12 Days of Poetry

The Very Least of Me was featured in a Christmas poetry series on the From Behind the Pen blog. Check out me and the rest of the poets featured by copying and pasting the link below into your address box.

Merry Christmas and have a blessed holiday as we celebrate the birth of our Lord with a season of giving.

https://frombehindthepen.wordpress.com/2014/12/21/the-twelfth-day-of-poetry/

Black Poets Speak Out

Find this reading and several more as the Black Poets Speak Out Movement (originally organized by Jonterra Gadson and fellow Cave Canem members in response to the injustice surrounding murders against blacks) sweeps the nation using #blackpoetsspeakout on all social media.

Len Lawson reads "The New Black": http://youtu.be/n_Fiq0DQf74

Poetry/Novel Update

Since this summer, I have had three new poems appear in literary magazines/journals.


“I-spy” and “Child Development” appeared in the Summer 2014 issue of Rolling Thunder Quarterly.
 

“This Life Ain’t Fit for Nobody” appeared in the Fall 2014 issue of The Southern Tablet. Three more poems are set to appear in journals before the end of the year.

“Blonde-haired Blue-eyed Jesus Bobble Head” will appear in the Fall 2014 issue of NYSAI Press.

“Burn” will appear in the next issue of Pamplemousse.

“Mosquito Music” will appear in the Winter 2014 issue of Control.

Furthermore, two more poems are pending editor's approval for two more journals.


This is a fascinating time in my young writing career, but there is much left to accomplish and to achieve. I am seeking to publish a new collection with these and more new poems. In addition, the long-awaited City of David, my debut novel, will finally appear next year (release date pending)--not to mention I have a new novel manuscript that I am trying to remain committed to.  


A big thank you goes out to anyone who purchased The Very Least of Me or who came to my first reading in Sumter, SC, in April this year. My next reading will be on Thursday, November 7, at 7pm at MAD Open Mic in Augusta, GA (307 11th St.) hosted by Catherine Zickgraf.


Pray for me as this word goes forth to the masses. I need your support as I strive for new levels in this craft.

The Next Ferguson: A Survival Guide for Future Generations Protesting Police Brutality

(newyorker.com)

A disturbing yet culturally necessary trend has developed in our nation in which every twenty years an uprising occurs due to police or military brutality based on protests induced by racial profiling. The short list includes the 1970’s Kent State shootings, the 1990’s Los Angeles riots, and this decade’s Ferguson protests—not to forget the death of Eric Garner by the hands of police. Here is a survival guide for the next protest two decades from now (if not sooner) that will have occurred after the next racially charged rebellion.

1. 

   1992 Los Angeles Riots (crackedhistory.com)

   Know your town’s demographic. Less Caucasian police amount to more than a greater minority population.
2. Pack a lunch to your protest and plan to stay long into the night or as long as possible. Also, this is a good time to take those vacation days or dip into that nest egg for bail if you are detained by police.
3. Wear light colors preferably white because if you do bleed during the protest it will appear more profound in subsequent photographs and news video
4. Invest in a gas mask and a bulletproof vest (you have 20 years to prepare)
5. If you plan on being a martyr, then prepare your last will and testament or statement to be read publicly. Hire a speechwriter or ghostwriter.
6. Bring an American flag. Cops are less likely to shoot you regardless of what you call them if they see the Red, White, and Blue.
7. 

   

   1970 Kent State Massacre (en.wikipedia.org)

   You are NOT Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, or any other historical civil rights leader. Don’t do it for the fame. If you are, then stay home.

And finally…

1. Write down your experience and your own survival guide for future generations as well…if you survive…
    

Tea and Poetry Book Club

Tea and Poetry Book Club offers a gorgeous review of my debut poetry book THE VERY LEAST OF ME. Subscribe to their blog and follow them on social media.
http://www.teaandpoetrybookclub.blogspot.com/2014/07/len-lawson-summer-poetry-reads.html?m=1

...Like a Tree...

I hollowed this tree out when I was a kid. The scars still remain decades later. The tree weeped and oozed when I cut behind the dry, craggy, gray bark and into the viable, bright, yellow inner trunk. I left a mess, yet the tree still lives to this day.

When I took the photo, it was the first time in over 20 years that I had considered the tree there as a manifestation of my own life.

Have I been wounded by my past? Yes.

Do the scars still remain? Everyday.

Am I still alive? Without a doubt.

Pain from my life experiences hurts me to the core, yet when I look back, I see a road paved with signs that weren't there before. I see opportunities for growth, and I see testimonies that will benefit others on the same road.

Sadly most of us attempt to hide our most visible wounds as if they cannot be seen through our actions and emotions. What we don't realize is those scars have shaped us into who we are. Hiding them denies us our freedom from them and the freedom of others who remain bound. Oftentimes we do look like what we've been through.

I encourage us (you and me) to reveal our holes, our cracks, and our bleeding spots from our past. They are God's way of giving us a platform to share who we really are. We are all going to live after our most devastating attacks on our spirit and will. However, we always overcome when we show how we got over the pain.

Our trunk may be distorted or damaged, but our roots remain deep and unshakable.

Keyboarding in the Park

I met a 26-year-old man playing his keyboard in the park today.

"What kind of music you like to hear?" he asked.

"I'd have to say gospel," I replied.

From there, he went on to tell me how he doesn't like playing hip hop music and how he didn't allow his daughter to dance to it. Finally,  he testified about his deceased mentor and his ailing grandmother.

After praying with him, I encouraged him to continue his ministry and to allow God to lead him on his journey.

Sometimes people just want a listening ear rather than a condemning tongue. We should listen for whom God wants to use to minster to us and to whom He wants us to minister.
.

This is Your Brain on Literature

Great literature is like a rush to the brain. This Time Magazine article seeks to prove just that. I pray my words can provide such mental and spiritual stimulation.

http://time.com/77555/reading-literature-brain-neuroscience/

Free Times Blurb

I enjoy partnering with my friends at Free Times not only on stories but also about my publications. Find a brief blurb about The Very Least of Me poetry book below in the Arts & Culture section.

http://www.free-times.com/pdf/042314/

It’s Time for You to Be You by Len Lawson

This blog entry is devoted to integrity and individuality in writing. A poem from my debut poetry book The Very Least of Me speaks to these themes. 

to be you

you 

well you’re you

but you want to 

be me too

and you

well you’re you 

yet I want to

be like you

now you,

you’re you

but still can I be like you

too?

listen, you

be you

but just let me be you

too

you’re you

and I’m you

we’ll be you

and me too

now we’re you

I’m me too

no room for you

too

goodbye, you

I’m you

oh, you

should have just been you

My blog from the South Carolina Writers Workshop website below speaks clearly to writer integrity and individuality. It serves as an encouragement to writers.

It’s Time for You to Be You by Len Lawson