YOU MAKE ME FEEL MIGHTY REAL: SYLVESTER
2 nights ago, I was the Unsung feature on Sylvester: it filled me with pride, joy and sadness, rekindled my awe and fascination with this ground-breaking, trail-blazing, out-lout-proud DIVA! Today, I am thinking about him…Sylvester James, I speak your name with love, grace and respect. I celebrate your immense talent, courage and stlye. I thank you, I bless you, I love you…always!
Calabash 2012 reflection….
i am grateful for Calabash/Jubilation 50, grateful for having my sisters there with me, grateful for the overwhlemingly positive response to my open mic reading, grateful for the blessing of having poems in 4 of the books being sold in the Calabash/Novelty Traders bookstore, grateful for the God-ideas/visits from The Muses that give me more to write about….GRATEFUL!!
Calabash 2012 moment #2
standing beside Olive Senior and having her say: “I thought I recognized you, you performed at the launch of Shell (her book) at Philip Sherlock! You were very good then and I really enjoyed your open mic reading here”. (picture me grinning from ear to ear and thanking her profusely)
Calabash 2012 moment #1
glimpsing Linton Kwesi Johnson, tracking him down, getting him to sign my copy of So Much Things to Say and telling him about using his poem in the book during a dub poetry session I facilitated at Contacting the World in Manchester, England in 2010. He was so gracious and accommodating 
DASH OUT BOYZ (Episode 1)
i am really proud to have been the Creative Consultant/scriptwriter/director for this MSM safer sex project for The Grata Foundation
i turned 45 today…..
I turned 45 today. At midnight, I turned off my radio, sat on my bed and gave thanks to God for my life thus far, every aspect of it, in totality. I then gave thanks for what is to come. I affirmed my highest good and good for other, in fact, all others. I asked to be blessed and committed to be a blessing. I gave thanks for love and its power, for being able to feel it, give it and receive it and committed to be a source of it. I gave thanks for my talents and as they have manifested thus far and for their unfolding in the future. I claimed peace, joy, health, and prosperity for myself and those in my life, but also for others who I do not know. Then I read today’s message from my Daily Inspiration for Better Living. The topic was I Can Do All Things. I expressed gratitude again, then sat still, silent for a while…..a feeling of peace filled me. I realized I have all I need to make my birthday special. I smiled….I’m still smiling…
And so it is!
we are…
WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS ON A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY ENCASED IN HUMAN VESSELS
truth…
TRUTH stands naked, comfortable in its skin….unequivocal, loving the sound of its voice……
ZERO (for World AIDS Day 2012)
When is zero valuable?
Numerically desirable?
When is zero a prize
On which to keep one’s eyes?
To be sought after, savoured
Fought for and favoured?
Zero, as in when there will be
No new cases of HIV
This journey will have begun
When we get back to One
Living in and as the One
We are inseparable from
Will help us remember
That our body-temple is a treasure
To be guarded with grace
Treated with reverence
Remembering who we are
Reducing our risk
Recalling whose we are
Claiming wellness
Embracing our Christ-self
Reclaiming wholeness
(Re)valuing self
Reducing risk
To zero
Being diagnosed as HIV-positive
Can become power to live
Positively
Guided divinely
Positive prevention
No re-infection
Acknowledging that ARV access
Does not guarantee adherence
To get to Zero
Positive and negative
Must become one
a community
Of love, support
Prayers & affirmations
Spoken as one
Hearts & hands lifted
In unison
Consciousness held as one
To overcome challenges
Across boundaries
Embracing diversity
Confronting discrimination
With policies that protect
We must stand
In our Oneness
Keep working
Towards zero
Because we are more
More than our sexual orientation
More than our HIV status
More than anti-retrovirals
More than risky behaviour
More than moments
Of passing pleasure
We are more
We are….enough
© fabian thomas (25/11/11)
