Aberjhani's Blog: Notes of a 21st Century Digital Scribe, page 10

2-for-2 Facebook Shares on Love and Laughter in Our COVID-19-Challenged World (part 1)

The new long-anticipated literary memoir by Aberjhani, GREETING FLANNERY O’CONNOR AT THE BACK DOOR OF MY MIND, features insightful essays on: Flannery O’Connor, James Alan McPherson, John Berendt, Antiracism, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Includes cover art by the author and a throw-back photo album. ISBN 978-1-71668-481-4. A month ago, I made a commitment to extend the outreach from Bright Skylark Literary Productions to different social media communities with more active engagement as part...

Poetry and the Pain of Elijah McClain’s Unjust Killing

Visions of a Skylark Dressed in Black poetry collection by Aberjhani . Geographically, the killing of Ahmaud Arbery was closer than that of Elijah McClain because it occurred only an hour’s drive from where I grew up and where people who mean a great deal to me have family members. But for some reason McClain’s death, although it occurred all of 1,600 miles away in Aurora, Colorado, felt closer. I did not understand why until recalling two poems written more than a decade ago. The memory o...

The Difference Compassion Could Have Made in #2ManyLivesGone2Soon: My Elijah Rock-Shout

("My Elijah Rock-Shout" text art graphic by Aberjhani for Bright Skylark Literary Productions C2020)​Such an overwhelming pattern of lethal violence against African Americans at the hands of police unskilled in nonviolent conflict resolution has emerged over the past decade that I was less stunned by news of what happened to 23-year-old Elijah Jovan McClain in Denver, Colorado, last August 24, than I was by the words attributed to him as he was being detained and slowly robbed of his life. I hav...

Lessons from Nina Simone on Love, Music, and Commitment (part 2)

This is a continuation of the classic 2010 article excerpted from "5 Notable Women of the Past and Present" first published by AXS Entertainment:  Simone’s composition, "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," written for her friend Lorraine Hansberry, became one of the major anthems of the civil rights struggle and the title of Hansberry’s autobiography. Her “Four Women” is a marvel of minimalist art in which she deftly dramatizes the impact of racism upon the lives of four different women. In ...

Lessons from Nina Simone on Love, Music, and Commitment (part 1)

​The year 2020 marks the tenth anniversary of an article series I wrote called 5 Notable Women of the Past and Present and which was first published by AXS Entertainment. Included in the series were profiles of: musician and actress Abbey Lincoln, comedienne Jackie “Moms” Mabley, author Octavia Butler, social justice advocate Dr. Abigail Jordan, and Ms. Simone. It is an honor to recognize Ms. Simone’s brilliant legacy and extraordinary life at this time with two new works of art––titled O...

Ahmaud Arbery and the Writing on the Social Justice Wall

("Paying Attention 2TheSigns" title art graphic by Aberjhani.)Of the more than 50 poems and half a dozen short stories published in my first book, I Made My Boy Out of Poetry, at least one story, I Can Hear Juba Moan, and a dozen poems throughout the book deal with people battling against social injustices. It is a recurring theme in Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance and The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois because the historic and biographical nature of the lives chronicled in those pages (or...

Confronting COVID-19 with Inspired Art and Determination (part 1)

(Defeating Fear with Knowledge title graphic art by Aberjhani ©2020) Few things can rearrange the priorities of individuals or nations like a full-blown pandemic. Its impact is felt no less by cultural arts workers than by anyone else. In some cases it is felt even more keenly through creatives attempts to convert the overwhelming collective and personal shock to meaningful works in different disciplines.

Responding to events of an historic magnitude with visual and text creations has...

Speaking of Women's History

“…turnin’ nouns into verbs braids into crowns
and always fetchin’ dreams from a horizon
strewn with bones and flesh of those of us
who didn’t make it…”
Ntozake Shange (from poem “people of watts”)

The poem from which the above quote was taken, “people of watts,” by the late playwright and poet Ntozake Shange (1948-2018) was originally published in her Wild Beauty collection and more recently in the special spring 2020 edition of African Voices Magazine dedicated to Shange and Nobel Laureate Toni...

A Special Bright Skylark Black History Month Tradition Continues

Display of books and literary journals featuring writings by Aberjhani with an art poster for Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah in the center. (photo from Bright Skylark Literary Productions Collections) Receiving feedback about content published on a cultural arts website like Bright Skylark Literary Productions is always a good thing so I appreciate visitors who have expressed disappointment over the lack of posts usually presented every February in celebration of Black History...

Exploring the Wonder and Enigma of Flannery O'Connor (part 1 of 3)

Flannery O'Connor Wonder & Enigma title art graphic for Aberjhani's Postered Chromatic Poetics.Among the biggest surprises to come my way in 2019 was an invitation to give a talk and sign copies of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah at the Flannery O'Connor Childhood Home in Savannah, Georgia. Health issues prevented me from accepting the initial invitation but I am now slated to give a presentation in May 2020. The plan is to also have available for signing a forthcoming book in which I...