart, and I want to divulge
through my bloody blue ink everything
this leaf gives me, and I want to draw her
laughter so you too can be made exuberant
by her foliage, her dance of unknown syllables
that colors my dreams every night, and brings me
closer to possessing the fleeting secret of joyousness

THEY

Precious are days standing up straight like the stems from lilies
grooming, only to be asked to die unbroken by precarious ghosts.

Precious is anything that’s been a prism for the corners of escape
scapegoat pockets of leaking light, a hallway of nothingness, vanishing.

Precious is the sound of  await, longing a million years of drunkard youth
spoken through a crystal ball of “us” as a misnomer and the law caging “you.”

Precious is receiving letters and reading them in the stricken enlighten covers
of a slang, then it would be word of how it matters, while it can’t describe want.

…

A First Listen of Let Fall the Sparrow’s self titled EP

The gorgeous vocals, the bass with a voice of its own, the lonesome guitar that is perfect for winter, and the precise drumming makes you want to listen to Let Fall the Sparrow on repeat. I know I did. This post-punk trio elevates what it means to play an instrument, and also what it means to be a songbird.

The  well balanced experimental structure of Let Fall the Sparrow‘s self titled EP makes you think differently about music today. If you ever stop playing the track, For Those Things That Are Past, you will feel exposed to a grandiose conviction that musicianship can mingle with raw passion. You wonder if is it now you will experience what it truly means to delve in the mist of composition… Composition that is unlike many of the bands today. Let Fall the Sparrow is clearly not beggars wanting to be listened to and validated, they’re about the negotiation of sound and how even in it’s chaotic sense can formulate a pattern, if one just listened carefully.

Broad Strokes with Calypso Sally on Washington Heights Free Radio (WHFR) will bring you a first listen segment of the band Let Fall the Sparrow‘s self titled debut. We will also have a chance to talk to the band’s bassist, Lilly Pritchard, live from San Francisco. So tune in next Wednesday, November 16 at 8:00pm.

Also, if you missed last month’s broadcast when Teletextile brought the house down to silence, completely (first time for everything), you’re still in luck, since you can listen to the broadcast HERE.

Bringing you stories, live events, and much more, WHFR tries and remains independent of any corporate sponsorship.  So, if you like what WHFR is doing, you can donate by contacting us at info@whfr.org.  DIY forever baby! Broad Strokes’s Schedule:

• November 16th, a first listen/live interview of the west coast band, Let Fall The Sparrow.
• December 28th, Glass Anchors
• January 25th, TBD

If you’re in a band or you know a band and or singer/song writer that would like to do a show, contact me at: roarplanet@gmail.com.

Teletextile Live on Broad Strokes, Wednesday, October 26

Live next Wednesday, October 26, 2011, the NYC band Teletextile will be playing an acoustic set on Washington Heights Free Radio (WHFR) Broad Strokes. This will be a fantabulous night, as Teletextile will explore the gamut of sound through voice, harp, guitars and drums. Show starts at 8:00pm.

I saw these guys awhile back at Fort Useless, and I was immediately drawn to their well thought out melodies. I mean every instrument is orchestrated perfectly to build the song. And it’s not a pretentious attempt at showing off their great musicianship, nor does it forget the untamed expression of raw passion.  Both of these ingredients: great musicianship, and their inability to never forget this raw human connection to music, makes their songs unforgettable.

For those of you that don’t know,  I have a radio show called Broad Strokes, and it streams live off the web every last Wednesday of the month. My dj name is Calypso Sally, but I don’t just play Kaiso, lol.

I try to play a broad range of genres, stretching from indie rock, pop, alternative, noise rock, hip hop, reggae, dance hall, metal, calypso, funk etc.  It’s sort of a mixed bag.  I also have live acoustic performances like next week Wednesday’s broadcast.

In the meantime, you can check out last month’s show where I featured women musicians that not only front the band, but also are the rhythm section. You can check out last month’s broadcast HERE.

Last Month’s Playlist

Ear Ring by Rainer Maria
End Bender by Magnetic Island
Filthy & Free by Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers
Next One Is Real by Pink Noise
Bloodletting by Spylacopa
For Those Things That Past by Let Fall The Sparrow
Just Give Up by The Evil Us
Rivers End by The Evil Us
Release by She Keeps Bees
Pretty as Pie by Helms Alee
The Major by Made Out of Babies
Transformer by Marnie Stern
I Don’t Know How to Act Here by Teletextile
Just for You by Object

Bringing you stories, live events, and much more, WHFR tries and remains independent of any corporate sponsorship.  So, if you like what WHFR is doing, you can donate by contacting us at info@whfr.org.  DIY forever baby!

Broad Strokes’s Schedule:

• October 26th, Teletextile plays live acoustic set at WHFR’s studio.
• November 30th, a first listen/live interview of the west coast band, Let Fall The Sparrow.
• December 28th, Glass Anchors
• January 25th, TBD

If you’re in a band or you know a band and or singer/song writer that would like to do a show, contact me at: roarplanet@gmail.com.

Broad Strokes Live and Direct this Wednesday, September 28

Live and direct this Wednesday, September 28, I, Calypso Sally, will be spinning some of the dopest women in rock tunes on Washington Heights Free Radio (WHFR) Broad Strokes. It’s gonna be a blast from ear to ear. Calypso Sally in the house! Flooding your eardrum with just a taste of women who not only front the band but also are the rhythm section. Talk about hotness galore!

Anywhoo, for those of you that don’t know,  I have a radio show called Broad Strokes, and it streams live off the web every last Wednesday of the month. My dj name is Calypso Sally, but I don’t just play Kaiso, lol.

I try to play a broad range of genres, stretching from indie rock, pop, alternative, noise rock, hip hop, reggae, dance hall, metal, calypso, funk etc.  It’s sort of a mixed bag.  I also have live acoustic performances.

You can check the last show HERE which featured women rappers rocking the mic.

Last Month’s Playlist:

Boys Wanna Be Her by Peaches
Hey There Girl by Yo! Majesty
Dead Nigga Blvd, Part 1 by Meshell Ndegeocello
You Ain’t Hard by Maimouna Youssef
10 Dollar by M.I.A.
Ruth Speaks featuring Vee by Flo Brown
Go Then, Bye by Speech Debelle
Voice Yr Choice (Tobacco Remix) by The Go! Team
Fake French by Le Tigre
Still Dope featuring Empress Starhh by Doom
#8 by Jean Grae
Normal by Envy
Shove It featuring Spankrock by Santogold
Ch Ching by Lady Sovereign
Che Sara Sara featuring Miss Saigon by King Britt

Bringing you stories, live events, and much more, WHFR tries and remains independent of any corporate sponsorship.  So, if you like what WHFR is doing, you can donate by contacting us at info@whfr.org.  DIY forever baby!

Broad Strokes’s Schedule:

• October 26th, Teletextile plays live acoustic set at WHFR’s studio.
• November 30th, a first listen/live interview of the west coast band, Let Fall The Sparrow.
• December 28th, TBD

If you’re in a band or you know a band and or singer/song writer that would like to do a show, contact me at: roarplanet@gmail.com.

14 Cracks

a collection of leaves left so someone can find them
someone else, alone, you can find sitting quietly
while all that is inner is raw with an explosion
calmly spelling it with the lips, then the hands:

We are not lovers, nor are we friends
but yet we stand together as fear pins us down
fear of the what in emptiness
feared enough to never run, frighten enough to run in place
with perhaps, half ifs, the but to put safely
in the mind as it were a vitamin melting on the tongue
with new thoughts, new ways of thinking things as they were

I push them down though
down, down, down
while it struggles to rise and evaporate.

Borinquen Doll

Stretched thin on her restless side
Mrs. Hernandez waits impatiently.
Staring at the phone, she anticipates
its urgent tolling. She recalls the
blessed day: All wrapped up as a gift
to herself, she bought the girl in
the window and peddled her home.

The child sat still, painted pretty
like a doll, on the supermarket shelf
waiting to be possessed.

“Never mind the thick plastic wrapping”
the label read, “this little girl is
a real Borinquen doll.”

Mrs. Hernandez left very pleased with
her buy: A curly head little girl.

She’s mine to possess
Mine and mine alone.
I will teach her the ways
of the binding cloth
and the barring collar.

I will hide her from the world
in my clean kitchen cupboards
and my walk in closets. There
she won’t be tainted with the
feverish touch. She will never
feel the hands of the exhibitionist
who celebrates the curves and the flesh.

I see them on the buses, with
their misery pinned to their backs
like wings.  They deliberately turn their
faces away from the the celestial light.
They curse out the clean air in the wind.

Mrs. Hernandez, she’s no witness
Her eyes are delicate, too delicate
for guttered faith. Her daughter walks
the night barefooted to places where
the gorged moon meets sharp edges
there she goes down dirty on dirty girls
spreading their wayward legs
inventing sweet nothings.

Mrs. Hernandez waits in vain
anticipating, stretched thin
on her restless side.
Her daughter won’t be coming home tonight.

IGNIS!

When I hear you howl|
I hear you inside me|
I hear you ghosts talking

about yesterday’s melody|
You dream about yesterday’s fatuus
slow as today’s coming close
as me meeting sunrise’s dust|

Has already been done|

So much so I’m walking
for my turns of nothing
but nothing never keeps
never coming getting
getting even with nothing
but my two tacos, just
a hole that hungers
that permeates a want
that thinks about getting closer|

And when I get closer|
I watch what will tip me over
running over, in a splendorous lie|
If you can, if you will, I dare the mirage|

Calypso Sally live on the interwebs tomorrow night!

Live tomorrow, Wednesday, August 31 at 8:00pm, I, Calypso Sally, will be spinning some dope tunes on Washington Heights Free Radio (WHFR) Broad Strokes. It’s gonna be a boombastic-tellyuh-fantastic night, since I’ll be flooding WHFR’s stream with the freshest hip-hop tracks, showcasing women rappers (even when they’re not categorized as such). I think they’re real, and have the ovaries to play by their own rules. As scandalous as it will get, they have a message of not being afraid to take on the status-quo in their own ways of expressing, class conscious, feminist, genderqueer aesthetics…

Anywhoo, for those of you that don’t know,  I have a radio show called Broad Strokes, and it streams live off the web every last Wednesday of the month. My dj name is Calypso Sally, but I don’t just play Kaiso, lol.

I try to play a broad range of genres, stretching from indie rock, pop, alternative, noise rock, hip hop, reggae, dance hall, metal, calypso, funk etc.  It’s sort of a mixed bag.  I also have live acoustic performances.

Check out the live in studio session of Holy Moly! this past June, HERE.

These guys are mad talented, and really down to earth folks. Their tunes make me want to stomp my feet and drink some gin, and as you will discover from the broadcast, I don’t like gin, hee, hee. I can’t wait for their record to drop!

Bringing you stories, live events, and much more, WHFR tries and remains independent of any corporate sponsorship.  So, if you like what WHFR is doing, you can donate by contacting them at info@whfr.org.  DIY forever baby!

Broad Strokes’s Schedule:

• September 28th, Calypso Sally spins, the first women, fronting and/or backing bands.
• October 26th, Teletextile plays live acoustic set at WHFR’s studio.
• November 30th, a first listen/live interview of the west coast band, Let Fall The Sparrow.

If you’re in a band or you know a band and or singer/song writer that would like to do a show, contact me at: roarplanet@gmail.com.

I’m in Trouble!

If anything, what tonight has taught me is that I depend too much on an unreliable device, and most frightening of all is that my memory isn’t as sharp as it use to be.

I wanted to say it’s because I’ve gotten lazy, which is possible, but when you’re kinda both a visual/audio person it is sort of suspect, especially when most things today entertain both simultaneously without having a huge satellite dish on your roof (as a kid I always thought that the peeps who had huge satellite dishes were either trying to communicate with the dead and/or aliens) you just need to know how to work a damn handheld device (yeah, that sounds dirty).

I googled memory loss, because I freaked out that I couldn’t remember an address I saw in my email enough times that even a five year old would remember (okay maybe not a five year old, but whatever).

And of course smoking cigarettes came up, and of course I suddenly hear the stern warnings of my doctor who refuses to call me X, but prefers XYZ which just adds to the sternness of her tone because the only person who called me XYZ was my mom, and it usually meant I was in trouble. Which reminds me of this song by Turbo Fruits, but I’m totally detouring by association because I’m hooked on cigarettes, and I don’t want to deal. Also I’m very bored, which means I blah, blah, blah, and smoke some more. Maybe I should take-up a sport… Ugh.

Riff+Lingua+Franca

Speak to me

and appear\

in different

tongues…

don”t talk to me

\in english

cause it’s dead++++++

================

阿里郎

了阿瑞宁

Golden

I’m a part of your syntactic voice
that speaks to you when you’re
alone and wanting God to save you.

I’m a part of your sentence
that brawls a branch you crawl on for
survival, the one you call onto
when each and everyone forgot
your name, building your totems.

I’m a part of your debt
that you forgot existed
and want to bury with gold
want to repay me with sterile isolation.

I’m a part of your secrets
that beckons me near afraid
you’re the intruder in the dark
that grew apart from me.

Eyeliner

We were brave
letting in a thought
letting in a memory
of your face we touched
let an idea be entirety
dance in front of us…

analyze this softness
one you can’t predict…

Ephemeral

To be that close
as midnight catches
us sheltering under
a peep of an awning.
To be that close
to only the rain
coming in on us
you reminded me
of a place I would go
running away with you
with you, with you next
to me, I reminisce
a daydream of a place
of a place where the air
hummed an unspeakable
glee whispering in the wind

Oh if only you knew what it meant to me…

Fire Outs!

Don’t you remember the first time
oh but I reminisce when we didn’t know
what we were doing, but doing it anyway.

What happened?
Did the fire burn out?
Even as I carry a cause
so burns a joyousness.

When I look at you
as I speak in tongues
when we’re together

it hurts surrendering
to the vanishing pitch
mixtapes with our own voices

thoughts gathering together
it hurts surrendering to waves
crashing in, to an exuberant boom
promise of a spark extinguishing.

Grain of Sand

Strands of hair, blowing in your face: own your way
reflect your cyclosis directions, a translation wanting
to mend, it twist and bends to a surrendering shoot
tell me where last you’ve cast your spell
tell me who last uprooted your growth
whip your ends into an eventual murmur
trembles, typify…

Recycling

And creep
then walk
and linger
then expose
and wonder
then laugh
and cry
then kiss
and touch
then fight
and hiss
then sit
and watch
then repeat
your thoughts…

Swept!

lips taste of a soft invitation
after all lips are begging of a request
to kiss you there, there, and here
where you least expect it, where you
want to be touched most of all
where you are center center
and the spotlight makes you come
as you’re electric with each strand of
hair that stands up, now with a tremble
you want more, but can’t bear your wail
being exposed, in front of your armor
a culture of selves pirouetting a levity
jigsaws into place, a pattern that is unseasoned
one that burns with desire, one that is swept up.

 

Be Rid of You

You can keep your sentiments
and all your love attachments.

You can keep your loneliness too
because I have my own.

You can keep everything that draws your face
or expects you coming through the door

I’m going to free myself of you, all of you
I will free myself of you and all your things

that lingers alone and anticipates
when I don’t need them anymore

I will free myself, free myself
free myself from you!